Dear Parents,
We made it through two days of school very successfully! I wanted to give a brief update:
Lunch
I apologize for the stressful lunch on the first day. I had planned to split the lunches so 7th grade would eat at one time, and 8th/9th grade would eat at another time. Just minutes before lunch began we realized there was a scheduling conflict, and we had to have lunch all together.
Yesterday our secondary team met and created a new plan for lunch, and it was dramatically better today. I appreciate your student’s patience and good will, they really made the best out of a cramped situation. I am including the details about lunch so you can see what the new routine is.
Updated Bell Schedule
We have been adjusting our bell schedule, and I believe it is finally set! We added 5 minutes to first period, during which students will reflect and write in a gratitude journal. This was piloted last year at Draper 3 and the students loved it! We hope to start on Monday.
We experimented with 3 minute transitions this week, but decided to stick with the 4 minute transitions we had last year.
Tardies, Uniform Infractions, and Attendance School
I wanted to assure all parents that even though we are tracking tardies and uniform infractions, during the first three days of school these will not count toward attendance school. New students (including all 7th graders) get another week to learn how to use their lockers and transition successfully from class to class. We know the 8th and 9th graders have this routine down, so they will be expected to be in full uniform and be on time and ready to learn. If you have extenuating circumstances, please email me (epeery@apamail.org).
You can find details about attendance school in the parent/student handbook. Each family will receive one Friday or Monday, and we will go over this more during parent orientation on Tuesday night.
Skyward
I’m a little behind with our Skyward set up when it comes to gradebooks. There’s SO MUCH to learn, and I’m going as fast as I can! Please watch Skyward for missing assignments, but disregard any grades that are posted there. I’ll get it fixed as soon as I can!
Your students are doing amazing, and I can’t wait for what this school year will bring!