August 22

In partnership with Principal Simpson, the BFA Board of Directors is proud to work for the students, parents, and patrons of BFA in promoting the mission and vision of the school. The following summarizes action taken during our August Board meeting.

BOD Updates:

Safety and Discipline Information

Please refer to my letter sent to the Community on August 21, 2024. (In Spanish)

Open Comment Procedures

New procedures regarding open comment and the Board’s response thereto were addressed. For those who were unable to attend, you will see an updated note on the bottom of our agenda which states the Board will respond to public comments at the following meeting. The response may be limited by the issue raised, our ability to comment, and/or Colorado law. The Board may, at its discretion, refer the matter or calendar the issue for future discussion.

Strategic Goals 24/25 School Year

As part of our duties as a governing Board, we focus on the long-term strategic direction for Ben Franklin Academy. To that end, the Board develops Strategic Goals each year. The goals for the 2024/25 school year are as follows:

1. Improve Educational Experience with Positive School Culture and relationships through data from BFA stakeholders.

2. Maintain Financial Stability and Transparency with a Focus on long-range planning.

3. Increase stakeholder satisfaction and engagement through community impact and volunteerism.

4. Retain and Recruit High-Quality Staff.

5. Accountability of All Stakeholders for the Success of BFA.

6. High Functioning Board and Quality Governance through increased visibility, transparency, and relationships.

A full copy of our Strategic Plan can be found on our website.

Spirit Days

As noted in prior newsletters, every Friday this year is a BFA Spirit Day! Students may wear a BFA-approved shirt with the remainder of the uniform. Please familiarize yourself with the Uniform Policy and the specific section related to Spirit Days. The PTO Spirit Store will reopen on August 27th! For those who placed an order earlier this month, delivery is expected in early September.

Financial Oversight:

Treasurer Sarah Nisbet provided the financial focus during the meeting. June financials were reviewed and recommended for approval by our Finance Committee. We remain focused on our financial health, including appropriate spending and quality investments.

Financial documents are made available on the Financial Transparency page of the BFA website.

Policy Governance:

The Board reviewed several policies during the August meeting. The following briefly summarizes changes you can expect to see in the updated versions. The updated policies will be available on the Policy page of the BFA website on or before September 15, 2024.

BOD Conflict of Interest Policy: Minor grammatical modifications were made. No substantive changes.

Book Donation Policy: We clarified that this policy does not allow for book donations to our library. With regard to donations made to classrooms, we have included language that unacceptable books include,, “books that are not age-appropriate, including anything sexual or violent in nature.”

Field Trip Policy: Changes were made to this policy. Please review the guidelines related to parents taking a student home directly from a field trip. Authorization is needed for any child to go home with an adult who is not their guardian. Under the Parent Chaperone Guidelines, it was clarified that parent chaperones are not permitted to purchase merchandise, souvenirs, or refreshments for any students. Chaperones are also not permitted to bring snacks to provide to students under any circumstances. We added language that a violation of these policies may result in chaperone privileges being revoked.

Facility Use Policy & Fee Schedule: Formatting and grammatical changes only. No substantive changes were made to this policy.

Conflict Resolution Policy: A request for a policy exception must now be made in writing to the Board President at least five (5) calendar days (instead of four (4) calendar days) before a regularly scheduled Board meeting to be listed in the meeting agenda. The Board clarified that any meeting required therein must occur in person and at BFA. Additional procedural changes were made to clarify timelines for those who seek to utilize these procedures.

The following policies are currently scheduled to be reviewed at the September meeting:

• Document Retention Policy

• Financial Accounting & Reporting Policies & Procedures

Board BOLTS:

The Board and Principal Simpson recognize that there are BFA students who go above and beyond and achieve excellence in academics, character, effort, and/or service both at BFA and within our greater Community. We are proud of these students and the characteristics they exemplify and look forward to recognizing these students each month in a very special way!

If you would like to nominate a student to be considered as one of our Board BOLTS in September, please use this nomination form.

September Board Meeting:

The next BFA Board of Directors meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 17, in the Middle School Commons.

The Board does not manage or supervise BFA staff. The Board’s sole employee is Principal Simpson.

Soon, we will beginning to run a Bi-Monthly Elementary Newsletter for Grades K - 4. This will be a link to help parents navigate our newsletters. Stay tuned next week.

Soon, we will beginning to run a Bi-Monthly Middle School Newsletter for Grades 5 - 8. This will be a link to help parents navigate our newsletters. Stay tuned next week.

Starting next week, we are including the preschool newsletter link each week. We are excited to offer one spot to get all our newsletters.. This will be a link to help parents navigate our newsletters.

Bookmark Our Events Calendar Now!

