Colt Families,

We are so happy to begin the 2021-22 school year! We have been excitedly preparing and awaiting your return this Monday August 2nd. 

Parents, you will be allowed back on campus to walk your children in if you so choose. However, we ask that you do not enter the class pods or middle school building. The only exception for the first day of school is for kindergarten. Kindergarten parents will be allowed to walk their children into the pod. Again, this is for the first day of school only. 

Kinder parents we also invite you to join us in the school cafeteria for the Kindergarten Boo Hoo Parent Breakfast and presentation. You can head straight there after you drop off your kindergartner. 

General Information:

- We will not be allowing parents to eat breakfast or lunch in the cafeteria with their children until further notice. You can walk them to the cafeteria but please do not enter at this time. We will have staff adult supervision in the cafeteria as well as at the cafeteria playground area.

- There will no longer be temperature checks.

- If your child is feeling sick or is running a fever please do not send them to school. Please contact the front office to report their absence. 

- Face masks are optional.

- We will continue to follow our mitigation plan in regards to sanitizing our school throughout the day. Students will be reminded to wash their hands with soap as well as use hand sanitizer.

- Morning drop off can begin at 7:30 AM. Please do not drop off your children before 7:30 AM as there will not be adult supervision. Students can begin to enter their classrooms at 7:45 AM.

- School academic hours are from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On all Wednesdays school hours are 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM.

- Parent pick-up parents, we will be giving you blue vehicle dashboard name plates on Monday. Please write the names of your children on it along with their grade. Place it on your dashboard when you enter the parent pickup line. This greatly helps us with keeping our car line flowing smoothly for you.

- Parent pick-up parents must remain in their vehicles at all times. You are not to be waiting outside of your car to pick up your child. If you choose to not wait in the parent pick-up line you must report to the front office to checkout your student. This will ensure the safety of our students, parents, and staff during this heavy traffic time. We appreciate your cooperation with this. Student dismissal will begin promptly at 3:00 PM no sooner. In the first few weeks our kindergarten students will head out first but the loading of cars will not begin until all classes have arrived. This year older siblings can line up with their youngest siblings as was our protocol in the past. 

- Middle School Hall Lockers: Middle School Lockers will not be used at the start of this school year. Their teachers will go over protocols they will follow when leaving their belongings to go to lunch. We will keep you updated on the status of hall locker use. 

- In the coming days we ask that you go over the Student Handbook with your children. We will be posting it on our website along with a digital student and parent signature page verifying you have read through and discussed the handbook.

- Attendance is highly important as we work this school year to close achievement gaps as well as challenge our students academically based on their individual needs. Please help in making sure that your child(ren) arrive/arrives at school on time and is/are not tardy. Every instructional minute from the morning bell to the dismissal bell is precious and needed. We truly need and value your help with this. Please make sure to refer to the school calendar that is on our website so you are aware of our school breaks and important events taking place. 

-MAP Growth District Benchmark Testing will take place on the following days:

K-8th

Monday August 9th - Reading

Tuesday August 10th - Math

2nd-8th

Wednesday August 11th- Language Usage 

(Writing)

- Sports/ Athletics: We are happy to announce we will be starting sports for the 1st quarter beginning Monday August 9th. Sports that will be taking place are cross country, flag football, and volleyball. Please direct any questions to our Athletic Director Mr. Steve Lathen. You can reach him at 520-625-4581 x 7400.

- Water fountains will be turned back on but we highly encourage students to bring refillable water bottles to stay hydrated throughout the school day. 

- Please make sure to write your child’s name on his/her backpack, lunchbox, water bottles, sweaters (inside) and all belongings. This will help us with getting lost items back to them right away.

- Picture day and class group pictures will take place on August 24^th. Save the date!

- Student cell phones are to be used for emergency or educational purposes only with teacher or administrator permission and must be off and put away during the remainder of the day. Students allowed to use cell phones for educational purposes must have a Technology Usage Agreement on file with the school. Continental School is not responsible for lost, stolen, or damaged cell phones. If cell phones are seen by a staff member, the device will be taken away and will need to be picked up in the front office by a parent/guardian. Thank you for your understanding with this matter.

- Dress Code/Appearance – The District encourages students to take pride in their attire as it relates to the school setting. After all, the classroom is the student's "workplace" and we expect them to dress accordingly. Students should dress in a manner that, in addition to the following guidelines, takes into consideration the educational environment, safety, health, and welfare of self and others. Mondays is our designated AVID College/ University t-shirt day. FRIDAYS will be our designated school spirit day and Continental shirts are encouraged for all students and staff. Please follow these guidelines set for all students:

Clothing, Accessories and Jewelry

·       Nothing deemed vulgar, lewd, obscene or offensive by the Administration.

·       No alcohol, drug, tobacco, weapon or gang references

·       No tattoos or body markings

·       No pierced jewelry except earrings in the ears.

