PEACE
Parent Empowerment and Community Engagement Vol 2
Welcome
Here it is. YOUR newsletter
Welcome! ¡Bienvenidos! Chào mừng! Добро пожаловать! 欢迎!
The second edition of the PEACE newsletter.
The PEACE committee is so excited to put this newsletter together for you. We are committed to providing this space for news and information meaningful and useful to you. Our goal is that YOU, our D49 families, will provide input and direct this space. Your involvement and feedback is crucial. We want you here, engaged with us. Tell us what you want. Send us your concerns and ideas.
We value you and respect you. You are our family! We want to increase your engagement with your school and community across the district.
Table of Contents
In this newsletter:
*End of Year Celebration
*Important Dates to remember
*Re-designation of students
*P-ebt (Nutritional Services) (Free and Reduced Meals)
*Jobs in District 49
*Family and School Spotlight
*Summer Photo Contest
*Summer fun ideas
*Helpful Websites
*Tutoring
*Recipe Corner (Playdough)
Question for our Families
We are in need of families that would like to help other families in the district.
This could be helping non-English speaking families navigate the school system.
Support with community groups or events. Talk to someone in their first language.
All information is confidential and private. You will be contacted by someone in the CLDE office before any information is shared with other families.
Please indicate yes or no below.
If you answered YES, please indicate how you would like to be contacted.
Mission Statement
End of the Year Celebration!!!
Calendar
Important Dates to remember
May 14... Professional Development, No Students
May 26....Last Day for all students. K-12
May 29.... High School Graduation Ceremonies
May 31.... District Closed for Memorial Day*
July 4.......Independence Day**
August 2..First day of school for Kindergarten, 6th grade and 9th grade
August 3..First day of school for all students
August 9..First day for Pre-school
August 13. Elementary Assessment day
Memorial Day*
July 4th**
Redesignation of Students
Redesignation
Each year, students who are considered Limited English Proficient (LEP) must be tested in their English language proficiency. In the state of Colorado, that test is called ACCESS and measures a student's reading, writing, speaking, listening, and comprehension skills in English. This test not only lets us know your student's language proficiency, but it helps determine if they are ready to be considered Fluent English Proficient (FEP) and can transition successfully into grade-level content classrooms with minimal support from the CLDE teacher. Colorado requires that students score a 4.0 overall and a 4.0 in literacy on ACCESS in order to be considered for redesignation. Additionally, we must support this score with evidence of success in reading and writing that is comparable to their never-English Language Learner peers. There are also scores for students who have a significant cognitive disability and take Alternative ACCESS.
We are fortunate that many of our students tested this year but, due to COVID, we will not receive scores back until late May. This means we will review scores and evidence over the summer and, in collaboration with your student's CLDE teacher, make recommendations for students to redesignate early next year. It is your civil right to know and understand how well your student is acquiring language, so we will share scores with you as soon as possible. After students are redesignated, they undergo four years of monitoring (Monitor Year and Exit Year) to ensure they were not redesignated too early and are successful in the classroom before being considered Former English Language Learner (FELL).
I know this isn't easy to understand! We will offer parent academies to review scores and explain what you can do to support your student's growth both in the classroom and at home. It is our mission to ensure all our students acquire English and can be successful in school. If you have any questions, you can always ask your CLDE teacher to explain your students' ACCESS scores or speak directly with the CLDE Office. Together we can help our students succeed!
P-EBT. Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (Nutritional Services)
P-EBT FOR THE 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR IS COMING
Pandemic-EBT - extra funds for groceries while schools were remote or hybrid- returns
in late May!
Eligible students in remote learning models will get up to $136.40 per school
month. Students in hybrid learning models will get up to $81.84 per school month.
The P-EBT program is designed to reimburse households for meals missed during school closures for those who are enrolled in or eligible for the Free and Reduced-Price Lunch Program (FRLP). Families who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (also known as SNAP, or food stamps) Free and Reduced Program are eligible to receive the second round of P-EBT funding. If you have an EBT card, P-EBT benefits will be automatically added. If you don’t have a card, or need a new one, one will be mailed to qualified families, but to ensure delivery, all families must make sure their address is correct at their student’s school. Please contact your school to confirm your information is up to date.
Here is a link to the email that was sent out to all District 49 families: Click here for email link
Families eligible for free or reduced-price school meals are eligible for P-EBT! P-EBT
cards will be mailed directly to households or loaded onto a current SNAP EBT card in
late May. Contact your school office to make sure your address is correct! Visit
cdhs.colorado.gov/p-ebt to learn more about P-EBT.
Please Note:
· All students, regardless of immigration status may participate in the Free & Reduced Meal program.
