Cougar Community Connection

Dear CRUNFamily,

If you could only feel the energy in the air at Cougar Run which is buzzing with positive vibes and excitement from our staff who are all so excited to kick off this 24-25 school year and see our babies again!!! It's not even the required arrival date for our teachers, but they are here getting things ready to go to welcome their new classroom family on August 7th. That is the true dedication of our Cougar Run Family; we want things to be perfect for our kids when they are welcomed back to their "second homes" here at our beloved school! We hope you have had a fantastic summer and are as excited as we are to get this new school year started. WE KNOW OUR PARENTS ARE READY, LOL!!! We want to welcome our new familles to our #CRUNFamily and share this weekly newsletter, as this is what we send out every week to keep our families in the loop about what is going on at Cougar Run.

This newsletter is going to be a bit long as we want to make sure we share the necessary information that you need to get the year started out great. Make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom as the important dates will always be at the bottom of this weekly newsletter. Please carve out some time to peruse each section to ensure you and your kiddos are all set and ready to kick off an awesome year here at Cougar Run.

Hello, Cougar Run Family!

The PTA is so excited for the upcoming school year. We will be having meetings the second or third Friday of each month. If you would like to get the inside scoop on our school and to get involved, then we would love to have you there. You can reach out to the PTA officers at crunpta@gmail.com to get on our mailing list. We have many community events throughout the year, so watch for our emails requesting volunteers.

For our new families, we have switched from several small fundraisers to ONE big fundraiser, our 2nd Annual (In-House) Fun Run. Rather than working with companies that take 40% of your donations, we will handle everything in-house. This will include a CRUN t-shirt, donation-level prizes, set-up, and running of the event. The Fun Run will be on Friday, October 4th, so expect to see fundraising information heading your way. We are looking for CRUN business sponsors for the Fun Run and this school year. If you are interested, then please go to https://www.givebacks.com/causes/crunpta/campaigns/c863e86efacebd to see our sponsorship levels and make your donation. We do not have student donation pages ready yet, but check back in late-August or early-September.

The PTA is here to help the whole CRUN community. We are always available at crunpta@gmail.com. We will also have a table at Supply Drop-Off day and Kindergarten Balanced Beginnings. Stop by to say "HI!" Have a wonderful last few days of summer.

We are so excited about all of the new members to our CRUN Family! One thing we value most at Cougar Run is ensuring that we have fantastic HUMAN RESOURCES to support our students. Getting creative with the budget allowed us to figure out how to add people to our staff as we believe people are who make the difference in the growth and progress of our students. So take a look at all of our new family members below and join us in welcoming them to our sweet, CRUN Family!!!

Assistant Principal

Stephanie Hinkle

PE

Gail Kishbaugh

Kindy EA

Murk Memon

RtI Grade 3

Cortney Chambers

EA 4 (Guest EA)

Jerrica Nagel

EA 1

TBA- If you or someone you know might be interested in joining our EA 1 team, we would love to hear from you. We have a full time, 6 hour a day, 5 days a week gig that comes with benefits. What a fun way to get involved AND get to be with your kids while they are at school. Reach out to Shannon if you are interested.

As families, we have two options for you for school supplies. You can order from School Tools and they package and deliver your child's supplies to school for you. OR, you can just click on the School Tools link below and scroll to your child's grade. Below the School Tools order form for each grade is also a list of the needed supplies for your child if you prefer to purchase them on your own. School Tools Order Forms and Supply Lists

We are looking forward to seeing our 1st-6th grade families at our Annual Supply Drop Off/Meet and Greet on Tuesday, August 6th. Choose a session that works best for you, 8-9:30 or 12:00-1:30 and drop in to meet your teacher and get your supplies organized. There will also be individual student photos taken in the gym on that day. The link to the order form for those pictures will come shortly.Kindy Families-you will drop off supplies at your Balanced Beginnings session with your kiddo. REMEMBER, KINDY DOES NOT HAVE SCHOOL ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 9TH.FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR KINDY IS MONDAY, AUGUST 12. PICTURE DAY FOR KINDY IS AUGUST 30TH.

8:25-8:40 Soft Start/ 3:30 PM DismissalThe entry doors open at 8:25 for students to be welcomed into school. Adult supervision outside begins at that time, so please drop your kiddos no earlier than 8:25 to ensure they are supervised and safe.

