Dover Avenue Elementary News

DA Families,

Welcome back to another exciting school year at Dover Avenue! We hope you had a wonderful summer filled with memorable moments and relaxation. As the new academic year begins, we are thrilled to have our students and families back in the school. Whether you are returning or joining us for the first time, we look forward to a year full of learning, growth, and community.

Mrs. Katie Nicholson, Principal

Dover Avenue Elementary School

Class assignment letters will be mailed on August 12. This will include your child's teacher and other important dates for returning to school. If you do not receive this by Friday, August 16, please contact the office.

Please review the 2024-2025 Elementary Student Handbook which can be found on our district website under Parents: https://www.dovertornadoes.com/Handbooks.aspx .

Supply lists are available on the district website: https://www.dovertornadoes.com/SchoolSupplyLists.aspx

Breakfast and Lunch are available for students daily. Breakfast and lunch will be FREE this year to all students! Milk is available for purchase for $0.50. Ala carte funds can be added using your Payschools Account (https://dovercity.healtheliving.net) or make checks payable to Dover Schools Cafeteria with student name in the memo line.

Workbook fees include the cost for novels and workbooks. Grades 4-5 workbook fees are $25.00 and are due September 30, 2024. Please make checks payable to Dover Avenue Elementary.

Updated bus routes will be available before school on the district website under the Parents tab. https://www.dovertornadoes.com/TransportationServices.aspx

If you need to change your child’s mode of transportation home, please contact the office by 1:00PM.

Parents are reminded to complete the online registration every year. This provides us with updated information about your child. If you haven’t updated this yet, please do so at your earliest convenience by visiting https://dover.esvportal.com/, which is located on the district website under the Parents and Parents Portal tab.

If your child needs medication at school, in accordance with state and board policies, we are not permitted to dispense medication without directions and signatures of both the physician and the parent or legal guardian. If it is essential that a child takes medication during the school day, medication forms are available on our district website or you may stop in the office.

This year all three Dover Elementary School Buildings partnered with the Dover Public Library for their Summer Reading Program. Completed forms will NOT be accepted at school but must have been turned in to the Dover Public Library no later than August 2. Students who did complete this will receive an ice cream party in September to celebrate their summer reading!

We are no longer using Accelerated Reader as our reading platform and initiative to encourage reading. Rather, we are excited to announce that we will be using a new platform called Beanstack! This program is accessible to students, teachers and parents at school and home!

Check out this short video to learn more about Beanstack: https://zoobean.wistia.com/medias/devqxqvndb

More information regarding logging in and our first reading challenge will be shared next month!

We have a slightly different Resource (Art, Music, PE, Library) schedule compared to the other two elementary schools. In order to provide consistency for our students’ schedules we have an A-D rotation. Students will have their resource class at the same time each day but the class in which they go to will change. Each day will be assigned a letter A, B, C or D then repeating this for their resource class. This rotation, rather than a Monday through Friday schedule, allows our students to not miss any resource class when there is a scheduled day off on a Monday. Please see the table below to see when your student’s class will be going to which resource. Your child’s teacher will also communicate this information with you each week. It can also be found below in our Special Events & Resource Calendar.

• If your child has Mrs. Nitz, Mrs. Conrad, Mrs. Schumacher or Mrs. VanGilder they will have library and then music or PE in the afternoon.

• If your child has Mrs. Hamsher, Mrs. Bond, Mrs. Barker or Mrs. Bauer they will have PE.

• If your child has Mr. Reveal, Mrs. Worst, Mrs. Fuhrer, or Mrs. Pellegrino they will have Music.

• If your child has Mrs. Maybaugh, Mrs. McGarry, Mrs. LaBrake or Mr. Statler they will have Art.

Students may begin arriving at 7:30. Our tardy bell rings at 7:55 for class to begin at 8:00. Fourth grade students go to recess from 11-11:30 and then to lunch from 11:30-12. Our fifth grade students go to lunch from 11-11:30 and then to recess from 11:30-12. We then begin our staggered dismissal at 2:25 with early bus riders. Walkers, car riders and bikers are dismissed at 2:27 then our remaining bus riders are dismissed.

Arrival: Students who ride the bus will be dropped off on the west side of the building and enter through the playground doors. Students who walk or ride bikes will also enter through the playground doors or the east/alley side door.

