DHS Weekly Update
Thursday, April 1, 2021
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Dear Families,
Just a reminder that starting April 19th, cohorts A and B at DHS will be combined for 4-days of in-person learning (M/T/Th/F). This will increase the number of students in a classroom but we will stay within recent recommendations from the CDC. Families have until tomorrow to make their final decisions about placement. Please watch my video in this eBlast from early March to find out more information.
Happy (almost) Spring Break! City Schools of Decatur is closed next week but we look forward to seeing you when we return!
It is a pleasure to serve this community!
Rochelle Lofstrand
Principal, Decatur High School
Check-out Policy
Please be aware that our checkout policy for the remainder of the school year is identical to our previous policy, with the only change being that visitors are not allowed in the building:
Parents, or anyone listed as an approved pickup designee, can pick up their child from school physically at any time. They should come to the front doors of N. McDonough, press the button for service, and Mr. Scott, our Attendance Officer, will ask them to show their ID through the glass (visitors are not allowed to enter at this time due to Covid), and he will buzz the child's classroom to have them released to you for checkout.
If a parent is seeking for their child to be able to check themselves out of school, the parent needs to make this request to Mr. Scott, at mscott@csdecatur.net, no later than 8:30am the day of the requested checkout, and he will input either the excused or unexcused absence (please see page 25 of the student/family handbook for these) for the affected periods, and the teacher will release the student for checkout at the desired time. If Mr. Scott has not received notification of self-checkout by 8:30am the day of the checkout, we will be unable to release the student for self-checkout.
Thank you,
Taylor Cross, Assistant Principal
April School Leadership Team Meeting
Join Zoom Meeting
https://csdecatur.zoom.us/j/9660838283
Meeting ID: 966 083 8283 One tap mobile +13126266799,,9660838283# US (Chicago) +16465588656,,9660838283# US (New York) Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 966 083 8283 Find your local number: https://csdecatur.zoom.us/u/ax4Q15l5U
Homeless Bag Drive
Where: Decatur Bus Loop - Commerce Drive
When: March 15th - April 2nd
What: Register for items to donate here.
Who: Anyone can donate! Parents, Students, Staff, and Community Members are all invited to donate!
Why: Homeless Bags can be donated to homeless shelters to then be distributed to those in need, or can be kept on hand in case someone in need is found. Either way, homeless bags are a great, tangible way to help those experiencing homlessness.
Do You Want to be a Cheerleader?
Decatur High School Career Talk
We are in need of specific panelists for the following dates and times:
Decatur High School is looking for individuals that want to share their career/profession with our students! If you are interested in participating in a virtual 45 minutes - 1-hour panel that discusses the path you took for your career/profession and answer questions from our students, please respond to this Google Form. There will be 4-5 professionals on each panel.
April 20th @ 11:35 a.m. - Manufacturing, AV Technology
April 27th @ 11:35 a.m. - Construction, Energy, Hospitality/Tourism, Human Services
Once you sign-up, more information will be sent to you by Mr. Duane Sprull (dsprull@csdecatur.net) and/or Ms. Jessica Sturm (jsturm@csdecatur.net). Please let us know if you have any questions.
MLK Marker Installation in Decatur
SAVE THE DATE: On Saturday April 24, at 11 a.m., the Georgia Historical Society will unveil a marker honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the site in Decatur, Ga., where he was sentenced in 1960 to a chain gang in a traffic case and succeeded in putting racial injustice on trial in the court of world opinion.
Persuading the historical society to approve the marker involved considerable research. The DHS students gathered historical documents pinpointing where the DeKalb County courtroom and jail stood in 1960, and recorded oral histories of eyewitnesses to the events for a research paper. The students led a panel discussion at the high school, and then advocated for the marker in presentations to city commissioners and the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights, earning their unanimous support as co-sponsors. Community donations poured in to cover the $5,000 cost of the marker itself.
The students have been interviewed on public radio, by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and by the local Decaturish news site. They’ve also participated in a webinar at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, for which DHS senior Genesis Reddicks created a video explaining the story. Atlanta Student Movement members Roslyn Pope and Charles Black have been key supporters of the marker campaign, and appear in this video.
