Diamond Path News!

Click on the "Translate" button on the right or the circle in the lower right of your mobile device to translate this newsletter into several different languages!

¡Haga clic en el botón "Traducir" a la derecha o en el círculo en la parte inferior derecha de su dispositivo móvil para traducir este boletín a varios idiomas diferentes!

Guji badhanka "Turjumi" ee midigta ama goobada ku taal midigta hoose ee qalabkaaga gacanta si aad warsidahan ugu turjunto dhawr luqadood oo kala duwan!

• Calendar Dates
• Important Magnet School Information
• News from Nurse Deb
• Community Ed After School Winter Classes
• Important iPad Information
• Yearbook Sales!
• Friendly Reminders and Expectations: Attendance, Transportation, and Lunch

Monday, November 18th - (Cycle Day 3)

Tuesday, November 19th (Cycle Day 4)

Wednesday, November 20th (Cycle Day 5)

Thursday, November 21st (Cycle Day 1)

Friday, November 22nd - (Cycle Day 2)

Monday, November 25th - (Cycle Day 3)

Tuesday, November 26th (Cycle Day 4)

Wednesday, November 27th - NO SCHOOL (Staff Development Day)

Thursday, November 28th - NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving Break)

Friday, November 29th - NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving Break)

Enlarging Diamond Path Elementary's attendance area is designed to stabilize enrollment. Diamond Path will become a neighborhood school and phase out of the districtwide magnet enrollment process, reducing the need for transportation, yet retaining its International Studies theme and learning focus.

At the Regular School Board meeting on November 4, the District 196 School Board approved changes to the elementary school attendance areas for East Lake Elementary, Shannon Park Elementary, Highland Elementary, Diamond Path Elementary, Red Pine Elementary and Rosemount Elementary (starting in the 2025-26 school year) to alleviate overcrowding in elementary schools in the southern portion of the district. The decision followed four elementary attendance area family engagement meetings after plans were announced in September. The attendance area changes were prompted by the construction of the district’s 20th elementary school, which will open in Fall 2025.

**NOTE: If you are affected by the boundary changes, you should have received an emailed letter from District 196 today containing next step instructions. If you are unsure if you are affected by the boundary changes, please click here to look up your address.

Be aware that there has been an increase in cases of pediatric walking pneumonia and bacterial pneumonia cases. Symptoms include persistent cough, possible fever and sore throat. It is usually treated with antibiotics, rest, fluids, and acetaminophen or ibuprofen can help with discomfort. Mild cases can go away on its own without treatment. Contact your physician for guidance.

Registration for the Diamond Path after school winter session is now open! Class spots are limited, so register early. Drawing, Engineering, Tumbling and more! Registering online is your best chance to get into your class of choice. Please click here to register! Deadline to register is Monday, December 16th!

For the first trimester of our school year, our students have been utilizing iPads in the classroom, but many have not been regularly taking the iPads home each evening. For most elementary schools in our district, this choice was intentional to establish expectations for how iPads are used for teaching and learning and to teach digital citizenship. With these expectations now in place, and as the winter approaches, we want our students to be prepared for inclement weather.

If inclement weather (snowstorms, extreme cold, etc.) causes schools to close in District 196, the first two such days are considered “canceled,” which means there are no academic responsibilities for our students and families while at home.

AFTER two cancellation days, the following expectations would be in place for any further inclement weather days (E-Learning Days)-

• Please check Schoology/Seesaw in the morning for instructions from their teacher for the days' assigned learning activities. Teachers will post assigned learning activities on Schoology/Seesaw by 9:30 AM.
• There will be no live/synchronous (Zoom) instruction. Rather, learning activities will be designed for students to complete independently at home. Students will spend abut 30 minutes focused on math, 40 minutes focused on literacy, and about 30 minutes for specialist time.
• Teachers can be reached for questions via Seesaw/Schoology message, email or voicemail during normal school-day hours.
• Report an "absence" if your child is unable to participate in E-Learning due to illness or vacation.

This information will be reviewed with students and we encourage you to establish expectations with them at home. We will continue to use and charge the devices at school as part of our instruction. To start, we recommend that your child leaves the iPad in his or her backpack as a "just in case" device. Classroom teachers will reach out to parents if, or when, they determine additional expectations for iPad use at home.

Thank you for your support and flexibility, and please feel free to reach out with any questions!

The Yearbook ordering link is now open! If you are interested in ordering a yearbook for your student, please click here or go to ybpay.com and use order code: 14676325. The deadline to order is Friday, April 18, 2025. We receive a very limited amount of extra yearbooks. To ensure you receive a yearbook, please place your order before the deadline.

Attendance: If you have a sick child, are picking your student up early, or have a planned absence, please click here or email the Diamond Path Attendance email at dp.attendance@district196.org to report the absence. If your child is sick, include details of symptoms such as fever of 100.4 or greater, cough, sore throat, or COVID-19 test results. Also, to help eliminate any confusion at the end of the day, please report any transportation changes before 2:00 PM.

Transportation: We are not allowed to write bus passes for students to ride the bus home with other students, unless it's an emergency, which will then be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Lunch: Visitors are not allowed to have lunch with students this year. Thank you for your understanding!

Email: dp.attendance@district196.org
Website: https://dp.district196.org/
Location: 14455 Diamond Path, Apple Valley, MN, USA
Phone: 952-423-7695
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiamondPathMagnet/
Twitter: @DiamondPath196