The Scoop

Dear Chugach Families,

It is hard to believe that we are in our final weeks of the school year. I want to thank all of you for advocating for our school this year as we have faced the budgeting crisis for not just Chugach Optional, but for all schools throughout our district and state. Despite this, it has been amazing seeing our upper students being so enthusiastic about their upcoming musicals, and I truly believe that this years production of Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, and Aladdin will be some of the best that Chugach has done. Thank you to Susan, Kris, and Angie for doing such a fantastic job getting the uppers prepared. It has also been great to see our middles learn about the middle ages, and to see the primary develop their farms and their farm economy. It has also been fun to see the kindergarteners have their rain day, mud day, and sun day. The learning that happens in this school is extraordinary!

Joel

Thursday, May 1 - Beauty & the Beast Performance (Kris's FG, 10:20am & 6:00pm), Red Robin Fundraiser (11:00am-9:00pm, Dimond Location), Dungeons & Dragons (3:00pm, Music Room)

Friday, May 2 - Parent Coordinator Meeting (8:30am-9:30am, Seed Lab), Upper Field trip to Dance West (10am - 12:15pm), Middle Medieval Market (12:30pm-2:50pm)

Monday, May 5 - CEC Board Meeting (3:00pm-4:00pm, Conference room), Dungeons & Dragons (3:00pm, Art/Health Room)

Wednesday, May 7 - BIKE to School Day!, Kindy Field trip

Thursday, May 8 - Shrek Performance (Angie's FG, 10:20am & 6:00pm), Dungeons & Dragons (3:00pm, Music Room)

Friday, May 9 - Kindy Spring Tea & Talent, EARLY RELEASE DAY (dismissal @11:15am)

Monday, May 12 - Dungeons & Dragons (3:00pm, Art/Health Room)

Tuesday, May 13 - Kindy Bike Day, Community Assembly Meeting (6:00pm-7:30pm, library)

Wednesday, May 14 - Primary Farm Celebration (8:10am-8:50am) Band/Orchestra Concert (8:30am-9:05am @ Denali Montessori)

Thursday, May 15 - Aladdin Performance (Susan's FG, 10:20am & 6:00pm)

Friday, May 16 - Band/Orchestra Concert @ Chugach (8:30am-9:05am) Primary Field Day (12:45pm-2:30pm @ Frontierland Park)

Tuesday, May 20 - 6th grade Celebration (1:00pm-2:00pm, Gym)

Wednesday, May 21 - LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!, Upper Field Trip (10:30am-2:00pm, Valley of the Moon Park), Primary Bubble Arch/Second Grade Send Up (2:15pm-2:55pm)

Thursday, May 22 - Teacher's Last School Day

Friday, May 30 - Chugach Optional Office last Day

The Chugach Optional Staff is happy to introduce Kelsey Saari as our new secretary! Kelsey started on April 28th but has been part of our Chugach Optional Community since her older son started kindy here (He's a senior now!). You may also know her as Phoebe (Middle) and Rachel (Kindy)'s mom! Kelsey comes to us with great receptionist/secretarial experience and we are so happy to have her behind the front desk!.

­Director

Kris Hinrichsen

Student Director

Alice Carr

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast JR. is presented through special arrangement with and all authorized materials are supplied by Music Theatre International, New York, NY212-541-4684 mtishows.com

This Thursday, May 1, make a plan for lunch or dinner at Red Robin’s Dimond location. Let them know you are with Chugach, and Red Robin will donate 20% of these purchases to Chugach.

This fundraiser is valid for dining in or takeout. If dining in, just mention Chugach to your server or show them the attached flyer. If ordering takeout, follow the instructions on the flier to make sure your order is linked to our fundraiser. This fundraiser is only at the Red Robin Dimond location (401 E. Dimond Blvd.).

Online Registration for students returning to Chugach Optional for the 2025-2026 school year is now open in Parent Connect.

THANK YOU to everyone who has already completed online registration for next school year!

Please call the office (907-742-3730) if you need help recalling your PIN for Parent Connect. If you have your PIN but can't recall your password, please use the "Reset your Password" feature on the Parent Connect landing page.

Once in Parent Connect, there will be a link to register your student under the "ASD Quick Links" tab. It will say "Online Registration 2026 Incomplete" in red. You will know you have successfully registered your student for 2026 when the message in your "ASD Quick Links" tab turns to green and says "Online Registration for 2026 Complete".

This past week, the Chugach Student Council began distributing orange trash bags. Families interested in cleaning our city after what’s been a very long winter, please look for a table in the hallway near the front office. Bags will be available until Friday, May 9.