· School meals will continue to be free for all students until the end of this school year.
· Children under 6 also qualify for this program
Jobs in the District
District 49 is hiring bus drivers. A school bus driver is responsible for the safe operation and transport of school-aged children to and from school. A full-time bus driver position is fully benefitted and has a guaranteed minimum of 5 hours per scheduled workday. A commercial driver's license (CDL) is required, however, paid training is provided to obtain that license.
More information is available in the job listing.
Para Educator (teacher’s aide) - This is a position where you would work with students under the supervision of a teacher. Required: Associate’s degree, 48 semester credits, or pass district approved para test preferred (required for Title positions).
Nutrition Services (cafeteria worker): Would need a high school diploma or equivalent; no experience required; experience in school food services or restaurant preferred.
Click here to see job openings: https://www.applitrack.com/d49/onlineapp/default.aspx
Family Spotlight
My name is Roseann Palfrey. I work in District 49 and am happy to share the story of my culturally diverse family.
At the end of the 1800’s, my maternal grandmother’s (Nona) family came from Northern Italy. She was born here, but the majority of her siblings were born in Italy. My paternal grandmother (Baba) came to the USA from Russia in the early 1900’s when she was 16.
I grew up in a culturally diverse small town in southwestern Pennsylvania. It was great being exposed to so many different cultural and religious traditions. My family attended a Russian Orthodox Church and celebrated Christmas on January 7th and Easter following Passover according to the Julian calendar.
As my four siblings and I grew up and married, we added more cultures to our fold. One brother married a woman, whose father’s family are Japanese. Another brother married a woman whose mother came from a Greek island. We even added another culture when my daughter had twin,s and their father is of Hispanic heritage.
We honor each of the different cultures with food. We might have sushi with turkey on Thanksgiving, pasta laza (Italian chicken soup) for Christmas, kapusta (Russian cabbage soup) for New Year’s Day, mole for Mother’s day and Greek orzo pasta for a barbeque.
School Spotlight
Pup Program at Springs Ranch Elementary School
Summer Photo Contest
Send a picture of you and your family participating in a family event or summer activity.
In August we will announce the winners and they will receive gift cards from local businesses.
Post your picture on social media and use #CLDE49
Summer Fun and Activities
Pikes Peak Library District
To Register and Play: Starting June 1, kids, ages 0-18, can sign up online at https://ppld.org/summer-adventure, or come into a local PPLD library, or use the Beanstack app available on Google Play or the App Store. Game cards will be available in libraries or participants may choose to play online or use the app. The gamecard is attached if you would like to distribute it to students, but they will have to wait until June 1 to register and begin. Participants will collect points by: Participants will get 1 point each day an activity is completed: Prizes up to age 12: Here is a link to our short Summer Adventure promotional video: https://vimeo.com/542341114
YMCA
Garden of the Gods
Free Days
Denver Art Museum
Denver Art Museum
Free 1st Saturday of every month
https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Sunday, May 23
Wednesday June 30 (Free Night)
Wednesday, August 11 (Free Night)
Wings of the Rockies
EBT card holders get $1 general admission up to 10 people
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
Free days 2nd Saturday and 3rd Friday of each month
Free for all 4th graders and their families
https://fac.coloradocollege.edu/
Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum
Free for All Must Pre Register
Space Foundation Discovery Center
EBT card holders get entry for $3.00 general admission up to 4 people
Helpful Websites
Pikes Peak Work Force https://ppwfc.org/
Tutoring
Rosetta Stone
Meet the PEACE CLDE Team
Grant Geis
719-494-8964
Karla Palacios
719-495-1149 ext. 4298
Diana Ramirez
Community Liaison
719-491-0327
Office hours. M-F 7:30-3:30
Ines Stabler
719-495-1149 ext. 3225
Linda Hagedorn
Leslie Allen
Recipe Corner
Playdough
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup water
- 2 tsp cream of tarter
- 1/3 cup salt
- 1 TBS vegetable oil
- gel food coloring
Instructions
Mix together all the ingredients, except the food coloring, in a medium saucepan.
Cook over low/medium heat, stirring. Once it begins to thicken, add the food coloring.
Continue stirring until the mixture is much thicker and begins to gather around the spoon.
Once the dough is not wet, remove and put onto wax paper or a plate to cool.
After cooling (30 minutes) knead playdough for a few seconds.
PLAY and Store in an airtight container in the fridge!
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Recipe Notes
The above will make you ONE large ball of playdough. I usually make it repeatedly for however many colors I want (so if you want 6 big balls, know that you will need 6 times the ingredients listed above, but you need to make them separately).