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DES Parents, 

Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year at DES! I truly hope you and your student have had a good summer and are ready for an exciting year of learning. Our dedicated teachers have been working incredibly hard to prepare for your student to build new skills and gain academic successes. Before we begin the new year, we have some important reminders for arrival, dismissal and the classroom procedures. 

With the A/B student group schedules, most classes are below 11 students when they are in person at school allowing us to follow social distancing rules for everyone's safety. Students will stay in homerooms, with exploratory teachers providing instruction in homeroom classes. The exploratory teachers are moving not students. The exception is PE, during which students will be participating in individual skills, exercises and activities in our gym. We will have a short recess during which students may remove their masks for outdoor play. Students will have a breakfast and snack before leaving with a school lunch, if you would like one. We also would like all our students to bring a water bottle 9 in. tall for smaller. These will fit under our classroom sinks for easier refill during the school day as needed. We are discouraging students from drinking from the water fountain at this time and will limit the numbers of students using bathrooms at each break time. During the first week of school, we will teach students how to login to our digital resources and programs. We'll also send home a reference sheet for students to keep at home. 

Kindergarten: Kindergarten students will begin on Wed., Aug. 19 or Thurs., Aug. 20 based on last name grouping. Your teacher letter will have that 1st day identified. During attendance days on Wed., Aug. 19 through the following Tues., Aug. 25, parents may walk their student to class and meet their teacher between 8:30 - 9:00. Beginning Wed., Aug. 26, Kindergarten students will use the district office entrance located at the west end of the elementary school. Car riders will meet families in pavilion behind the middle school. They will leave classes at 12:30 so they should be available for pickup by 12:40 PM.  


1st Grade: Students will enter the school at Door 2, located in the middle of our building.  1st grade car riders will dismiss from the commons sidewalk at 12:45 PM. 

2nd Grade: Students will enter the school at Door 2, located in the middle of our building. 2nd grade car riders will walk from the playground to the parking lot behind the middle school starting at 12:50 PM.  

3rd  Grade: Students will enter using the main doors for their symptom check.  Students will dismiss beginning at 12:45 PM with car riders exiting using the commons sidewalk to the back parking area. 

4th Grade: Students will enter using the main doors for their symptom check. Students will dismiss beginning at 12:50 PM with car riders exiting from the playground to the parking area behind the middle school.

Car riders may enter using the back drop off location beginning at 7:20. After buses drop off students can be dropped off in the front at 7:40 AM. Car riders are encouraged to use the front entrance locations identified by grade level. Staff will meet your student on the sidewalk and "safe entry" questions and take a temperature before students may enter the building and go to their homeroom. 

As a reminder on Mon., Aug. 17 and Tues., Aug. 18, our students will go to their homeroom from last year to have some closure. If you ordered a yearbook, they will receive it from this teacher and will participate in some closure activities. We will have promotion by class to the next grade with the previous teacher introducing your student to their new teacher. 

If you signed up for a Chromebook rental, we will send the rental agreement home on your student's first day of school for signatures. Your student will have a computer assigned to him/her on the next in person day. Let your teacher know if you will prefer to pick up the device instead of the student bringing it home in their backpack. If you elected full time remote learning, I will send a separate email with a scheduled time by grade level to collect your student's books and resources needed at home for the first quarter of assignments. If you are renting a device, that will be issued at this time and we will provide a quick tutorial on how to login with the device to complete student work. 

If you have any questions related to school policies, procedures, schedules and more, please refer to the student handbook . Together we can shape a positive future for all our students. If you are new family to DES, please introduce yourself to me in the days and weeks ahead. It is with a collaborative effort and strong partnership with our families, our students will grow with academic success! 

With Papoose Pride,

Diana Rea, Principal