VCS East Hawk Talk
May 2022
From Ms. Van Luit, VCS East Principal
Dearest VCS East Families,
It is with the utmost gratitude and affection for this community that I notify all of you that after this school year, I will resign as VCS East’s Principal.
After some deep soul searching and reflection, my partner, Michael and I have decided to start a new adventure in California. Though this was a tough decision, we are very excited to see what is in store for us.
I want to thank the entire community for believing in me and affording me the privilege to be a part of an amazing school. Being the principal at VCS East has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. I will always cherish the love and support I have received from our staff, students, families, APS colleagues, and more! The experiences I have had and the relationships I have built will stay with me forever. I will continue to cheer everyone on from the sidelines, and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for our students.
I will miss the incredible people I have worked with throughout the years, and I feel very confident that our school will be in good hands. The future of VCS East is bright! In the meantime, I am excited to celebrate my last month with you all.
With all of the LOVE,
Emily Van Luit, VCS East Principal…for a little longer
ONCE A HAWK, ALWAYS A HAWK
From Mr. Cerny, VCS Executive Director
From Mr. Stevens, Assistant Principal
Dear Vanguard Classical School parents, guardians, and students,
It is with heartfelt words that I write this letter to inform you that I will be leaving the position of assistant principal at Vanguard Classical School at the end of this school year. I will be starting my next adventure in Tampa, Florida. I will miss my work here the students, teachers, staff and parents. It has been a pleasure to serve as the assistant principal at Vanguard Classical School. I hope you know how much I have enjoyed these last four years. It has been my good fortune to experience a wonderful partnership with the Vanguard Classical School Community.
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to serve you, your children and this outstanding school community and hope you know I am especially proud of our students. I look forward to hearing great things about their accomplishments as they continue their education at Vanguard Classical School and beyond.
Sincerely,
Troy Stevens- Assistant Principal and High School Athletic Director
More from Ms. Van Luit, VCS East Principal
I wish him well in his new Florida adventure.
Staff Appreciation Week 5/2-5/6
Exciting News about the VCS 2022-23 4-Day Week Calendar
Dear Members of the Vanguard Classical School West and East Communities!
We are so excited to be moving to a 4-Day school week calendar next year for both VCS West and VCS East! After surveying families, this new model was proposed by school leadership and approved by the VCS board this past March. While we still need approval from the state of Colorado, we expect to get this soon and feel that it is time to inform our VCS families about the exciting details of the upcoming plan. We hope that you will see that we want to make it as easy as possible for VCS families to return and enjoy this new 2022-23 setup.
Why a 4-day week?
There are multiple reasons for this exciting change. We have all faced changes in our world due to the pandemic. Family time and personal time is treasured now more than ever before. Traditional schedules have been impacted and working and learning is now happening in different ways. We also believe parents are the primary teachers of all of our students, regardless of age or grade. Our new schedule allows parents to support and supplement classroom instruction by giving students additional time at home. It also allows families to do more things together such as enjoying other educational aspects of our state and city. Research suggests that we will see fewer absences from both students and staff as appointments and other routine visits and tasks can be scheduled on this weekday off. Research also indicates that student mental health and sleep patterns are improved, students are more likely to join school clubs and sporting events, students tend to be more responsible both at home and at school, and the student-parent relationship is enhanced.
Increased Instructional Minutes
While many 4-day schedules have fewer instructional minutes when compared to 5-day schedules, the VCS 2022-23 school schedule actually has slightly more. By adding between 16-20 minutes per day, starting just one week earlier and including fall break as a school week, we actually will be able to provide more instructional minutes at VCS next year than we did this year.
Monday Care
We expect that some families will still need supervision for their children on Mondays, and that the cost of this may be of concern. We truly do not want to lose any currently enrolled students/families due to this schedule change so we have found ways to ease this burden. First, VCS will contract with an outside childcare provider to provide a quality program called MondayCare to students in grades K-8 from 6:30 am through 6:00 pm at both campuses for 32 Mondays throughout the year. For many families, this may be free to you if you apply through the Colorado Child-care Assistance Program (CCAP). We can help you fill out the paperwork to apply for free or reduced-price VCS MondayCare. If you apply and do not qualify, VCS will still supplement the cost (which is normally $38 full day/$20 half day per child) to make your cost much lower. FREE Lunch will be provided for all students in full-day or half-day MondayCare.
Your Full Day Total Cost: 1 student in household - $20 2 or more students in household - $35
Your Half Day Total Cost: 1 student in household - $10 2 or more students in household - $18
*If this is still too much of a burden, please contact any member of the VCS leadership team listed below and we will do our best to figure out a solution. We truly want you to stay at VCS!
Tutoring Mondays
We are now realizing that the pandemic caused a great deal of learning loss in many students due to the unorthodox teaching methods (virtual, hybrid) over the past two years. Once we review our own most current testing data to determine those 2nd – 12th grade students most impacted by learning loss, we will be inviting those students to Monday tutoring sessions (grades 2-8) and supervised credit recovery (grades 9-12). This tutoring program will be FREE and VOLUNTARY for any VCS student invited. Tutoring or supervised credit recovery will happen during mornings from 8:00 am – 11:30 am on two or three Mondays per month throughout the school year. Free lunch will be provided before students are either dismissed or join our MondayCare program for the afternoon.
FREE Tuesday – Friday Before and After School Care
Similar to this year, VCS will also be providing before and after-school care FREE of charge every Tuesday – Friday for students in grades K- 5. (Students in grades 6-8 can attend for a nominal fee.) We were excited by the success of this free program during the 2022-23 school year and plan to continue it next year.
Become a VCS Ambassador!