·     No hats or sunglasses will be worn in classrooms, hallways, the cafeteria, or the gym.  However, hats and sunglasses are suggested for recess and 

      periods students are outside in the sun. 

·       Hairstyles and color will be appropriate for, and not distracting to, the learning process.

·       Students will wear clothing that fits and is appropriate and not distracting to the learning process.

·      Students will not wear tank tops, sleeveless tops with less than a 2” strap, clothing that shows undergarments, cleavage, or the midriff when arms are 

       raised overhead. Cropped t-shirts must have an undershirt under them as well so midriff is not exposed when arms are raised overhead.

·       Shorts, skirts and dresses will be no shorter than fingertip length.

·       Shirts will be no longer than fingertip length. 

·       Pants, shorts and similar attire must be worn appropriately at the waist. 

·       Pants and shorts should not have tears or rips unless solid color leggings are worn under them.

·       Pajamas are to be worn on specified spirit days ONLY.

·       No flip-flops 

·       Pre K – 3 students wearing sandals must have back straps and no shoes with heels.

·       For Middle school physical education classes, black shorts (will be no shorter than fingertip length) or black sweatpants and Royal blue t-shirts (the

       midriff should not be exposed when arms are raised overhead) are required and must meet the above criteria. 

The school reserves the right to determine the appropriateness of school clothing and accessories.  Exceptions for special activities or health-related considerations may be pre-approved by the school.  The student should have a permission slip signed by the Principal or designee in such cases.  Students, who volunteer for extra-curricular activities such as band, athletics, etc., are subject to the standards of dress defined by the sponsors of such activities.

If out of compliance, the student will be directed by the teacher to immediately change into appropriate clothing or be sent to the school nurse/office to call home for proper clothing.  If a student continues to not comply with the dress code, parents/guardians will be notified and consequences will be given.  Consequences may include but are not limited to detention and in-school suspension.

- Continental Parent Teacher Club: We highly encourage your participation in our Parent Teacher Club. They do so much for our students, teachers, and staff and we are grateful for their hard work and dedication. They will have their first general meeting and election this coming Thursday August 5th from 3:00-4:00 PM in our school Community/ Governing Board room. Visit their Continental Parent Teacher Club Facebook page for up to date announcements. 

- Middle School Open House Night:

Wednesday, August 18th 6:00pm 7:00pm. The night will begin in the gym where administration will address parents and students. Parents will then follow their student’s schedule for periods 1-5 only for ten minutes each. It is imperative that all parents and students arrive on time to ensure they make it to all classes and receive important information from the teacher presentations. A flyer will be sent home soon with students and email/phone call reminders will be sent.

- Elementary Open House will take place in the fall. We will inform you of the exact date soon!

- Grades: We are proud of all of our students and the hard work they put in each and every day. Please be aware that this year students who are earning D's and F's by each mid-point in the quarter, will be placed on academic probation. If they do not work to raise their grades and get their work turned in they will be expected to attend Saturday School in the fall. Please note that 8th grade students with struggling grades will also risk not being able to attend the 8th grade trip, 8th grade promotion, and end of the year festivities. This will be discussed more at our Middle School Open House. We provide many opportunities for our students to get the extra academic help they need as we strive to ensure all of our students are successful. More information on after school tutorials will be coming out soon. 

- ParentVue & StudentVue: Parents please make sure that you can login and access your ParentVue as this is where you can access your child's report cards (grades 1st-8th), current grades, missing work, registration etc. Students will be using StudentVue this school year to ensure they are keeping track of their academic progression. If you need help with your ParentVue access please contact the front office. 

- Parent Meetings We will be having future student/ parent meetings to inform you on our programs and goals for this school year. We had such a great turnout at the Meet and Greet and we need that kind of turnout at these meetings as we need all of our Continental families on board to reach the goals we are striving for. Your insight and feedback is key in our success. We are a team!

- AVID Schoolwide: This year we are rolling out the AVID Program school wide Pre-K through 8th grade. We have an AVID site team of teachers and administrators who have been AVID trained. AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. This is a college-readiness program designed to help students develop the skills they need to be successful in college. AVID places special emphasis on growing writing, critical thinking, teamwork, organization and reading skills. This year our focus school wide will be helping our students in learning and strengthening their writing, note taking, and organizational skills by implementing AVID strategies. This is one of the parent/ student meetings we will be having. We are excited to explain more. We have designated Mondays college/university t-shirt days in addition to our Friday Colt Pride days in which our Colts can wear Colt t-shirts or colt blue. We are also working to collect college/ university pennants worldwide. If you have any you would like to donate we will gladly accept them. If you have any further questions please feel free to contact our AVID Site Director/Coordinator Mr. Albert Magallanez at 520-625-4581 x 7307 or via email at amagallanez@csd39.org.

We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow and thank you for your continued support!

Your Proud Principal & Director of Student Services,

Mrs. Cuevas & Mr. Lathen

Mrs. Cuevas’ contact information: 520-625-4581 x 7319 

email: deanna.cuevas@csd39.org