We are so fortunate to have an active community. We hope to see you all very soon at one of these events soon.

Our Back to School Night is a great chance to see what your student(s) are doing during their day.

Grade K - 4 will be on August 27 at 6:00 p.m to 8:00 p.m.

Grade 5 - 8 will be on August 28 at 6:00 p.m to 8:00 p.m.

Look for more information in a separate email from Principal Simpson coming soon.

Library is one of the best places to volunteer your time. Please read all instructions before signing up and limit to signing up for a couple of spots at first so everyone has a chance. If there are still open spots in a couple of weeks, please go back and fill up those spots.

Check your student(s)' teachers pages to find out what day their class comes.

Sign up on Sign Up Genius and check back often. Thanks for all your help.

SORA has four types of reading levels: interest level, ATOS, Lexile and text difficulty.

This is a great way for the students and staff to have access to more books. You can even add any public library to your account as long as you have a library card for that library. Click here to learn more.

Apple App Store

Android App Store

Basil, our furry librarian, will start coming to the library soon. If you have any concerns over dog allergies, please contact your student's teacher by Monday, August 26.

Our Parent Teacher Organization looks forward to an amazing year full of events, fundraisers and sponsorships.

If you are a King Soopers shopper, you can help earn money for BFA by signing up for King Soopers Community Rewards. For details on how to sign up for King Soopers Community Rewards visit their webpage or click here for instructions.

It's CRAZY how quickly this program adds up and how much our school can earn. From April- June of 2024, BFA earned $2,341 back from this program!

Please contact Erin Wiley, PTO Fundraising Coordinator with any questions. Thank you, again, for your support of BFA and the PTO!

Calling all Dads: Ben's Brigade Needs You!

The first Ben’s Brigade meeting is TONIGHT, Thursday, August 22, 8 p.m. at Max Taps Highlands

Ranch (2680 E. County Line Road), and they would love to have more dads get involved!

Ben's Brigade is a PTO group open to all BFA dads that provides a place for dads to get to know each other, as well as opportunities for unique ways to give back to the school and earn volunteer hours. Ben’s Brigade handles work projects around the school, provides volunteers for school functions, and hosts a number of social events throughout the year - some just for dads and some with kids as well.

Contact Curtis Anderson, Ben’s Brigade Committee Manager, to learn more.

Join us at Shake Shack (1509 Park Central Dr, Suite 100) next Wednesday, August 28 between 10:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. for our first Spirit Day/Night of the school year! Shake Shack will donate 25% of your total meal purchase back to the BFA PTO! Important: you must either mention the fundraiser to your cashier at checkout, show them our digital flyer, or use code DONATESHAKE on the Shake Shack website, app, or kiosk in order for the PTO to receive credit for your order.

Please spread the word. We hope to see you there!

The new school year means another opportunity to promote your business while supporting BFA.

Each year, sponsorships allow BFA to continue to grow and to meet the needs of our school, as well

as our teachers, staff and students. Sponsorships are on sale now through, Friday, August 30!

For details on the various sponsorship options and pricing, click here to view the flyer.

Thank you to the 18 wonderful businesses and individuals, who signed up for Early Bird

Sponsorship this year! We also have a few more sponsors in the works that we can't wait to share.

Thus far, we've raised over $19,000 for BFA!

PREMIUM

Top T Alarms

GOLD

Crete Jack

Compass Realty- Joe Dawson

Compass Realty - Kaitlin Kinney

Hinds Financial

DeBacco Properties

Legacy Martial Arts

SILVER

Robeks Fresh Juices & Smoothies

West & Main Homes - Raegan Marino

Everything for Offices

Bec's 1 Stop Shop

BRONZE

Balloons by Emma

Canvas Credit Union - Chad Roberts

Highlands Ranch Orthodontics

1 Stop Printing

Qdoba

Born2Bake

Zell''s Panini & Crepes

Also, if you are a photographer/videographer, marketer, food vendor, or have another event related

company, please reach out. We are always in need of help with all the amazing events we have for

our kids/families/teachers and would love to build a partnership.

If you have questions, please contact Cassie Roberts, Sponsor Committee Manager.

The 2024-2025 yearbooks are on sale now! Be sure to order yours early for the best pricing. Right

now, yearbooks cost $40 per book. Don’t wait, as prices will go up after October 14! You may also

order a yearbook dedication (parent tribute ad) for your student. Dedications start at $40, and are a

fun way to help commemorate a great school year!

This year, we will again be using Jostens for our yearbooks. You can order and pay for your 2024 -

2025 yearbook here, and your dedication here!

The PTO’s online spirit wear store (in partnership with locally owned and operated Denver Athletic)

will open next Tuesday, August 27 and stay open through September 8. No orders will be accepted

after the store closes. You can place your order and pay online through the Denver Athletic website.

