Posted April 14, 2023
| SKCEE FAMILY NEWSLETTER |
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| April 2023 |
| LEADER LETTER |
| Dear SKCEE Families and Friends, Twenty four years ago all our lives were changed and our innocence was lost on an April day in Colorado when the unthinkable happened at Columbine High School. I (Shelley) was a high school Spanish teacher and the word spread quickly through the halls of the school as we reacted with disbelief, fear and horror. Unfortunately, today, these tragedies take place with alarming frequency in our country, and as parents it is scary. As educators, we take the responsibility to care for your most precious children more seriously than anything else. The safety and joy of our butterflies is the most important thing to us, and we wanted to take this opportunity to address some of the questions and concerns we’ve heard from you since the most recent school tragedies, and let you know how we adhere to policies and procedures to keep our school as safe as possible. In DPS, and at SKCEE, all perimeter doors are locked at all times. Staff are able to badge in through many of the doors, but all visitors are required to enter through the front door, where cameras are installed. If our wonderful Staci doesn’t recognize the family member, she does not allow entry without further questioning. Additionally, 12 cameras are installed throughout the inside and 5 cameras are installed outside on our campus. We monitor the views from the cameras all day in the front office. The district technology team was here over a month ago to adjust the cameras and to ensure they are functioning properly. Each DPS building is equipped with a duress button should a true emergency occur, and it is routed directly to DPS Safety and 911. We recently tested the emergency speaker system and all speakers within the building and on the outside are functioning properly. Our speaker system is connected to the district and in an emergency DPS Safety can initiate a lock down or a secure perimeter and we will all hear it. We ask all visitors to sign in upon entry, and if leaving through a marked exit door, to ensure it closes behind them. We also have repeatedly reminded all community members not to allow ANYONE to enter through a door as you are exiting. We understand it may feel rude and inconvenient, but it truly is for the safety of our school community. Additionally, we are required to perform three annual lockdown drills, two tornado drills, and monthly fire drills. The DPS Safety team comes to conduct and monitor the lockdown drills with us, and the two we have completed this year so far have been perfectly executed. We always advise you of these drills when they occur, and to reduce the impact and potential trauma to the students, we do not share what we are doing with students. Some teachers read books, some give kids suckers, others play the quiet game for the 5 minutes it takes us to check all the doors. Our goal is to protect the innocence and sense of safety that our students feel when they are here while at the same time ensuring that we can keep them physically safe should we need to do so. New at SKCEE this year, is a collaborative Safety committee that meets monthly, consisting of staff and family members. They analyze our current procedures, and bring concerns and questions to the table for discussion and problem solving. This committee chair has brought a DPS Safety Officer to meet with staff to present on emergency response and answer questions in order to support us all getting clear on actions in case of an emergency. All classrooms are equipped with red backpacks that contain a first aid kit, student medications, gloves, class list, and family emergency contact info. Any time a class is out of the room, they carry a radio. In ECE we are required to complete a face to name transition card every time we move from one location to another to ensure all students are with us at all times. In ECE we also always maintain a one adult to ten children ratio, and in kindergarten there are two adults in each room for the majority of the day as well. This diligent adult supervision increases student safety. At the end of the day, while sharing all of these layers of safety isn’t our first choice for family newsletter topics, we recognize it is important for you to know all we do every day to keep everyone safe. There is true horror and an unimaginable impact on children and families from gun violence in this country, and we are doing our very best to create a safe and joyful environment in the little snow globe that is Knight. Inside these walls, we are striving for joyful, engaging and carefree moments each day, all day long. Adults know that the world is hard but what we want to remember is that there is far more good and much more beauty in the world than there is evil. We are determined to preserve each student’s sense of joy and wonder, to point out all the ‘helpers’ in the world and to make the innocence of early childhood last for as long as possible. In partnership,Principal Shelley and Assistant Principal Aimee |
| INFORMATION, UPDATES, AND ACTION |
