New Anchors Sailing with Us!

Please help us extend a warm welcome to the new Anchors joining our team:

• Beth Nally: Middle School Math Teacher
• Jamie Korfhage: Infinite Campus Tech
• Mackenzie Bartley: Food Service Director

Purchase Your Annual Sports Pass Now!

The Annual Anchorage Sports Passes are available to purchase on Ticket Spicket. This platform provides an easier process to purchase tickets at Anchorage sporting events and will reduce the volunteer workload at games. Children through 12th grade are admitted free, so you will only need to purchase tickets or a sports pass for adults attending the games. 

Fee: $50 which includes entrance to all home games, field, and gym, for one adult during the 2024-2025 school year.

**This pass is not eligible for tournaments or post-season events. You will need to display your electronic Adult All Access ticket at each APS home game you attend.

The APTA Welcomes You Back to School

The APTA is looking forward to another great year for our school community! There are so many dedicated volunteers who are working on making this year special for our students, staff, and families. 

We hope to see everyone at the APTA Newcomer Event on Sunday, August 4 at the Wilson home (1408 Walnut Lane). The event will start at 5:30 pm and the presentation at 6:00 pm.

In the meantime, please visit the APTA Cheddar Up Link below for APTA-related purchases.

APTA CHEDDAR UP LINK

Anchorage Independent School Board Meeting

Friday, August 2, 8:00 am

The Anchorage Independent School Board will meet virtually at 8:00 a.m.

on Friday, August 2, 2024. The agenda and video call link are posted here.

Chromebook Policy Reminder

for Middle School Students

Dear Parents,

As part of our middle school program, students are required to either rent, rent-to-own, or purchase a Chromebook through the school. We understand that some families who purchased Chromebooks for their former 8th graders may wish to pass these devices down to younger siblings once their older children move on to high school. Unfortunately, this does not align with our district policy. 

We would like to clarify that once 8th grade students graduate, the ownership of their Chromebooks transfers to the family, making these devices personally owned. According to our school policy, personally owned computing devices, including phones, tablets, laptops, and others, are not permitted for use in APS classrooms.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in adhering to this policy to ensure a consistent and secure learning environment for all students.

Thank you for your understanding.

Free and Reduced Price School Meals

Children need healthy meals to learn. Anchorage School offers healthy meals every school day. For more info, please visit the Cafeteria page on our website.

Authorization for Cafeteria Charges

The food service unit of the Anchorage Public School offers parents the opportunity to allow their children to charge à la carte and additional entrée items in the lunchroom. We require parental authorization to charge up to a maximum of one hundred dollars ($100) per child with the understanding that charges will be repaid in full prior to the end of the school year and that finance charges will accrue on outstanding balances. Also, as a service, parents can place

pre-payments on their child’s account for which their children can charge for items that they purchase.

Each year, parents must authorize charges by completing the following form and returning it to the Food Services Director. This must be completed and on file before the initial charge can be made.

In addition, we kindly request your cooperation in fostering open communication about authorizing extra cafeteria charges. In particular, we encourage you to engage in a thoughtful discussion with your children about the expectations and preferences when it comes to purchasing additional items like ice cream or special snacks during lunchtime.

Having this conversation will not only allow your children to better understand the boundaries and choices available to them but will also help avoid any potential disappointments during lunch.

Cafeteria Charges Parent/Guardian Notification

The Anchorage Independent School District offers a choice of healthy meals each school day. We strongly discourage meal charges, but we understand that an occasional emergency makes it necessary to charge a meal. Parents are encouraged to utilize our online system (www.MySchoolBucks.com) to monitor student balances and deposit money in students’ accounts using a checking account or a credit card. 

Our Anchorage Board policy states the following: 

“When a student accumulates more than $100.00 in charges, the Superintendent/ designee shall initiate the established collection process to include notification of parents and appropriate follow-up. If parents have not contacted the Cafeteria Manager or submitted the amount indicated within ten (10) working days from the date of the final notice, the debt will be considered delinquent and may be directed to the Board Attorney.”

This school year, the following process will be in place:

·       Students with a negative balance will not be allowed to charge a la carte items. This includes ice cream, extra entrees, and snacks. 

·       Parents will be notified after their child’s charges reach $50. If a child’s account continues to be delinquent and reaches $100, the child will only be allowed to purchase an alternative meal.

Click here to read the Food Service Letter Regarding Charges.

