Parents/Guardians of Ray-Pec Ninth Grade Students,
Greetings! My name is Alan Downing and I am honored to be the principal of the Raymore-Peculiar Ninth Grade Center. We are extremely excited about the upcoming school year and are looking forward to welcoming the Class of 2027 to the Panther family.
With the beginning of the school year right around the corner, I want to provide some valuable information and dates to help you and your student get off to a smooth start for the 23-24 school year. We look forward to working with you and your student and to provide a learning environment where everyone is valued, challenged and supported.
I hope you enjoy the remainder of your summer break. Should you have any additional questions or concerns after reading this newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact the Ninth Grade Center office at 816-388-4200. Go Panthers!
Sincerely,
Alan Downing
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August 18: Freshman Preview Day
7:25 AM - 10:00 AM
Preview day is specifically designed to provide freshmen students an opportunity to spend a half-day in the morning on campus to experience what a typical day of high school will look like. It is an excellent opportunity for incoming students to familiarize themselves with the Ninth Grade Center and the high school experience. During Preview Day, students will be given the chance to tour the building, visit with their advisory groups, and meet the faculty members.
This event is for students only, and bus transportation will be provided by the district. Buses will run their normal morning routes at their normal morning times. We highly recommend this event for all of our incoming freshmen.
If you will be dropping off and/or picking up your child from school, please review the following videos about the loading/unloading zones and the traffic patterns on campus.
Video: Drop-Off and Pick-Up at the Ninth Grade Center only
Video: Drop-Off and Pick-Up at the Ninth Grade Center and East Middle School
August 22: First Day of School
Please see the daily bell schedules below. Our first day of school will follow the Tuesday schedule.
August 31: Open House
Time: Evening/TBD
Please save the date of Thursday, Aug. 31, for Curriculum Night / Open House at the Ninth Grade Center. This will be a time for parents to meet with teachers and learn about your son/daughter's courses. During the evening, parents will walk through their child's 1st thru 7th period schedule. More information will be provided as Aug. 31 gets closer.
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Before and After School Protocols
We have a beautiful new facility and want our students to maximize the use of it. However, student safety is always a top priority. Therefore, students can only be on campus before or after school hours if they are at a supervised activity, meeting, or event. Please follow the link provided below to view the protocols and procedures for being on campus before or after school.
NGC Before and After School Student Protocols and Procedures
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Student Cell Phone Use and Expectations
The importance that a cell phone plays in a student’s life certainly cannot be underestimated, and the administration and staff at the NGC want to do our best to recognize and respect this importance. At the same time, however, we also recognize that cell phones can play a distracting role in our students’ lives, especially with the immediate access to social media and other communication forums that students readily have available through their phones. Our primary focus is always to protect the integrity of our instructional time as much as possible, and, in recent years, the data would support that cell phone usage by our students has created a major disruption to our instructional time. Therefore, we have developed and implemented the following building cell phone expectations:
During instructional time, students will not be allowed to be on their cell phones, whether in the classroom setting or in the hall. For the purpose of this policy, instructional time will be defined as anytime between the tardy bell to begin a class period until the dismissal bell to end a class period. (Note: the time frame that has been designated for students to be at lunch will not be considered instructional time for those students,)
When students ask for permission to leave class during instructional time to use the restroom or to visit another teacher’s classroom, the expectation will be for the student to leave his/her cell phone in a designated area within the classroom. Please note that the student can power the cell phone down, turn it off, etc. as our intent is not to access the phone. We simply want to provide for the security of the cell phone and for the student’s success and safety as much as possible. Use of cell phones while out of class, not only delays a student’s timely return to class but also often leads to other unintended consequences when students access or post on social media.
Should a student need to make a phone call, then he or she can ask for teacher permission to go to the office. Likewise, should a parent need to contact a student for an immediate emergency, for the sake of the student’s safety and welfare, we prefer that the contact go through the office as opposed to the student receiving the information personally. This will provide the opportunity for additional support for the student if needed.
Students will still be allowed to access and use cellphones between class periods and during their designated lunch time.