Dimond Newsletter
February 19, 2025
Dear Dimond Families:
I hope everyone was able to enjoy the long weekend! I apologize for a later send than normal for this newsletter, but we wanted to make sure we had all the information available before sending it out. It’s hard when our Monday is actually a Tuesday.
I also wanted to address the message that went out on Friday about the Principal hiring process. I have been filling the role of Acting Principal this year, and on Thursday submitted my application for the open principal position. I am excited to go through the hiring process, and wanted you to know my intentions. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions.
Additionally, I’m sure many of you are concerned about the potential ASD Budget and how that might impact Dimond High School. As it stands right now, we will have to cut eight teaching positions if things don’t change. As you can imagine, that will have a significant effect on our school. If you’d like more information about the district budget and how you can get involved, visit https://www.asdk12.org/FY26.
Thank you,
Principal D’Atri
New News for This Week's Newsletter
YRBS: Alaska Youth Risk Behavior Survey
Every other year, thousands of Alaska teens share challenges they go through on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, or YRBS. Parents, teachers and other caring adults want teens to get the help they need. The YRBS gives Alaska teens a way to honestly share their experiences. Schools and community organizations are able to use the survey results to create and strengthen programs for teens.
This spring, randomly selected teens have a chance to fill out the anonymous voluntary survey. Their answers can’t be linked to them in any way. Students under the age of 18 are only able to participate if families have previously provided permission during registration. You or your student can read or watch more about the survey here:
https://health.alaska.gov/dph/Chronic/Pages/yrbs/default.aspx
https://health.alaska.gov/dph/Chronic/Pages/yrbs/FAQs.aspx#parents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amlec3ehHbY
The Anchorage School District will administer the YRBS this spring during the weeks of February 27th through March 6th.
Women in Construction Week
In celebration of Women in Construction Week 2025, we are excited to invite all interested students from Dimond High School to attend the Get Hired Event!
Are you interested in a career in construction or related industries?
✔ Meet Employers and Training Providers who are actively hiring
✔ Get guidance on education & training programs
✔ Receive resume feedback
✔ Participate in practice interviews
This event is hosted by NAWIC – The National Association of Women in Construction.
Event Details
📅 Date: Thursday, March 6th
🚌 Bus Departure: 11:30 AM from Dimond High School
⏳ Return Time: 1:30 PM – Arrive back at Dimond
How to Participate
If you’re interested in attending, pick up a permission form from the Curriculum Office and return it by Wednesday, March 5th. For questions or more information, see Mr. Lewis, Academy Coach, in the Curriculum Office.
We hope to see you there!
Freshman Fair!
We are extremely excited to welcome the newest Lynx class of 2029! Mears has sent out notices regarding field trips where students can get a quick glimpse of what life at Dimond is like. In the meantime we are hosting a freshman fair for all incoming students and families. Please see the flier below for more information, we can’t wait to see you there.
A2025 School Climate and Connectedness Survey
The 2025 School Climate and Connectedness Survey for families is now open. We value your feedback to help us understand how to partner with you in the high school education of your child(ren), and create meaningful goals for Dimond students, staff and families. The survey is shorter than past years, and will only take a few moments of your time. Your responses are confidential. The survey will remain available until March 21st. We hope to reach 90% participation among all our stakeholders this year. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!
Click here to to take the survey: School Climate and Connectedness Survey
School Calendar
February 28th: No School- Student Released Professional Development Day
(FYI High School Does not have Parent Teacher Conferences- February 26th and 27th will be full school days)
March 7th: No School- Student Released Grading Day
March 10th-March 14: No School- Spring Break
March 19th: Freshmen Fair, 6pm at Dimond!
April 18th: No School- Spring Closure Day
DHS Sports
Upcoming Sports Dates and Signups
Each sport costs $225.00. There is now a student cap of $675.00 per year. Once you have reached this amount, all other sports will be free for the remainder of the current school year. If your family is seeking a financial waiver, you will need to apply and be approved for the Free and Reduced Lunch program. You can find this application process on the Student Nutrition website.
Please make sure to complete all forms on Planeths, before the start date of the sport you are interested in participating in. Each student must check in with Chelsea Hunt in the Activities office to receive a Golden Ticket before they are eligible to participate in their desired sport.
If you have additional questions, please contact Chelsea Hunt in the Activities office at 742-7005. Office hours are 8 AM to 4 PM with a closure at 2:15 PM for 30 mins.
With Sports starting during Spring Break please make sure to come and get your golden ticket before March 6th. If you do not have it you will not be able to participate until after spring break.