APS Library News

We are so excited about the upcoming school year in the library!  

We will continue using Beanstack to engage students in logging reading minutes. Our schoolwide reading minutes challenge is 100,000 minutes! Additionally, we will celebrate students who participated in and completed the "Summer Reading BINGO" challenge with Beanstack.

Don't forget - there is still time to honor students with a birthday book through the annual "Birthday Book Club". Check out the details HERE.  

Fall is a busy time in the library! Events and programming planned include - pumpkin book character painting, the Fall Scholastic Book Fair, StageONE Storytellers at the Halloween Carnival; and a visit by Alex Willan, author of Dragons are the Worst, Unicorns are the Worst and many more! 

Thank you for supporting literacy and learning in the library! #AnchoredinReading 

Back-to-School Health Documents

As a reminder, all new students and incoming Kindergarten students must submit the following forms prior to the start of school:

• Commonwealth of Kentucky Certificate of Immunization Status  
• Kentucky School Eye Exam Form   
• Kentucky Dental Screening Form
• Kentucky Preventative Health Care Examination Form.

Additionally, 6^th graders must provide the preventative health examination form and an updated immunization record.  

Once school starts, parents must bring in medication with an accompanying signed permission form. If the medication is prescription, please have this signed by your child's medical provider.  

Educational Enhancement Opportunity (EHO), Excused Absence Request, High School Shadowing for 8th Graders Form Reminder

To request an absence to attend or participate in an educational activity, to shadow a high school (for 8th graders) or for any other legitimate reason(s), please complete the Educational Enhancement Opportunity (EHO), Excused Absence Request, High School Shadowing for 8th Graders Form and return it to the school principal at least ten (10) days prior to the first day of the absence. 

Educational Enhancement Opportunity (EHO): An Educational Enhancement Opportunity (EHO) allows students to have an excused absence to participate in an educational activity outside of the school but be counted present in attendance and work be made up. The proposed activity must have significant educational value and be composed of an intensive program related to the core Kentucky curriculum (e.g. art programs, dance programs, State Fair activities, religious holidays, workshops that are educational in nature, shadow visits for 8th graders, etc.). A student may be approved for up to ten (10) days of EHO absences per year for this purpose. 



Excused Absence: As stated in Anchorage School’s Code of Conduct, the school principal may approve valid reasons, other than those already listed in the Code, to be counted as an excused absence and work allowed to be made up. 

High School Shadowing for 8th Graders: Eighth graders are allowed to shadow high school for up to two (2) days per year. We recommend scheduling any additional shadow days over the breaks or on days when school is not in session. 

The Principal will use his good judgment to determine if the activity listed on the request form meets guidelines. An email notice of approval/denial of the request will be sent by the school's office to the family.

EHOs/Excused Absences/Shadows cannot occur during the school’s state assessment or District-wide assessments. 

REACH Alert Will Keep You Informed

Sign-Up Today!

REACH Alerts: 

Emergency Status/School Closing/Severe Weather

In the case of severe weather, emergency status, or unexpected closings, delays, and dismissals the school will enable the ​REACH Alert System​ that sends school alerts via text messages, phone calls (cell or landline), and/or emails.

To register for REACH Alert, simply follow the following steps:

• Go to ​reachalert.com and click on MY ACCOUNT ​and then select CREATE ACCOUNT ​to establish your initial account.
• Follow the prompts.
• When prompted for Network Name, enter Anchorage School and click on the school name when it appears in the dropdown list.
•  When prompted for a role, select parent.
• Be sure to select to receive “alerts”. Individuals only registering to receive “Reminders” will not receive school closing information.
• Upon joining the school network you may also want to click on ​JOIN ​and select the​ City of Anchorage ​network.

If you opted to receive text alerts, REACH Alert will send a text message to your cell phone immediately upon completion of your registration. Please enter the 4-digit number on the registration screen and then click the word VALIDATE. ​If you do not receive this message, please call REACH Alert at (877) 307-9313 for assistance. After you have completed the registration process, you may add other phone numbers and email addresses. From your dashboard page, click on the second tab at the top of the page – CONTACT INFO​.

From this page, you will see where you can add

and delete numbers and addresses.

If you already have registered for REACH Alert through the City of Anchorage, your place of employment, child care center, another school, or any other organization you can skip the registration process and simply go to www.reachalert.com and login to your current account and click on JOIN NETWORK on the right side of your dashboard page. Enter Anchorage School and click on our name in the dropdown list and follow the prompts.

