McClure Middle School

McClure
Middle School

Family Newsletter 9/5/2023

Family Newsletter 9/5/2023

Hello Maverick Nation!! 

We are getting close!  Here are some important items to get you up and running for the school year:

First day of school is Wednesday, September 6, 2023!

Wowie!  I am so excited to greet the kids tomorrow!  Here are some details!

Unlike most of our Wednesdays, tomorrow we will get out at 3:45. This is our end time for every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. After tomorrow, school will end at 2:30 on our Wednesdays unless we or the District inform you otherwise.  😊

Start of Day

Check out your child’s class schedule on the Source.  Note his/her/their ADVISORY teacher.  Your child should line up behind their Advisory Teacher between 8:35 and 8:50 on the Big Howe Field. Our teachers will have signs with their names on them.  If your child forgets their Advisory teacher, we will have many adults with clipboards who will have every child’s Advisory teacher at our finger tips!

Students will then head in with their Advisory teacher to start their day in Advisory. There they will receive their finalized class schedule. 

We are still balancing classes as new students enroll, etc.  Make sure your McClure student uses the most updated schedule tomorrow which will be the one that the Advisory teachers hand out to students.  Note that there may be a bit more balancing after the school year begins though we try hard to avoid this.

Cell Phone Free School

McClure is a cell-phone-free school.  Once students have lockers they are expected to turn off their cell phones and put them in their lockers for the day.  This includes Smart Watches and Ear Buds.  Students will not have lockers for at least the first three days of school. (8th graders will get lockers on Monday, 7th graders on Tuesday and 6th graders next Wednesday).  Before they have their lockers, students are expected to turn phones off and keep them in their backpacks.

Supplies

It would be great for kids to have at least some of their supplies tomorrow…pen, pencil, notebook, paper…but if they don’t, no need to worry. We can help until they have all their supplies in place. Also…PLEASE let your child’s counselor know if your family needs some support with supplies, backpacks etc.

Schedules and change requests:

We cannot and will not make schedule changes based on family or student teacher or class preferences. We want kids to engage in semester-long exploratory courses like Psychology or Art (and many others!) that they may have never have considered before and “explore” these opportunities.  We will make schedule changes if there are mistakes in students’ schedules (a 6th grader assigned to an 8th grade science class for example).  Doesn’t happen often and we are pretty speedy in correcting!!

Picking up students for appointments:

First call or email Attendance Specialist, Julie Dolan at 206-252-1904:

  1. Provide the reason for appointment either leaving early or arriving late
  2. Give 24hr notice if at all possible.
  3. If leaving a voicemail, please SPELL the last name
  4. Requesting Bus changes/going to different address also applies

Upon arrival for pick-up of your student for an appointment during the school day, please use our buzzer system to connect with an office staff member or office assistant. Ms. Dolan and our office staff will manage the process of contacting your student with a pass and checking the student out. Our front doors must remain locked for safety purposes.  Please do not text or call your student during the school day; we are a cell-phone-free school during the school day. Our office staff is very efficient in ensuring students are checked out quickly!

  • Forms-A-Rama!

Access the Start of School forms.  Note: you may not need to fill out all of the forms 😊.

Most common forms that need to be filled out.

Only fill out these forms if they pertain to you and your family.

  • Housing Questionnaire (McKinney-Vento Program)
  • Indian Education Program, Native Education
  • Donations and Fees: Please know we understand if you are unable to pay some or all of these requested fees or make donations. 
  • McClure is hosting a Back to School Fall Paper Drive! The grade level to bring in the most paper will win a special treat! We know it’s a struggle to carry in cases of paper. We got you, let us do the ordering for you. We can purchase a case of paper thru our district warehouse for $38. Donate to our Paper Drive. Be sure to add your student info to the donation so we can give them credit for their grade or have your student bring in reams of paper. We’d be so grateful to have either!!
  • Aside from paper we need general supplies to keep our school running! The cost of goods has gone up. We are asking that families contribute $35 to our Supply Fund to the extent that you are able to do so. The supply fee covers classroom/ teacher supply needs that our basic education funding does not support. We have quite a few New Teachers joining our Maverick family; we’re very excited and you will be, too! By donating to the supply fund this will really help our new staff get their classrooms up to par! As well as help our returning staff with the everyday supplies they need to support your students. Any donation great or small is very much appreciated.
  • ASB CARD, yup there’s a fee for that! $30 gives your student access to as much FUN as we can fit into a school year and it’s a LOT. ASB helps pay for our school dances ( minimum 2 per year, snacks and drinks provided), Spirit Weeks, Field Day, sports uniforms and equipment and many other celebrations throughout the school year. Help us replenish our ASB fund so we can keep the FUN alive for our students.
  • Donations for our kids!!

Donations of the following school supplies will be greatly appreciated and shared as needed. If you can donate any of the following items, please drop them off in the main office. Thank you!

  • Kleenex
  • Backpacks- medium/large size
  • Reusable water bottles
  • Composition books
  • Pens/pencils
  • Sticky notes
  • Graphing composition notebooks
  • 10 basic calculators (not graphing)
  • 10 Small packs of color pens/pencils
  • Breakfast and Lunch

The following are meal prices for middle school students:

  • Breakfast $2.50
  • Lunch $3.50

Student meals can be paid for with a credit card online at PayPams.

PayPams require the Student’s ID number or meal account pin number (provided by the school) to create an account. The Student ID number can be found on report cards or by accessing The Source.

PayPams charges users $2.40 (per student) each time money is added to the online account.

Free and Reduced Price Lunch Application:

  • You receive Basic Food, take part in the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), or receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) for your children. 
  • You are applying for foster children that are under the legal responsibility of a foster care agency or court. 

Be sure to submit ONLY ONE application per household. Culinary Services will notify you if the application is approved or denied. If any child you are applying for is homeless (McKinney-Vento), or migrant, check the appropriate box. 

You can apply for free and reduced price meals online with our safe, private, and secure application on PayPams. Online Free and Reduced Lunch Application

Also, Families can now apply for Free and Reduced-Price meals online. The process is safe, secure, private.

Applications are available for download in early August. Additionally, applications are available on the Culinary Services webpage. Applications are provided in English and the top eight translations.

Applications are also available at our school’s lunchroom, main office or the Enrollment Services department located at the John Stanford Center.

Applications, once completed, can be dropped off at the school lunchroom for forwarding to the department central office for processing or mailed to:
Turn in the paper application to
in person to the school lunchroom staff;
or mail to: Culinary Services – MS 32-372; PO Box 34165, Seattle, WA 98124;
or fax to Culinary Services at 206-252-0664;
or email to culinaryservices@seattleschools.org 

Paper Application: Download the instructions and applications below. Complete and accurate applications are required for timely processing.