North Notes
Blue Valley North's Parent Newsletter - May 19, 2023
In this Newsletter …
- Senior Info ~ Class of 2023
- Mark Your Calendar
- Bell Schedules
- Kudos and Celebrations
Counseling Updates
Boys State of Kansas Information
Kansas Education Enrichment Program
National Honor Society Information
Musical Instrument Drive
Athletic Announcements
Medical Messages
2023 BVN Spring Activity Guide
Parent Announcements
Updated Schedule Repair Process for 2023-24
Changes for 2023-24 middle and high school bus riders
CONGRATULATIONS to the Class of 2023!!
Graduation for the Class of 2023 will be held tomorrow, May 20, at 5:00 p.m. at the District Activity Center (DAC) at 135th & Switzer. We are expecting great weather! In the unlikely event that rain comes and we need to move indoors for graduation, we will be requiring families to have tickets to attend the graduation ceremony. Each graduate will receive 4 tickets for entry into the main gym at Blue Valley Northwest. Those spectators who don’t have a ticket can watch the livestream from the second gym at BVNW. All the details and the ticket link were sent in an email to all senior families on May 5.
If you are unable to attend our Commencement ceremony, but wish to watch it online, here is the livestream link: https://video.ibm.com/channel/2md3jNjUuKs
Lots of grad info can be found linked on our SENIOR INFO page.
- If your student needs a copy of their unofficial transcript, you can print it from StudentVue in Course History through June 30. Senior's StudentVue and senior parent's ParentVue accounts will be inactivated on July 1.
- Final Transcripts will not be available until after June 20. Do not schedule college enrollments prior to this date if you need to provide a final high school transcript to the college. Final Official Transcripts will be sent the week of June 20 through Naviance to the college selected on the Senior Exit Survey. If you need a transcript sent to any other institution, you must complete the Alumni Transcript Request under Quick Links on the BVN homepage.
- At the end of the graduation ceremony, each senior will receive a white envelope. This envelope contains his/her diploma and immunizations.
- The diploma is a one of a kind legal document, and no replacements are available. Please file it somewhere safe.
- If your student’s envelope does not contain the diploma, then this typically means you still owe fees or your senior has not returned the laptop. Please check ParentVue and then call the school to make arrangements to pick up your diploma once all fees are satisfied and the laptop is returned.
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Questions? email Mrs. Miller at lkmiller@bluevalleyk12.org
Mark Your Calendar
Upcoming All School Events
All BVN events, activities, sporting events and additional calendar adjustments are found on the EKL calendar: www.easternkansasleague.org .
Click here for the 2022-23 Blue Valley School District Calendar.
May 22 - Odd Day
May 23 - Even Day
May 24 - Finals: Hour 1, 7:40-9:00/Hour 2, 9:10-10:30/Dismissal at 10:30May 25 - Finals: Hour 3, 7:40-9:00/Hour 4: 9:10-10:30/Hour 5: 10:40-12:00/Dismissal at 12:00
May 26 - Finals; Hour 6: 7:40-9:00/Hour 7: 9:10-10:30/Dismissal at 10:30/Last Day of School
Blue Valley North Bell Schedules
Kudos and Celebrations
Boys' Tennis Team
Congratulations to the Blue Valley North Tennis Team for taking second place at State last weekend in Topeka. Coach Tracey Johnson and Coach Tracy Cooper led the team over the 2 day tournament to a State Runner Up finish as a team and a First Place State Title in Singles.
Asher Kort and Aneesh Vasamreddy placed 5th in Doubles. Arjun Reiland placed 5th in Singles. And CJ Smith won the State Championship in Singles without losing a set.
Congratulations to these boys and the entire team for a great season!
Counseling, Academics & Testing
- Virtual summer school registration for non-credit recovery classes is closed, however families may email Robert Asquith at rasquith@bluevalleyk12.org to inquire about class availability. Credit recovery (classes taken and failed previously) will remain open until the 1st week of June and families may sign up by emailing Mr. Asquith. More information about class offerings and dates can be found here - https://www.bluevalleyk12.org/summerprograms.
- In-person credit recovery summer school will be offered at Blue Valley North during the month of June. Please reach out to your counselor for more information and to sign up.
- Junior college and career planning information - Counseling Canvas Page/Junior College and Career Planning.
- Sophomore recommended Naviance tasks - https://bvusd.instructure.com/courses/76177/pages/naviance-10th-grade
- Freshmen 4 year academic plan information - Freshmen Four Year Academic Planning
- Check out School year and Summer Opportunities - Opportunities
- Visit the Counseling Virtual Calming Room
- Visit the Counseling Home Page to find additional resources or contact information for Counselors and other Student Services staff.
