January 2024

McKenny Hawks Are Kind, Safe, Respectful and Responsible

January Up-Coming Events:

9: PTO Meeting in the Library at 6:30 p.m.
10: Walk N Roll
11: School Board Meeting at 6:30 p.m. Knox Building or via Zoom
15: Martin Luther King Jr Day - No School
17: Cultural Kaleidoscope Night 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
18: 4th Grade to WA Center for Performing Arts
25: 2nd Grade to the Food Bank 5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
25: School Board Meeting at 6:30 p.m. Knox Building or via Zoom
26: PTO Movie Night at 6:15 p.m.

February Up-Coming Events:

1: First Day of Black History Month
2: Elementary Grading Half Day - Dismissal at 11:35 a.m.

Walk N Roll - January 10th

Our school hosts a Walk N Roll event one day each month. These are optional days that students can bike or walk to and from school, and once they arrive, can receive special prizes. Please wear helmets when riding, and make sure students are crossing roads safely. Walking or biking to school is not only amazing for your health, but it is also helpful to the environment!

Running Club is back!

McKenny Running Club is back starting at the end of February! More information will be forthcoming.

Food Bank:

2nd Grade will be going to the food bank on January 25th. More information to follow.

News from the PTO

PTO Meeting

PTO Meeting Tuesday January 9th 6:30-8:00pm: Come join us for the first PTO meeting of the new year in the school library. Join us to hear updates from Principal Havens and to discuss upcoming PTO events. We hope to see you all there! Can’t make it in person? Join us via Zoom.

Movie Night

Mark your calendars for the next movie night featuring Finding Dory, Friday January 26th, doors open at 6:15pm! The cost is $5 for the first student and $4 for each additional student. Movie night is open to all current McKenny students Pre-K through 5th grade. An adult is required to stay with Pre-K and Kindergarten students for the duration of the movie. Be on the lookout for a flier to come home which will contain sign up information as the date approaches.

Hawk Wear:

Looking for some new Hawk Wear? Check out the McKenny storefront at the Scarlet & Gold website to see the new designs by clicking this link. All orders are shipped directly to you.

Special Meeting:

The PTO hosted a special meeting on December 19th to discuss the Olympia School Board decision to open a 90-day window to accept community input regarding the possible closure/consolidation of McKenny and Madison Elementary schools. There was a lot of discussion about how to get involved and next steps that the community can take. There are two websites that have some good resources and ways to collaborate with other concerned community members, they are www.parentsofmckenny.com (open to all members of the community not just for families of students) and www.osdforall.com.

Yearbook

Submit photos of this year's McKenny memories to the Yearbook Snap App. Please be sure to label your photos with names and events so they can be accurately represented in the yearbook! Also, please note that if your student was absent for individual student pictures or Retakes and you would like their photo to be included in the yearbook in their class section please submit a photo so we can ensure all students are represented. You can also upload those photos via Yearbook Snap App or online. Yearbook Snap icon

Available on the Google Play Store: Google Play Yearbook Snap or the Apple App Store: Apple App Yearbook Snap. The password for our school is McKenny2024.

Please be sure to visit our newly designed website for all the latest information at mckennypto.org and follow us on social media.

Instagram: @mckennyhawkspto
Facebook: facebook.com/mckennyhawkspto

Principals Corner

Happy New Year McKenny Community!

I hope you were able to relax and enjoy time with family and loved ones during these past two weeks. As we return to school for 2024, I am so happy to be back around the students and staff members. I absolutely love serving as the principal at McKenny and spending time with the students brings me joy and energy on a daily basis.

With the recent news about the potential future of our school, our PTO leadership called for an emergency meeting. That meeting took place on the evening of Tuesday December 19 as we were headed into Winter Break. More than 150 people attended the meeting either in person or via zoom. I was emotionally moved by this show of support. In short, we talked about organizing and teaming up to strategize ways to keep this magical school open for years to come. In the wake of this meeting, one of our parents wrote an amazing article about our school and that article was published in the Olympian newspaper on 12/31/2023. Here is the link to the article:

ttps://www.parfaitbassale.com/post/mckenny-elementary-a-model-equity-school-faces-closure-under-supposed-equity-minded-district-board

Thank you Parfait Bassale for your efforts, your support, and your beautiful writing.

At some point during January or February, the OSD school board will hold a public hearing at McKenny as a part of the process for considering the closure of our school. (Again, no final decision has been made. We can still make our voices heard.) No date has been set for the hearing, but when the date is determined, we will let you know.

So what can you do?

1. Read Parfait’s excellent article in the link above
2. Be on the lookout for communications from the McKenny PTO because they have already mobilized in many ways
3. Attend this Tuesday’s PTO meeting to get more specific information on our strategies
4. Be on the lookout for communications from me regarding next steps
5. Talk to your neighbors. Even if they don’t have students at our school, their community would be affected by a vacant building in their neighborhood.
6. Email your legislators requesting that the state fully fund Special Education. Full funding, as promised, would go a long way to solving the OSD budget woes.
7. Contact the OSD school board members impressing upon them the importance of keeping our school open.
8. Continue to support your students and their teachers. This is a challenging time and we need to come/stay together.

ATTEND our Cultural Kaleidoscope on January 17 at 6:00 p.m. I will invite the Board Members and the Superintendent. A huge turn out will send a great message about the importance of our school community.

We’re here for you. We’re here for each other. We’re here for the students. McKenny Magic … we need to keep it alive.

Sincerely,
Michael Havens