David M. Cox Elementary School – Achieving Excellence

Welcome Cox Families,

Welcome to our first week of the 2015-2016 School Year at David Cox. The staff and I are eager and ready to start another year and are dedicated to providing effective instruction that challenges each student at a level commensurate with his or her ability in a safe environment. As we are encountering continued changes to curriculum, assessments, and the manner in which instruction is delivered and reported to parents, standing together we will embrace these changes and work diligently to provide the highest level of instruction to our students.

The administration (myself and Dr. Clayman) value your input and your participation. Please understand that throughout each school day, we are in classrooms, on the playground, in the lunchroom, attending meetings, and handling student issues. We will make every attempt to return calls that day or at the latest within a 24-hour period. Our emails are provided at the top of this newsletter and we check emails every day.

Committed to Excellence,

Tara Imboden, Principal

NO Kindergarten Orientation – Kindergarten Orientation was held on Friday, August 21 st at our school-wide Welcome Back Night

NO SCHOOL FOR ANY CCSD PUBLIC SCHOOL ON FRIDAY,

SEPTEMBER 4 TH FOR STAFF PROFESSIONAL DAY

NO SCHOOL MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 TH IN OBSERVANCE OF LABOR DAY

THIS WEEK OUR CAMPUS WILL BEGIN BEING CLOSED IN AM TO ALL ADULTS. PARENTS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO COME THROUGH THE GATES TO TAKE

THEIR CHILD TO THEIR LINE UP DOT.

CAMPUS WILL BE OPEN IN PM FOR PICK-UP

PTA News: Thursday, September 3rd (all day) will be our first Family Restaurant Day at Dairy Queen (located in the Vons shopping plaza on Pecos just down from our school). A portion of all the sales made go directly to our school! It is our goal that every family will join our PTA (Parent Teacher Association). This organization is a vital asset to our school, as they provide community events, service projects for our students, and funds to support our educational goals. Membership is only $5.00 and your voice as an advocate for your child’s education is a powerful one at the state legislature. Our first meeting will be September 15th at 6:00 p.m. in the Cox Library.

DAVID M. COX IS #1We are so proud of our students and teachers! Out of the 13 middle and elementary schools which took the final Discovery Tests in May, David M. Cox students in K-5 ranked number 1 in reading and math!

In the fall we had ranked second and climbed into the first place position for the final tests! Great job Cox Cubs! We also demonstrated over 40% in growth from the fall to the spring tests and finished scoring a 75% achievement score in reading and a 77% achievement score in math!

We are part of Performance Zone 10 which consists of 23 schools; elementary (French ES, Tomiyasu ES, Bracken ES, Long ES, Miller ES, Bartlett ES, Gibson ES, Mack ES, McDoniel ES, Thorpe ES, Treem ES, Beatty ES, Hill ES, Roberts ES, and Weiner ES), middle (Cannon JHS, Greenspun JHS, Scholfield MS, and White MS), and high schools (Del Sol HS, Green Valley HS, and Silverado HS).

Cox Cub Weekly NewsVolume 5, Issue 1 Mrs. Tara Imboden, Principal imboden@interact.ccsd.net

August 24-28, 2015 Dr. Christine Clayman, Assistant Principal cclayman@interact.ccsd.net

Thank you to all the parents who joined us for BooHoo Breakfast! It was

nice to meet everyone!

Drop Off and Pick Up: Parents, Henderson Police Department and Clark County School District Police Department are routinely patrolling our surrounding campus. We were informed that it is illegal to do a “u-turn” in a school zone, so please no “u-turns” inside the school zone. Please follow legal parking procedures when dropping your child off or picking them up as the police agencies are issuing traffic citations. As stated at the

Open House, please turn RIGHT ONLY out of the front parking lot and DO NOT BLOCK OR DRIVE INTO the bus loading zone.

Bookworm Breakfast: We would like to invite all our families to the first Bookworm Breakfast of the year! Students and Parents are invited to the multipurpose room beginning at 8:00 am for a book sharing, book giving, and a small breakfast hosted by Hopelinks. This is a continued program from last year and we are so fortunate to have it back again. As always, students must be accompanied with their adult or guardian. The Bookworm Breakfast is from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and is always on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Tuesday the 22nd will be our first Bookworm Breakfast!

Back to School Reminders: When your child is going to be or is absent, please email Mrs. Janosik, our Registar at asjanosik@interact.ccsd.net When you visit the school, please report to the office, sign in at the front office on the computer, and receive a

visitor’s badge. You will be asked to show personal identification until we get to know you. If you have a scheduled appointment with a teacher or need to drop off items, please check in with the front office and

they will notify the teacher that you are in the office. We will deliver items dropped off to the teacher, parents are not sent down to classrooms for deliveries.

