VAIS Family Newsletter

09/04/23 No school in observance of Labor Day

09/05/23 First Day of School(Full day for all grades)

09/11/23 Governance Council Meeting 6:30pm-8:30pm

09/21/23 Back to School Night 5:30pm-7:00pm

09/28/23 Picture Day

09/30/23 Charter School Color Run

10/09/23 Governance Council Meeting 6:30pm-8:30pm

10/12/23 Family Conferences 3pm-6:30pm

10/27/23 Community Gathering 7:35am-8:00am

11/13/23 Governance Council Meeting 6:30pm-8:30pm

11/14/23 Picture Retakes

11/22/23-11/24/23 Thanksgiving Break

A reminder that school hours have changed for the 2023-2024 school year.

School Hours:

Monday- 9:20-2:25 (Supervised arrival begins at 9:05)

Tuesday-Friday- 7:30-2:25 (Supervised arrival begins at 7:15)

School Office Hours:

Monday- 9:00-2:45

Tuesday-Friday- 7:15-2:45

Families should make arrangements for students to leave school grounds at the 2:25 pm dismissal time. We are unable to supervise students after they have been dismissed.

We ask all students to bring the following personal items on the 1st day of school:

• Backpack

• Lunch Box (If bringing lunch from home)

• Gym Shoes (shoes to remain at school for Physical Education class)

• Art Smock (a shirt that fits over clothing to wear to art class)

• Water bottle (non-metal is preferred)

• Headphones **NEW**

If your family needs assistance with school supplies, please reach out to Miss Amelia or Miss Jenni at (608) 845-4509.

We have a new online resource that is housed on our website under Families/Online Resource Page. This page will house a lot of important information that you will need including but not limited Arrival and Dismissal Procedures and Menus. Please click here to visit the site now.

Picture Day is Thursday, Sept. 28th, in the morning.

Please keep an eye out for more information and for a sign up to volunteer to help on picture day

If you were unable to drop off supplies during our event, feel free to leave them in the school office during normal hours or bring them the first day of school. New families will be able to connect with teachers during Back to School Night and Family Contact times. Thank you!

THANK YOU to so many of our families for completing your online registration so that our staff can have accurate information when communicating with you!!

If you haven’t yet completed your online registration, please do so as soon as possible. It is very important.

Another quick reminder to go online to pay your registration fees if you haven’t done so already.

Have you created your Parent Portal access for Powerschool yet? Do you need any help in setting this up? Please Call Miss Amelia at 608-845-4504 and we can send you fresh instructions or we can walk through it together. This is the only way to sign up for summer school, so thanks for tackling this. The first instructions were sent in February, reminder letters are being sent at the end of March, and phone calls will roll out in April.

Here are some helpful videos to help if you already have your log in codes:

English

Spanish

If your student is ill, has an early morning appointment, or will be late arriving to

school for another reason, in addition to notifying their classroom teacher please make sure that you one of the following PRIOR

TO THE START OF THE SCHOOL DAY:

1) EMAIL VAIS Attendance: vais-attendance@verona.k12.wi.us

2) CALL the office at (608) 845-4500 (If you are making a change after 11:00 am the same day, then please call the office).

If possible, please also email your child's teacher(s) of any changes.

We understand that there are times when appointments during the school day are unavoidable. If your student is going to be picked up for an appointment we ask that in addition to notifying their teacher that 24 hours in advance when possible Please, also either:

1) EMAIL NCS Attendance: vais-attendance@verona.k12.wi.us

2) CALL the office at (608) 845-4500

Please include the information on the date of the appointment, the time they will be picked up and whether they will be returning to school or not.

When you come to pick them up you will need to come into the office to sign them out. When you bring your student back to school you will also need to come into the office to sign them in.

If your student has a change to what they are doing after school (even just for a day) and they are NOT following the transportation instructions you submitted, then you MUST notify the school in one of the following ways:

1) EMAIL VAIS Attendance: vais-attendance@verona.k12.wi.us

2) CALL the office at (608) 845-4500 (If you are making a change after 11:00 am for the same day, please call the office instead of emailing.)

If possible, please also email your child's teacher(s).

We want to make sure that your child gets to their location safely after school. Therefore it is important to learn about any changes in transportation directly from a parent/guardian through an email, phone call, or note. Thanks for our cooperation.

VASD provides bus transportation for K-5th grade students who live 1.25 miles or

more from their school and 6th-12th grade students who live 2.0 miles or more

from their school. Visit our Infofinder transportation application tool to confirm

First Student route information. The site has a link to detailed instructions and is updated daily, allowing you to find the most up-to-date bus route and stop information, including stop times. To enable us to provide accurate bus stop information, we request your help. Always inform your school secretaries of any address changes. Routes and stops are subject to change. Please note that this site will not display transportation information for 4K students or students with special needs. Direct other questions to First Student at 608-341-2799 or the district

transportation website.

We appreciate our visitors and volunteers. You make it possible for things like field trips, class plays, and the many other activities that occur at our school. VASD volunteers and chaperones must complete a background check before they may begin. If there is a possibility that you will be a volunteer or chaperone we strongly encourage you to start the background check process now. These processes and procedures are being enforced district wide and take approximately 7 days to receive. Please remember to bring your State ID or Drivers License on your initial visit to our school.

Visitors

• Never will be alone/unsupervised with students

• Classroom assistant, drop off supplies, etc.