Sports Start Dates: March 10
Boys and Girls Soccer
Track & Field
Baseball
Softball
Grades Matter! Academic Eligibility for Sports and Activities:
Students participating in sports or all-state academic/ fine arts activities must remain academically eligible. Eligibility is checked at the beginning of the 1st and 2nd semesters, as well as the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
ASD VIRTUAL STUDENTS be aware that although virtual courses are self-paced, a quarter grade will be given based on your work completed during the grading period. This grade counts towards your academic eligibility. Students who are not eligible will not be able to participate in their sport or activity.
Social Media Awareness
Please be aware that there are many “Dimond” social media accounts that are NOT official or sanctioned by Dimond High School. Some Dimond sports or clubs have their own social media pages that are directly managed by the coaches, please reach out to those sponsors if you have questions or concerns regarding those pages.
Other than the accounts described above, many accounts pertaining to “Dimond” on Facebook, Snapchat, X (Twitter), or TikTok are not created by Dimond. Please report falsehoods directly within the app itself. We have no authority to shut those pages down. By reporting falsehoods directly in each app you can help shut those pages/ sites down.
If your student is specifically being harassed by a specific student(s) at school please have your student report those instances to the front office or security and those incidents will be investigated. While social media harassment can be extremely disturbing it is impossible to police as a school because we have no authority over fraudulent Dimond accounts.
Please help monitor your student’s social media activity. If anything concerning comes up on social media, we rely on families to report it because we are not monitoring sites or accounts that aren’t officially ours. Thank you.
Career Resource Office
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.
Hello From the Dimond Counseling Office!
Course selection for next school year will begin Tuesday, January 28th with current juniors. Students will request their classes by filling out a worksheet and will be able to see their requests in their Q Student Connect account. Counselors will meet with students during English classes, by grade. Once counselors enter course requests in Q, they will be viewable by students and parents.
Keep in mind as students make their choices that these are requests. Schedules will be available at a date to be announced in August. Course selections are subject to change.
Full time ASD Virtual students: Contact your counselor if you would like to attend an in-person presentation at DHS or schedule a time to talk with your counselor regarding course selection.
Students will be able to make changes to their requests by contacting their counselor.
Here are the registration windows. More specific information will be posted for each class as we start this process.
Current freshmen (class of 2028) Feb. 19-24
Incoming 8th graders (class of 2029) TBA, more info to follow
Freshman Fair, March 19th at 6pm
Visit our google doc folder for more information. As always, feel free to reach out to your counselor with any questions.
The Dimond Counseling Team
A-C Mr. Hulbert
E-K Mrs. Jaasma
L-Q Mrs. Zock
R-Z Mr. Mandel
Freshmen Mr. Hallis
Important Information From Past Newsletters
Truancies
The student services team is working on bringing down our truancy numbers. I have asked teachers to write referrals when they know a student has skipped a class so that our team can follow up on it. Truancy is a source of a lot of frustration for parents and teachers alike, affecting trust, academic achievement, and school involvement. It is our desire to work as a team to make sure students are getting to their assigned classes.
Typically, a first time report for a truancy is followed by a talk with the student and an assigned detention. If the truancy is pervasive, an in school suspension is assigned. Our goal with this accountability is twofold: 1. to hold the student accountable to the goal of graduation, and 2. to ensure that common spaces are used appropriately.
If you know your student is often truant, please feel free to reach out to me at hayden_rebekah@asdk12.org. Though we are limited in our ability to address every truancy that occurs, we look forward to collaborating with parents and teachers alike to see the numbers go down.
Building Hours
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.
If we happen to have an emergency at the end of the school day students will be asked to leave the building or wait in the foyer for their rides.
Please remind your students that with the changes in weather they should have a jacket, hat and gloves in the event that the building has to be cleared out before 4:00pm.
Seawolf Ready at Dimond, 2/20
UAA will visit Dimond in the library on Thursday, 2/20 from 9-11am. This program is exclusively for high school seniors. Students will rotate through the stations to meet with/complete the next steps with UAA staff in the following areas:
Admissions
Financial Aid
Student Advising
Student support programs such as Disability Support Services, Honors College, Multicultural Student Services, Residence Life, Student Life and Leadership, TRIO Student Support Services, and New Student Orientation.
Any senior interested in attending UAA is encouraged to stop by the library during this time.
Seniors
If you are looking for information pertaining to seniors, please click this link! This a live link to a Google Doc that will be updated throughout the year. This link has graduation dates/times as well as other important dates for seniors to know.
If you haven’t purchased your cap and gown, there's still time, please click on the seniors link above for more details.
A.J. Dimond High School
Website: https://www.asdk12.org/dimond
Location: 2909 West 88th Avenue, Anchorage, AK, USA
Phone: (907) 742-7000