Dragon Tales

This past week was bookended with two highlights for me. The week started with some news that was very relieving for me. I'm thankful to have the term "interim" stripped from my title and to know that there are more amazing years ahead. The week wound down with our 6th grade welcome night. It was so great seeing our future Dragons walk the halls with our Leo Leaders. The look of joy on their faces was inspiring. I look forward to seeing that same joy on their faces when they're in 8th grade and getting ready for promotion.

I also want to take a moment to thank our amazing PTSA for all they did for staff appreciation week. From the coffee to the lunches and everything in between, the daily sense of appreciation was so meaningful. Our teachers, para educators, office staff, custodians, cook are all so amazing and deserve all the thanks they received this week.

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the amazing weather ahead,

Mr. Roosevelt

With our new end of the year attendance and behavior expectations in place, we saw a welcomed decrease in the number of tardies this week. Below are a list of those expectations in order for students to participate in some of our end of year events:

• No more than 18 tardies between May 6th and June 7th (an average of 3/week)
• No more than 2.5 days of absences (this is aligned to the state goal of students being in school 90% of school days).
• No unsafe Stage 2/3 referrals

Some students have shared that they are mostly concerned with the expectation around not missing more than 2.5 days of school. Our goal is not to exclude from events, but to encourage school attendance. Please know, we will work with each family and student if a student misses more than this number of days. If your student is sick, please keep them home. If you had pre-arranged travel plans, communicate those with us as well.

As a reminder, when we did this for our school dance back in March, we made sure to communicate with at risk students and families around their attendance well before the actual event. We believe firmly in the importance of students developing the habits that lead to academic success and we believe all of our students can meet these goals.

Please direct questions to Assistant Principal, Ms. Wilson (mwilson5@pps.net)

This message is from Ms. Bayne our Site Technology Liaison (and amazing Math teacher):

Dear daVinci Families,

Please read below and take the appropriate action(s) based on your student's grade level.

During the school year, your student has had access to a PPS owned, personally assigned Chromebook for use during the school day and at home.

As we approach the end of the school year, we need to account for all devices and take appropriate actions, as directed by the district.

Students who will no longer attend daVinci:

(this includes all 8th graders and anyone transferring to a different school for the 2024-25 school year)

• Students will need to turn in their chromebook and charger. Collection of devices will begin on Friday, June 7th.

• Chromebooks need to be cleaned of all writing and sticker residue.

• If any repairs are needed (non working keys, missing keys, cracked screen, etc), this information needs to be noted at the time of check in.

6th and 7th grade students who will attend daVinci next year:

Students/families have the option to keep their assigned chromebook over the summer or turn it in to daVinci. If your computer is being turned in for the summer, it needs to be cleaned of all writing and sticker residue. *You will not be given the same computer back in the fall.

• If the student chromebook will be kept over the summer, a permission slip will need to be filled out and you will accept responsibility for the device.

• If no permission slip is filled out, the student chromebook and charger will need to be collected. Collection will start on Friday, June 7th.

• Here is a google form for the summer permission slip. If you prefer a paper copy, please reach out to the office or Ms. Bayne. *NOTE: The student chromebook will need to be present when filling out the form.

Please check in with your student(s) and ensure you are all on the same page about the plan for their PPS issued device over the summer. Permission slips need to be filled out and submitted no later than Wednesday, June 5th.

Please note, if your student's account lists any "lost" devices and/or has had a device damaged beyond repair, they will not be eligible for keeping a device over the summer.

If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to reach out to Kerry Bayne, daVinci's technology coordinator (kbayne@pps.net).

With the warm weather ahead, we encourage students to stay hydrated throughout the day. Please encourage your student to bring a water bottle that they can refill at one of our many filling stations located throughout the building.

There are plants available for purchase still from the PTSA Spring Plant Sale. Click here to see photos of the plants and flowers that are still available.

Join the Grant HS community for an evening of student-centered dancers and designs at 7pm on May 17th at Grant High School. This event will feature over 160 dancers in 5 dance classes demonstrating a wide variety of dance styles. For more information, please click here.

As the half-blood son of a Greek god, Percy Jackson has newly-discovered powers he can't control, a destiny he doesn't want, and a mythology textbook's worth of monsters on his trail. When Zeus's master lightning bolt is stolen and Percy becomes the prime suspect, he has to find and return the bolt to prove his innocence and prevent a war between the gods. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the thief. He must travel to the Underworld and back; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and come to terms with the father who abandoned him. Adapted from the best-selling book The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan and featuring a thrilling original rock score, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical is an action-packed mythical adventure "worthy of the gods" (Time Out New York).

The Lightning Thief performs May 10-12 and 16-18 on the Main Stage of the IBWHS Cosgrove Auditorium, and is appropriate for ALL AGES.

Tickets are on sale at southweststageworks.com

We are hoping to start a new tradition this year during 8th grade promotion. We are seeking 7th grade parent volunteers to assist with 8th grade promotion by serving ice cream to 8th grade students and families once promotion concludes. For more information, and to sign up, please click here.

Hello future 9th graders! If you will be attending either Franklin, Roosevelt, McDaniel, Grant or Jefferson High School, and are interested in learning more about their Leap Into 9th Grade summer program, please check out the bulletin board outside the main office. There are also flyers in the main office if you would like to review this program with your adults.

As some of you know, da Vinci teachers Heidi Sprecher (Drama Tech) and Chelsea Blair (Social Studies) lead trips around the world during the summers. We are so excited to reveal our trip for Summer 2025:

The Sound of Europe!

We will be traveling to Munich, Vienna, Budapest, and beyond! We'll be seeing castles (multiple castles!), Mozart's birthplace, Munich's Olympic stadium, a classical music concert in Vienna, and so many more cool places. Please click here for a short flyer about our first info session. Heidi and Ms. Blair also have flyers available in their classrooms to give students who want to know more.

Our first info session about this trip will be next Wednesday on Zoom at 6 PM. Please email HSprecher@pps.net to learn more!"

We are asking families to make a $20 donation to help us offset the publication costs of our school yearbook. As I mentioned last week, I've seen a sneak peak of the yearbook and it is amazing. Our goal is to ensure all students and staff receive a yearbook. We recognize we may have some families that cannot make a donation, so any additional donations will be greatly appreciated.