Welcome to the 22-23 School Year
Greetings & Well Wishes Families,
Welcome to the 2022-2023 Academic School Year at CATA!!!
As always there is so much to tell you …
Our school start and end time has changed!!! Our day begins at 8:00am. Doors open at 7:50. Our day ends at 3:30pm. Dismissal begins after 3:30pm announcements. If your family needs before or after care, please contact Mr. Mason or Ms. Debbie to enroll your child(ren) in OASIS. OASIS opens at 6am for before care and begins at 3:30 pm for after care.
We will be using PikMyKid as the app to release students for dismissal. Please make certain you have the app on your devices and the devices of those you may designate to pick up your child(ren). Students will only be dismissed via the PikMyKid app. Please do not call them on their phones or ask the staff to release them outside of the app. Our students’ safety is a top priority and with all the craziness going on in our society today, we are asking for both your support and cooperation in the dismissal process.
We are looking forward to your smiling faces on August 17, 2022 at 7:50am. Please be mindful that our school day has changed this year. Homeroom is 8:00-8:10am and students are tardy after 8:15am. We will provide breakfast from 8:00-8:10am. Students arriving after 8:10am may not receive breakfast so please, please, please, be on time. We want everyone to get the day started off right with a good breakfast.
We are still working to close the learning gap caused by COVID-19. We need your help!!! Please check with your children daily to ask about homework and what they’re learning. Please follow up with teachers to ask about homework and class assignments. Yes, students will have homework. Yes, students will need to read daily (at all grade levels). Of course, mom, dad, and caring adult we need you to be an active participant each and every day. We cannot do this well, without you. If you haven’t heard from their teacher, email/Dojo/Remind/text them. Don’t wait on an interim report or report card for your child’s status in school. Teachers are going to be super busy planning and developing lessons to teach every student at grade level. As a member of your child’s educational team, your support is critical to that teacher’s success with your learner. If you don’t know or understand something… ASK.
We are encouraging increased parent engagement in our students’ academic growth and development. To help us, we are bringing back CATA PTO. Ms. Bonner, Ms. Hoyte, Ms. Hurst, & Ms. S. Williams will be leading our Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) this school year. More information and our PTO application will be available at Back to School Night, August 11 at 5pm.
CATA’s Back to School event is on August 11th from 5pm-7:30pm. Please plan to attend so you can meet your child’s teachers and get important information and any updates about the start of school on August 17th at 7:50am.
Again, it is critically important that our students get here on time, each and every day. They have a lot to cover to get ready for Ohio State Tests (OSTs) and we cannot afford to lose one minute of valuable instructional time. Even arriving 5-10 minutes late has an impact. Many tardy students come in feeling rushed or anxious and that impedes focus. To be completely transparent, our staff won’t have a lot of time to manage those chronically tardy students’ learning gaps. Please, help your learner avoid the added stress of additional late nights and weekends making up missed assignment. So, I am humbly asking you to make certain your learner arrives BEFORE 8:00am every day. Breakfast will begin at approximately 8:00am, giving them plenty of time to eat and get right to the business of learning. Homeroom ends at 8:10am. First period starts at 8:15am. Our academic day ends this year at 3:30pm. Picking up students late has a negative impact on teachers’ ability to spend time collaborating, planning, adapting, and preparing to best meet the needs of your learner. We need to keep that time as free of disruption as possible. So, I am asking that you please be onsite before 3:20pm so we can dismiss your student right to you as soon as possible (unless your child rides a bus).
Please remember we are a uniform school. All students must be in grade level colors unless they wear CATA gear. Hoodies, cardigans, button downs and sweaters are allowed, however they must be solid colors that match the grade level dress code polo shirt underneath. Elementary learners (EK/TK-5) wear solid navy blue polo shirts; middle school learners (6-8) wear solid maroon polo shirts; high school learners (9-12) wear solid black polo shirts. All students are to wear solid khaki bottoms (pants, skirts, skorts, shorts-no holes and past fingertip length). The emphasis on dress code in this welcome letter is to help us all be on the same page so we don’t have to call you to bring a shirt, change of pants, or take your student home. We are planning for a distraction-free school year. Again, we’ve got a lot to do to support our students and dress code cannot be a distraction from those efforts. So, I ask that you support CATA’s long established dress code policy by making sure before they leave your sight every morning, your child is properly dressed for school at CATA. In addition, we have tried to allow students to keep cell phones. Unfortunately, they have been a tremendous distraction to the flow of the school day. Therefore, CELL PHONES ARE NOT PERMITTED AT CATA. Each homeroom teacher has a lockbox to secure them, if your child needs to have their phone to connect with you after school. Thank you in advance for your assistance and support as we seek to focus on school from 8-3:30 M-F.
There will be several documents coming home for you to sign and/or complete online (from your phone). Please make certain the office has the most current telephone number and address for you. To ensure it’s updated, make it a habit to tell your child’s homeroom teacher of changes as well. You are our single most important ally in the success of CATA kids. We cannot do this work to the best of our abilities without you. Please continue to remain active and engaged in all aspects of your son/daughter’s educational career.
Behavior Intervention looks different at CATA. CATA still has our 3 Before Me intervention system in place. This is where your child’s teacher engages in three positive corrective action interventions before they send the student to the office with a discipline referral. At least two of those interventions involve reaching out to you for support. The goal is to build a strong relationship and healthy communication between the student, teacher, and parent. (The exception to 3 Before Me is if the student is engaged in an act of physical violence or aggression. Those incidents may require immediate office intervention and support). Please be aware that our staff intends to rely on your input and guidance on how best to manage challenging behaviors.
Teachers and students are also engaging in Restorative Practices aligned with our Social Emotional Learning goals to maintain a positive and supportive school culture. In addition, we have built a tiered behavior management system that incorporates more alternatives to suspension. CATA will be offering lunch recess, after-school and Saturday School behavior intervention sessions to support students in learning and navigating the expectations of our CATA Culture. In an effort to reduce suspension rates, we are also incorporating CATA Community Service as well. More detailed information is provided in the student handbook available at Back to School Night.
Finally, and most importantly, thank you for entrusting us with the care and support of your baby. We know you absolutely want the very best for them and we will do all within our power and resources to provide just that.
We look forward to seeing and hearing from you often. And as always…
Have a Blessed CATA Day!!!
Principal Bates
