Dear Parents & Guardians,

January has flown by! The groundhog predicted six more weeks of winter. Please remember with the cold temperatures and snow on the ground to send winter clothes (hats, gloves, mittens, snow boots and snow pants) if your child wishes to play in the snow. We will continue to go outside if temperatures are above 20 degrees.

We are excited to share your child’s success next week at Parent Teacher conferences. Conferences will be Wednesday, Feb.8th and Thursday the 9th from 2-8 p.m. School will be dismissed at 12 p.m. both days and no lunches will be served. K-5 conferences are scheduled individually with your child’s classroom teacher. Please contact them if you have not set up a time. 6-8 conferences are not scheduled for specific times. Parents can come anytime between 2-8 p.m. Mr. Sybrandts and Mr. Snyder will be available on Wednesday at 1R. Mrs. Behrendt and Mr. Musil will be at 1R on Thursday. Email these teachers if you need to set up a different time if they are not here on your scheduled night.  There will be NO School on Friday, Feb. 10th. 

I would like to remind parents and legal guardians of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). We cannot share academic information with anyone other than biological parents or documented legal guardians. While we value and recognize it takes a community to raise a child, we cannot share academic information outside these parameters (including stepparents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, boyfriends or girlfriends etc.) We thank you for your cooperation with meeting these requirements of the law. If you have not accessed your child’s report card it is in your parent portal in PowerSchool. If you have questions please contact our office or Stacey Pawling in the district office.

The second trimester with Mrs. Loeffelholz in Careers will end this upcoming week. Middle school parents, I encourage you to stop in and meet her at parent teacher conferences. They have developed some awesome portfolios of their work during the second trimester. Mrs. Felske will be joining us for the last trimester. She will be introducing students to technology skills and stem lab activities.  If you have any questions for her please do not hesitate to stop in or email as she gets things set up and students transition. 

We continue to celebrate and implement our 1R House System. This next week we will focus on Responsibility. Please take a look as you walk around the building during conferences the responsibilities students have on their plates. Students are focused on the definition of responsibility in their lives. What does that look like at home and in school? This ties directly to our Climate and Culture goal wrapped around ROW expectations- Taking Ownership.    

Patience, Patience, Patience is the key to a safe driveway and parking lot. Our first priority is that everyone is SAFE!! When entering the driveway from the North please adhere to the right and be respectful of each other trying to pull in from 1R road.. During drop off in the morning please pull completely forward to the east end beyond the crosswalk, students in the North lane exit to the North safe zone. If you are in the South lane please have your child go to the Cross Walk and not dodge in and out of cars. I know when we have inclement weather, the snow and ice makes it more challenging. We do our best to get snow removed and make it as safe as possible. 

On Wednesday, February 15th all 6th-8th grade band members will be involved with a district-wide band clinic being held at Northwest High school. Students will be transported to the high school, provided lunch and will perform a concert at 3:15 p.m. in the auditorium. All parents are invited to attend the concert. A letter from Mr. Meyer concerning this event will be sent home with kids as well. (tmeyer@ginorthwest.org) Mr. Meyer and Mr. Pfanstiel will be hosting a movie night for middle school and high school band students on Friday, February 17th. He will be sharing information about this next week with students, 

All 8th graders in the district will spend Friday, Feb. 17th at Northwest High School for an Art Day.  They will be involved in an 8th grade Mural Competition put on by the High School Art teacher, Beau Studley and Mrs. Amen. (kamen@ginorhtwest.org) A note will be sent home next week with information for the 8th graders.  

We are now looking for August 2023 kindergartners. If you have a child who is 5 years old on or before July 31, 2017, they are eligible to attend kindergarten. Please call the office (308-385-6352) and let Mrs. Bachle know. We will add them to the list and begin sharing important information with those families. Introduction to Kindergarten will be on Tuesday, April 4th at 6:30 p.m. at One R.

There will be a PTO meeting Feb. 6th at 6 p.m. PTO will have a Dairy Queen dining night out on Tuesday, Feb. 21st from 5-8 p.m. They are also seeking board members for the 2023-24 school year. If you would like to serve in some capacity please reach out to President Kristen Rogers at kallen8283@gmail.com

On behalf of the staff and myself, we thank you for your continued support. Please follow our 1R Google calendar for the most current events and check out our 1R Facebook page. If you have questions regarding your child’s education, please do not hesitate to contact the office at 385-6352.

Sincerely,

Mr. Retzlaff, Principal