Principal Update

Thank you to all our parents who came to our PTA meeting last week.  We are very fortunate to have such an involved parent community at UPark.  Updates from last week's meeting can be found in our PTA section in this newsletter. 

Please say hello to Mallory Moss, the newest staff member to our UPark family!  Mallory started this week as a Para-professional supporting our 1^st grade classes. 

During my first few weeks as Principal of UPark, I went through an assessment of our building and put together a fairly extensive list of requests to DPS for facility improvements.  As I mentioned at Back-to-School Night, DPS gave us about $25,000 to replace the carpeting in our Library, and to convert most of our classroom chalkboards to whiteboards.  Our Whiteboard Conversion project has started in our upstairs classrooms, and will continue next week.  I'm happy to say DPS will also provide a new circulation desk, countertop and other upgrades for our library before the winter break.

PTA News:

Thanks to everyone who came to our first PTA meeting last week!  Our meetings will typically be on the first Tuesday of the month from 6-7:30pm.  You don't need to attend every meeting, but you do need to be a paid PTA member in order to vote on budgets and board members.  Please consider joining the PTA HERE  and see  the notes from our last meeting HERE. 

Orange Theory Fitness  (Cherry Hills) is a generous supporter of UPark.  In addition to sponsoring our school this year, they are extending lower pricing to UPark families and staff and will give the PTA money for every membership sold!  Learn more HERE. 

The Home Tour Committee will have its first meeting of the school year on October 14.  Please contact Carrie Alleman at uparkhometour@gmail.com if you are interested in helping with this fundraiser.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the FUN RUN this Sunday!  We still have a few volunteer spots left HERE for those who can help! (http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0e4cafab2da02-uparkfun)

Donate to the Apple Campaign HERE

Collaborative School Committee

CSC had their first meeting last week.  You can view the notes here.  The scope & purpose of the committee was reviewed.  Budget approval happens in February of every school year. 

The CSC has 3 major charges:

• Understand the school & district goals, and get school community involvement to help achieve those goals

• Give strategic direction in support of the school's mission & vision

• Be in compliance with state & federal laws - the committee provides guidance, but does not get involved with day-to-day operations of the school, individual parent/student issues, or personnel issues

Our goal this year is to keep the community more informed of our school & district academic goals, as well as the evolving mission & vision of UPark under our new principal leadership.

Please join the Great Harvest Bread Co. of Denver (owned by DPS parents) and the Denver Public Schools' Educational Outreach Program for their ninth annual Whole Grains for Growing Brains fundraiser.  On Saturday, October 18th, the Great Harvest Bread Co. located in the Belcaro Center at 765 South Colorado Boulevard will donate 100% of our sales to the DPS Educational Outreach Program to support their efforts to support homeless students in our school system.  This is not a donation of profit, nor is it a donation of a percentage of sales.  Every cent taken in on this special day will go directly to this important program that helps our community's children face their many challenges with food, clothing, transportation, and other necessities so many of us take for granted.  Customers on October 18th will also have the opportunity to buy bread and donate it back to this cause.  Donated bread will be distributed to families in Denver homeless shelters.  Please help us spread the word about Whole Grains for Growing Brains 2014, and please consider shopping at our bakery from 6:00am to 6:30pm on this day for the children in our school district that need us the most.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER AT
 University Park Elementary

The place where students are inspired, engaged, and having fun!

All of our enrichment programs have started this week are going great! Please email or call me if your student is going to miss a class date and include in the message the student's first and last name, and class they will miss.

For our early morning Kaleidoscope program, to our after school Kaleidoscope and enrichment programs, our goal is to provide a fun and engaging experience for your children during every part of their day.

Questions about After School programs or KC? Call Omid Amini at 303-241-7938

5 Star Wizard Hat Students:

Congratulations to last week's 5 Star Wizard Hat students! They were recognized by their teachers for positive behavior. 

Last week's students include: Bailey Atkinson, Aya Awad, Abbie Bettinger, Ivy Bieker, Del Bolinske, Sophia Cho, Wyatt Houston, Frankie Jackson, Keesun Jackson, Nola Lake, Eden Lyons, Grace McFarland, Abby McPherson, Duncan Monroe, Zayne Morton, Anna Muilenburg, Mary Jane Murphy, Nick Neuhalfen, Lucinda Noble, Elizabeth Sliter, Maddie Steuer, Gabby Pappas, Sunshine Tafoya, Finola White, Jackson White, Maddy Reeves, Ari Waanders, Ryder Ward, Wyatt Woessner, and Ali Yassin