Cougar Community Connection

Dear CRUNFamily,

Well it has flown by, but we just wrapped up the first quarter of our school year. Our whole CRUNFamily has worked hard to make first quarter a great success and now it is time for a little R and R. We wish you all a fantastic fall break and look forward to seeing you on Monday, October 23rd.

Happy Fall Break, Cougar Run!

We have the link for Donuts with Grownups volunteers: https://signup.com/go/DQukHXb

This is a new, more inclusive, name than our previous Donuts with Dad! Bring your dad, mom, uncle, aunt, grandparents... we want everyone to be included! We do still need people to serve the donuts, so please check out that link.

A short and sweet message from the PTA. Everyone, please have a safe and relaxing break.

We hit the jackpot last year hiring this gem of a teacher. Stephanie comes to us from the Pacific Northwest in Oregon and boy did we score with her. Stephanie has a passion for health and wellness and hit the ground running when she got here, brining great ideas for our students and staff when it comes to whole body wellness. Not only does she rock in the gym as a PE teacher, she also is a natural leader and spearheaded "Wellness Wednesdays" at Cougar Run. Stephanie partners with our Mental Health Team, coming up with great activities for our kids and staff to "Stay Well" and remember to take care of themselves so they can be the very best version of themselves. This month, Hinkle has students, teachers and staff counting their steps and getting outside to walk laps around our park for "Walktober". Some months it is mental wellness and others it is physical wellness but make no mistake, she will lead us through all things healthiness as our lead Wellness Wednesday spokesperson. Hinkle has been a perfect fit to our Cougar Run Family and we are so greatful for the positive impact she has made at our school.

Dear Cougar Run Elementary Community,

On August 8, the Douglas County School District Board of Education unanimously voted 7-0 to place a $66 million Mill Levy Override (MLO) and $484 million Bond on the November 2023 ballot.

If passed by voters, these new funds would be used at our school to:

• Increase teacher and staff pay

• Enhance safety and security

• Addition of Campus Security Specialist

• Refresh student and staff technology

• Make much needed repairs and upgrades to our building

• Replace boilers

• Replace flooring

• Replace restroom countertops

• Install new intercom system

• Upgrade sound system

Teachers in the Douglas County School District earn, on average, $19,000 less compared to a neighboring school district. Additional MLO funding, if passed by voters, would enable DCSD to pay teachers and staff more competitively and to increase security staffing support for our schools.

• DCSD teachers, on average, would receive a 9% pay increase, as reflected in these salary schedules

• Support staff, such as bus drivers, educational assistants, custodians, etc., would receive a 9% pay increase

• Other staff would receive a 7% pay increase

A $484 million Bond, if passed by voters, would be used to expand trade, career and technical education opportunities; perform safety and security upgrades; and ensure safe and adequate learning environments for students and staff. The Bond would provide for three new elementary schools in growing areas of our county, as well as the expansion of two middle schools.

If the MLO and Bond are approved by voters, Douglas County homeowners can expect to pay approximately $200 per year for a home valued at $1,000,000.

You can read more about DCSD’s funding challenges and arguments for and against the ballot initiatives on our website. Thank you for being an engaged and informed member of our school community!

Sincerely,

Shannon McPherson
Principal

Cougar Run Elementary School

As of today you will find the 2024 Apple Award Nomination link LIVE on your school's page on the FoundationDCS.org website. The 2024 Apple Award Nomination window will be open from Monday October 2, 2023 through Sunday November 12, 2023. We invite our DCSD students, teachers, staff and community to join us in nominating their favorite teacher(s), principal, classified employee and department employee. After the Nomination window closes on November 12th we will return the list of nominees to each school for your own selection of this year's school representatives. Each school may submit one educator and one classified representative to be considered for the 2024 Apple Award!

ROCKS Council is excited to announce the collection of pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Aurora for the 2023 - 2024 school year. This is a perfect way to help both the environment and the community. Have you been collecting your pop tabs over the summer? Bring them in and put them in your classroom collection jar! If you haven’t, it’s the perfect time to start! Start collecting aluminum tabs off of pop/soda cans, soup cans and/or adult beverages at home! You can even ask relatives and/or start a trend at your jobs and have others start collecting them too! Bring them to school in a ziplock bag as often as you would like and put them in your classroom jar.

