Week 5 Preview & School Attendance Update
Greetings Designers and Design Families,
It was great to have so many of you on campus for Back To School Night on Tuesday! We began with a brief presentation in the BlackBox theater from grade-level teams, and then we headed up to the fourth floor to meet and greet teachers in classrooms. If you did not get a chance to meet with us this week, click here for the Back To School Night slides from Sept 4th 2024.
Here is the Bell Schedule for Week 5 at DVD:
Exciting News About School Attendance!
Thanks to recent updates in California’s education laws, students can now receive credit for attendance even if they miss a day of school, as long as they’re still engaged in learning. In other words: If your child participates in an educational activity or completes makeup work assigned by their teacher during an absence, they can still be marked “present” for that day. To avoid your child being marked “absent”, have your child fill out this simple form:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about attendance for parents/guardians:
- Q: Do I still need to report my child’s absence to the school?
A: Yes please! Keep doing what you are doing by calling or emailing the front office any time your child is going to be absent. - Q: If my child is out sick and they absolutely cannot do work, do they have to complete this form?
A: No. They will be marked “excused absent” for that day. - Q: Is this different from the Community Learning Days (aka: CLDs) that I am hearing about?
A: Yes – this is is new, and different from CLDs. There will be a different but similar form that students will complete on Community Learning Days. - Q: Why is this form called “independent study”?
A: Thanks to new law signed into place in summer 2024, students at Da Vinci Schools are now able to participate in 15 days of short-term independent study that assists their school in recovering critical attendance funding for days missed. Being present on campus is still incredibly important to student learning, connectedness, and equity. School sites will continue to follow up with students who miss more than 10% of school days, but the new law helps to acknowledges that students sometimes need to miss school but can still engage in educational activities while they are not physically present on campus as well. - Q: Is there anything I will have to do as a parent/guardian to approve this?
A: Yes. A signature form will be sent home soon to each Da Vinci Schools family which will have even more information on Short Term Independent Study. - Q: Who can I reach out to for more information about Short Term Independent Study or absences?
A: Reach out to your DVD Admin team:
Principal Russell Stoll (rstoll@davincischools.org) or Asst. Principal Kirk Takeyama (ktakeyama@davincischools.org)
Your involvement helps our school count these days as attendance. Thank you for supporting your child’s education!
Upcoming Events and Key Dates:
- Friday, Sept. 20th: Progress Reports Mailed Home
- Thursday, Sept. 26th: *NEW DATE* DV Club & Service Learning Fair
- Wednesday, Oct. 2nd: Coffee w/ Admin @8am and @5pm via Zoom
- Friday, Oct. 4th: NO SCHOOL – Local Holiday
- Friday, Oct. 11th: Community Learning Day
- Mon, Oct. 14th – Thurs, Oct. 17th: Student Led Conference (SLCs)
College Rep Visits (Week 5, 6 & 7): Seniors can sign up via Naviance
- University of Southern California – Tues, Sept. 17th
- John Hopkins University – Thurs, Sept. 19th
- University of California Irvine – Mon, Sept. 30th
- Boston University – Wed, Oct. 2nd