Check out this brochure - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uNd3xhSKmvIg7EjPH_X0W9tLCaqjstVs/view?usp=sharing
College Exploration Day
What: College Exploration Day
When: Wednesday, April 28th; 10:30am - noon
There will be three separate sessions that run concurrently from 10:30-noon. Students should register for the one that most aligns with their post-secondary goals. We will make all three recordings available to all attendees after the event. Students can register on the front page of our website, collegeaim.org or by using the links for the sessions below.
If you have any questions, contact:
Joanne Santivasci
College AIM
joanne.santivasci@collegeaim.org
- Technical & Community Colleges
- Atlanta Tech, Georgia Piedmont Tech, GSU Perimeter, Leap Year
- In-State, Public, 4-Year Colleges
- Albany State, Clayton State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State
- Highly Selective Colleges
- American, Hamilton, Lincoln, Trinity
2021 Decatur Farm to School - Summer Internship Grant Program
DISTRICT NEWS
City Schools of Decatur Summer Program
CSD is delighted to share that we will offer an in-person summer program for students that qualify in grades K through 12. The program will run June 7-June 25 from 8:30 to 11:30am. Students will be invited to participate in the summer program based on eligibility criteria described below. Participation in the summer program is not required or mandated for any student. However, we highly encourage students who qualify to engage in this opportunity as it will set them up for success in the next grade level. For the summer program, which will be held at Talley Street Elementary and Decatur High School, availability of student transportation is limited.
Students who receive services from support programs such as Title 1, EIP, ESOL, and special education (via an IEP) will also be considered for the summer program per the criteria described below. Please note that the summer program is not the same as IEP service models, and do not use the same criteria as provided during the school year or Extended School Year (ESY). For a student with an IEP, the IEP team will determine ESY based on IDEA required considerations.
Invitations for participation in the summer program will be sent out by May 1. For students that qualify for the summer program but cannot attend in person, a virtual option will be provided. The Special Education Department will send out information regarding ESY directly to the parents of students who will be receiving those services at a future date.
K-5:
The summer program will be held at Talley Street Upper Elementary.
K-5 students must qualify in 2 of these 3 areas to be eligible for the summer program:
1) Class Performance: The student is not meeting standards in Language Arts or Math as evidenced by 1s on the report card and/or classroom assessments.
2) Reading Level: Based on a standardized measure, the student scored below the 49th percentile or at least one level below grade level
3) Math Level: Based on a standardized measure, the student scored below the 49th percentile or at least one level below grade level
6-8:
Students who have not yet met the standards in their Math or Language Arts class will be invited to attend. The students in 6th through 8th grade will meet at Decatur HIgh School.
9-12:
In addition to the June session, Decatur High School will also offer a second session July 8-27, also 8:30-11:30am. Students who have not yet met the standards in a core class will be invited to attend. For credit recovery, students will engage in blended learning in a course delivered through Apex with live support from a teacher.
Don’t qualify for Summer School but need a summer learning boost to get ready for fall?
All K-12 students will have access to a virtual personalized learning pathway to boost their understanding of content and skills and get a jump start to preparing for the next grade level. These activities would be optional learning activities for students that connect to grade level standards. These activities will be made available in addition to the summer enrichment activities available on the CSD Enrichment Website.
For students with Individualized Educational Plans
Click HERE for more information about Extended school Year (ESY) for students with IEPs. ESY serves students in grades PreK-12+ as determined by each student’s IEP team. ESY will be provided both in a virtual and in-person model, June 7-25, 8:30-11:30am. ESY will take place at ECLC for PreK students, Talley Street Upper Elementary for elementary students, and Decatur High School for our middle and high school students.From CSD Nutrition
CSD School Nutrition has several important updates for our community. Meals remain FREE until the end of the 2020-2021 school year. All students will receive 5 breakfasts and 5 lunches per week. We currently have 4 CSD TakeOutSpot locations to better serve our students. Please email us at meals@csdecatur.net with questions about our meal service plan.
No Spring Break Meal Service
We will not be serving meals over break (April 5-9) as our staff is taking some well-deserved time off. We will resume meal service on Monday, April 12. Please email sblack@csdecatur.net if you need access to community resources during this time.
Middle & High School Meal Service UPDATE
On Monday, March 8, we welcomed back some of our in-person 6-12 students! We are thrilled to be serving them again. Please see the chart below for a schedule of meal pick-ups. Please determine if your child is a Mon/Tues student, a Thurs/Fri student, or a virtual student to find the correct meal pick-up plan for your family. This schedule only applies to the 1st week back after spring break, before our school system shifts to accommodate more students.
