Welcome Back, Students and Families!

I hope you all had a fantastic summer and are ready for an incredible 2024-2025 school year at SV! This year, we are thrilled to emphasize our STEAM initiatives, aimed at launching our students into a world of curiosity and problem-solving through Design Thinking.

We are calling on all students to dare to be curious and creative, building a foundation of critical thinking that will serve you for the rest of your lives. Our hashtag for the year, #CuriosityChasers, perfectly encapsulates our mission to explore, innovate, and grow together.

We encourage families to stay connected with us by keeping up with our weekly newsletters and watching our daily announcements. These resources will keep you informed about the amazing things happening on campus.

Let’s make this year unforgettable!

-Mrs. Hughes

If you have a new Viper joining our Kindergarten, we are so excited to welcome you on Monday, July 29th in our Media Center at 5:00 PM. This is a PARENT ONLY event where you will meet the team, learn about the processes here at SV as well as what your students day will look like and what they will be learning. We will host this event in our Media Center.

We look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday, July 30th at 5:00 PM for Meet Your Teacher Night. This is an open house, drop-in format where you can find your classroom, drop your supplies and meet your teacher and classmates before the first day of school on Thursday. Be sure to come to the Multi-Purpose Room where we will have PTSO, transportation, community education (before/after care), cafeteria, Rita's Ice, and other community tables. We will also have chromebook checkout for 4th-8th grade students and the ability to purchase optional device protection plans.

We are offering early Chromebook checkouts for our 4th-8th graders - available in our Media Center - on Tuesday, July 30th from 1:30-4:00 PM. If you are unable to come early, pickup is still available during Meet Your Teacher Night.

Returning students, please login to PowerSchool and you can view your schedule before you arrive to campus, we are not printing a hard copy for everyone in an effort to save paper.

If your student attends breakfast, they will be allowed on campus as early as 8:15 AM. Our gates open for all students at 8:30 AM.

If you are the parent/guardian of an SV student, you will be allowed to walk your student to their classroom on the FIRST DAY ONLY.

Please be mindful that our front parking lot is limited and we recommend any students in 1st-8th grade utilize our drop-off loop instead of parking. It is extremely important to us that everyone utilize the crosswalks appropriately and obey traffic/parking laws at all times.

To help pick-up run smoothly and efficiently, please ensure that you have your placard displayed in your front window in BOLD lettering with your students last name and grade. Placards will be available at Meet the Teacher Night OR can be picked up in the office.

If you haven't already purchased your supplies, our supply list is on our website as well as posted here. We encourage all our families to bring supplies on Monday to Meet Your Teacher Night!

Greetings Vipers,

Please review the below documents, forms, and procedures as we prepare to begin a new school year. We have attempted to reduce the number of signature pages needed to print and collect for our first day packets. All of our first day information is now electronic in PDF format. We are asking you to please review the following documents and initial each policy with one signature required. Please print, sign, and return the signature page only to your child’s homeroom teacher by Friday August 11. You may also scan it and email the copy to Jennifer.Morales@dvusd.org . If you need a paper copy of the signature page, copies are available in the front office.

**If dropping off after school hours, please use the drop box outside of the front office.

PTSO has a full calendar this year and looks forward to continue growing our membership and involving all of our families in supporting our Vipers.

Here is your PTSO board for 24-25

President: Mandy Balart

Vice President: Nikki Lengal

Treasurer: Tanya Holmesley

Secretary: Michelle Corry

We will be at Meet your Teacher Night with a table in the MPR so come by and say hi and make sure to grab a calendar and become a member for only $20. In addition to supporting our campus, membership gives you early access and seating to all our PTSO events before non-members.

Please contact us by email: sierra.verde.ptso@gmail.com

Or on social media: https://www.facebook.com/svptso/

• Make sure that all adults who will be picking up students at 3:30 have a purple placard with the student's Last Name and Grade clearly written in marker bold and big so we can read them. Placards are available in the office and will be available on Tuesday at MYT Night. Take as many copies as you need (one for mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, etc......).
• Our Bus Loop is open at 3:20 pm for KINDERGARTEN dismissal ONLY.
• Please pull forward and follow all staff directions around the pick up loop, don't stop short, and stay in your car.
• We will load your student(s). If they need help buckling, pull up and around the loop to the buckle zone past our bike rack.
• We do not have any supervision of students until 8:30 am so please do not drop off or leave any kids unattended before 8:30 am.
• Please be patient and be kind to staff and other drivers as it takes a few weeks for all to learn our procedures. Remember out staff is out in 100+ degree weather keeping all our kids safe, and everyone's safety is more important than any individual's convenience.
• If you do not have a kindergarten student, you must use the front loop for morning drop-off. We do not have enough parking spaces for additional vehicles, and our front loop is much more efficient and safe for our 1st-8th graders.
• Do not cross any streets outside of the designated and manned crosswalks in the am or pm. We have had some very close calls and pedestrians almost struck crossing Rose Garden illegally.

• All 1st-8th grade students should be dropped off in the front traffic loop, parking in the lot is reserved for Kindergarten parents only. It is also not permissible to park and cross Rose Garden or 74th Ave at any point other than our crosswalks.
• 8:45 is the start of our academic day, kids who are not in class at 8:45 will need a tardy pass.
• We cannot sign students out after 3:15.
• Do not text your students during the school day, phones are available for use at the office with staff permission.
• We will not interrupt instruction to relay messages or deliver items left at home (unless medically needed)
• Attendance warnings will be sent home for students who are absent more than 10% of days in session or who have accumulated 5+ tardies
• If you have a concern or question regarding progress, grades, or behavior, address the classroom level teacher per our DVUSD Problem Solving Guidance
• School staff and administration are not available to meet on demand, appointments will be made to set up meetings or phone calls for administrators and teachers. Walk-in appointments are not an option.
• SV teachers adhere to an email curfew. They will check emails Monday - Friday from 7:00 AM to 8:30 AM and 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM only.
• SV staff will respond to emails within 48 hours, excluding weekends & holidays.

This year, each student and parent will be required to sign our Off & Away All Day policy (see below). This policy will also be sent in the Back to School documents you will receive next Friday.

A top priority for SV is the safety of our students, as well as protection of student privacy, and maximization of instructional time. To ensure these take place, we will be enforcing our "Off & Away All Day" policy from gate-to-gate. This means that personal electronic devices (including, but not limited to, cell phones and smart watches) will need to be turned off and put away upon entering the SV gates in the morning and will remain off and away until students are outside of SV gates in the afternoon. This policy will also outline the steps that will be taken should personal devices be used on campus during our school day.

If you need to contact your student for any reason during the school day, you will need to call our office to relay the message to your student(s).

If your student is not feeling well, it will be an expectation that they inform an adult on campus and see our nurse. Should your student need to be picked up, our nurse will contact you directly.

For all other policies and procedures, it is important to read and review our updated Sierra Verde Handbook.

For the 24-25 school year, we will once again be charging for school meals, to apply for a free or reduced meal application visit https://secure.ezmealapp.com or stop by Sierra Verde for a paper application (though the online process is much quicker). See the complete information from DVUSD Food & Nutrition below.

DVUSD has a birthday bucket order form that will be the only method of birthday treats for 24-25. You can fill out an application for a birthday bucket and work with our Cafeteria Manger Mrs. Debbie Jasperson to arrange these birthday treats. The Birthday Bucket application is on our homepage and is linked below as well.

In order to keep meal account balances topped off, you can put money on the student account with cash or check at Meet Your Teacher night in the MPR, drop off cash or check in the office, or use E-Z school pay which is free through September 7th. EZ School pay also has an app available to download and track your balance.