Coach Dyer: kdyer@avennuecityschool.org
Assistant Coach Forney: bforney@avenuecityschool.org
To: Parents / Guardians
RE: Emergency Drills
The safety and welfare of our students and staff are our highest priority at Avenue City Elementary School. We practice safety drills throughout the year to help our students know what to do in an emergency. We complete fire, tornado, bus evacuation, earthquake, and intruder drills. We want you to be aware that Avenue City School has made many preparations to deal effectively with emergencies that could occur in or around the school while classes are in session. While we hope that a natural disaster or other serious incident never occurs, our goal is to be prepared for any potential emergency. At all times, our first priority is to protect all students and staff from harm.
The school district has and continues to work closely with local authorities to correctly implement these procedures. The goals of the training drills are to improve our ability to protect students, save lives, and reduce injuries. These practice drills allow us to evaluate our emergency operation plans and improve our response skills. In order for our emergency-response plans to be effective, we depend on the cooperation and assistance of many people, such as the police and the fire department. We also depend on you, as parents, to support our disaster-response efforts. Your cooperation is vital to helping us protect the safety and welfare of all children and school employees.
Therefore, we ask parents to observe the following procedures:
We are proud that Avenue City School is a safe school, and we are doing everything possible to keep it that way. We appreciate your cooperation and support. If you have any questions about this letter or other aspects of our safety procedures, please contact Holcumbrink at 816-662-2305.
Date: September 8, 2023
RE: Avenue City Groundbreaking
Welcome to today’s ceremony. Our students are glad to welcome Ellison Auxier Architects, Brooner Construction, staff, and parents. It is an honor that you have all joined us today at Avenue City School.
In 1957, four one-room schoolhouses consolidated to make Avenue City School District. At that time, this community had a dream to create a space where learning will flourish. Since that inception, our ACES K-8 family has grown from 56 students in 1957 to 226 students in the year 2023.
By working together, this community has created a learning environment that is accepting, stimulating, challenging, and worthwhile. We help our students master basic skills, become adept at problem solving, and master responsible decision-making. As students transition from preschool to 8th grade the community is dedicated to helping them develop self-discipline required for success. This self-discipline promotes success beyond the walls or our building. Our tradition of fostering healthy, caring, educated, ethical citizens who are productive members of our community often leads our families to move back to Avenue City so that their children can attend. These families want their children to attend Avenue City School because it is truly is the “best place for kids to learn.”
What a blessing it is to be an Avenue City ACE and to experience the support and love of our community!
This construction brings many new opportunities for our growing district. By this time next school year the district will gain a high school regulation gym, middle school science lab, a fine-arts wing, another middle school classroom, and a change in the playground area. Each of these additions will benefit our growing population.
I think we can all agree that this journey is a perfect example of cooperation and teamwork. While we have come a long way since 1957, this community continues to honor traditional values while excelling in academics.
The taxpayers continue to support this school, by meeting the challenges of our growing population and an ever-changing climate in regards to public education. Last April these taxpayers proved that they overwhelmingly want what is best for the children in the Avenue City School District. With the cooperation of our Parent Teacher Organization and district constituents the vote passed by 88%. I want to take this time to thank them for their support. Without their support and the dedication, vision and the leadership of Mr. Don Lawrence, Travis Elifrits, Justin Palmer, Nick Salmons, Tonya Ball, Codi Hickman, Abe Forney, and Rodney Davison this project would not be possible.
This construction project is not about building a shelter. It is about realizing dreams that our community had sixty-six years ago and creating spaces where learning will flourish for the students at Avenue City now and in the future.
Becky Grimes
Superintendent
Avenue City School
Introducing Paywat
Great news our school uses Paywat, an easy-to-use, safe, and convenient way for parents and guardians to manage their child(ren)'s food service account balance.
Online payment will now be the preferred method of settling food service account balances, and all parents will be encouraged to pay via the Parent Portal. Parents can still pay by check or cash if they wish.
All school fees applicable to your family will be posted on your Parent Portal. Parents will have the ability to conveniently pay for school fees with their debit or credit card. Currently, we are only accepting online payment for lunch account balances.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How do you pay online?