On Monday, April 19, we will be welcoming back more 6-12 students and we will be transitioning away from the above schedule. They will be attending school on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, with Wellness Wednesdays still taking place every week. We will offer daily take-home meals (1 breakfast & 1 lunch in a meal bag) to take home on those 4 days and then we will allow for pick-ups on Wednesdays. See chart below.
Virtual Siblings Meal Pick-up UPDATE
We are continuing to allow our in-person siblings to pick up meals for their virtual siblings. Note that this service is only for meals without special considerations. (If you have a virtual student who is a vegetarian or has a special dietary need, see that section of our updates.) Please fill out this form to help us know what school site to send extra meals to https://forms.gle/WurGn6iSJYFaYjfb7
Vegetarian & Special Diet UPDATE
If your child is a vegetarian or has a special dietary need, please fill out this google form: https://forms.gle/BM7ArRokp13i9seX8.
We ask that our virtual students pick up their meals at one of our 4 CSD TakeOutSpots instead of receiving meals via their in-person siblings to protect their health & safety. Vegetarian students should fill out the google form, and no further action is required. Students with special dietary needs should fill out the google form, have a healthcare provider fill out the paperwork "Medical Statement for Accommodating Disabilities," and contact sblack@csdecatur.net for further assistance. Please see the Special Diets tab on our webpage for more details.
Lucky Us: It's National Nutrition Month! Time to celebrate our School Nutrition Staff
During the month of March, we are celebrating how LUCKY we are to have our amazing School Nutrition staff! They have been working hard every single day since the pandemic started, and we are deeply appreciative of everything they have been doing for our kids. Our goal is to provide every staff member with some form of thanks/appreciation from our students & our community by the end of March.
How to support us: Please consider taking photos of your child enjoying their school lunch and send them to us at meals@csdecatur. Take photos of you & your child(ren) picking up their meals at one of our TakeOutSpots! Email a thank you note to your school nutrition staff or send an email to our department for us to distribute to the correct staff members. Teachers, have your class write thank you notes and send them via interoffice mail to us! Administrators can have cards signed by teachers & staff. Parents can take pictures and help encourage students to thank the nutrition staff in their buildings. We can all work together to show our staff how much we appreciate their effort.
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
From DEF
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Run Where You Are Tour deCatur 5K and Fun Run! We would like to thank all of our event sponsors, especially our presenting sponsor, Mathnasium of Decatur, and our platinum sponsors Beth Ann Clanin Intown Realtor and Townley Kenton. Winners of the 5K will be listed at tourdecatur.com later in the week.
Take a night off from cooking during spring break! NaanStop and Greg Kodesh Realty are partnering with DEF for a dine-out/take-out and will be donating 20% of sales to the DEF! NaanStop is a family-owned Indian restaurant serving our mother's recipes. We're offering family meals, including 2 entrees, fresh-baked naan, handmade samosas, basmati rice, and chutneys (feeds 4).
Just place your order before 5 pm on Wednesday, April 7th, and your order will be available for pick up between 5 – 5:45 pm on Thursday, April 8th. Pick-up location provided when order is confirmed.
- link to menu: https://bit.ly/NSorderDecatur
- Pickup/drive-thru at Avery/Bucher in Decatur
- Pickup instructions will be sent with confirmation
- Pickup will be available between 5-5:45
- masks/distancing required at pick up
- order in advance before 5 pm on Wednesday, April 7th ... first-come, first-served, so get your orders in before they sell out!
From Farm 2 School (Wylde Center)
WHICH GREAT RESTAURANT WILL YOU CHOOSE? Wednesday, April 21st, will be Decatur Farm to School’s Spring Take Out! Order from participating restaurants during their open hours and a portion of your order total will go to DF2S! You can get food from Arepa Mia, Brick Store Pub, Butter & Cream, Farm Burger, Folk Art, Kimball House, Leon’s Full Service, Marlay House, My Parents’ Basement, Oakhurst Market, Raging Burrito, Sapori Di Napoli, Steinbeck’s, The Imperial, or Universal Joint! Proceeds from the Spring Take Out support our DF2S programs. Give yourself a break, eat a delicious meal, and support a wonderful cause!
Decatur High School
Email: kgoins@csdecatur.net
Website: csdecatur.net/DHS
Location: 310 North McDonough Street, Decatur, GA, USA
Phone: 404-370-4170