DSST: Stapleton High School Summer Director s Note July 10, 2015 Dear DSST: Stapleton High School Families, I want to welcome our New-to-DSST Families. My name is Jeff Desserich and I am the Director of DSST: Stapleton High School. Each month, we will be sending out a Director s Note with celebrations, updates and calendar items. Please look for the Director s Note around the 15 th of each month. In most months, the Director s Note will come from your student s advisor. Over the summer, the note will come from me or from our Infinite Campus system. We are just about at the halfway point of summer. I hope everyone is finding some time to spend as a family during this time-off for students. We have a great deal to celebrate from the year that just ended! Here are just a few: - 100% of the Class of 2015 has earned acceptance to a 4 year college - DSST: Stapleton High School earned Colorado s College and Career Transition Award for ACT s College and Career Readiness Campaign - Our Service Learning Trip gave 47 students the experience of a lifetime building two homes in rural Jamaica - Boys Soccer, Girls Basketball, Boys Basketball, Girls Soccer and Boys Baseball all made the playoffs this year - Mock Trial placed 3 rd and 7 th in the state competition - Our Robotics Team was on the 4 th best coalition in the state - We had outstanding individual performances in Cross Country and Tennis - Our athletes who play sports at other schools have excelled in swimming, Judo, football, wrestling, track and Rugby - DSST: Stapleton High School again earned an A+ rating from ColoradoSchoolGrades.com and a Distinguished Rating from DPS these ratings are largely due to the learning and growth our students showed throughout last year Your student was involved in at least one of these outstanding accomplishments, so please take the time to congratulate them. All of our students work hard and make sacrifices on a daily basis and they deserve recognition and celebration. I am extremely excited to continue to work with your family and your students in the coming years. We are committed to continuing to support students as they learn and grow to their highest potential academically, and we will continue to increase our programming to give students the opportunity to develop into well-rounded, happy and fulfilled young adults. In the rest of the Director s Note, you will find some important updates on Dress Code, Athletic Fees, Parking and our Calendar for the School Year. Please read through and reach out with any questions.
FACILITIES AND PARKING UPDATE CONSTRUCTION ON SCHEDULE Our construction is complete! We have a beautiful new addition to our building that gives our new students in our Autism Center a home away from home. I encourage you to stop by sometime to see the new facilities. Thank you all for your patience! DROP OFF/PICK UP NEXT YEAR As I mention above, we are very excited about continuing to serve our Mission by expanding our offerings to include a Center Program for students with Autism. While this will be the first full year for our new program, this is the third year of the Center Program in the Middle School. Many of these students are transported on school buses. For the safety of these students, we need these buses to be able to drop off right in front of the building. Therefore, we are shifting our recommended family drop-off and pick-up to the north side of the soccer field (indicated by the green arrow below). There will also be limited spots for drop-off and pick-up in the parking lot (indicated by yellow arrows below). These spots are limited and with more buses coming in and out of our parking lot, there will be more congestion, which is the reason I recommend dropping off and picking up on the north side of the soccer field. Finally, the section highlighted in red below will no longer be available for drop-off or pick-up or any through traffic. This will be the area where buses drop-off and pick-up, so no cars will be allowed to park in this area. Thank you for your support in keeping students safe while keeping traffic flowing.
ATHLETIC FEES We are excited to kick off our Athletic year with Girls Volleyball, Boys Soccer, Cross Country and Boys Tennis. All Fall sports will begin on Monday August 17 th. Please make sure your athlete has completed his or her sports medical exam before the season. King Soopers and Walgreens are offering physical exams at a reasonable price. All fall practice information can be found on the DSST website. With the continued growth of our sports program, both in size and in success, we have experienced an increase in expenses, particularly with transportation and external facilities costs. In order to maintain our current level of operations and to plan for future growth, we will be implementing a fee of $60 per student per sport. We researched other schools and found this to be at the lower end of what other schools charge for sports. It is very important to us that all of our student athletes continue to participate in their sports of choice and that this fee should not hinder that participation. Therefore athletes who have free or reduced lunch will be charged a reduced fee, and if any family feels this is too much of a hardship, please contact Kate Dresher to make specific arrangements. When your student arrives to register in August, if they are playing a fall sport, a $60 charge will be added to their exit ticket/school bill. If your student is playing a sport later in the year the bill will be sent to you to be paid before the season. Each trimester s sports bill must be paid before the studentathlete is allowed to play. This new specific sports fee will allow us to continue to produce the successful programs we have in the past and make them even better. Thank you for your support of DSST, our students and our Athletics Program. DRESS CODE We believe that a Dress Code is an essential part of our school s culture in that it leads to an atmosphere where students and staff place their sole focus on learning and where they dress intentionally to gain awareness of how different dress can be perceived by different audiences in different situations. We have made a few clarifications (particularly to pants and shoes) and changes (particularly to nose rings and tattoos) to the Dress Code for 2015-2016 and are thus including the updated dress code below. 2015-2016 DSST: STAPLETON HIGH SCHOOL DRESS CODE The purpose of the DSST: Stapleton High School dress code is to create an atmosphere where students and staff place their sole focus on learning and where they dress intentionally to gain awareness of how different dress can be perceived by different audiences and in different situations. Both students and teachers follow the norms of professional dress. The dress code is in effect from the start of the school day until students have completed all their activities for the day. The DSST: Stapleton High School dress code will be strictly enforced.