• Process

• Complete building based check-in/out form, wear temporary visitor badge and return it at the end of the day

Volunteers

• Could be alone/unsupervised with students

• Chaperone, tutor, reading support, athletic support, student with disabilities support/assistant

• Does not include Police Department, CPS or other government agency

• Process

• MUST complete background check and be active on approved volunteer list, completes building based check-in/out form, wear temporary volunteer badge and return it at the end of the day. There will be NO EXCEPTIONS.

Thank you again for investing your time in our Students and our school!

Ms. Roltgen would love for you to come in and volunteer to help out in the Library. Please visit the Signup to find a time that would work for you.

The VAIS Governance Council makes the high level or “big picture” decisions concerning the day-to-day operations of VAIS. Functions of Governing Council include, but are not limited to budget allocations, capital expenditures, grant proposals; personnel; curriculum; assessments; VAIS policies and procedures; direct committee responsibilities; goals and future of VAIS. The Governance Council generally meets on the 2nd Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m in the library and via Zoom and the meetings are open to the public. We are currently seeking an additional volunteer to serve as our “New Parent Representative”- must be a family new to VAIS for fall 2023. The next meeting is Monday, September 11th, 2023 and will be Zoom only. For more information, please join us on the 11th or email us at gc@vaisverona.org . Thank you for your time and consideration!

One of the things that makes VAIS so special is our community of teachers, staff, students, and families. This community is fostered through events promoting Chinese culture and increasing our presence in the greater Verona area. In order to have a successful charter school we need volunteer help! Please consider joining a committee to get involved in VAIS. Our committees include: Community Outreach, Parent Engagement, FUNdraising, and School Climate.

Community Outreach is tasked with recruiting next year’s kindergarten class of 22 students, as well as coordinating activities to increase community awareness of our school.

Parent Engagement will offer a wide variety of ways for families to engage at VAIS including volunteer opportunities, school parties/events, and social activities.

The FUNdraising Committee is in charge of raising funds for the charter school materials such as Chinese curriculum, special events, extra materials for teachers, etc.

School Climate explores ways to work with New Century School parents to create and sustain a sense of community between the two schools.

Not sure what committee is right for you? Stop by to say "Hi" at our table at Back to School Night on Thursday, September 21st. A couple of our parent representatives will be there and would love to chat with you. We hope to see you at a meeting soon!

The Community Outreach Committee is tasked with recruiting next year’s kindergarten class of 22 students, as well as coordinating activities to increase community awareness of our school. We need your help in getting the word out about VAIS! Our recruitment season unofficially begins in November, with the bulk of the recruitment events between mid-January and mid-February. Our biggest need is to find 2 people willing to serve as Co-Chairs for the Community Outreach Committee. Co-chairs help ensure recruitment season runs smoothly by shadowing chairs in planning recruitment events and preparing recruitment materials. We also are seeking volunteers interested in helping with recruitment events. If interested, please join us at the next Community Outreach meeting on Tuesday, September 19th or email kelly@thegibsonhome.org and plwallac@gmail.com . Thank you for your support!

Here is the link to a Google Public Calendar with this year’s updated NCS events:

VAIS Public Google Calendar

This calendar will be updated continually throughout the year with school events, such as swim and gym days, library days, Picture Day, Back to School Night, field trips, parent/teacher conferences, days off of school, Governance Council meetings, and so much more! We hope that this will make things easier for you!

VAIS is inviting all of our families to our school for an opportunity to walk through our classrooms and Related Arts spaces at our Back-to-School Night. Classroom teachers will also give presentations during this time. A presentation schedule will be shared as we get closer to the event.

If your student with an IEP or 504 plan needs accommodations to participate in this event there will be a soft start starting at 5:00. They will have an opportunity to interact with staff prior to the time in which all students are present.

We are excited to be participating in the Charter School Color Run again this year!

Date: September 30th

Starting Time: 9:00 am registration

Location: Right outside of VAIS

For registration please visit https://app.99pledges.com/fund/VAIS

Once you are registered please complete the waiver here.

If you would also like to volunteer to help with the Color Run please signup here.

Have you joined the VAIS Facebook Groups?

All Current families are welcome to join “VAIS Parents Group” on Facebook. We will be posting events and pop-up playdates in this group. This is also a great resource for new parents/guardians to ask any questions they may have. Please also like and follow our VAIS School Facebook here. Alumni families are welcome to join the “VAIS Alumni Parent Group” Facebook Group.

Additional resources for new and current families are here and here.

We are excited to share that Fourth Graders and their family members have free access to parks, lands and waters for an entire year. This opportunity is part of the US Government through the Bureau of Land Management, the Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife, Forest Service and other agencies who are working together to help capture the curiosity of students in this age group.

This program runs Sept 1 to August 31, so enjoy while you can! It's entirely free and the opportunities are all across the US.

Here is where families can sign up for free: https://everykidoutdoors.gov/parents.htm

If you do take this opportunity and enjoy the adventure, please feel free to share your pictures with Miss Amelia or Miss Jenni.

Welcome to our 2023-2024 School Year. More information on how help spread additional sunshine will be coming soon.

Let's embark on a language learning journey...in SPANISH! Registration is now open for 2023-2024! All new material and lessons.

Enroll today: https://futuraadventures.com/wisconsin-region/

This is an Americorps program that trains reading tutors to work with students in grades K-3. NCS and VAIS will have a part-time tutor this coming year. This person will be supported with an internal coach. Other VASD schools have worked with Reading Corps and see positive results. This will be a good support for our students.

If you need assistance with lunch costs please visit our Free and Reduced Lunch application for information on income levels and an application for assistance.