Posted January 3, 2022
Dear Bear Valley Families,
We are excited to begin our second semester on Wednesday, January 5, 2022. Our goal and north star as we move into 2022 and a new semester is “Safety and Student Learning”. We prioritize the identity, emotional/social and physical safety of our school community as this is crucial to ensuring student learning.
As such, we want to communicate some very important updates that are important and critical to the start of the semester. Please ensure that you read this message in its entirety.
Remember that we will have two drop off times: 7:30AM or 7:50-8:00AM. All scholars must be in their seats as we will officially start taking attendance at 8:10. Please read more information about all the morning drop-off changes here.
Our school staff has overwhelmingly agreed that a consistent school-wide policy to bar cell phone use during the school day will help students stay more present and engage in their learning. The intent is to support them in their social/emotional, and academic success, removing a major temptation and distraction, and promoting face to face social interaction and connection. Phones are not merely distractions for students, but it also has shown to be a safety issue as it increases cyberbullying and Cell phones can very easily lead to peer pressure.
If you plan on having your child bring a cell phone to school they will need to have it in their locker at all times. Please ensure that you review our policy and inform your child that you will get a hold of them in emergency situations via our school phone. If your child needs to get a hold of you, they will be able to make a call in a classroom or the office. Please do not expect to communicate with your children via their cell phone during school hours. We know that this will help our students focus on school. The following is our policy when a student does not place the phone in their locker. Your partnership in this policy is crucial to your child’s success. We want to be proactive and having you speak to your child(ren) about this policy will help support our commitments.
| Step 1: | If a student has their phone during class, the teacher uses google hangout to have a dedicated person to valet* the phone.Will be placed in phone valet and student will pick up after school (3:05pm)An auto-dialer to families will be made to inform families |
| Step 2: | If a student refuses to valet phone, admin or culture team member will take them to the welcome centerStudent will need to valet phone and parent will be called to inform of occurrence.If student does not want to valet phone, parents will need to come to school to pick up phone |
| Step 3: | Once step 2 occurs for the second time: Admin will schedule a parent meeting and create a cell phone plan and the phone will need to be picked up by a parent or family member.Students may be referred to Saturday school due to loss of learning time.The plan may include (but not limited to) checking in the phone every morning, or banning bringing a phone to school. |
*Valet service – a secure way that hold phones when students do not place them in their locker
In order to ensure the safety of students and staff, backpacks of all sizes are not allowed in classrooms or anywhere else in the school. They must be placed in student lockers in the morning at student arrival. If a student has a medical reason to carry a backpack, staff will work with the student to get the bag checked at arrival. Please note that this will be authorized by the admin or the school nurse.
With COVID-19 positives increasing in our community, we want to remind you of our safety protocol. All students, staff members and visitors MUST wear a mask properly over their nose and mouth at all times. The only exception is when the student eats breakfast or lunch for a short period of time.
In order to ensure that we are following the district guidelines, we will send out communication when your child might have been possibly exposed to another person who has tested positive for COVID0-19. If your child has been identified as someone who does not wear their mask properly, you will receive a call to guide protocol. The nurse and/or our COVID coordinators may ask you if your child is fully vaccinated, the date of the last dose, if they have been tested positive in the last six months. If your child is not vaccinated and has not been wearing a mask properly, he/she/they may need to be quarantined.
If you are not a parent, guardian, or caregiver, you may also take advantage of a free program to receive Rapid At-Home COVID-19 testing kits sent to your home. You can learn more about the program here and sign up using the link here.
As communicated last month, in order to ensure that we keep our scheduling and daily operational capacity consistent to maintain our doors open, and to provide dedicated staff collaboration time, the second semester will include three changes to our schedule.
All students received a school assigned Chromebook in the fall. All students are responsible for having them every day, charged and ready to use when teachers include the use of them in their classroom. Please ensure that your child is bringing home their Chromebook, charging it and using it to complete school work. Especially in times where COVID quaratines may be a possibility, carrying their device back and forth is important to school success.
Finally, to receive school updates, please follow us on social media. We look forward to a new semester and a fresh start for all our scholars.
Please call 720-423-9600 or email bvoffice@dpsk12.org with any further questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Proud Principal
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