Atchison Middle School announces fundraiser, promotion date and transition meeting

Spring at Atchison Middle School is already filling calendars, and for families with students in the building, the next few weeks will bring money to raise, dates to remember and a move to prepare for. The school’s homepage is pointing parents to a Music Bingo fundraiser through the AMS KAYS Club, with proceeds meant to help students cover summer camp costs at Rock Springs Ranch.

That fundraiser ties directly to a practical goal: making leadership camp more affordable for local students. The KAYS Club has a strong record behind it, too. Atchison Middle School recently congratulated the club on earning another Gold Award, which gave the group five straight years of recognition and made it the only middle school in Area 1 to do so.

The biggest date on the middle school calendar is Monday, May 18. Atchison Middle School says 8th-grade promotion will be held that day, which is also now the last day of school for students in PreK through 11th grade after the USD 409 Board of Education approved a calendar change at its April 13 meeting. The district’s public events calendar also lists May 18 as the last day of school and May 19 as a teacher work day. Seniors are on a different schedule and are not affected by the PreK-11 change.

For families with an incoming ninth grader, Atchison High School will host a Rising Phoenix parent meeting on April 29 to help ease the shift from middle school to high school. The meeting is aimed at parents of 8th graders who are getting ready for the next step at Atchison High School, and it gives families a chance to sort out questions before the move becomes real in the fall.

The AMS homepage also notes that yearbooks are on sale and ordering information is posted online, another item that usually becomes part of the spring checklist as the school year closes out. USD 409 says it uses several communication channels to keep families informed, and this stretch of announcements shows why: one page now covers the fundraiser, the promotion ceremony, the transition meeting and the final days of the school year all at once.