_eNews_
April 1, 2022
Early childhood, elementary & middle school registration open: 22-23 school year
Early childhood, elementary and middle school registration for the 2022-23 school year is now open online for current students and families. Registration is required every year and includes reviewing/updating your child’s information (phone, email, emergency contacts, health information, etc.). Simply log in and click the registration tab to begin!
Important items of note
Families have access to pay all required and optional fees with the exception of middle school course fees. Middle school course fees will be assigned in August.
The Early Childhood program requires an advanced application for new students only. More information about the program and application process is available online.
High school registration opens July 13, 2022.
Completing registration and fee payment helps the district predict how many students will be participating in each grade level in the fall as we work to be financially responsible and stay within guidelines for teacher/student ratios. As we prepare for the new school year, we look at paid registration as a commitment from a family regarding their attendance for the upcoming year. Thank you for providing important information and parent permissions through registration.
Start times for school and addressing student transportation challenges
What started out as a committee charged with looking at school start times decided ultimately that student transportation challenges must be addressed too. The two are operationally connected.
The committee of 19 divided into three sub-committees, met during the fall and winter months and looked at three broad areas of study:
Transportation and Logistics
Student Well-Being and Academic Performance
School Schedules and Teacher Collaboration Time
Each sub-committee researched and investigated what other districts across the country were doing, developed ideas and potential solutions with consideration for the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and resources needed to accomplish the goal. After several months of work, some common learnings and beliefs came out of the sub-committees:
Most solutions negatively impacted students, families, staff and/or other parts of the organization.
Some options failed to provide the efficiencies needed.
The existing problem with busing is negatively impacting students, staff, families and the district's ability to be agile.
Overwhelming committee support to make changes necessary to address the busing issue; issue that districts and companies are facing nationwide.
Currently, there is a shortage of 15 route drivers on a daily basis. Students are either being transported by their families or waiting 30-45 minutes for a bus to finish running its first route before being picked up. Despite Durham’s best efforts to attract and retain bus drivers for Blue Valley, the district has more students utilizing transportation services than can be transported in a timely manner.
Blue Valley is at a point where a change to policy and practice needs to be considered to reduce the number of drivers needed and stabilize service for the 2022-23 school year. Look for more information in the next issue of eNews about planned improvements and committee recommendations for the board to consider to help address the transportation challenges.
Off-Script: How did it get here, where is it going and what do we do from here?
This event, hosted by the Blue Valley Drug and Alcohol Committee, will be an evening to discuss trends of substance use following the pandemic. All Blue Valley parents are invited and encouraged to check out the event on April 13 at the Hilltop Learning Center. The resource fair will start at 6 p.m. and the event will be from 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m.
Topics will include first person experience, how to talk to your child about substance use, and how to find support. A Johnson County family will share their experience related to their son’s death from a fentanyl overdose and a community panel of experts will share their expertise with all who attend this event. For questions, please contact Emily Demo, District Coordinator for Student Support Services, at ejdemo@bluevalleyk12.org.
Assessments in Blue Valley take on multiple forms from a state-required test to a teacher simply spending 10 minutes each day quizzing students about a particular topic they have recently covered. All Kansas schools are required by the Kansas State Department of Education to administer state assessments and all tests provide information on how well students are progressing in their learning.
Adam Wade, Blue Valley’s Director of Academic Achievement and Accountability, answers questions in this week’s Learning Connection story about how assessments are administered, how results are used and the role testing plays in the teaching and learning occurring in Blue Valley classrooms.
The Learning Connection is a resource for all families, from those with children entering early learning to those with graduating seniors. The resource allows Blue Valley to engage with the community on an ongoing basis to expand families’ knowledge about the district’s learning and teaching initiatives.
Looking for engaging summer learning opportunities for your child? Check out Blue Valley’s Summer Explorations program, which features a wide array of one-week, hands-on experiences for students of all ages, as well as virtual courses for high school students. Summer Explorations put fun at the forefront of learning!
Enrollment is open until 4 p.m. April 15. All summer programs will be held in person unless otherwise noted. Additional information about summer programs, including a catalog of course offerings, is available on the district website.
Prepped and Ready: Vaping
The transition into parenting teenagers is a time of tremendous change for teens and it can be overwhelming as a parent to know how to help. "Prepped and Ready" is a resource from Children’s Mercy Kansas City that seeks to empower families to address the hard topics that can be very uncomfortable and changes each one of us can make within our own homes to make them safer.
Learn more about Prepped and Ready at www.childrensmercy.org/preppedandready.