Dear Scott School Families,

We completed NWEA testing this week, so aside from makeups that will take place next week, we are finished with fall benchmark testing.  Yay!  You can expect reports for DIBELS 8 and NWEA to come home soon.

Students and staff seem to be settled into a daily routine and core content instruction has started.  It's exciting and fun to be able to observe our students learning and growth transformation throughout the year.  This crew of students is demonstrating some wonderful all around skills so far, so it will be extremely enjoyable to watch them continue their journey into become positive and productive citizens within our school community and greater DeWitt community.  A focus at Scott School is teaching students how to "handle hard better" when faced with adversity.  It has been rewarding to listen to students use this language and observe them use tools such as DeBug and using our Problem Solving Wheel.  Thank you for partnering with us to encourage appropriate problem solving at home, especially when challenging situations create frustration.  Learning this skill will help students now and into adulthood.

All my best,

Linda Reha

Scott School Principal

Walk to School is an international day established in the United States in 1997 as an effort for students to celebrate the fun of walking (or biking) to school and enjoy getting some morning exercise right in our community.  This special event will take place on Wednesday, October 7th.  Please read this W2SD letter for more details.

Please help keep our students safe by being an extra aware driver near our school.  We have many walkers and bikers before and after school who use the crosswalks in front of the car loop and bus loop.  In addition, we continue to educate our bikers about the dangers of crossing the road in places other than crosswalk locations.  Your diligence in watching for our young learners is appreciated!

Additionally, if you transport your child to or from school, please follow our drop off and pick up procedures by only using our pick up loop.  This location has adult supervision to help monitor our students safe arrival and dismissal.  When alternative pick up locations are made, inadvertantly a driver is late or accidentally misses a pick up causing great distress to a student waiting in an unsupervised location.  This also creates a safety concern that can be avoided.  Our car loop starts moving in the morning at 8:10 a.m. and has a continuous flow, so it is extremely time efficient.  Our car loop at dismissal also takes 10 minutes to completely clear out and have all students safely picked up.  Please partner with us on this; our students deserve it!

Picture retakes will be on Tues., October 13th for any student who was absent on the original Picture Day or needs to get a retake.  If a student is getting a retake, they must return their original picture envelope on the October 13th makeup day. 

To promote a safe and secure indoor school environment, create an inclusive atmosphere for all students, and to reduce distractions for the duration of the school day, the following school celebration guidelines will be followed:

• Classroom celebrations will be kept to one hour.

• Healthy snacks and alternatives to food to support allergies and our wellness policy are encouraged.  Some classrooms may have a “no food” policy due to allergies.

• Only volunteers and party classroom coordinators may be allowed in the classroom to help support classroom celebration activities per individual teacher request/classroom needs.

• Volunteers and party classroom coordinators may not bring any additional guests including siblings (of any age), relatives, etc.  

• Volunteers and classroom coordinators must complete the I-Chat Form and be cleared if they at any time are going to work with students independent of where the classroom teacher is.

• Halloween/Fall Celebration Specific: 

  • All Scott families may attend an outdoor Halloween parade of students around the building - weather permitting. More information about the parade time and location will be shared with families when the date gets closer.

  • Costume Guidelines: 

    • Simple costumes will be allowed at school.  

    • Scott School students are allowed to wear simple costumes to school.  Be mindful of student’s ability to participate in classroom learning and also PE and recess activities.

    • Costumes should be tasteful, modest and appropriate for a school environment.  

    • Costumes shall have no representation of violence, horror characters or be scary; no blood or weapons.  

    • Wearing costumes is an opportunity but not an obligation.  Families may choose whether or not their child participates.

    • If your child or you are questioning if a costume is school appropriate, it is recommended to lean on the side of caution and choose something else.

Below is a message from our DeWitt PTA.

Sponsor a Teacher or Staff Member

Help us show our teachers and staff some PTA love! For just $7, you can sponsor a staff member’s PTA membership for the school year. Your sponsorship gives them access to valuable PTA resources at the local, state, and national levels and helps us work toward 100% staff membership.

