BisoNews

Dear Bison Families,

Our first couple of days with our Bison were great! It was exciting to welcome our kindergartners on the Red Carpet. Some struggled to say goodbye, but they ended up having a wonderful day once they met their teachers.

Our first full day of instruction starts Tuesday. We are ready for your kids! Teachers have planned engaging activities and they all had a chance to rest and reset during the weekend. It is important that your student is at school on time, everyday. Building good attendance habits starts NOW! Parents, please take advantage of our soft start and drop your students off starting at 7:30am. They can either eat breakfast or go directly to their classrooms. Instruction starts right away at 7:50am.

Please read on and become familiar with all of the fun offerings at Second Creek. We are the Bison family, and we are so excited you are a part of it.

Thank you for sharing your children with us!

Ana Marlatt

What do school staff do when students are away? Watch the quick video and see! :-)

Hi Bison Families! My name is Sheri Olson and I am the school counselor here at Second Creek. Part of my job here is to reach out to families regarding attendance when students are not in school for a variety of reasons.

I wanted to take a moment and let you know that the district as well as Second Creek is paying close attention to attendance this year. Attendance is a focus for us! This year the district as well as Second Creek is implementing several different initiatives to respond to students who are Chronically Absent.

What does chronically absent mean? It means that students who are absent beyond 10 total days, for the school year or 10% of the current calendar of school days, are considered chronically absent. This includes both excused or unexcused absences.

What is the result of being chronically absent:

• When students are not here, we miss them!

• Students fall behind whether they miss minutes, hours or even the entire day(s).

• When students miss instruction it impacts their future in ways yet to be determined.

I could repeat statistics of success and failure for our students around absences, but what we want our Second Creek families to know is that we have consulted with the district and have established guidelines as to how we will respond to students who are chronically absent.

Aside from missing academics, students may miss a variety of opportunities here at Second Creek. If your student is chronically absent, I will be in contact and our team will share next steps. I am not sharing this information with our Bison families as a penalty rather as an opportunity to communicate with all of you the value and expectation that our students are here. Here is the recap:

• We are paying attention to absences.

• If a staff member or myself reaches out to you regarding your students absences, know that we are reaching out because we care and we need our students here!

We are hopeful that you will join us to be part of changing the education trajectory for all our students by being here at Second Creek where we are ALWAYS BISON STRONG!

Remember:

• School hours are 7:45 am-3:30pm, Tuesday through Friday. Please have your students here on time.

• Please make appointments outside of the school day.

• Please do not take family vacations during the school year.

• Please respond if staff reach out.

• Please Communicate!

REMEMBER: Ensuring our students attend school each and everyday is one of the most important gifts we can give to our children!

We will continue to enforce or district's cell phone policy this year. Please read below and let us know if you have any questions:

• No cell phones can be used on campus.
• By campus, we mean playground areas and the inside fenced area around the school.
• Students are able to call parents once they are on the outside area of our fence. Please do not call your child's cell phone during the school day. You are welcome to call the office anytime.
• If your student is using his/her cell phone on campus, the phone will be taken and a parent or guardian will have to come pick up the device at the end of the day. This is their only warning.
• The only exception to this is student who must use a phone for medical needs. In this case, the phone should NOT be used for anything else, except the medical issue.
• This policy is meant to protect our students and provide them time to focus on instruction.

We share a lot of information through our Facebook Page. Please follow and like us and be in "the know" of what's happening!

Please check out our every day morning schedule below (starting on August 15th):

7:30am - doors open for all students. Breakfast eaters, please go DIRECTLY to the cafeteria. Do not stop to drop off backpacks before eating!

7:45am - First bell - students should be in their classrooms or moving towards classrooms.

7:50am - Second Bell - Instruction in the classroom starts.

If your student arrives on or after 7:50am, you must sign your student in and he/she is considered tardy.

Soft start is a simple way for students to ease into their school day. It is the period of time in the morning (7:30am to 7:50am) that doors are open for students to start arriving. These 20 minutes also help alleviate crowding in our parking lot.

We urge you to take advantage of this time. Bring your student to Second Creek on time in the morning and help students start the day successfully!

Soft Start for all students starts Tuesday, August 15th.

Find out more here

Scholarships are available for this exciting opportunity! Girls will have an amazing time building community, confidence and moving their bodies!

This activity takes place at Second Creek - after school. All you have to do is arrange to come pick up your daughter afterwards.

Please use THIS LINK to register. https://www.girlsontherunrockies.org/

With Ole Soccer, they will continue to develop their skills in an intimate setting, with an experienced coach. This activity takes place at Second Creek after school.

Our amazing PTO is preparing some great activities this year to bring our Second Creek Community together. Please keep an eye on Facebook posts or call our office to find out all of the information.

This is our 2nd Annual Movie Night and it will be so fun!

8/18/23 - come at 7:30pm/movie starts around 8:00pm - Back-To-School PTO Movie Night (more information coming soon!)

8/23/23 - First Day for all Preschool Students

If you are a returning family to Second Creek, you know our parking lot is small and needs special care during morning drop off and afternoon pick up. Thank you for contributing to the overall safety of our staff and students!

If you are a new family to Second Creek, please read the information below carefully. Staff and sometimes Commerce City police are out during morning drop off and afternoon dismissal to make sure everyone is safe.

Parents, it is very important that we do not park on the bus lane before or after school. Blocking the bus causes delays that go beyond our school.

Here are a few reminders about our drop off and pick up procedures. You know that Commerce City police pops in once in a while and issue tickets to vehicles that are not following our safety rules... so please make sure you are doing what you can do keep our students and staff safe!

• No parked cars in the "no parking zone" - which is by the sidewalk from the beginning of the parking lot all the way to the front doors. This is a fire lane and also a bus lane. There is NO PARKING anytime. Only drop off or pick up. We have noticed many cars parked waiting for the school to open in the morning, blocking the bus and causing lines of cars that go all the way outside the parking lot. Please drop off your student and go - no parking.
• Same rules apply for pick up after school.
• Students can be dropped off at 7:30am. We do not have supervision for students who are dropped off before these times.
• Students must be picked up at 3:30pm every day. We do not have staff to supervise students after school.
• Let us know if you need information about our before and after-school program.
• Please only use the handicap parking if you have a handicap license.
• The Staff of the Month parking is for staff only at all times.

We appreciate your cooperation!

The following businesses continue to sponsor Second Creek in wonderful and amazing ways!

Website

Eng Orthodontics

https://www.5280heroes.com/

Website: https://www.sd27j.org/Domain/10
Location: 9950 Laredo Drive, Commerce City, CO, USA
Phone: 303-655-7555
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/113896305938825/