Adult supervision on the playground is provided at 8:50 a.m. The playground gates will remain locked until 8:50 a.m. Bicycles must be stored and locked in the bike rack. Students must walk bicycles on school grounds/sidewalks at all

times. The school is not responsible for lost, stolen or damaged bicycles or scooters. When picking up your child, please know that we cannot release your child to anyone who is not designated on the

pick-up list. Per CCSD Policy, changes made for pick-up of student must be made in person and not over the phone. Any arrangements made for pick-up of your child must be made prior to the start of the school day. Security for our students is a priority at David Cox.

We will not release students after 3:10 p.m. for early dismissal. If your child needs to miss instruction at the end of the day for scheduled appointments, please pick them up prior to 3:10 p.m.

Musical Performances: Each year our students showcase their musical talents in grade level performances. This year our performances are scheduled for the following dates and all performances are held in the MP Room at Cox and are at both 9:30 am and again at 2:30 pm:

-First Grade: May 20th

-Second Grade: October 23rd

-Third Grade: January 15th

-Fourth Grade: March 4th

-Fifth Grade: March 11th

CCSD Safety MessageThe Clark County School District suggests the following precautionary measures for parents and their children. Parents are urged to have frank discussions with their children about the following:

1. Teach your children, regardless of age, their full name, your full name, their address, and phone number.2. Explain the dangers of being abducted and/or molested.3. Explain that private parts of their body should not be touched by anyone, and if that happens, to report it immediately.4. Police officers are to be trusted for help; explain that police can always be identified by their marked car or motorcycle and their

uniform.5. Emphasize the importance of staying close to a parent, relative, or friend when away from home.6. Explain the importance of noticing and remembering identifying characteristics of strangers, such as their height, hair, eye color,

voice quality, clothes, and unusual marks. Also stress the importance of remembering the vehicle description, such as color, size, and license plate number.

7. Stress the importance of protesting and running away if a stranger tries to take your child/children somewhere.8. Never accept candy, money, or gifts from strangers.9. Never go into a garage, shed, or alley with a stranger.10. Never get into a car with a stranger. If a stranger asks for directions, be polite but do not go near the vehicle. If a stranger gets

out of his/her vehicle, run away immediately.11. Parents should occasionally accompany their child/children to school and monitor the area they are traveling.12. Parents should know who their child/children normally walk to school with and the route they normally take.

Meet Your Principal: For those of you who are new to our school, I’m Mrs. Imboden, your school principal. I have enjoyed my last 4 years here at David M. Cox and look forward to a successful year 5! I am entering into my 20th year with CCSD, 11 of which I taught elementary school and the remaining 8 I served as an administrator in elementary schools. I am a UNLV graduate with a Bachelor’s of Science in Elementary Education, a Master’s Degree in Instructional Reading Curriculum, and a final Master’s Degree in School Administration. I also had the privilege of going through the National Board Certification for Teachers and earned my National Accreditation for the final 6 years of being in the classroom. I truly enjoy working with students and advocate for what’s best to increase achievement. Besides being in the

classrooms as much as possible, you’ll see me outside in the morning and after school, during lunches, and working with our 5th graders in our BETA Club. I love being our principal here at DMC!

Meet Your Assistant Principal: My name is Dr. Christine Clayman, your Assistant Principal. I am really excited to be at David M. Cox for the third year and I am glad to be here full-time once more. I love being an administrator because I get to be involved with all the students especially at lunch recess, in the Lunch Room, and in their classrooms, I am also the advisor of the International Club that is open to all 3rd through 5th grade students. I got into educational administration because it gives me an opportunity to impact a lot more students and be at the forefront of working with teachers to provide our students an optimal environment for academic and social success. I know that together we’ll have a Rocking school year!

We Welcome Volunteers: If you are volunteering for lunchroom, outside playground duty, front office, or classroom please check in with the front office to receive a volunteer badge.

Newsletters: This is the first issue of the “Cox Cub Weekly News” written by Principal Imboden. The Weekly News will be sent home with every student each Monday and is always on bright yellow colored paper. In the spring, the newsletter will be sent home every other Monday instead of weekly. We hope you will look for this weekly publication and carefully read it to stay up to date on school-wide events. The newsletters are also available on our school website.

A Look Ahead: Sept 1-30 AIMS Testing/Discovery Testing/School-wide Writing

Sept1 First Guitar Session BeginsSept 3 Dairy Queen Day for CoxSept 4 No School – CCSD Teacher Professional DaySept 7 No School – Labor DaySept 15 PTA Meeting 6 pm LibrarySept 16 Fun Run Kick Off!Sept 21-25 Book FairSept 25 Fun Run at SchoolSept 25 First Progress Reports Come HomeSept 25 Vision and Hearing Student ScreeningSept 28-Oct 2 Govenor’s Week of RespectSept 29 Picture DayOct 6 PTA Mtg. 6 pm LibraryOct 14-16 GATE at Astro CampOct 16 Progress Reports OutOct 23 2nd Grade Music PerformanceOct 29 Fall CarnivalOct 29 Progress Reports OutOct 30 No School – NV Day