Week of October 6-10, 2025
Good Morning Cavalier Families,
This past week was filled with exciting events at Dayton Creek! Two grade levels enjoyed their field trips, we celebrated Ms. Shelly on Custodian Appreciation Day, and we officially launched Bullying Prevention Month. Partnering with Children’s Mercy and Sporting Kansas City, we introduced the RED CARD KC Campaign as part of our commitment to prevent bullying. On October 1st, our school came together for the RED CARD Assembly, led by Sporting KC’s announcer, Blake Aerni, and mascot, Blue, with special guest Nati Clarke, Defender #33 of SKC II. Now, we invite all Cavaliers and families to participate in our Bully Prevention Spirit Week , a fun way to show our school pride while emphasizing the importance of kindness and respect. Together, we can continue to make Dayton Creek a safe and welcoming place for everyone!
Important Dates
Week of Oct 6-10, 2025:
Fall KAP Interim Testing Week for Grades 3-5
We kindly request your assistance in ensuring that your child is present and punctual throughout the testing period. Sufficient sleep and rest are also beneficial. These practices contribute significantly to overall student wellness and readiness for the testing sessions. Our active participation in this interim assessment ensures that we remain engaged in feedback and instruction: measuring students’ success in learning material and providing our school with data to make programmatic decisions that will help improve student achievement.
Monday, Oct 6:
Instructional Coach Appreciation Day
Wednesday, Oct 8:
PLC Day, 1 HR Late Start
PTO Meeting at 6:30 PM, Library
Please save the dates for other upcoming events:
Oct 13: All-School Picture Day (PTO sponsored school shirt will be given to students on this day)
Oct 15: 3rd Grade Field Trip - Chiefs Educational Stadium Tour
Oct 15: Early Release Day, Dismissal at 1:10 PM, Evening Conferences
Skyward Conference Scheduler is Now Open! Directions on how to schedule your conferences on Skyward can be found here. We look forward to meeting with you on Oct 15th or 16th to celebrate your child’s progress and plan how to continue supporting their success in DCES!
Oct 16: NO SCHOOL, Professional Development and Parent-Teacher Conferences
Oct 17: NO SCHOOL
Oct 20: Fire Prevention Day (Fire Dept here - during specials)
Oct 23:3rd Grade Music Program (6:30 - 7:30)
Oct 24: Leader in Me Habit #2 Awards Assembly with KC Wolf
Oct 30:PTO Trunk or Treat (6:00 - 8:00) K-2 Parking Lot
Oct 31: Class Fall/Halloween Parties & Costume Parade
If you are planning to be a volunteer, please take a moment to review and complete the volunteer registration here. Please take note of the following reminders about our fall parties and costume parade.
Students will not wear costumes to school. They will change into them before their party. No play weapons, blood or gore, please.
Classroom Party Volunteers: Please check in at the office to get your special volunteer name badge. Volunteers may come in at 1:45 to set up for their class party. Fall parties begin at 2:00.
Parents or family members are welcome to observe our costume parade. To do so, kindly sign in at the front office and get a visitor sticker. Guests may begin coming into the gym at 2:30.
The parade will begin right at 2:50 in our gym. The students will do one lap around the gym and then head back to their classrooms for dismissal.
Our school nurse must check all treats for our parties.
November 14 (6-8 PM):
2nd Annual DCES Family Multicultural Night:
To make this event a success, we would love your input and participation. Please fill out the form: https://forms.gle/ZrPs62pasKDqDEAR7
Handbook Highlights
TARDY
Admission to class following tardiness to school requires that students check in at the front office when they arrive any time after the start of the school day. Students who arrive after school begins must be escorted to the main office by a parent/guardian.
Tardies due to unusual, unforeseen, or emergency situations as verified by a parent and approved by the administration will be excused.
When a student arrives late to school after a medical appointment, he/she will not be counted tardy if he/she has a note on the doctor’s letterhead (or prescription pad paper) verifying the date and time of the appointment. Please make every attempt to schedule appointments in such a way that students do not consistently miss the same class.