As excited as we are about the upcoming calendar, we still need your help to get the word out to other students and families in your communities. Please be an ambassador for this program! If you promote the 4-Day VCS schedule to friends and relatives with school-aged children, we will pay a referral fee of $150 for each and every student that you refer that stays at VCS East or VCS West through the October “count window.” (Yes, if you recruit 3 students, that is $450!; you will be paid in mid-late October). Please tell the new family to let us know that you were their “recruitment ambassador” when they enroll!
Click the button below for more information.
We are so excited to finish this year off with the pandemic mostly in our rear-view mirror, with our new calendar in front of us, and with solutions such as Monday Tutoring to help us take a bite out of pandemic learning loss. Again, we want to do everything in our power to make this new calendar workable for all current VCS families. Please do not hesitate to contact any of the leadership team below if you have any questions.
Go Hawks!
Sincerely,
Jay Cerny, VCS Executive Director
Keria McCafferty, Principal – VCS West Campus
Emily Van Luit, Principal – VCS East Campus
Dennis Steele, VCS Business and Operations Director
Vanguard Classical School Board Election Notice -- VCS East Parent Vacancy
The Vanguard Classical School Board of Directors will be holding a Board Member election on May 17th to fill one open EAST PARENT slot that will become open in June 2022. This board position is a 3-year term set to expire in May 2025.
If you are interested in running for a position on the VCS Board of Directors, please write a 150-250 word summary of your qualifications and email it as a pdf to Jay Cerny, VCS Executive Director, at jcerny@vanguardclassical.org on or before May 10, 2022.
All candidate summaries will go into the 2022 ballot, which will be activated electronically from May 15–17, and tabulated on May 17th.
If you have any questions, please contact Jay Cerny or any VCS board member.
6th-11th Grade Field Day
Dear VCS East Families,
For the last day of school students in grades 6-11 will be participating in a Color Run Field Day. The course is located around the school area. Each grade will have a designated time to complete the race! Students will get colored with powder throughout the race! All students have the opportunity to receive a Race kit, which is free to the student. All race kit orders must be completed by your student by May 4th, 2022. All Race kits will be given to students on the last day of school.
This year we are allowed to have parent volunteers!! If you are able to volunteer, a background check will need to be completed prior to Field day. Parent volunteers will be placed on the course to help cheer on our students and guide them through the course. If you are interested in volunteering please complete this google form: Parent Volunteer Color Run Sign Up to sign up and Ms. Fregoso will reach out to you. If you have any questions please email to Ms. Fregoso at vfregoso@vanguardclassical.org.
Thank you,
Ms. Fregoso
Last Day of School, 5/26
Culture Night
Chickens in 2nd Grade
Do You Love Vanguard? Earn a Little Cash by Recruiting New Families!
Planning for 2022-2023
Front Desk: 303-338-4110
Teacher Work Hours
Core Virtue of the Month: Wonder
Our final core virtue that we will focus on this year is WONDER. Wonder is the first step on the path of knowledge.
As spring asserts itself, we live in greater wonder at the world around us. We cannot learn something we already know, therefore learning occurs after we have questioned or contemplated something new or not understood...yet.
As we look for ways to integrate this virtue into our teaching, remind the students that they will be able to practice this virtue for 8 weeks in the summer while they are away from us. Look at the world around them and think about those what, why, and how questions.
Wonder is what allows us to explore new ideas and to contemplate the effects of actions. Wonder sparks intrigue. Wonder leads to discovery.
Absences and Tardies
Tardies:
Absences:
Make sure to notify the front desk of absences. If we don't hear from you, our attendance system will automatically call you to verify the absence.
FSCP (Family, School, and Community Partnership Committee)
We're really starting to pick up steam with our FSCP committee, and we are EXCITED!
FREE COVID Testing at VCS East!
As you may already know, we are participating in a COVID testing program. Testing began at our building on November 18th at 8 am for any student who opted in. Students will need to be pre-registered. You can register your child(ren) using the following link...registration only needs to be done one time, and students can take a COVID test each week if they like:
Testing-Management-Platform (TMP) (coquihealth.com)
Students who get tested will receive their money via a gift card. This gift card will be mailed to the address provided when you register.
Finally, this testing will count for athletes participating in school sports.
Please reach out to our school nurse, Annie Garner (agarner@vanguardclassical.org) with any questions.
COVID Vaccines
COVIDCheck Colorado
VCS East Events
Staff Appreciation Week
Monday, May 2, 2022, 07:15 AM
VCS East
Piano Concert
Tuesday, May 3, 2022, 05:00 PM
VCS East
K-2 Spring Concert
Wednesday, May 4, 2022, 06:00 PM
VCS East
3-5 Spring Concert
Thursday, May 5, 2022, 06:00 PM
VCS East
School Lunch Hero Day
Friday, May 6, 2022, 07:45 AM
VCS East
Mother's Day
Sunday, May 8, 2022, 12:00 AM
VCS East
Choir Concert
Tuesday, May 10, 2022, 06:00 PM
VCS East
School Nurse Day
Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 07:15 AM
VCS East
Band Concert
Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 06:00 PM
VCS East
Orchestra Concert
Thursday, May 12, 2022, 06:00 PM
VCS East
Graduation
Saturday, May 21, 2022, 10:00 AM
VCS East
8th Grade Continuation
Tuesday, May 24, 2022, 06:00 PM
VCS East
Last Day of School
Thursday, May 26, 2022, 07:45 AM
VCS East
Quick Links
Breakfast/Lunch Menu
Infinite Campus Parent Portal
Contact Ms. Torres, Ms. Petit, or Ms. Holtz for assistance at 303-338-4110.