Sponsor a Teacher or Staff Member: https://tinyurl.com/staffdrive2627  

October PTA Meeting

Thursday, October 1 | 7:00 PM

Herbison Woods Media Center

Join us for our October PTA meeting! All families are welcome to attend, whether you're a PTA member or not.

Upcoming Events

Family Skate Night
Friday, October 2 | 5:00–7:00 PM
Edru Skate, Holt

Grab your skates and join fellow DeWitt elementary families for a night of fun on the rink! Edru will be closed to the public during our event, giving our families the whole rink to enjoy.

$10 per skater, including skate rental

Monster Mash
Saturday, October 24
Herbison Woods Elementary

Our annual Monster Mash is back! Bring the whole family for a free evening filled with dancing, games, a photo booth, and plenty of Halloween fun. Costumes are welcome, but dressing up is completely optional!

• Food and drinks will be available for purchase.

• Admission is free, but families are encouraged to bring a donation of individually wrapped, nut-free snacks to help fill the school snack closets for teachers to use in their classrooms.

Please register ahead of time so we can plan for the evening:

Register for Monster Mash: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/monster-mash--2026-3

In class is where it's at!  DPS is partnering on a countywide effort to support student attendance.  Of course, we understand when students are sick and need to be home to recover.  We are hoping by providing information about the educational impact of excessive absenteeism will help our families join this coalition to support student attendance at school which will ultimately improve student learning and social/emotional opportunities for support and growth.  Thank you for scheduling appointments outside of school hours and planning vacations and other events around our district calendar.  Check out these two amazing resources that are informative and provide a wonderful visual tracker for you and your child to monitor their attendance in school.

DeWitt Public Schools will continue to offer free breakfast and lunch to students this year.  Menus can be found here and will be updated soon.  We are grateful to families and our community members who donate healthy, no nut snacks to classrooms and our snack pantry which also provides our students brain and body fuel throughout the day.  Your partnership in removing hunger as a barrier to learning and child development makes a lifelong impact.  Thank you!

Student safety is a priority.  Please bring proper identification each time your child is picked up from school.  Here are some ways adults picking up students can be identified:

• Physical ID (ie. driver's license)

• Personal ID by office staff

• Other identification proof such as utility bills or other statements, credit card, etc., AND answer personal information that we have in Infinite Campus (ie. phone number, child's birthdate, etc.)

Thank you to the many families who have reached out and asked what donations they can make to Scott School.  Here is a list of things that we're always in need of:

• Healthy, no nut (doesn't contain nuts and is processed and packaged in a factory without nuts), individually packaged snacks

• Balls (basketballs, kickballs, soccer balls, and footballs)

• Disinfectant wipes

• Hand sanitizer

• Paper towels

There are some Scott students who have health-threatening nut allergies in our building.  Scott School is a 'No Nut' building.  Pack items that do not contain nuts for your child's lunch and snack.  It is critically important that we provide a safe learning environment for all students, and your help with this is needed and appreciated.  Please always contact your child's teacher if you have a concern about an allergy or other health condition related to your child that they should be aware of.  Also, if your child has a medical need, including food or other allergies, don't forget to update your child's Medical Management Plan by completing and submitting the district forms to the office before school starts so we can follow protocols to keep your child safe.

In order for Scott School personnel to administer medication to your child when we return to in person instruction, you must:

• Submit a completed district medication form to our office. 

• Be sure all medications are brought to and stored in our office. 

• Be sure prescription medication is in its original container accompanied with a physician’s signature. 

• Be sure non-prescription medication is in its original container accompanied by a parent’s signature. 

• Please communicate with your child's teacher if he/she takes medication daily at school. 

• If your child has a medical condition, please be sure to complete a Medical Management Plan for your child and turn it in at the office.

Medication and other medical forms can be found on our DeWitt Public Schools website.

Our school social worker, Mrs. Schwarz, is always willing to assist students and families in any way possible.  In addition to working closely with your child's teacher, consider reaching out to her if you have questions or need support.  She is truly amazing at what she does!  She can be reached at 517-668-3446 or schwarzdea@dewittschools.net.