Dimond Newsletter

Europe Trip

The Dimond High French classes will be traveling to Europe this year during the summer of 2025 and still have space available for two additional students.

Dates: June 9th – June 24th, 2025

Countries: England, France, Italy, Greece

Cost: only $6886 (everything is included except lunch)

If interested, please submit the form: https://forms.gle/AK8wVctfQJDztoLm6

(the form will be available until Sunday, January 19th)

Contact Mrs.Sears with any questions: sears_natalia@asdk12.org

Dimond Stays Golden

This year, we have made it a priority at Dimond to identify the values that make this school a place people want to be. Those are community, respect, and integrity. All of our school-wide expectations are delivered within the context of these values, and we strive to model these values in the way that we communicate with students and each other.

We are committed to reflect on the fact that our words and actions shape the degree to which others feel safe and valued within our community. We understand that tone and timing are important factors to consider in any difficult situation and endeavor to proceed thoughtfully. Finally, we strive to ensure that our words and actions match our intentions.

We would like to invite you as community members to join us in our pledge to practice value-driven communication. School is often challenging, and it is a normal part of the process for tensions to arise. Every person has the right to be treated with respect, no matter the frustrations or feelings on either side. With this in mind, we hope to hold one another accountable within difficult conversations.

Staff may, if feeling a conversation is taking an unproductive turn, ask to revisit after both parties have had a chance to think. Likewise, if you feel that you are not being heard or understood in a way that feels respectful, we ask that you hold us accountable to the standard and request a different time to further discuss the issue at hand.

We are all humans who have good days and bad, and we are all adults who want your child to succeed. Let’s work together to make Dimond a school that models what a community really looks like.

UAA Bounce Back Charity Game

On January 18, 2025, JustServe.org is joining UAA and several other community organizations in hosting a men and women's basketball charity event at the Alaska Airlines Center. Free admission to these games are being offered with a soft item donation for the Claire House and Catholic Social Services. Men play at 3pm and women play at 5:15pm. Come howl for the home team and support local charities in the process. Attach Flyer

• January 20th: No School- MJK Jr. Holiday

• February 17th: No School- Presidents Day Holiday

• February 28th: No School- Student Released Professional Development Day

• March 7th: No School- Student Released Grading Day

• March 10th-March 14: No School- Spring Break

Our Dimond Career Resource Center is run by Mrs. Lauwers and is open on Tuesdays and Fridays or afterschool by appointment only. She is here to help you with anything related to college applications, scholarships or life after high school. If you would like to speak to her and she is not in her office her email is lauwers_kimberly@asdk12.org.

Attendance

Attendance is one of the most important factors for student success. Absences (whether excused or unexcused) have an impact on academic performance and high school graduation.

Attendance Works (www.attendanceworks.org) notes that “by 9th grade, attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than 8th grade test scores.” Missing 10%, or 2 days a month, over the course of the school year, is considered chronically absent and can affect a student’s academic success. It is critical that students practice good attendance habits now which positively translate to employability skills in the future.

Please help us set students up for success and communicate the importance of going to class on time every day.

Tardy Culture

In an effort to change a culture of tardiness, the student services team has now implemented the following strategies:

1. Each morning there will be a table set out for students who come in after the bell. They will fill out a “tardy slip” with their name, the time, and where they are going. This is NOT punitive. It is for letting staff know why students are in the hall and where they are going. If your student happens to arrive after the target table has been removed they MUST get a pass from the attendance office to go to class.

1. We will continue to conduct random tardy sweeps, three times per week, between 2nd and 6th hour. If a student is found in the hall when the late bell rings, they will receive an automatic detention to be served within two days.

1. Monday is “Tardy Monday.” Our Attendance Office will run a report that details each student’s tardiness from the previous week. If the student has 4 tardies, they will be served a lunch detention and their parents will be called. If they have 8 or more for the week, they will be assigned a day of ISS by Assistant Principal Hayden.

DoorDash/ GrubHub/ UberEats

Please do not allow your students to use a food delivery app to get their lunches to school. WE CAN NOT accept them at the front office and will not pull them from class to accept an order. Starting today, Tuesday, October 10th, all food deliveries will be rejected or left outside the school.

If your student must use a food delivery app for their lunch it must be delivered to them during lunch, outside the building.

Don’t forget we have great hot school lunches available 5 days a week! Visit Student Nutritions website for more information. (https://www.asdk12.org/Page/13240)

Lunch Charges

In preparation for ensuring that your student is set-up for charging lunch, please keep in mind that Student Nutrition will accept payments through Q ParentConnect, at the cafe, or checks sent by mail to Student Nutrition, 1307 Labar Street, Anchorage, Alaska 99515. The Schools’ front office cannot accept payments. See below for more information from the Student Nutrition Department:

For more information about adding to your balance in Q:

https://www.asdk12.org/Page/13241

This is also the perfect time to file for free and reduced meals for this year, to learn more and see if you qualify: https://asdk12.org/Page/13246. For more information, parents may email snadmin@asdk12.org.

Drop Off and Pick Up:

Please review the traffic flow map for the current school year. You'll note that there are two primary areas for student drop off and pick up:

• The sidewalk area adjacent to the student parking area.

• The sidewalk area contained in the front-of-school roundabout.

Please note that all other areas are for staff or buses only. Importantly, although the staff parking area appears a good location for drop-off and pick-up, it cannot be used by non-staff members, as its layout creates safety concerns for those entering and exiting the parking lot: Please do not enter this area.

As a reminder the building is only open to students from 7:30am to 4:00pm. All students not actively participating in after school activities must be cleared out of the building by 4:00pm.

Website: https://www.asdk12.org/dimond
Location: 2909 West 88th Avenue, Anchorage, AK, USA
Phone: (907) 742-7000