Northridge Elementary Weekly Blast

Sept Dates:

21 - Volunteer Meeting 4pm, Kona Ice 3:30pm

22 - No School/Professional Development Day

27 - SAC Meeting 8:45am - 10:15am

27 - 29 - 6th Grade Outdoor Ed (overnight)

If you received an immunization notice for missing immunizations, please get those done as there will be a school exclusion date of November 1st. If you have any questions please feel free to email our school nurse - Sarah Wilson at swilson3@dcsdk12.org or call at 720-584-2511.

Dear NRE Community -

What a wonderful way to end the week with Multicultural Night! Below you will see a variety of pictures of all of the culture and festivities from the night. More to come on this but first I will recap the week.

On Monday, we had Ian Wells, Director of the West Highlands Ranch Region, come to NRE to do some instructional rounds and see the learning that is taking place at NRE. I was proud to show Ian the fabulous things that happen day in and day out at school. Our students and staff work extremely hard teaching our students and keeping them safe. Did you know that our CMAS scores are the second highest in DCSD and ranked 18th in the state of Colorado? I am extremely of this because we welcome all kids. We are competing with private, charter, and public schools and we continue to rise to the top. At our next SAC meeting coming up on 9/27 at 8:45am we will going over this data and our School Performance Framework. We hope you will join us in person in the library or virtually if that works better for your schedule.

For most of the week, the front office and I have been working hard to get the charter bus company who previously committed to driving for fields trips to answer our phone calls and emails to ensure we could still do our field trips for the upcoming week. Unfortunately, despite numerous voicemails and emails by front office staff and myself, we are left unsure if they will show up this week. Transportation continues to be a nightmare both for students getting to/from school by district buses due to the shortage in bus drivers as well as charter bus companies not returning phone calls. This week, we have had to cancel one field trip for our kindergarteners (thank you to Chatfield Farms for refunding our field trip as they said they have had to do this for many other schools as well) and plan a back-up plan for our 2nd graders for next week in case the buses do not show on Tuesday. Based on Tuesday's experience will prepare us for Thursday when 1st grade is supposed to go on a field trip. Both 1st and 2nd grade teachers are preparing for back-up plans as the same company is who was supposed to take our kindergarteners on Wednesday. We are doing our best to make this happen but unfortunately the Magic School Bus was just a television show.

Despite all of this, our Specials team of teachers were actively preparing for Multicultural Night with the help of Dita who chaired the event last year and promised to do it again this year as well to make sure we could still make this happen! We could not have done it without the help of Dita and Dina who were at NRE all day helping us get everything set up inside. Although the weather turned out great, it takes hours and hours of preparation to get everything up and situated to make it all happen.

Thank you to everyone who hosted a booth this year! We had Afghanistan, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hawaii, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Spain, and Sweden. I loved talking with all of the families, current students and students from middle and high school who come back because they love this night too. We have a tremendous community and we are so lucky. The art work, the tapestries, the personal quotes from students on why they are unique and all of the fabulous booths to show culture truly made the night an evening to remember.

As I walked around and visited with families, I was filled with pride. I was proud that the building was filled with families who were at school to experience culture from around the world. I was proud that parents had spent hours getting ready for their booths and were so excited to share their culture with others. I was proud that my parents are still willing, able, and healthy to share Spain culture with everyone and my niece came too. I stopped for a moment to turn and saw our student teacher Ethan and he had the biggest smile on his face. I asked what he was thinking and he replied something like, "I have never seen anything like this in my life. Why doesn't every school do this? I'm going to try and do this at whatever school I land at because this is the best!"

I hope you are enjoying your weekend with the beautiful Fall weather. I look forward to a wonderful week with your child(ren).

With love,

Katie

Principal

The application window for the 2024-2025 school year is now open.

Application Deadline: November 17, 2023.

To begin the application process please carefully review the 2023-2024 Discovery Program Application and Process Information linked HERE.

After careful review of the information above, use the following information to formally initiate the application process.

In-District Discovery Program Application Information

Student currently enrolled in a DCSD School in grades 1-5

Out of District Discovery Program Application Information

Students currently enrolled in a non-DCSD school in grades 1-5

Home School Discovery Program Application Information

As a continuation of its "Share This Wonder-Full World" campaign aimed to inspire parents to be their child's role model and to increase unstructured outdoor play, Generation Wild is jumping on the wagon for Colorado's Ultimate Road Trip and sharing fun ways that parents can get their kids outdoors well into the fall. The Colorado Passport Program offered through Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) encourages families to visit our state's incredible parks and hatcheries. After visiting all state parks or all 15 hatcheries and receiving a passport stamp, children will receive prizes provided by CPW and Generation Wild. Learn more. >>

DCSD is hiring for a variety of positions, including bus drivers, transportation assistants, educational assistants, BASE workers, kitchen assistants, building engineers, security dispatchers, grounds and maintenance and so much more. Learn more and apply today at www.dcsdk12.org/careers.

The iMatter program can connect youth (and adults) with a therapist for up to six free virtual counseling sessions that are completely confidential. Learn more. >>

Suicide Prevention Week - September 10-16

Suicide is preventable! Everyone being aware of suicide prevention can keep people safe. Asking someone directly "are you thinking about suicide?" does not put this idea in their head. If the idea is there the person will feel a sense of relief that someone took the time to care and ask. When you are worried about someone, express authentic concern and get them professional support. Everyone no matter their training is important for keeping communities safe. There are supports available in schools. School counselors, social workers, nurses, and psychologists can assess students with suicidal ideation and work collaboratively with them and their family to develop a safety plan, provide services, and link them to additional resources. You can get support by going to see your school mental health provider, calling, emailing, or using Safe2Tell, or calling or texting the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Free, confidential, professional help is available 24/7 through Colorado Crisis Services. If your child is in crisis, call or text now.

844-493-8255

Text “TALK” to 38255

Do you have immediate concerns about your child’s life, safety or the safety of others?

If you or your child is experiencing a mental health emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room right away.

NRE Bus Cancelation Schedule for Routes 53 & 58

Highlands Ranch Routes: 53

October 9 -13

November 27 – December 1

January 16 - 19

February 20 - 23

April 1 - 5

May 6 - 10

Highlands Ranch Routes: 58

September 25-29

November 6-10

December 18-22

February 5-9

March 11-15

April 22-25