July 31 Family Update

Unfortunately, DPS announced that all secondary schools will NOT have transportation for the 20-21 school year except for center-based students. This will be for the entire school year, even if we return to in-person learning.

We want each of our students to be prepared for learning regardless of which option families choose.  We will be providing all school supplies, necessary academic supplies, and chromebooks for the school year. Students will be responsible for using these supplies remotely for all of their classes, and will use these same supplies when we transition to in-person learning. This will include backpacks, paper, binders, pencils, etc. All homeroom teachers (learning family mentors) will be reaching out the week of August 17th to deliver these supplies to your home, along with technology needs.

We’ve made a difficult decision to reschedule our 6th Grade Academy to the first week of remote learning, August 24th.  I recognize this news may come as a disappointment to many students and families.  In calibrating our plans with other middle schools, along with the most recent District updates, we felt it was the best decision. We will use the entire week of August 24th as a 6th Grade Orientation.  We will be reviewing all important information in our Homeroom classes (Learning Family) for the entire week and allow for much needed relationship building.  Teachers will have small groups of students during this time that they will support all year and they will be reviewing technology platforms, schedules, etc.

To officially register your child for school this year, All families must complete the Annual Family Update for Lake Middle School by August 7. 

During the Annual Family Update (registration) process, you will:

• Select virtual or in-person learning for your child. You must do this even if you completed previous DPS surveys. The Annual Family Update is your official response, and will determine your child’s virtual or in-person learning for the semester. 
• Update critical information (emails, phone numbers, addresses, guardian information)
• Identify your technology or internet needs
• Ensure your child is fully enrolled, registered, and ready to begin the new school year as a Lake Knight! 

To access the Annual Family Update, go to schoolchoice.dpsk12.org and click the green “Annual Family Update” button. You will use your Parent Portal username and password to get in. Only the parent listed as the first emergency contact in the primary household can do AFU. If you are having trouble logging in and are certain you have a parent portal account set up, you may want to contact our main office to see who is listed as the first emergency contact. 

If you do not have a Parent Portal account, go to ​myportal.dpsk12.org and click on “Create Account” at the top of the page.  You will need your student’s DPS ID# to start your account. If you forgot your password or you can’t log in, you can get help by emailing ​portalteam@dpsk12.org​ or calling the portal hotline at 720-423-3163. If you do not know your child’s ID number, please contact our main office at 720-424-0260.

If you completed the Annual Family Update prior to July 27,  you must complete the addendum sent to you in an email last week by DPS in order to select in-person or virtual learning for your student. If you did not receive the addendum, please email or call our office staff to inform them of your decision. Once you share your decision, the decision will be considered final. All families must choose their preference by August 7. 

While all students will start the year remotely, you must still select whether you want your child enrolled in Virtual or In-Person learning for the semester during Annual Family Update. Your selection will determine whether your child remains remote with virtual learning or moves to in-person learning if/when DPS determines it is safe to do so. Students enrolled in the virtual program will stay virtual for the entire fall semester. Please note the decision to officially enroll in either in-person learning or a virtual program is final through December 2020. For second semester (beginning in January), families will be able to change their selection if they wish.  Students who choose the virtual option will not lose their seat at their school.

All families must complete an application for Free and Reduced lunch, regardless of eligibility. Please visit https://www.myschoolapps.com/Application to complete the application.

Lake Middle School has a Denver Health Center in our building. All services at Denver Health School Based Centers are free of charge to all DPS students (regardless of insurance or citizenship status), and many sites are open even while schools are closed. You can utilize the school based centers for immunizations, physicals, mental health services, and many other medical needs. In order for your child to receive services from Denver Health, you must complete their application at www.DenverHealth.org/SBHC (click “get started with e-consent”). We highly encourage all families to complete the application for their child.

We’ve made a difficult decision to reschedule our 6th Grade Academy to the first week of remote learning, August 24th.  I recognize this news may come as a disappointment to many students and families.  In calibrating our plans with other middle schools, along with the most recent District updates, we felt it was the best decision. We will use the entire week of August 24th as a 6th Grade Orientation.  We will be reviewing all important information in our Homeroom classes (Learning Family) for the entire week and allow for much needed relationship building.  Teachers will have small groups of students during this time that they will support all year and they will be reviewing technology platforms, schedules, etc.

We will be consistently responsive to parent needs and inquiries even if we are not at buildings in-person.  Please reach out to the following Lake staff members for support.  Parent communication will begin August 7th.  Principal McDonald will send home a weekly newsletter on Fridays with important information, dates, and announcements.  This communication is called “The Knightly News.” It will be sent as an email and you will receive a text message informing you when it has been delivered.

All K-11 students were asked to keep any district-issued devices they had going into the summer and are expected to use them for this coming school year. This applies to students in transition grades. If you are new to Lake or are coming from out of district, we will be delivering chromebooks during the week of August 17-21. All homeroom teachers will be reaching out by phone to determine chromebook and hot spot needs so we can deliver all necessary items. Annual Family Update will need to be completed prior to receiving a chromebook.

Lake MS will run 3-4 hours of live, virtual instruction via google meets every day. Those classes will be structured similarly to in-person instruction, and students will have rigorous work to complete. These classes will also be recorded, so students can engage with them on a flexible schedule if your family requires it. Teachers will also be offering pre-recorded sessions in certain content areas such as essentials and spanish (more information coming). All student schedules will include daily Language Arts, Math, Science/Social Studies, an Essentials class and an Enrichment class. Unfortunately, we will not be able to offer all of our typical essential classes due to health guidelines. We will be delivering paper copies of student schedules with school supplies and chromebooks to your homes.

We will provide comprehensive services in all of these areas, from your Special Education teachers, English Language Development teachers, or GT teacher and it will be embedded in your child’s schedule if needed.

We will have a dedicated time for 20 minutes daily for social-emotional learning that will take place in students’ homeroom classes (learning family). Additionally, whole-school gatherings and celebrations will be occurring weekly during a virtual assembly facilitated by Mr. Reyes. Students will be participating in our monthly virtue, historical connections, guest speakers, celebrations, and opportunities to connect as one family together. These will be available for families and community members to join and celebrate with us as well.

All students will begin school on August 24th. Our homeroom teachers will be working closely with their students and families to introduce our online learning systems and tools that we will be using this year. We will also be building relationships and getting to know each other better during our small group environment in our homeroom classes.

We wanted to provide all families and students with a remote learning handbook for the first quarter to outline clear structures and expectations for while we will be in a remote setting and for all of families that opt into the 100% virtual program. We will be sending home a hard copy of this with all school supplies and I will be including a link in the Knightly News as well.