National Honor Society
Dear Parents and Families,
Are you a student who is in the class of 2023 or class of 2024 and have a 3.5 GPA or higher? Are you interested in being a candidate for National Honor Society induction in the fall? If so, please read on. Students need 40 hours of community service from January 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023. These hours must come from non-profit 501c3 organizations. We will not count hours such as walking dogs, babysitting a neighbor, helping someone move, tutoring, volunteering at country clubs etc. Students should already be on x2VOL, the platform that tracks hours, and should be recording and verifying hours on this online platform. An individual from the organization must verify hours with an email that is from a .org email address. Look online for opportunities that are posted on the x2VOL website. If you are questioning if hours count as community service, please contact Mrs. Cornelius and Mrs. Stein to get prior authorization.
Information will be sent out in the fall. But, tentative dates for the initial information meeting is Wednesday September 20 at 3:00 in the PAC and Thursday September 21, 2022 at 8:00am in the PAC. Attendance at one of these two dates is mandatory! We will hand out all information to students at this meeting. Other than community service hours, students are not working on anything else before this meeting.
Mandatory induction practice is Monday November 6, 2023 at 7:00am and Mandatory Induction Ceremony is Monday November 6, 2023 at 6:30pm.
Feel free to reach out to Ms. Cornelius (acornelius@bluevalleyk12.org) or Mrs. Stein (sistein@bluevalleyk12.org) with any questions.
Thanks!
Ms. Cornelius and Mrs. Stein
Click on this link for all NHS information:
Athletic Announcements
Girls' Golf Team 2023-24
There will be an informational meeting in the main gym during AST at 12:44 on Tuesday, May 16th for anyone interested in girls' golf this coming fall. Please sign up if you are interested through the QR code above. Questions? See Coach Clifford, BVN PE Teacher.
BVN Athletics' Questions?
Please contact Stevie Gibson, BVN Athletics Administrative Assistant, at (913) 239-3011 or SGibson@abluevalleykk12.org .
Medical Messages
Spread Kindness Not Body Odor
BVN KAY Club and the school nurse are running a deodorant drive to help collect deodorant to give to students in need. Donation Bins will be put out May 1st until May 19th. Thank you for supporting this cause. *The best products to donate would be unscented deodorant/sensitive skin.
Immunization News
Graduating 12th-Grade Parents – All graduating 12th graders will receive a complete copy of their immunization profile that was on file with the school. This document is very vital to hang on to. It is recommended that this immunization profile is kept with important documents such as social security cards and birth certificates.
Attention Raising 11th Grade Parents – all 16-year-old students in 11th grade for the 2023-2024 school year are required to have their updated booster of MCV4 meningococcal immunization before the start of the school year on August 16, 2023. Please E-mail any updates to your student’s immunization record to Nurse Collichio at ajcollichio@bluevalleyk12.org. Students who are not compliant will be excluded from school starting August 16, 2023.
Disease and Symptom Exclusion Recommendations/Regulations 2023
If your student has a fever with or without symptoms, they must be fever free for 24 hours without the aid of medication (Blue Valley nursing standard is fever =100 °F or above.)
If your student has diarrhea/vomiting/rash they must be symptom-free for 24 hours without the aid of medication.
Thank you so much for keeping your student and our school healthy.
Need to speak with the nurse? If you need to speak with the nurse, please e-mail ajcollichio@bluevalleyk12.org to set up an appointment.
Check out the Spring Activity Guide!
Click HERE. This is a great way to see photos of the athletic teams & performing arts students, find out more about their coaches and directors, and read a greeting from the BVN Principal & the Mustang Club Presidents.
Additionally, please take note of the advertisements from our corporate partners and give them your business whenever possible. We thank them for their support of the Mustang Club and our Blue Valley North students.
Parent Announcements
Safe Schools Reporting
Blue Valley Schools is committed to promoting and fostering a safe environment in and around all of our schools. Through the convergence of physical and intellectual security measures, we are continuously working to prevent, mitigate, respond to and recover from a wide range of emergencies. Please check out available ways to report safety concerns.
ParentVUE URL updated -- Action Needed
Over the summer the URL for ParentVUE changed. Click here for the new URL: ParentVUE
Parents will need to have the new URL or they won’t be able to login to ParentVUE or request a password reset. The Blue Valley School District website and the BVN website have both been updated with the new URL so the parents can access the link from Parent>ParentVUE.
In addition, this also impacts the ParentVUE app. Parents will need to update their device to the correct link.
Student Digital ID Cards
Students have a digital student ID card on their phones. If you paid for a Student Activity Pass, it should say that on the ID and students will show this to get into games. They can save their ID on their home page on an iPhone, or it can be saved as a favorite page on an android phone. If students were absent on Picture Day or if they have any trouble loading the ID, they can come to Student Services for help.
Family Activity Passes
All Family Activity Passes and Adult Individual Passes have been distributed. If you purchase a pass after September 13, you need to contact Lori Freeman, BVN Bookkeeper, to obtain your cards.
Are you moving? Have you moved?