Students who arrive by car can be dropped off in the alley to the east of the building. Students can exit their cars at the numbered posts #1-7 to ensure a quick and safe drop off. Families, please remain in your car and follow the directions of the staff on duty to ensure student safety and traffic flow. Students may not enter the building until 7:30 A.M. when staff is available.

Dismissal: At the end of the day, students who are getting picked up by car, walking or riding bikes will be dismissed at 2:27 P.M. and are to leave school property upon the conclusion of the day. We ask that students who are walking, riding bikes or being picked up by car to use the crosswalks. Parents are not permitted to use the alley to pick up due to city traffic laws. Please plan to park on the street if you will pick up your child by car. Students who are going home via bus will walk down to the bus room/cafeteria and wait for their bus to arrive.

Thank you for helping make our arrival and dismissal safe for our students!

Grandparents and Special Fridays Day will be coming up quickly! It is scheduled for September 13. Fliers for the specifics of this event will be coming home with your child in the first few days of school. Please pay close attention to this and return the form by September 6!

Our fall book fair will be taking place September 9-13. Students will have the opportunity to shop for books during their library time that week. We have switched our Book Fair vendor from Scholastic to Literati and are excited to use this new vendor! If you're interested in volunteering during this week, please contact our PTG at doveravenueptg@gmail.com

In compliance with the Missing Child Act and for the safety of our children, parents are requested to call Dover Avenue School (330-364-7117) before 8:30AM to report the reason for your child's absence. We encourage student attendance every day to ensure continuity of learning. However, if your child is absent, please send a note following the return of your child to verify his/her absence. If the absence is due to a medical, dental, or legal appointment, please provide a verification note on the provider’s stationary upon return to school. If no call or note is received within 24 hours, the absence(s) will be marked as unexcused.

Bullying by any student in the Dover City School District is strictly prohibited, and such conduct will result in disciplinary action, including suspension and/or expulsion from school. Examples of conduct that could constitute prohibited behaviors include but are not limited to the following: physical violence; threats; damage or stealing of possessions; spreading of rumors; posting slurs on websites or social networking sites; sending abusive or threatening e-mails or instant messages etc., to circulate gossip and rumors to other students; and use of cameras/phones to take embarrassing or unsolicited photographs or videos of students and distributing and/or posting the photos or videos online or in person. Students should report this behavior to their building principal.

District bullying policies are available on the district webpage under District Dover City Schools Board Policy Policy JFCF (Hazing and Bullying) and JFCF-R (Hazing and Bullying).

Dover City Schools will be using the Raptor Visitor Management System in all of our schools to strengthen school safety for students and faculty. Part of keeping students and faculty safe includes knowing who is in our buildings at all times, and the Raptor system allows us to do that. The Raptor system will better allow us to screen visitors, workers, and volunteers in our schools and provide us with a safer environment for all. Upon entering a district building, visitors will be asked to present a US government-issued ID such as a Driver’s License, which can be scanned or manually entered into the system. If a parent or guardian does not have a scannable ID, the school staff member can use any form of government identification that includes a photo to manually enter the person’s information into the Raptor system. The Raptor system checks the visitor's name and date of birth for comparison with public state and national databases of registered sex offenders. The registered sex offender database is the only official database checked by the Raptor system. No other data from the ID is gathered or recorded, and the information is not shared with any outside agency. Upon approval, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit. If anyone other than a parent or guardian is signing a child out from school, he or she may be asked to present identification, as well. A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who are not going past the main office but are simply dropping off an item in the office or picking up paperwork. The safety of our students is our highest priority. The Raptor visitor management system allows us to quickly identify those who may present a danger to our students. Thank you in advance for your understanding and your support in enhancing school safety procedures in our district.

*Free language assistance with respect to school programs and activities is available for all students and families of Dover City Schools. Please contact your child's building principal for translation or interpretation services.

Building Board:

• President: Kristin Mulheman
• Vice President: Kayce Hamlin
• Treasurer: Taylor Wright
• Secretary: Julie Arbogast

Executive Board:

• President: Erika Koffa
• Vice President: Veronica Studer
• Treasurer: Kate Yoder
• Secretary: Lisa Hostetler