Ray-Pec 7th and 8th grade choir students participated in the West Central Missouri Music Educators’ Association 7th and 8th Grade Honor Choir event on Nov. 2 on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. Students were responsible for preparing music in advance, and spent many hours in rehearsal on Nov. 2 before performing the music in a concert that afternoon on the Hendricks' Hall stage. East Middle School 7th Grader C.J. Gooch was chosen to sing a solo out of 40 students auditioning. Shea Twenter is the vocal music teacher at East Middle School. Lezlie Waltz is the vocal music teacher at South Middle School.
Participants from East Middle School:
Back row, from left: Emma Dudley, Julia Mayberry, Emma Paxton, Laney Testerman, and Irelynn Miller. Front row: Emme Mundy, Lyndlee Vandiver, Harper Linn, C.J. Gooch, and Dexter Stone.
Participants from South Middle School:
Back row, from left: Makayla Prince, Lizzie Howe, Kennedy Smith, Allie Compton, and Bri Taylor. Front row: Ky Price, Cannon Bennion, Johanna Matlock, Elle Orstad, and McKenzie Dubert. Foreground: Teacher Lezlie Waltz
Five students at Ray-Pec East Middle School have entries that are finalists for journalism awards by the National Scholastic Press Association. RPEMS is the only middle school in Missouri to be named finalists.
- Aliyah Maslak and Drew Lyon are finalists in the Design Category for their Yearbook entry, “The Middle.”
- Hendrix Fern and Sierra Lopez are finalists in the Design Category for their Yearbook entry, “Robotics, Scholar Bowl, Forensics and Debate”
- Connor Franklin is a finalist in the Story category for his Broadcast on The Husky Minute. His entry was “The New Weight Room at RPEMS.”
At the middle school and junior high level, there are nine contests in three categories:
- Design: Literary Arts Magazine, Newspaper/Newsmagazine, and Yearbook
- Photojournalism: Feature Photo and Sports Photo
- Story: Broadcast, Multimedia, News, and Feature
The winners will be announced on Nov. 9 at the NSPA Awards Ceremony during the Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Philadelphia.
🎥 New Staff Spotlight episode! 🎥
This week Ray-Pec School District Superintendent Dr. Mike Slagle sits down with Jared Hill. Jared is a first year Spanish teacher at the East Middle School. Hear about his unique path to teaching, and what brought him back to Ray-Pec.
https://youtu.be/kbAv1kLJx30?si=lPfSQNGjhDaQQ84Q
This school year, a special house will be constructed on the grounds of Raymore-Peculiar High School. It will be located on the south side of the school, between the two loading docks. The Integrated Learning House will be an actual house designed for students with special needs to practice the skills needed to live on their own. Students will not live in the house, but will use the house as a classroom to learn a variety of tasks.
Here are two concept drawings of the Integrated Learning House.
Here's a link to the longer story on the website: https://www.raypec.org/article/1769083
Boys' Soccer plays host to Spring Hill tonight under the new lights at Ray-Pec East Stadium! Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm! ⚽️
Don’t forget! All schools will be closed on Monday, 9/2, in observance of the Labor Day holiday. Schools will also be closed on Tuesday, 9/3, to allow for staff collaboration and planning activities.
Don’t forget! All schools will be closed on Monday, 9/2, in observance of the Labor Day holiday. Schools will also be closed on Tuesday, 9/3, to allow for staff collaboration and planning activities.
The Ray-Pec High School Boys' Soccer Team invites you to eat at Culver’s in Raymore from 5 to 9 p.m. tonight, Aug. 26. Ten percent of sales, plus tips, will be donated to the team. Team members will deliver food to patrons eating inside.
The annual sales tax holiday begins tomorrow! Certain back-to-school purchases such as clothing, school supplies, computers, and other items are exempt from state sales tax and local tax. The perfect time to load up on school supplies!
raypec.org/page/back-to-school-overview
🚨 REMINDER 🚨
To assure that your student is assigned to a bus route for the first day of school, please complete registration by Aug. 2. Students who are registered after Aug. 2 can still receive bus transportation, but it might not be routed for the first day of school.