Please contact the BVN Registrar, Suzy Doherty, by email at sdoherty@bluevalleyk12.org .
BVN Updated Schedule Repair Process -- 2023-2024
As you know, student course selection/enrollment for next school year has occurred at BVN, and we wanted to share a significant change with you for next year as a result of new district guidelines. We are sharing this with you now so that students prioritize the enrollment process they are going through, and carefully select their courses and alternates for the next school year.
Beginning in August for the 23-24 academic school year, per new district guidelines, Blue Valley North students will be able to make schedule “repairs” during the first three days of the Fall Semester if they meet the following conditions:
- The student completed a full schedule of course requests along with four alternates AND
- The student was placed into a class not listed on their original enrollment sheet
If the student's circumstance meets the above criteria, the student should reach out to their counselor during the scheduled repair window at the beginning of the semester.
Why change?
- We understand this is a shift from previous “schedule change” practices. However, the stability of the first week of school is essential to student success throughout the semester.
- The first phase of this transition began in December when the schedule change window was limited to 3 days before the semester started. This shift was overwhelmingly successful and allowed teachers and students to concentrate on learning on the first school day of the semester on January 4th. Counselors could also work with students on new enrollments and other student needs.
- Additionally, each school’s Master Schedule is built upon the numbers generated during our spring enrollment period. When significant changes are made in August, classes can become imbalanced, which may result in larger class sizes for your student.
Our continued commitment…
Each high school faculty has heavily invested in the enrollment process, ensuring that our students make informed decisions about their 23-24 schedule. Counselors have met with all students to check that the classes they selected satisfy the student’s graduation credits and fall in line with their post-secondary college and career goals.
Changes coming for middle and high school bus riders in 2023-24
The Board of Education voted to discontinue Payrider services for middle and high school students, beginning with the 2023-24 school year. The change was approved at Monday night’s board meeting. Services will continue for students residing 2.5 miles or further from home to school within their attendance area or who have transportation as part of their Individual Education Plan (IEP). The change does not impact Payrider services for elementary students.
The difficult decision was made at the April board meeting after an administrative update on the state of transportation, followed by recommended changes for the board to consider. The shortage of bus drivers negatively impacts families who participate in the Payrider program and students the district is required by state law to transport. The report notes that throughout this spring, Durham School Services, the district’s transportation provider is 12-18 drivers short daily. Hiring hasn't kept pace with driver attrition and absenteeism — an issue that is not unique to Blue Valley.
Impact of the driver shortage includes:
- Buses are late dropping off students for the start of school and late returning students home.
- Delayed arrival of students is a loss of instructional time, which negatively impacts the teaching and learning environment.
- Lack of drivers leads to early dismissal for after-school activities and loss of instructional time.
- Lack of drivers negatively impacts field trips.
- Increased staff workload to adjust, supervise or alternate plans due to late buses.
- Families are inconvenienced by the lack of predictability.
There were exhaustive efforts made this year to avoid further reduction of services to families who pay for transportation. Payrider services for middle and high school students were eliminated for families who lived under 1.5 miles from school. Additionally, school start time schedules were modified to allow more routes to be combined between grade levels.
These efforts, coupled with enhanced recruiting, wage increases and sign-on bonuses, helped temporarily stabilize student transportation. Unfortunately, the changes were not enough to close the gap between the number of requests for services and drivers required to run routes. Our community and surrounding area aren’t providing Durham with enough qualified applicants to cover routes at the current service levels being offered.
Anticipated impact of 2023-24 Student Transportation recommendation:
- Improves services to students who the district is required by state law to transport. The State of Kansas requires that student transportation be provided for students residing 2.5 miles or further from home to school within their attendance area or have transportation as part of their Individual Education Plan (IEP).
- Further closes the labor gap by the elimination of 10 routes. Approximately 764 middle and high school students will no longer be eligible for Payrider services.
- Maintains the elementary Payrider program and balances the number of buses needed at the middle and high school levels to be equal to the elementary schools.
While the news gives many frustrated families hope for more bus service reliability, the district understands that many families will be disappointed they are no longer eligible for bus service. Making the decision today gives families time to plan for safe and reliable transportation next year.
Current middle and high school Payrider program families should expect a notification letter from Durham about service changes.Durham will continue to transport our bus riders in the 2022-23 school year. If you have questions, please call Durham at 913-681-2492 or contact them via email at admin6700@durhamschoolservices.com.
We are Mustang Proud!
North Notes is a newsletter for the parents and students of Blue Valley North High School. If you have questions, please contact Janet Roush, Assistant to the Principal, at JRoush@bluevalleyk12.org .
The last North Notes of the 2022-23 school year will be on Friday, May 26. Please watch for the first edition of the 2023-24 school year, including registration information, on Friday, June 30.
Office Hours are Monday - Friday, 7:00 a.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Blue Valley North High School
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Email: Jroush@bluevalleyk12.org
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