A. You pay online in your school’s parent portal. This can be accessed from your existing Parent Portal.
Q. Who do I contact for help getting started?
A. Please get in touch with us if you have any challenges accessing your parent portal. 816-662-2305
Q. Who do I contact for pricing or refund questions?
A. Please get in touch with your school if you have any pricing or refund questions. 816-662-2305
Click on link below to see video welcome message .
Welcome to the 23-24 Learning Season from Superintendent Grimes.
Construction Update August 2023 and new parking lot procedure. Please click the link below for information.
The Board of Education of the Avenue City R-IX School District of Andrew County, Missouri at a regular meeting on August 10, 2023 approved the sale of $3,900,000 General Obligation Bond Issue to its Municipal Bond Underwriter, L.J. Hart & Company of St. Louis, Missouri. "We appreciate the strong vote of confidence we received from local patrons at the election and want to lock in interest rates that are still favorable in the current rate environment," stated Travis Elifrits, President of the Board of Education. These new money General Obligation Bonds were approved by about 87.50% of the voters at the April 4, 2023 election, for the purpose of providing funds to expand the gymnasium/physical education classroom, add additional gymnasium bleachers, construct an addition to the Middle School, and to upgrade existing utilities and infrastructure.
The bond marketing process provided the first opportunity to invest to local financial institutions and according to Thomas J. Pisarkiewicz, President of L.J. Hart & Company, Southern Bank purchased $200,000 of the bonds. This local support was helpful to the success of the financing. “It is nice that our marketing procedures facilitated this local involvement while still receiving attractive interest rates,” commented Rebecca Grimes, Superintendent of Schools.
The Board of Education selected the negotiated sale of the bonds in order to capture current market conditions, to be certain that local banks received an opportunity to purchase the bonds, and because the proposed interest rates were fair based upon current conditions in the municipal bond market. Ms. Grimes stated that the District did compare proposed interest rates with the Municipal Market Data (MMD) index and other Missouri issues with a similar rating quality sold at competitive and negotiated sales to be certain that rates for the District’s bonds were favorable. “Based upon pricing of these other financings, and the MMD index for “AA” rated General Obligation Bonds our rates were consistent with other financing with a similar quality level of bond issue,” Ms. Grimes remarked.
The information shared by L. J. Hart & Company indicated that the bonds are scheduled to mature on March 1, 2025 through March 1, 2039 with reoffering yields ranging from 3.250% to 4.000%which produces additional funds for the projects in the amount of $213,485.75. The interest income from the bonds is exempt from federal and state of Missouri income taxes and the bonds were available in $5,000 denominations.
These bonds carry a "AA+" rating from S&P Global due to the District's participation in the State of Missouri Direct Deposit Program coordinated through the Missouri Health and Educational Facilities Authority.
The bonds do contain optional redemption (call) provisions on March 1, 2028 at no penalty that will facilitate the reduction of future interest expense in the event of prepayment or a future refunding to lower rates if market conditions make it economically feasible. The financing proceeds are expected to be available to the District by August 24, 2023 and will be promptly reinvested by the District to earn additional interest for use in the completion of the projects. The legal documents to complete the issuance of the bonds were prepared by Rick McConnell, Esq., of Armstrong Teasdale, LLP in its role as bond counsel for the District.
Do you want to be more prepared for the 2023-2024 school year? The following is a list of forms / information that you will need for your student's 2023-2024 school year.
Click here to complete ON LINE registration! Registration forms will be on-line through the Parent Portal. Your log-in information has not changed from last year. - NOT YET AVAILABLE.
Important Documents for your reference:
NEW STUDENTS: The following are links to forms that you will need to register you child for school: Click on the links to print the forms so that you can begin now!
ALL STUDENTS:
MEDICINE DISPERSING FORM AND OTHER HEALTH FORMS CAN BE FOUND UNDER "NURSE'S OFFICE" - If your child has food allergies, asthma, diabetes, bee sting allergy, or seizures additional forms are required and must be completed by their physician. These forms can be found in the nurse’s corner on our website. If your child has asthma please supply a chamber/spacer with their inhaler. Per CDC nebulizer breathing treatments are not recommended during the current pandemic.
