North Notes
Blue Valley North's Parent Newsletter - May 5, 2023
In this Newsletter …
- Teacher Appreciation Week Donations Needed
- Yearbook Distribution Day - May 12
- Mark Your Calendar
- Bell Schedules
- Reporting All Day Absences
- Mustang Choir Showtime - May 12
- Kudos and Celebrations
Senior Info ~ Class of 2023
Senior Class Fundraiser
Senior Class Reunions with Feeder Schools
Counseling Updates
Kansas Education Enrichment Program
Athletic Announcements
Medical Messages
2023 BVN Spring Activity Guide
Parent Announcements
Updated Schedule Repair Process for 2023-24
Durham Bus Information
Teacher Appreciation Week Donations Needed - May 8-12
Next week, May 8-12, is Teacher Appreciation Week! We have lots of special treats for our amazing, hard-working staff planned. The Mustang Club is going to provide an Appetizer Luncheon on Monday, May 8th to kick off the week. On Thursday, May 11th, we will provide a breakfast and donations can be dropped off on Wednesday, May 10 or the latest by Thursday, May 11 by 7:15 a.m. We would love for you to bring your favorite party foods to help us celebrate our BVN teachers.
If you would like to donate, please click on the following link to signup: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080D49AAA622A02-appetizer
Thank you for your donation and helping us spoil the BVN staff!
BVN Yearbook Distribution Day - Friday, May 12
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 12 - Yearbook Distribution Day
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
Blue Valley North Attendance Office Tips for Reporting Absences
If you call attendance directly at 913.239.3001 and leave a VM message, there can be up to 70 voicemail messages each morning for Rita to listen to and manually enter. Please be patient if you do leave a phone message as it can take all morning for Rita to get through these phone messages.
In summary, the best way to notify BVN Attendance for an all-day absence is:
- Enter it in ParentVue
- Email attendancebvn@bluevalleyk12.org
Thanks for helping us manage student absences efficiently!
Choir Mustang Showtime - May 12
Mustang Showtime is Friday, May 12th at 7:00 p.m. in the BVN PAC. This performance is unlike any other the choir department has done this year! Our theme this year is “Live in Living Color” and we will perform music from various Broadway shows and artists such as Elton John, Van Morrison, Katy Perry, Sara Bareilles, and the Backstreet Boys! We are going all out with hiring a band, bringing in a cool lighting design, and dancing!
Mustang Showtime is the Choir Department’s only fundraiser for the year and proceeds from the ticket sales go directly to support BVN Choir. Tickets are on sale now through the show and can be purchased here. Please help us spread the word and we hope to see you Friday, May 12th at 7:00 p.m.!
Kudos and Celebrations
Rhea Sadagopan has been selected for a 2023 First Class Achievement Award in Writing, given by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). The NCTE Achievement Award in Writing is a school-based writing program established in 1957 to encourage high school students to write and to recognize some of the best student writers in the nation. Only students who are juniors may participate and are nominated by their ELA teacher. Schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, US territories, Canada, and American schools abroad are eligible to nominate students for the writing program.
This year, schools nominated 360 students. Of that number, 114 were selected to receive the First Class designation (the top designation), 131 received the Superior designation, 71 received the Excellent designation, and 31 received the Merit designation. Each student submitted one piece of writing. Two to three independent judges score each submission on expression of ideas, language use, and unique perspective and voice.
Girls' Swimming and Diving Team
The Lady Mustangs have been on a roll as they prepare for EKL this week and State in just a few weeks! The team had huge wins at the Shawnee Mission Invitational and a BVN hosted ‘quadrangular’ meet against Aquinas, Mill Valley, and Saint James. Needless to say the Mustangs more than ready to make a run at State. Way to go Ladies!
State Qualifiers:
Charlotte Barton - 50 Free
Paige Sears - 50 Free, 200 Free
Kate Hettinger - 500 Free, 200 IM
Lillie Mock - 200 Free
Madi Stewart - 200 IM, 100 Bk, 100 Free, 200 Free, 100 Breast
Sienna Masiliones - 200 Free
Natalie Patterson - 100 Back
Abi Patterson - 100 Free
Margo Hauser - 100 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Free
Sarah Blake - 200 IM, 100 Bk
Emma Gaebler - 100 Fly
Sami Spieker - Dive
State Consideration:
Natalie Paterson - 50 Free
Abi Patterson - 500 Free
Emma Gaebler - 50 Free
Claire Zell - 500 Free
Lily Logan - 100 Breast
Lillie Mock - 200 IM, 100 Breast
DECA Nationals
Congratulations to the DECA members for their exceptional performance at the Nationals held in Orlando, FL. It was a remarkable achievement to have made it this far. The following outstanding DECA Team members qualified and represented BVN at nationals:
Joy Yan
Meghan Coleman
Adam Wang
Austin Lo
Manoa Nicholson
Harris Wilson
Caroline Massman
Maddy Hall
Emerson Harse
Meghan Coleman and Joy Yang made it to finals for the Community Awareness Project and Caroline Massman qualified to finals for Business Finance. BVN's DECA Team has had great success because of their talented and motivated group of individuals. Congratulations on a job well done!