Tops Students must wear a collared shirt at all times. o Faux/Mandarin collars are acceptable and may be worn as a collar. o Blazers, sweaters or sweatshirts (with no hoods) will not qualify as a collared shirt; however, they can be worn over a collared shirt. o Denim shirts with collars are permitted. o Dresses with collars are permitted with the hem or slit no shorter than 2 inches above the knee. o Shirts may not be excessively baggy or revealing. o T-shirts, halter tops or tank tops are not acceptable and may not be worn over collared shirts. o Light fleece jackets and/or light jackets with no hoods are permitted. o Outside jackets and hoodies must be taken off at the beginning of the school day and put in lockers. Bottoms Students must wear pants mid-calf or longer. o Pants that are denim material are acceptable provided that they are not any shade of blue. o Pants may not be excessively baggy or low No sagging will be permitted at any time. o Joggers that are not sweat pant or athletic/pajama pant material are allowed. o Pajama pants are never acceptable. Skirts may be worn with the hem or slit no shorter than 2 inches above the knee. o Skirts that are denim material are acceptable provided that they are not any shade of blue. Leggings/spandex may only be worn underneath skirts (or dresses) of appropriate length. Shorts are never permitted, even on dress down days (the only exception will be on field days) Shoes Other Students must wear shoes to school. o Athletic shoes, such as running, basketball, and soccer shoes, are not allowed. o No open-toed shoes o No high heels or platform shoes over 2 inches tall. o No slippers or slipper like shoes Earrings may be worn they shouldn t be overly large or distracting Nose rings may be worn (studs only) Tattoos are permitted as long as they are not offensive or promote violence, alcohol, gangs, tobacco or drugs Hats, hoods, bandanas, do-rags, and sunglasses are not allowed to be worn in school at any time Text on clothing or accessories that promotes violence, alcohol, gangs, tobacco, drugs or that is derogatory to any other persons is not permitted at any time. ***Administration reserves the right to interpret the dress code in terms of what qualifies as business casual in light of our goals, school culture and core values. We will communicate with these ongoing clarifications transparently and openly with students and families. ***
UPCOMING EVENTS SUMMER CONTACTS While most of our advisors will be enjoying a well-deserved summer vacation, the Leadership Team and I will be available during most of the summer to answer any questions you may have. DSST: Public Schools will be closed from Saturday, July 11 th through Wednesday, July 29 th. If you have a question during times other than our closure, please contact me (desserich.jeff@scienceandtech.org), Yesta Ealy (ealy.yesta@scienceandtech.org) or Bret Poppleton (Poppleton.bret@scienceandtech.org). REGISTRATION AND FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL Registration for the 2015-2016 School Year will be on Wednesday August 5 th and Monday, August 10 th from 8:30 5:00. Please make plans to attend one of those days. The first day of school is on Thursday, August 20 th and we will have an early dismissal at 1:30 p.m. that day. SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR On the next few pages, you will first find a 2015-2016 DSST Public Schools Calendar and a calendar specific to DSST: Stapleton High School (updated through the end of September). In nearly all situations, we will follow the DSST Public Schools calendar. A few items of note: (1) Graduation Saturday, May 21 st : We are moving graduation from a Friday to a Saturday. It will begin at 9:00 a.m. and, unless we notify you otherwise, it will be here at DSST: Stapleton High School. (2) NO SCHOOL FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26 TH : Each DSST school has one day we can use for a Floating Student Day Off. Currently that day is scheduled for Friday, February 26 th. So while the DSST Public Schools Calendar does not reflect it, we will not have school that day. (3) Last Day of School: For 9 th, 10 th and 11 th graders, the last day of school will be Friday, May 27 th. Please plan any vacations accordingly as it is extremely difficult to have any students take final exams earlier or later than the rest of our students.
CALENDAR LOOK-AHEAD August 2015 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa September 2015 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 31 Registration STP HS Commons Wed, Aug 05 8:00 AM 5:00 PM Registration STP HS Commons Mon, Aug 10 8:00 AM 5:00 PM STP Meeting STP HS Commons Tue, Aug 11 6:30 PM 8:00 PM First Day of School - Early Release 1:30 P.M. DSST Thu, Aug 20 B Week 1:50 Dismissal Wed, Aug 26
EPAS Pre-test Fri, Aug 28 8:00 AM 12:00 PM Fun Day - EARLY RELEASE - 2:00 1:00 PM 2:00 PM Tri one Interns begin Mon, Aug 31 A Week - 2:45 Dismissal Wed, Sep 02 NO SCHOOL - Labor Day United States Mon, Sep 07 STP Meeting STP HS Commons Tue, Sep 08 6:30 PM 8:00 PM B Week 1:50 Dismissal Wed, Sep 09 Set-up and Meeting: Senior Parents College Planning Meeting 6pm - 7:30 pm HS Commons Area Thu, Sep 10 6:00 PM 7:30 PM Spirit week Mon, Sep 14 Spirit week Tue, Sep 15 A Week - 2:45 Dismissal Wed, Sep 16
Spirit week Wed, Sep 16 Spirit week Thu, Sep 17 Jubilee/Homecoming Fri, Sep 18 Spirit week Fri, Sep 18 Summer Interns Showcase Mon, Sep 21 B Week 1:50 Dismissal Wed, Sep 23 Progress Report 1 Thu, Sep 24 Back to School Night HS Commons Thu, Sep 24 6:00 PM 8:00 PM No School - Staff Work Day Fri, Sep 25