Five unexcused tardies of 30 minutes or more or ten unexcused tardies of 10 minutes or more may result in an unexcused absence.
If a student continues to accumulate excessive tardies, administration may require a doctor’s note for each tardy (without a doctor’s note each tardy will be considered unexcused).
ATTENDANCE (BOE Policies JB, JBD)
Daily attendance records are maintained for each student in each school. A cumulative attendance record for each student is also maintained. The attendance record will indicate if the absence is excused or unexcused.
The following are considered to be excused absences:
• Personal illness verified by a parent and approved by the principal. When a student is absent three or more consecutive days, a doctor’s note may be required to re-enter. Extended illness verified by a doctor can be considered excused at the discretion of the administration
• Medical appointments verified by a signed appointment card or a doctor’s written statement and approved by the principal
• Trips with a student’s own parents verified by a parent and approved in advance by the principal
• Unusual, unforeseen, or emergency circumstances as verified by a parent and approved by the administration
• Parent’s prior formal written request for absence of a student and approved by the administration
• Family Bereavement
• Religious observance
• Administrative prerogative
• Participation in a district approved or school sponsored activity
Any absence that does not meet the above criteria will be considered unexcused.
Parents/guardians are expected to call the school at the beginning of any absence and inform school personnel of the reason for and anticipated length of the absence.
Parents are allowed to excuse five absences per semester. Any additional absences will require a doctor’s note or approval of the building principal.
A student who attends less than 95% of attendance days may be at risk for not meeting grade level academic expectations for the year.
Kindly review our Elementary Handbook 2025-2026 for more information on Academics, Activities, Attendance, Code of Conduct, Health, Nutrition, Transportation, Safety & Security.
Standing Ovation for Staff
Recognize a DCES staff going above and beyond to serve our students, staff, and school community by completing the short USD 230 Standing Ovation Awards. The district will select Core Value Award recipients from this pool of nominations.
All employees nominated will be recognized with a certificate and three of the nominees (Administration, Certified, Classified) will be chosen as the monthly USD 230 & Price Chopper Standing Ovation honorees.
Important Links
October PTO Newsletter- Thank you so much for your participation, support, and hard work on our first fundraiser of the year! Please view the October Newsletter for more details!
Sign-up Form: Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) & M.O.M.S. (Moms of Marvelous Students)
1st Quarter DCES Community Feedback Form: We value your feedback so please share your thoughts on how we're doing through this form.
Check out our Cavalier feature for this week:
Empowered to Learn: Amazing moments from our 1st graders' human body exploration!
Empowered to Engage: Our parent engagement in DCES is truly remarkable. First grade had guest speakers for Hospital Day as a culmination of their Human Body Unit. Second grade invited a guest speaker to talk about Diwali as part of their Early Asian Civilization unit. Connecting learning with our families is such a powerful way make it more relevant and impactful!
Empowered to Achieve: Congratulations to our Math Masters of the Week! Thank you so much to everyone who participated in our very first Cavalier Challenge! It was great to see so many of our families join in and submit their answers! Stay tuned for a brand-new set of math problems coming out tomorrow!
Empowered to Discover: Our Cavaliers had a wonderful adventure! Third grade explored the KC Zoo, and first grade had a great day at the pumpkin patch.
Library at Lunch: Our 3rd Graders Reading in the Library After Lunch
4th Grade Leaders Learning About Habit2: Begin with the End in Mind
Our Kindergarteners were all ears for Mrs. Dalton's engaging read aloud!
Watch D.O.G: Thank you so much Mr. Makowski, for spending the day with our Cavaliers and making such a positive difference!
Lunch Guests: Thank you to all the family members who joined us for lunch this week. Your presence made this week extra special!
Thank you so much for your continued support for our school! If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, don't hesitate to reach out. We’re always here to listen!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Dr. Miller
Office: 913-592-7266 or 913-592-7162
E-mail: millerthe@usd230.org
