The staff at Valerius are ready to welcome all students back to 100% learning on Tuesday, February 16th.

As we come back to school we fully expect that there will be some adjustments for our students as they get into their new routine. We are ready to support them every step of the way. One of these steps will be to reteach our schoolwide expectations in all areas of the building. Our school expectations at Valerius are BE RESPECTFUL, BE RESPONSIBLE, and BE SAFE. We will be reteaching the school expectations across all areas and then positively reinforcing those through class reward systems, reminding, redirecting, and reinforcing language.

At home we would encourage families to focus on the following areas as you get back into a full time school routine:

• Set an appropriate bedtime every night. Elementary students typically go to bed between 8-9pm depending on their age.
• Continue reading together every day. At our house, this typically comes around bedtime, but build it in wherever it works. Listening to books in the car is another great way to get some minutes in!
• Eat a healthy breakfast, or be sure to have students grab a FREE breakfast from school that they can take to class with them.
• Send a healthy snack to school to fill their bellies and feed their brains.
• Have a plan for how your student will get home from school before they leave for the day.

With conferences coming on Thursday, February 25th and Tuesday, March 2nd we will have the opportunity to touch base and check in on how things are going. If you have any questions before then, please reach out to your student's teacher, myself or our office staff.

We are looking forward to this next step in our 20-21 School Year Journey!

Urbandale Community School District is on a continuous journey to make our schools the best places for students to learn, staff to work, and parents to send their children for a good education. In this effort, we appreciate your support. It is important to gather feedback from you to celebrate successes and identify areas for growth. Please take a few minutes and complete this Parent Satisfaction Survey to help provide this feedback. The survey is open from today, February 8 through Thursday (4:00) March 11, 2021.

Once the survey is complete, the results will be analyzed by an outside organization. The data from the survey will be sent to each school and the Superintendent. Then, the results of the survey will be shared with parents and the community.

The survey can be accessed online at: UCSD Parent Satisfaction Survey

Thank you for interest in and support of your child’s education with us. Please contact me if you have any questions concerning the survey.

PTO is generously providing meals for our Parent/Teacher conference night. Please sign up here if you are able and willing to help: https://valeriuselementarypto.bringit.bz/public/410756

For our in person learners: Virtual Spring Parent Teacher Conferences are on February 25th (Thursday) and March 2nd (Tuesday) from 4:00pm - 8:00pm. Parents/Guardians please click on the link below to access the online scheduling system to sign up your student(s).

https://ptcfast.com/schools/Valerius_Elementary

For our remote learners in the following classes:

Mrs. Muilenberg, Mrs. Nord, and Mrs. Schaub: https://ptcfast.com/schools/Webster_Elementary

Mrs. Whitver, Mrs. Bergan, Mrs. Hockenberry, and Mrs. Enderton: https://ptcfast.com/schools/Karen_Acres_Elementary_School

Mrs. Emerson, Mrs. Hoyt, Mrs. West, Mrs. Brannen, and Miss Eisenstadt: https://ptcfast.com/schools/Jensen_Elementary_Conferences

Please be patient this first week back to 100% We anticipate the line for parent drop off and pick up will increase. Please remember the following for drop off:

• Two spots get out of cars at once.
• Masks, mittens, and coats should be on before pulling up to the drop off spots.
• Everything you need is in your bag before you pull up to the front-water bottle, gloves, boots, etc.
• Parents stay in cars and kids get out on the building side.

For pick up:

• Two spots to get into the cars. Students are told spot 1 or 2 as they wait.
• Parents stay in cars, and kids get in on the building side.

Mrs. MacGregor and I will be outside to help.

Any student who resides in the Valerius attendance area will be provided bus service free of charge to the Jensen site. This is true for all Valerius zones (free, pay, and walk).

When it is time for registration please sign up for the bus process. Routes and stops will be created based on the requests received.

Open enrolled students are able to purchase bussing from established stops if they would like.

Bussing is optional. Students are not required to utilize the bus service.

The bus service is for school hours only (if a parent is utilizing Adventuretime before / after care there would not be bussing early or late in the day to access that service).

Extending the mission of the Urbandale Community School of Teaching All, Reaching All, Urbandale Community Education strives to provide engaging lifelong educational opportunities and personal enrichment that inspires and supports all learners to increase their capacity for personal growth. Please take a look at their current opportunities by visiting their website https://www.urbandalecommunityed.com/.

Principal: Michelle Cole; colem@urbandaleschools.com

Office Manager: Angie Jones; jonesa1@urbandaleschools.com

Nurse: Jenny Villegas; villegasj@urbandaleschools.com

Guidance Counselor: Melissa MacGregor; macgregorm@urbandaleschools.com

FFO: Brittany Cooley; cooleyb@urbandaleschools.com

Website: https://www.urbandaleschools.com/schools/valerius-elementary/
Location: 3305 92nd Street, Urbandale, IA, USA
Phone: 515-457-6500
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valeriuselementary