Official announcements for school closing may also be heard over WHAS radio and local TV stations. Listen for Anchorage Public School information. It is important to remember that Anchorage School does NOT follow Jefferson County’s decisions on school closings.

Important Note: We recommend that families select both “reminder” and “alert” boxes however, you must select “alert” to receive severe weather or emergency messages. Also, we use the same service as the City of Anchorage, so alerts will come from the same phone number. If your cell phone has auto-labeled the “sender” as “City of Anchorage” or “Angie Chick” you need to be aware that school messages deliver from that phone number as well. 

Please do not hesitate to email anchorage.webmaster@anchorage.kyschools.us for assistance or questions!

2024-2025 Carpool Line

Student Entry/Exit Points:

• K - 2: Front Carpool
• 3 - 8: Back Carpool - Gym Area

PikMyKid Dismissal App 

In preparation for next week, we are reaching out to remind you that our school utilizes PikMyKid to help organize the school dismissal process and improve safety.

For details on how to download the app, set up your dismissal method, and access training materials, please click on this link.

 Background Check Requirements for Volunteers

As required by law, any adult seeking to volunteer in the school, chaperone field trips, lead student groups in Jr. Great Books, Art Discovery, etc. must complete the volunteer approval process. The school district submits and pays for these.

The volunteer approval process includes:

Criminal Background Check (on the Youth Leader Request Form)

This check is good for 3 years so we ask for a newly completed form submission from all NEW parents and by parents with children in K, 3^rd, and 6^th grades, or if yours has expired; if you are not sure, you can call and check or just submit it again… we will not process your new form if you have a current check on file.

Central Registry Check for Child Abuse & Neglect

This is completed on a 2-page Central Registry Check Form WITH a copy of your Driver’s License (or SS card, Passport, or Birth Certificate).

Complete both forms and return them (and a copy of your ID) to the District Office for processing; we ask that these forms not be sent by email as SS#s are on them, but they can be hand delivered, mailed, or faxed. The School District submits both forms and pays for the processing.

We love our volunteers and want to make this process as easy as possible to complete. If you have any questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to call 502-245-8927, or email AshLeigh Foster, School District Secretary at ashleigh.foster@anchorage.kyschools.us

APTA August Teacher & Staff Birthday List

Our APS families are always looking for ways to celebrate our school and the people who work so hard to help raise our kids! Every month we will post teacher and staff birthdays in the School News. Please click the link below to see who is being celebrated this month!

In an upcoming school news, we will share a link to our Teacher & Staff Favorites list. It's a perfect place to look if you'd like to do something special for someone at APS. 

Click this link to see August's Birthdays (scroll to "August" slide)



*Note: ONLY birthdays with staff permission are shared

If You See Something, Say Something!

Safe Schools Tip Line

As students are preparing to start the 2024-2025 school year we would like to take this opportunity to share with you that you can access our Safe Schools Tip Line from our main school webpage or at the following link: Online Safe Schools Tip Line. The Tip Line is designed for use as an online reporting/prevention tool.

If students, parents, or community members know of an unsafe situation in school (bullying, weapons, drugs or alcohol, etc.), they can anonymously pass on that information to school personnel by using this basic email format.

What is it?

This Tip Line in no way replaces the face-to-face open communication and relationships built at our school. It is designed to be one more tool available for use by students or parents to report suspicious activity and unsafe situations at school. One unique attribute of an online tip line is its availability. Students, parents, or community members can submit information day or night. Some students may feel more comfortable utilizing an online format to report a situation instead of a face-to-face meeting with school officials. A benefit of the Tip Line is to add another layer of accessibility between students and trusted school personnel. This tip line is not for immediate response. If anyone needs immediate assistance, they should dial 911.

How does it work?



Students, parents, or community members click the Online Safe Schools Tip Line on the Anchorage School website and choose whether they want to submit a tip about 1) Bullying, 2) Violence, or 3) Other risky behaviors (i.e. alcohol, drugs, self-harm, sexual abuse or theft, etc.…). Next, they fill in the checkboxes and provide an explanation of the behavior and click submit. Tips may also call into the Tip Line at 866-393-6659 if that method is preferred. Anchorage administrators will be contacted by The Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to investigate tips in a timely manner and take the appropriate next steps.

11400 Ridge Road,

Anchorage, KY 40223

Phone: 502-245-2121