April 3, Voices of Color 5:00pm MVE Library

April 8, Spirit Day

April 8, Community Night at Waldo's Chicken

April 22, Nighthawk View Night for incoming 6th graders at Sky Vista 5:30-7:30pm

April 23, Volunteer Appreciation 5:30pm MVE Library

April 23, Community Meeting 6:00pm MVE Library

April 25, Near Space Balloon Launch

April 29, Spring Choir Concert

Dear Mountain Vista Families,

I’m excited to share some updates with you this month! This newsletter is a little longer than usual because there’s a lot happening as we head into spring. It’s the time of year when I get to witness the incredible growth and progress our students have made—from their newfound confidence in reading to their creativity in art. There is so much to celebrate! A huge thank you to our amazing community for exceeding our Read-A-Thon fundraising goal, raising over $15,000 for our Teaching Assistant (TA) fund. Your generosity continues to make Mountain Vista such a special place. Please read on for more details about upcoming celebrations, reminders, and events, including our Volunteer Appreciation Celebration, PreK enrollment, CMAS testing, and class list creation for next year.

I’m excited to invite those who have volunteered with us this year to our Volunteer Appreciation Celebration on April 23 at 5:30pm in the MVE library. Whether you’ve helped in the classroom, chaperoned field trips, been a WatchDog Dad, or cut out materials for teachers, your contributions—big and small—make a huge impact on our students and our school. I can’t wait to celebrate all of you! A special thank you also goes out to our outstanding PTO Executive Board, our PTO members, and our Voices of Color committee. We are truly lucky to have such dedicated volunteers. If you’d like to get involved with PTO, please check out the open positions listed in their newsletter below. If you’d like to get involved with Voices of Color, please join us at our next meeting on April 3 at 5pm.

Additionally, please remember that enrollment is open for our PreK program! If you have a child who will be four years old by October 1, 2025, we encourage you to enroll them as soon as possible so that we can provide appropriate staffing. Our PreK program tends to fill quickly, so please take advantage of the available spots. For more information, please visit the district website linked here or reach out to our front office.

A quick reminder for families of students in grades 3-5: Our Colorado Measures for Academic Success (CMAS) testing is coming up during the weeks of April 7 and 14. These assessments are important because they help us gauge how much our students have learned and grown over the year. We want to ensure our students do their best, so please help them prepare by making sure they get a good night’s sleep and have a healthy breakfast each morning before testing. I know our students will rock this assessment!

Looking ahead to next school year, we’ll soon begin the process of creating class lists for 2025-2026. We take great care in creating balanced classrooms that support all students’ learning and growth. While we do not take requests for specific teachers or classmates, I invite families to share, in writing, any information about their child’s unique needs or personality that could help us in our placement decisions. If you wish to share this information, please send me an email at mcarkhuff@cherrycreekschools.org by April 23, 2025.

Thank you for your continued partnership in making Mountain Vista such a wonderful place to learn and grow. As we approach the end of the school year, there will be many fun activities and events for students to enjoy. Be sure to keep an eye out for communications from your child’s classroom teacher about these upcoming events and celebrations. Wishing everyone a fantastic start to spring!

Warmly,
Megan Carkhuff
Principal, Mountain Vista Elementary

Dear Cherry Creek Schools community,

Last month, I sent a communication sharing details of a proposed funding cut to K-12 education and the Cherry Creek School District. I appreciate many of you taking the time to get informed and contact our lawmakers. I also received some questions about how this potential funding cut interacts with our most recent mill and bond and our overall budget.

This week, I sat down with our Chief Financial and Operating Officer, Scott Smith, to dive into some of those details. I hope you take the time to watch the video. Any cut to K-12 funding is unacceptable. Our kids, and students across Colorado, deserve better. I encourage you to continue to make your voice heard. Please visit www.kidsmattertoo.org to send a letter or click here to call CCSD lawmakers.

Thank you for your ongoing support of Cherry Creek Schools!

Sincerely,

Christopher Smith

Superintendent

The district has compiled a list of resources for families, including food pantries, immigrant supports, language supports, mental and physical health resources, and supports for unhoused families. You can access the list here.

Thanks,

Vivienne Goodrum

Executive Assistant to

Elementary Executive Directors

Toby Arritola and Mia Robinson

4700 S. Yosemite St.

Greenwood Village, CO 80111

720-554-4215

Please remember that we have a soft start beginning at 7:45 a.m., and school starts promptly at 8:00 a.m. Do not drop your students off any earlier than 7:45 a.m. as there is no supervision outside the entry doors before then. Keep in mind that frequent tardiness and early dismissals lead to missed instruction and can affect your student’s ability to successfully meet grade level standards and take part in the school community. If you are calling to excuse an absence for your child, we advise you to use the 24-hour attendance line (720-886-2795) and not the main office line. If you need to pick up your child prior to dismissal, you must do so no later than 2:25 p.m. (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) and 1:25 p.m. on Wednesdays. Thank you for your partnership and cooperation in supporting our students.

If your child will be absent for any reason, please remember to call our 24-hour attendance line,

720-886-2795. Please include following information with your message:

· Student’s first and last name (please spell)

· Teacher name and grade

· Reason for the absence.

· Your name

· Contact phone number

· Brief description of symptoms

Thank you for your partnership as we work to keep our students and staff healthy

All students must be fever-free (fever = 100.4* or higher) without fever-reducing medication for 24 hours and feeling well enough to participate in school.

They also must stay home until it has been 24 hours since their last episode of vomiting and/or diarrhea and eating and drinking before returning to school.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact our school nurse:

Mandy Jackson BSN, RN 720-886-2704

ajackson4@cherrycreekschools.org

• CCSD participates in Safe2Tell which allows you to anonymously report any threatening behavior that endangers you, your friends, your family or your community.
• Contact at: www.safe2tell.org or 1.877.542.SAFE (7233)

Families, please check for any library books at home. We only have one more month of check outs. All library books are due by May 2nd.

Thanks

Mrs.A

Please join us for Spring Choir Concert on April 29th at 6pm.

The Inside Out summer enrichment program, sponsored by the Office of Neurodiverse Student Services, offers students a learning environment that fosters critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and effective communication skills. Inside Out offers classes with options for half-day or full-day for one or two weeks during June 2025. Registration opens March 24th and closes April 21st. For more information – please click the link below:

https://cherrycreek.revtrak.net/other-programs/rw-ccsd-inside-out-summer/