Begin the registration process using the new Focus student information system: https://www.raypec.org/page/focus-for-parents
The grades of students involved in a sport or activity continue to be higher than the grades of students who do not participate in an activity. In her annual program update, Activities & Athletic Director Dr. Kristina Martin shared yearly GPA averages for the 2023-24 school year:
Athletics: 3.42
Band/Choir/Orchestra: 3.5
Drama: 3.695
Scholar Bowl: 4.31
No Sport or Activity: 2.86
1,051 students at Ray-Pec High School were involved in one or more sports or activities last year, including the newly added esports program and Girls Flag Football who was one of 32 teams to compete for a national championship, representing the Kansas City Chiefs. An additional, 1,416 students participated in an activity at the middle school level.
See the entire presentation here: raypec.org/page/2024-2025-board-meetings
The middle school Coding and 3D Printing camp wrapped up today with their showcase event! Check out some of their cool creations! 🤯
Ray-Pec East Middle School's Choir Director, Shea Twenter, was named Missouri Choral Directors Association's Outstanding West Central Director for 2024! Congratulations! 👏👏👏
Registration for the 2024-2025 school year is now open!! 📢
As we prepare for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year, we are implementing a new student information system called FOCUS SIS. This change is necessary because Tyler SIS, our previous system, has been discontinued.
To ensure a seamless registration process, you will need to create an account in FOCUS SIS and link your child(ren) to your account. Once completed, you'll be able to register your child(ren) for the 2024-2025 school year.
To complete this process, you will need your student’s ID number and PIN, which were sent out this morning. A video link explaining this process has been shared as well. More information can be found on the district website at www.raypec.org/page/focus-for-parents
Additionally, school fees are not yet posted in the parent portal. Parents/guardians will be able to pay any necessary fees in early August.
We appreciate your cooperation and understanding as we transition to this new system. For any questions or assistance during the enrollment process, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team by emailing registration@raypec.org.
Thank you for your ongoing support of Raymore-Peculiar School District.
Today was the last day of RP Camp Innovation for middle school students! They got to show off their stop motion videos and BattleBot creations in a showcase event this afternoon! 🎥🤖
Our very own Ruth Johnson's term as Missouri School Boards' Association President has come to a close. As always, Ruth made the Ray-Pec School District proud with her strong leadership and commitment to serving others. 🖤💛
Happy 4th of July from the Ray-Pec School District! 🇺🇸
All district offices will be closed in celebration. Be safe and have fun! 🎉
Once a Panther, Always a Panther!
Calling all alumni! Scan to code or click the link below to stay informed about what's going on in the district and about future alumni events!
https://forms.gle/aJa3znuxHT3Q6GQM9
Raymore-Peculiar High School is delighted to announce thier Summer School Student Showcase on June 27th, 2024. From 10 AM to 12 PM, student groups will present a showcase of their findings regarding an essential question they focused on throughout their time in summer school.
We would like to cordially invite you to evaluate at our summer school showcase.
This event is a wonderful time for teachers, community members, and local employers to see our students’ hard work over our June summer session and allow students to network with businesses in their community.
Evaluators' Schedule:
9:20-9:35: Check In at Raymore Peculiar South Middle School
9:40: Brief Evaluator meeting in RPSMS Cafeteria
10:00-12:00: Evaluate individual presentations (break at 10:40, resume presentation evaluation at 11:00)
After evaluating, please join us for lunch from El Dorado!
If you are interested in being an evaluator, please fill out the Community Evaluator Form (https://forms.gle/4ARmWBcCfqqrtKVv8). You will receive an email from Haleigh Thompson confirming your attendance this week.
An evaluating rubric and additional information will be supplied during the evaluator meeting prior to the start of presentations.
Email Haleigh Thompson, project coordinator, with any questions at haleigh.thompson@raypec.org
Nearly 60 Mini Panthers participated in the Ray-Pec Summer Wrestling Camp on June 7-8! This past Friday and Saturday, elementary-age students from all over the district spent nearly 8 hours getting a hands-on introduction to the sport with fun drills, movements, games, and live wrestling! 15 wrestlers and coaches from East Middle School, the Ninth Grade Center, and the High School volunteered to work with the Mini Panthers, ages 5-10, and helped make this camp a huge success. All camp participants received a t-shirt, prizes, and snacks from camp sponsors: Defense Soap, Smile Doctors, and Ray-Pec East Middle School Wrestling.
