Important Bus Information

Since the week of January 23, 2023, West Fargo Public Schools has been forced to cancel multiple bus routes each week. Due to the chronic bus driver shortage, WFPS will unfortunately need to continue cancelling routes each week for the foreseeable future. A schedule of all district bus routes was randomly generated to determine the order in which routes will be cancelled; click HERE to view the schedule. 

The official determination of how many and which routes will be cancelled each week will be made and communicated to impacted families and schools no later than 5:00PM every Wednesday. 

It is the district’s hope that the driver situation improves; efforts are being made to recruit regular route drivers as well as individuals (including existing coaching staff) interested in driving activity routes. If you or someone you know (including current staff members) is interested in driving a route before school, after school, or for activities, please contact our Director of Transportation, Brad Redmond, to discuss possibilities. There is no simple solution to this problem; it will take all of us to come up with creative solutions and minimize disruptions to our learners’ routines.

Clothing Needed

We are in need of some small and medium sized sweatpants for students that have potty accidents at school.   If you have some sweatpants that you would like to donate, we would greatly appreciate it.  You can bring them to the school office.  Thank You.

Lunch Payments

Lunch Payments

Please make sure that your student has funds in their lunch account. You can go to www.myschoolbucks.com to make payments. 

January Students of the Month

Kindergarten 

Benson A., AJ T., Esther A., Kieran S., and Owen H.

Grade 1

Ayla Z., Hank W., Jack H., Hurley H., and Ben C.

Grade 2 

Ariana F., Hudson Z., Oliver B., and Ella H.

Grade 3 

Callum C., Coby R., Hadley J., and Loella B.

Grade 4 

Hayden M., Logan A., and Isabelle W.

Grade 5 

Harper K., Kaytlynn M., Aubrey B., and Camdyn B.

Why Regular Attendance Matters              

Research shows school absences can have a lasting impact on learning. One study on third grade reading level found the following:

• Only 64 % of third grade students who missed nine days or fewer in both kindergarten and first grade were reading at grade level.
• Only 43 % of third graders who missed more than nine days both years were reading at grade level.
• Only 41 % of students who were absent 18 or more days in either kindergarten or first grade could read at grade level. (Chronic Absence)
• Of the students who missed 18 or more days in consecutive years, only 17 % were reading at grade level. (Chronic Absence)

All school absences have a negative impact on learning, the effects of which can be particularly hard to overcome for student with pre-existing barriers to learning. Students with disabilities, English Learners, students from low income families, students in foster care, homeless students and students who have experienced trauma are all likely to have incurred gaps in their learning. Absences from school, excused and unexcused, only add to these losses. Among middle and high school pupils, poor attendance is one of the key early warning signs that a student is becoming disengaged from school and is at high risk for dropping out. One study found that a student who is chronically absent any year between eighth and 12th grade is 7.4 times more likely to drop out of school. Unfortunately, many schools, including WFPS schools don’t know if they have a problem with chronic absenteeism. Schools typically focus on Average Daily Attendance (ADA) figures and track truancy when children miss school due to unexcused absences. Both of these responses to absenteeism allow chronic absence to remain hidden. WFPS has average attendance rates over 94%, but absences are not spread equally among the 10,000 students.

CHAMPS in the Lunchroom

CHAMPS is our schoolwide Positive Behavior Support Plan that is implemented in our common areas of Brooks Harbor including the hallways, lunchroom, recess and also in classrooms.

CHAMPS Stands for:

• C-Conversation (voice levels)
• H-Help (how to receive help when needed example raise your hand, ask 3 before the teacher, etc.
• A-Activity (what the students task is at the time, for ex. Eating lunch)
• M-Movement (where the students should be or remain)
• P- Participation (how the students actively participate in the task)
• S-Success (when the students follow the above expectations they have success! 😊)

Our students have 20 min. for lunch and 20 min. for recess each day. With this tight schedule, we want to ensure all students have enough time to eat and finish their food. In order to help with this, once students go through the lunch line, we have them sit down and start eating right away at a level 0 which means voices are off. Once all students are seated and have had 5 or so minutes to start eating, we allow the students to move to a voice level 1 which is a whisper. Students can then still have time to eat, but an opportunity to also visit with their classmates. We do encourage students to eat and finish their food first. After about 5 more minutes, we allow students to move to a voice level 2 which is a conversation voice level. We then start dismissing tables, starting with the students that sat down first so all students get the same amount of time to eat.

We feel that the lunch routine is getting smoother and smoother as time goes on and students are getting more time to eat now that they are familiar with the routine and procedures. 😊