Asbury Thursday Folders – January 25, 2024

Posted January 25, 2024

Principal Message:

Asbury Community,

Coming up on February 10, it will be the official start to the Chinese New Year. In Chinese New Year, we are celebrating the year of the dragon. This year represents fostering growth, progress and abundance!

This week, we received the budget information for Asbury. Unfortunately, we continue to see impacts on our current budget. This is due to our being a small school with no additional dollars coming in through other dollar sources, such as grants, lower enrollment numbers, increasing cost and inflation as well as not having access to COVID/ESSR relief funds. Overall, this leaves us with a negative balance in our budget.

We are thankful for your input from the priority survey, as this helps drive our decision making and strategic planning. From the priority input survey it is clear that you value so many things about Asbury including the community, PBL, paraprofessional supports, access to specials classes, tech supports, just to name a few.

Through our budget process we are committed to continuing all these amazing supports and may have come back together as a CSC to talk through further impacts. For now, we are hopeful that through the donations from you all, as our community, through Direct Give, Budget Assistance requests that we will be submitting to the district and carry forward that we will not need to make any further cuts to our amazing supports in our building. So, once I know more about our budget assistance, I will keep everyone informed.

I want to take a moment to restate my commitment to you all – my commitment is to fund the amazing positions and the supports they provide to our students. This is a tough year for many schools and I am committed to leading with transparency and integrity.

In Partnership,

Jeanna Doung

What’s top of Mind?

Announcement from Student Council:

The Student Council will be hosting a food drive next week January 29-February 2nd to support families in our Asbury community. Food items most needed are pasta sauce, canned fruit, breakfast foods (oatmeal, breakfast bars, cereal, etc.), canned beans, mac n cheese, peanut butter, and other items such as pasta, canned vegetables, rice, canned protein (meats). Please no glass jars or expired foods.

The class with the most donations will win a donut party. There will be other prizes awarded each day! Our school goal is 500 donations. Thank you for your support!

Summer Connections:

Summer Connections 2024 is returning as a free five-week program from June 17 to July 19. DPS students at eligible schools entering first through fifth grade are invited to participate in this full-day program. Designed for student readiness, Summer Connections introduces students to next year’s curriculum with a special focus on STEM subjects. Students will also enjoy a variety of activities including Inventor’s Week, the Lego challenge, career exploration and computer science. Plus, there’s an exciting field trip in store! Registration for families begins mid-February. Check out the Summer Connections website for more information and updates.

HR Updates

We have two new positions posted:
- 1 on 1 Para Position: We have a 1-1 paraprofessional position for a 3rd grade student in our Special Education program. If you are interested or know of anyone who is interested, please contact Jeanna Doung!
- 3rd Grade Math Long Term Substitute Position: We are thrilled to announce that Ms. McCoy will be going on maternity leave from April through October! With that, we have an open long term substitute position for 3rd grade literacy. If you are interested or know of someone who is interested, please reach out to Jeanna Doung!
- 4th grade Math Long Term Substitute Position: Due to unforeseen circumstances, our current amazing fourth grade sub, Ms. Munio, is needing to step down starting 2/15. We are looking for a LTS for math from 2/15-3/22. If you are interested or anyone else you know would be interested, please reach out.

Mental Health Minute

The BESS MOY deadline extended!!

Only 25% of students have a completed parent rating. As a reminder, the parent rating window for Winter closes, February 2nd. The form can be completed in less than 5 minutes at tinyurl.com/bessparent2324.

What’s Still Relevant?

Calendar Reminder: Grandfriends Day

Your students cordially invite you to Asbury’s Second Annual Grandfriends’ Day!
February 14th, 2024
Kindergarten – Second Grade – 7:40 am-9:10 am
Third Grade – Fifth Grade- 9:10am-10:40am
Please fill out this form regarding your participation in Grandfriends’ Day by February 7th. If you have any questions, please email Mrs Batesmith at tillifinney_smith@dpsk12.net.
Additional Information:
- Who should I invite to be my grandfriend?
- Any adult who is important to you. This can be a grandparent or other relative, a neighbor, a friend’s parent, or any adult you are close to and would like to share your school activities.
- What will we do during this time?
- You and your grandfriend will be participating in activities in and around your classroom. There will be limited walking to accommodate needs.
- PLEASE RSVP by Wednesday, February 7th.

Asbury Spelling Bee

This will take place on Friday, March 1st 3p-5p in the auditorium

Students that are interested in participating should reach out to either Mrs. Magoffin or Mr. Howard.

Entry deadline was Wednesday, January 24th and we’ll have a quick meeting after school on Friday, January 26th in the gym.

Get Notified about Snow Days and Delays

To be notified of delayed starts and snow days before heading out the door, follow this guide to make sure your phone number is listed correctly in Infor. We will send a text message to the phone number you have listed in Infor, and an email to your DPS email address in case of a delayed start or snow day.

Previously opted out of text messages? Text Y or Yes to 67587 to receive text messages again. If you would like to opt-out, reply to a district text with N, No, or Stop.

You can also check dpsk12.org and district social media channels (Facebook, X and Instagram) for information about delays and closures.

Safety at drop off and pick up

There have been some unfortunate events occurring during these times. If you are parking on Lafayette during these times please lock your car doors at all times. We have been informed by the police station that there is a group going around to schools during busy times like drop off and pick up and breaking into vehicles so please take precautions and lock your doors at all times when you are not in the vehicle and do not leave valuables visible in your car when you exit your vehicle.

During drop off and pick up please be respectful of our neighbors when parking and do not block driveways even if you think that it is for a short period of time. We want to be respectful of our neighbors here at Asbury.

Outdoor Recess on Snowy Days

As a reminder, If students have boots, they are welcome to play in the field or on the playground unless it is icy- so send students with boots. If you need boots, we have a few extra pairs students can wear. Now that the weather is changing please send students with coats, gloves as we try to have outdoor recess as much as possible.

Mark Your Calendars: SchoolChoice Round 1 Dates

SchoolChoice Round 1 for the 2024-25 school year will open on Jan. 11, 2024 and close on Feb. 12, 2024. If you know of any kindergarten families or new families, they can make Asbury their home schools!

The DPS SchoolChoice application and waitlist site has changed. Families interested in coming to Asbury can apply here. Families with existing Parent Portal accounts can log in using their username and password and families who do not have Parent Portal accounts will set up a new account.

What’s new from PTSO?

Skate City Date Change

Due to scheduling conflicts, the new Spring Skate City date is Monday, May 6.

Read A Thon!

Asbury Eagles love to read! Get your reading list ready, set aside your extra books for the Book Exchange (February 27-29 at lunch recess), and prepare to READ!
The week of reading is: March 2-8. Watch for more information to come!

DU Gymnastics Community Ticketing!

This is another great opportunity to see some of the greatest college athletes in action with your friends in the Asbury community!
Sunday, February 11, 2024; 1:45 pm.
Tickets are now on sale here. A portion of proceeds comes back to Asbury!
Information Flyer