Boys' Tennis Team
The Varsity Boys Tennis Team competed in Wichita and finished in first place as a team. CJ Smith (senior) won first place in singles. Zachary Amsterdam (senior) and Connor Engram (junior) won second place in doubles. Arjun Reiland (freshman) won fourth place in singles. Aneesh Vasamreddy (senior) and Nathan Lokko (sophomore) won sixth place in doubles. Way to go Mustangs!
Congratulations to the following BVN students who won awards at the Blue Valley Educational Foundation Night of Lights event on April 28, 2023!
Rhea Sadagopan - 2nd Place in Drawing
Merritt Gregory - 1st Place in Painting and Best of 2D
Seniors--Info for Class of 2023
Saturday, May 20 is just a couple weeks away! Graduation for the Class of 2023 will be held at 5:00 p.m. at the District Activity Center (DAC) at 135th & Switzer. We are hoping for great weather but in the 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 today.
Parents should also plan to attend Class Day in the BVN gym on Friday, May 19, at 8:00 a.m. Class Day is considered to be the first half of our graduation celebration. On that Friday, we’ll have a senior processional into the gym. There will be senior speeches, awards and celebrations.
Lots of grad info can be found linked on our SENIOR INFO page.
NOTE--Gowns for the Class of 2023 are NOT the same as previous years, so an older sibling's gown cannot be used this year. If you need to order cap & gown, go to www.Jostens.com. or click here: ORDER HERE.
If your student knows they are not planning to participate in the ceremonies, there is no need to purchase the cap & gown--please have your student notify lkmiller@bluevalleyk12.org .
- The Project Graduation Committee is close to our goal of serving every student in the 2023 graduating class with a safe place to celebrate on graduation night. Project Grad Tickets are on sale @ The Mustang Club (BVN Parent Booster Club) - Senior Class 2023 (membershiptoolkit.com) If you have any questions, please email Jill Welhoelter at jillwelhoelter@gmail.com.
- Project Grad volunteers will have a table at lunch next Wednesday and Thursday, May 10-11. Seniors can purchase tickets with cash or check payable to the Mustang Club.
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Questions? email Mrs. Miller at lkmiller@bluevalleyk12.org
Valley Park Elementary Senior Reunion - May 11
Leawood Elementary Senior Parade - May 12
Overland Trail Elementary Senior Reunion - May 17
SAVE THE DATE: Overland Trail Elementary Alumni - 2023 BVN Graduates. You're invited to a Senior Reception at OTE. The PTO puts this on each year for graduating seniors to come back to OTE to walk the halls, thumb through old yearbooks and see their old teachers. Stop by on Wednesday, May 17th @ 4:00 in the OTE Library!
Counseling, Academics & Testing
- All seniors should submit their Senior Exit Survey prior to graduation. Among other things, the survey allows students to name the college they would like BVN to send their final transcript to. This serves as the final transcript request and no further request is necessary. For students who do not yet know where they are attending, the survey will remain open and they are asked to submit by graduation. An email with more information was sent to all seniors and parent/guardians on April 6th.
- 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.
- AP testing began on May 1st. Be sure to check your email for exam day schedule and testing procedures.
- Senior college and career planning information - Counseling Canvas page/Senior College Planning
- 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.
Athletic Announcements
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
Donations Needed!
Project Graduation is an annual tradition at BVN to provide a fun, safe, alcohol and drug- free environment for the entire senior class on the night of graduation. The event is 100% funded by parents and local businesses. We are looking for donations to be used for prizes in the form of sporting tickets, sports memorabilia, gift cards, etc...If you have something you would be willing to donate, please email Jill Welhoelter at jillwelhoelter@gmail.com.
Student Support After School Program
Officer Tony Latas, BVN Student Resource Officer, and Sean Birdsong, BVN Student Support Liaison, are running a Student Support After School program. This program is Monday and Wednesday, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. in room 602. This time is for students who are routinely waiting a few hours for rides after school, having any failing grades, and/or missing assignments that need to be completed.
This is also a good opportunity for students needing community service hours. If your student is interested in volunteering or you have questions, have your student see Officer Latas, Mr. Birdsong or any BVN Administrator. Thank you!
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.
Durham Bus Riders
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 .
Office Hours are Monday - Friday, 7:00 a.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Blue Valley North High School
BVN Twitter:
@MustangsBvn
@BVNOstroski
@TheKurle
@BVNCounseling
@MustangsOfBVN
@bvnnews
@BVNMustangsPBC
BVN Instagram:
@bvnmustangs
Email: Jroush@bluevalleyk12.org
Website: www.bluevalleyk12.org/BVN/
Location: 12200 Lamar Avenue, Overland Park, KS, 66209
Phone: (913) 239-3000
Facebook: facebook.com/BVNMustangs/
Twitter: @bvnnews