We are looking for a family who can assist with the pick up by Longmont Dairy of our recycled milk caps. It is super easy. When we meet the required amount, Mrs. Aksamit will reach out to you for a pick up of bag(s) of milk caps and provide you with a date that a drive with Longmont Dairy will be by your house to collect the milk caps. Can you help? Please reach out to Mrs. Aksamit if you are able to assist with this. laksamit@dcsdk12.org Thanks!

It's a tradition at Cougar Run to have a Halloween costume parade the morning of Halloween in our Cougar Run Park. We will continue this tradition this year at 9:00 am. Families can line the park and watch the parade which will start at the bus loop doors, following the sidewalk passed the Park Pavilion, coming down the hill and back into the building. Please have your child wear their costume to school and bring a change of clothes for after the parade. We won't have time to help students get dressed in their costume at school, so please take care of that at home. We want to remind families that Cougar Run has students as young as 3 years old, so we need to refrain from wearing costumes that are overly scary or gory. Students can wear masks that are appropriate, but no facsimile of weapons of any kind (fake guns, swords, knives, axes, pitch forks etc). Teachers will be sending out information about their Halloween party details and needs in their classroom newsletters. Parties occur at different times throughout the day, so watch for the time for your child's class. For specific questions about Halloween parties, please reach out to your child's teacher.

We are excited to announce that the Harlem Wizards are coming to Highlands Ranch. These guys are a trick basketball team, kind of like the Globetrotters, who travel around, performing for kids and shouting out positive messaging to our communities. They are coming to CRUN on October 6th at 10:30 to present messaging to our kids around resilience and perseverance when it comes to obstacles in life. Along with their fun basketball tricks, they leave our kids with thoughts to ponder when it comes to how we respond when challenges get in our way. There will be a fun event at Highlands Ranch High School on October 23rd at 6:30 PM where the Wizards will play against our "feeder" elementary staff. All 6 of the elementary schools in the HRHS feeder will be teamed up to play against the Wizards in a hilarious representation of pro basketball skills and staff debacles. We are sending Kia Brown, Tanya Cote, Cale Aerenson and Stephanie Hinkle to represent Cougar Run on the team. Our school gets 2 dollars from every ticket sold so it's a "party with a purpose" kind of an event and we benefit! Tickets are on sale now and the link is in the picture below. Check out THIS video of the Wizards Events.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

DCSD is committed to implementing equitable practices to increase access to advanced/gifted learning opportunities. Based on state and national recommendations and requirements, we implement Universal Screening for students in 2nd grade (February) and 5th or 6th grade--a student's final year of elementary school (November).

6th Grade Universal Screen

As part of this process, ALL students in Cougar Run not identified for gifted programming will take the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) on November 7 & 8. This assessment indicates the level and pattern of cognitive development of a student in comparison to grade and age mates. These general reasoning abilities, which start developing at birth and continue through early adulthood, are influenced by experiences gained both in and out of school.

If your child is already identified for gifted programming, they will not participate in this universal screen testing. Your Gifted Education Facilitator will contact you directly with information about this process.

Gifted Identification Referral Testing

• If your child is in grades 3, 4, 5, and you believe they need evaluation for Gifted Identification and Services, you may refer your child for testing by initiating the Gifted Identification Process.

• NOTE: Requesting this assessment automatically initiates the process to evaluate for Gifted Identification.

• Please request CogAT testing for your child by completing the Referral for Gifted Identification linked HERE

• Upon receipt of this form the Gifted Education Facilitator will connect with you to discuss next steps in the gifted identification process.

October 16-20- Fall Break-No School

October 23- 6:30 Harlem Wizards Event at HRHS

October 26-6:30 DCSD Pathways Expo @ Legacy Campus

October 27-Donuts with Grownups

October 30-November 3- CRUN Bus Canceled

October 31-9:00 Halloween Parade/Classroom Parties Vary Times

November 3-Staff Development Day- NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

November 7-Election Day

November 10-9:00 PTA Meeting (Welcome to all parents!!)

November 13-17- Fall Book Fair

November 20-24- Thanksgiving Break-No School

November 28- 9:00 Cougar Run SAC Meeting

November 30-5:00-7:30pm Art and Cultural Celebration Night

December 8-9:00 PTA Meeting (Welcome to all parents)

December 11-15 Holiday Shoppe

December 11-15- CRUN Bus Canceled

December 15- ROCKS Assemblies 9:00 prek-3rd/ 2:15 4th-6th (ROCKS Invites will come home in Friday Folders the week of December 4 for any student who was chosen for ROCKS this first semester. )

December 22-January 8-Winter Break No School

January 9-Classes Resume at CRUN