| Bess: As part of our effort to support the Whole Child, our school is implementing a universal social and emotional screening for students. Universal social and emotional screening can provide a fair and impartial way of looking at how students are progressing in their social and emotional development. Please understand that screening is NOT an assessment or an evaluation. Since we have been in unprecedented times, school staff would appreciate your time in completing this survey: BESS spring 2023. The questionnaire will open on Monday, April 3rd, 2023; please complete the questionnaire by Friday, May 5th, 2023. The survey is 29 questions and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. You will need your child’s six-digit student ID. Only one survey can be completed for each student. Information from this survey will be used to help our staff identify the supports our students need.. We appreciate your assistance as we work together to educate and support your student(s)! Sincerely, Derek Wehrenberg Field Day! Hi SKCEE Families, It’s that time of year… FIELD DAY! There is a lot of info here, so please read thoroughly.Schedule for Friday, May 5th: ClassTimeClassTime  VOLUNTEERS We are trying something new this year. There will be a staggered start for classes to begin the Field Day stations. We would like to have 3 “official” volunteers for each ECE class and 4 “official” volunteers for each Kindergarten class. These volunteers will stay with their class through all stations, and they will be responsible for implementing the stations and rotating to the next station on time. Official volunteers will receive all information for each station well before Field Day so they have time to familiarize themselves with the station guidelines. These are very simple stations with few rules, but it is still important to know what to expect. Here is a link to Sign Up Genius if you’re interested in volunteering: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0D4EAAA923ABFA7-skcee2 We are also looking for a few volunteers to help set up stations in the morning and bring equipment back into the gym in the afternoon. Please contact your student(s)’s classroom teacher for questions regarding any special classroom-based activities such as a picnic or additional activities. FIELD DAY EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES We have created an Amazon Wishlist of equipment that we need in order to have the best Field Day! If you are willing and able to purchase anything for our 2023 Field Day, please visit the list HERE: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3L5CISPOWDW3W?ref_=wl_share DON’T FORGET SunscreenTowelWater bottleChange of clothes If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me! Looking forward to a fun Field Day! Sara Whatmore Go Fund Me: One of our families is dealing with a black mold safety situation in their home. You can read more about it here and donate if you are able. |
| SKCEE PTA |
| Dine Out @ Junction Food & Drink, April 25Stock the Lounge – April 19Teacher Appreciation Week May 8-12Next PTA Meeting – Thursday, May 11, 5:00pm @ SKCEEShopping week at RehearsalDine Out @ Modern Market, May 24 Volunteer for SKCEE’s Scholastic Book Fair! SKCEE’s Scholastic Book Fair is being held on Tuesday, April 11, Wednesday, April 12, and Wednesday, April 13 in the auditorium! If you are interested in volunteering, there are multiple shifts available throughout the week to assist with set up, clean up, and helping with sales while the book fair is open. Sign up here today. Our annual book fair inspires our youngest readers to enjoy reading! And, by supporting the book fair, you help our SKCEE earn Scholastic Dollars that can be used to purchase books for our library and classrooms. Students must visit the book fair with an adult (they will not be shopping with their class during school hours), and there are multiple times when the book fair will be open:Tuesday, April 11: 10:45am-12:45pm and 3:15pm-4:30pmWednesday, April 12: 10:45am-12:45pm and 3:15pm-6:30pmThursday, April 13: 3:15pm-4:30pm We look forward to seeing you there! April PTA Meeting: Thursday, 4/13The April PTA meeting will be held on Thursday, April 13 at 5 p.m. in the PD room. Here is the agenda. We look forward to seeing you there! Dine Out at The Junction: Tuesday, 4/25Join us at the Junction Food & Drink (2000 S Colorado Blvd Building IV) on Tuesday, April 25 for our next Dine Out event! The Junction will donate a portion of food and bar sales back to SKCEE! Join the 2023-2024 PTA Board & Leadership Team!The SKCEE PTA has multiple open board and leadership team positions open for the 2023-2024 school year! Here is an overview of the PTA board and chair positions. |
| IMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTS |
| April 10-11: ECE Zoo Field Trip April 11-13: Scholastic Book Fair April 12: Kindergarten Continuation Pictures April 13: CSC Meeting 3:45, PTA Meeting 5:00 April 25: Dine Out at The Junction May 2-6: Teacher / Staff Appreciation Week May 5: Cinco de Mayo and Field Day May 18: Celebration of learning June 1: Last day of school for all students June 2: Kindergarten Continuation |