8:25-8:40

Front Door Entrance (west side of school)-Grades Kindy and 1st

Lower Playground Doors-2nd Grade

Venneford Ranch Rd Entrance (North Side of school) 3rd Grade

Garden Facing Mobile-(Next to lower playground) 4th Grade

Bus Loop Doors (East Side of school) 5th and 6th

3:30 Dismissal

Most kids exit out the doors they entered. We escort K and 1 to busses and to after school care. 1st and 2nd grade teachers walk their kids out to the lower playground at dismissal, so plan to pick your child up there as they release when they see your face. Please plan your pickup and drop off based on the doors that your student will enter/exit in all other cases, based on what grade they are in. Staff are at those doors welcoming and saying goodbye to our kids daily.

Express Check-In is now open. Please click on THIS Express Check-In and complete the check in process for each of your students before August 7th.

Log in using your Parent Portal username and password.

The Express Check-In process confirms that your student will be attending Cougar Run this school year. It also allows you to verify and update any contact information, pay school fees, view volunteer opportunities, apply for free and reduced lunches if needed, buy a bus pass and more.

Thank you in advance for taking care of this before school starts. Go to the Cougar Run website for more information.

If you are having problems getting into your Parent Portal account or using the Express Check in tool, please contact our IT department on 303-387-0001 and choose option #1 twice.

While all Meals are now free in DCSD, we still highly encourage families to complete a Free and Reduced Application if your family meets the criteria linked HERE.. Families must apply EACH YEAR for this designation. Qualification in previous years is not applied to the current year. If your family qualifies for this designation, there are additional fees that are waived on your child's behalf. You can find the official letter from Nutrition Services and the Applications HERE. Applications are accepted ONLINE ONLY.

The link above contains more information and the related application to provide your household income information. Please note that, while the following pages may reference eligibility for free or reduced-price school meals, but breakfast and lunch will be provided free to all students in the 2024-25 school year regardless of your household income.

If you have other questions or need help, contact Susan Babineau at Susan.Babineau@dcsdk12.org or 303-387-0368.

Free Meals for All! We know there are many questions regarding the passage of the Healthy School Meals for All program (Proposition FF) in Colorado.

Douglas County School District RE-1 opted into the Healthy School Meals for All program for the school year 2023-24 and we are continuing it this year, too.

A la carte purchases will continue to be offered for a fee. These purchases will be charged to the student’s meal account if they have money in their account, or the student may pay for the food items with cash. We anticipate an increase in participation this school year.

DCSD Bus Transportation - Rolling Cancellation Schedule
2024-2025 School Year

Below is the rolling cancellation schedule for DCSD bus routes for the 2024-2025 school year. As a reminder, this rolling cancellation schedule is for general education bus routes only. Special Education students who have transportation as a related service will not experience any route cancellations.

We encourage families to mark these dates on their calendar. Families should be sure to check their student’s route numbers for both AM and PM.

If you indicated during the Express Check-In process that you will be utilizing DCSD Transportation, please check the SMART tag™ Parent App starting July 31, 2024 to obtain your child's specific bus route and stop information. Transportation will also send families a link through SMART tag™ on July 31st with the rolling bus cancellation schedule for the entire school year. During the school year, families will also receive SMART tag™ notifications of all upcoming rolling bus cancellations two weeks in advance of the cancellation. Also please continue to check the SMART tag™ Parent App for updated route information.

Thank you for your understanding and partnership as we continuously work to improve our transportation service to our students and families.

Route #9: Cougar Run/Cresthill/Highlands Ranch Bus Cancellation Weeks

August 7-9
September 9-13
October 21-25
December 2-6
January 21-24
February 24-28
April 7-11
May 12-16

Please subscribe to theCRUN Community Calendar to stay up to date on events.

August 6th-Grades 1-6 Supply Drop Off/Teacher Meet and Greet/ Individual Student Photos

• Session 1 8:00-9:30
• Session 2 12:00-1:30

*Families are encouraged to stop by at one of the sessions to drop off supplies, meet your child's new teacher & get important Back to School classroom information.

August 7th- First Day of School Grades 1-6

August 7th OR 8th- Kindergarten Balanced Beginnings (Date and Time assignments will be coming.)

August 9th- NO SCHOOL FOR KINDERGARTEN

August 7-9- THERE WILL BE NO BUS SERVICE THIS WEEK

August 12th- FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL KINDERGARTEN

August 15th- 4:30-6:30 Back to School Night

August 16th- 11:30 First PTA Meeting in the Learning Commons

August 30th- Volunteer Orientation with Katie Busch our Volunteer Coordinator