● Each filled orange trash bag earns 1 raffle ticket. The Raffle Drawing will be Monday, May 12th.

● Bags can be deposited either under the Drop Bags Here sign near the Chugach dumpster, at your participating neighborhood school on Saturday May 10th. or designated areas around town hosted by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce.

https://www.anchoragechamber.org/citywide-cleanup-regulations-and-bag-pickup-locations-2/

● Families that want to continue beautifying our city throughout the next few weeks, will just need to dispose of the bags themselves.

● To earn a chance at winning a Fred Meyer gift card, please sign your name on the participants list clipboard, along with the number bags your child filled, no later than Monday morning, May 12th.

● The winner of the drawing will be announced at the end of the school day Monday, May 12, 2024.

HAPPY TRASH HUNTING!

Dave & Buster’s Power Card Pre-Sale Fundraiser & Early Release Spirit Event

Join us on Friday, May 9, 12-3 p.m. (after early release) for a spirit event at Dave & Buster’s (800 E. Dimond Blvd, Suite 240, inside the Dimond Center Mall). Mention Chugach when you make a purchase between 12-3 p.m. at the spirit event, and 20% of your purchase (food, non-alcoholic drinks, extra Power Cards) goes to Chugach!

You can also pre-purchase $20 Power Cards online, pick them up at the event and Chugach gets 50% of the sales! Even if you can’t attend on Friday, you can still purchase Power Cards for use anytime, and we will distribute them at school the following week. The Power Card pre-sale ends at midnight Thursday, May 8. (Note, you don’t need to pre-purchase a Power Card to attend the event.)

Get your $20 Power Cards here (buy as many as you want!): https://chugachoptional.betterworld.org/events/dave-busters-fundraiser-may-9

Pro Tip: Parents—download the Dave & Buster’s app to add all your Power Cards and swap tokens and tickets between your cards like a pro!

Look for Chugach in the Dave & Buster’s Sports Lounge on Friday, May 9! Game On!

Time to return library books!

May 2nd is the last day to check out library books. This doesn’t feel very ‘love of library’ for me. With the number of books that are checked out along with being here 0.5 next year, I do need two weeks to find all the books that have not been returned…yet and get the library ready for next year.

If a student needs to finish a book during the last two weeks, I will absolutely work with each student on a plan.

What library books are checked out?

On Monday, April 29th, I looked through the library collection for every book that was checked out and/overdue to see if they were on the shelves. This means the library catalog should be accurate. This does not take into account library books that may be in family group rooms, cubbies or backpacks.

Thank you for supporting your child in finding and returning library books. In the past I have encouraged people to access our library catalog through Clever. This year, I would like you to try accessing our library catalog directly. I believe there will be more success in accessing your student’s account. With that said, there are times when there have been some snafus with checking out independently or students just forgot to check out books. Any book with a barcode on the back cover and a spine label can be returned! 😉

There are bonuses for using the online catalog:

*being able to see the cover of the book

*saving paper and trees and

*supporting our students being in-charge library users.

If your student is unsure of their ASD username and password, I can help!

Access to our library catalog

Missing a library book?

If a library book is missing and/or needs to be replaced, please use the following guide to help you:

Missing a library book plan

If, for whatever reason, you are unable to replace a book, please connect with me and we will make a plan. I feel very strongly about the following quote:

“schools … can make it easy and unrisky for children to take books home … by worrying less about losing books to children and more about losing children to illiteracy.” Richard L. Allington

APL Summer Discovery Program

Studies show how important it is that students read year-round! Since students will not have access to Chugach Library this summer, please make a plan to visit our public libraries.

What a great way to support the love of reading!

APL’s Annual Reading Rendezvous is on May 17th from 12-4pm on the Loussac Library lawn.

Please connect if there is any way I can support!

Many thanks!

Amy

brabec_amy@asdk12.org

Friends - please help our community to ensure a safe and efficient parking lot for arrival and dismissal.

We know parking is limited and we have a lot of school events happening at this time of year but please refrain from parking in any of the "RESERVED" parking spots, the fire lane or the loading dock area.

Also, please do not park in the handicapped parking spaces unless you are permitted to do so. We need to have these spots accessible to those who need them. We would also appreciate it if you could park in such a way as to not block others from getting out of their parking spots or that blocks the flow of traffic.

Chugach families are welcome to park at the New Hope Church across the street and in the Municipal EOC parking lot to the south of the school/. Please be good neighbors and do not park in their reserved parking areas and be mindful of your speed at all times.