Once the store is closed, all orders will be ready in approximately 3 weeks. Spirit wear from the last

round of sales will be distributed the first week of September.

Our September PTO Spirit Night will be a Colorado Rapids soccer game on Saturday, September 14

at 7:30 p.m. The Rapids play at Dick's Sporting Goods Park (6000 Victory Way, Commerce City)

and are playing the Portland Timbers that night. BFA families and friends will receive special

discounted pricing, and $5 from each ticket sold will be donated to the BFA PTO when purchased

through our ticketing link. Tickets are available for the Spirit Night in Section 120. We hope to see

you there! It will be a great night to cheer on the Rapids with fellow BFA families!

CEC meets the first Wednesday of each Month.

Our upcoming events are:

Goodies with Grandparents - Sept. 6 from 6:45 - 8:00am

Mark your calendars and save the date! The Community Events Committee (CEC) will host Goodies with Grandparents Friday, Sept. 6th. beginning at 6:45am. We ask students and their grandparents, or special adult(s) to please arrive no later than 7:15 as this is a popular event. Stay tuned for further details.No RSVP needed. Just bring your smiles and hugs.

Blood Drive - Oct. 25

An opportunity for our school community to give back and help others. Blood drive will be drop in at your convenience at a designated blood center.

Veteran's Day - Nov. 11

A special celebration to honor and show respect to our Veterans and current service members within our school and local community. Festivities include school wide assemblies, guest speakers, demonstrations, special lunch for Veterans, classroom activities, and a service donation drive.

Fathers Event (Ex: Donuts with Dads, Daybreak with Dads) - Feb. 21, PM event

A dedicated time for students and their fathers, or special adult, including refreshments and activities.

Mothers Event (Ex: A Morning with Mom, Magical Night with Mom) - April 4th

A dedicated time for students and their mothers, or special adult, including refreshments and activities.

We offer many before and after school Fine Arts clubs throughout the year. We update our webpage frequently, so look often.

Arts

Music

Band at Ben Franklin Academy**

Beginning Band: Mondays & every other Friday, 7:15 - 8:10 a.m.

Intermediate Band: Tuesdays & every other Friday, 7:15 - 8:10 a.m.

Instructor: Mr. Sevy (Video introduction)

***This class is open to students through 8th Grade.**

Beginning Band starts Sept. 9.

Intermediate Band starts Sept. 10.

Ben Franklin Orchestra at Coyote Creek

Beginning Orchestra: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 3:35 - 4:20 p.m.

Intermediate Orchestra: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 3:35 - 5:05 p.m.

Instructor: Mr. Henning (Video introduction)

Class starts Sept. 5.

Fall Sport were in full swing this week. Our game schedules will be up on Events Calendar for Girls Volleyball, Boys Soccer and Co-Ed Cross Country.

Visit our Athletics Page for more information about our Athletics Programs at BFA.

• Medications:
• Bring student medications and completed required health forms with parent and physician’s signature to the Front Office during school hours once school starts.
• Vaccinations:
• Any updated vaccination records or exemptions can be emailed to our Health Office.
• Please note that if you have already sent in your student's immunizations, we are busy updating them into the system. It can take Infinite Campus a few days to update, so you may see on the parent portal that your student is not compliant. Thank you for your patience and understanding in the duration of time this has taken. We will call parents if we see any discrepancies.

Our delicious lunch is provided by DCSD. Check out the menu for the first weeks of school.

If a student has a specific dietary restriction or allergy, parents must contact DCSD Nutrition Services to arrange an allergy/restriction lunch section.

BFA does not provide breakfast at this time.

Join Douglas County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Highlands Ranch Metro District park rangers to learn the basics or advance your angling skills. Colorado Parks and Wildlife will provide fishing rods for each participant to use and take home. This is a catch and release event.

Saturday, Sept. 28

8-11 a.m.

Fly’n B Park

$15 ($18 for nonresidents)

Discounted group rate available for registrations of 3 or more.

Register Here

Welcome Back to the 24-25 school year!

We have some great Community Events already lined up our community! All tickets can be purchased directly from the Community Event page of our website. Check back for new opportunities to be added!

Mission:

Our mission is to create young adults with character like America's founding Renaissance man, Benjamin Franklin: well-read, scientifically curious, and civically engaged.

Vision:

Our students will excel academically through a challenging, sequenced curriculum that emphasizes math, science, the arts, and literacy. We will be a data-driven institution, focusing on individual students. Our students, teachers, parents, staff, and leaders will be held accountable for the success of our school. Finally, we recognize that an education is incomplete without fostering social emotional development, character, sports, and nature.

13 Virtues:

Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Purity and Humility.