IMPORTANT DATES
** Oct. 12-23: Parent Teacher Conferences
** October 16-20: No School (Fall Break)
** Wednesday, Nov. 4, 6pm: PTA Meeting
** Tuesday, Nov. 10, 5pm: VAC Meeting
** November 23-27: No School (Thanksgiving Break)
** Dec. 21 - Jan. 4: No School (Winter Break)



(The Stedman Calendar can always be viewed HERE)
Welcome Back

It was wonderful having our 2nd-5th Grade in-person learners join us this week. We've missed having this building full of children! While it looks and feels a little different, we can still feel the same sense of joy in community as we walk the halls and learn together in our classrooms.

Superintendent Susana Cordova alerted families this week that DPS is delaying the in-person return of our middle and high schools due to rising numbers of COVID-19 in Denver. "Our health partners assure us that elementary-aged students are at a significantly lower COVID risk, and we all know that remote learning presents special challenges for elementary students and their families. As a result, we feel confident right now in continuing with our plans to open elementary schools to all grades next week. We have the support of experts at Denver Health in that plan."

Stedman will continue to do everything in our power to keep our children and staff safe. We hope all members of our community continue to practice diligent hygiene, mask-wearing, and social-distancing outside of school as well so that we can remain healthy and continue learning together as long as possible.

As we've eased into a more "typical" schedule" (for now), we will begin resuming our weekly newsletters. Here you will find important information from me, the school, your PTA, the District, and our community. Please be sure to check out the full newsletter each week as you have the time, we've got some great information and resources to share!
Free COVID Testing for DPS Students

Denver Health’s School-based Health Centers (SBHC) and Denver Public Schools (DPS) announced yesterday that students throughout the entire district will now have access to free COVID-19 tests at any of the four Denver Health testing sites, starting immediately.

Read HERE for more information.
Congratulations Mrs. Romero!

Our beloved and long-time 3rd Grade teacher, Mrs. Dawn Romero, was recently awarded the "Innovative Teacher" award by the local chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa, an International Honorary Organization for Women Educators.

We are so grateful for Mrs. Romero, congratulations to her!





Live Chat from Oct. 15

On the left here is a copy of our Live Chat with Mr. Atkins from Thursday, October 15th. Thank you for the thoughtful questions and feedback!
Parent Teacher Conferences

This year's parent teacher conferences will look different than normal, but you will be hearing from your child's teacher to set up a conference over Zoom. We hope you can schedule your virtual conference between October 12-23.
Snacks

Thanks to the HFDK, Healthy Food for Denver Kids grant from the City of Denver, Stedman will be able to provide a fruit or vegetable snack every afternoon for every K- 5 student at school.

Funding will also provide a water bottle for every student and allow us to connect nutritional programming with activities in the school garden. Stay tuned for more details as we get the program up and running with the return of students, and contact Ellen LeJeune, program coordinator, with any questions!
Updated Classroom Door Map
Ballot Measures 4A & 4B
For those interested in what Ballot Measures 4A & 4B would do for Stedman, we want to supply the following information. This is purely informative for your educational purposes. Of particular note would be the additions of air conditioning and an elevator for our outdated building.

Please view the video above to understand more about these measures, or click here to read about how the measures would impact DPS overall.

Video en español aquí
Carta en español aquí
Health Screening Website:
Please Use *Daily*

For in-person learners: According to DPS, every student or parent/guardian must give evidence that they did an at-home screening using either the Student Safe Access COVID-19 screening tool or the CDPHE paper instructions listed below before entering a school building or school activity site.

The quickest/easiest way to do this is to access THIS Safe Access website to log in EVERY morning before arriving at school. Bookmark it!


Nurse Website

Our new nurse Samantha Spoto has created a google site which includes helpful links for things like COVID, Health Forms, Immunizations, Health Education and Resources.

Visit the nurse's website here for more.
Family Supports

If your family is in need of additional support, please be sure to reach out to our Family Liaison, Ali Larson, via text or email: alison_larson@dpsk12.org. We have access to some food and transportation resources that may be helpful during these stressful times.
Free National Parks Pass

Did you know that 4th Graders are able to receive a FREE pass to our National Parks? (Annual Pass!) If you have a 4th Grader, please visit this site to learn more and sign up for your free pass: https://everykidoutdoors.gov/index.htm
Dreambox Parent Access

If you are interested in setting up parent access on DreamBox, please follow the steps below. This will allow you to see your child’s progress in DreamBox and get updates about what they’re working on.

2. Have your child login to his or her profile just as it would be done at school. The username is your child’s DPS ID number and the password is their 8-digit birth date (ddmmyyyy).
3. Click on the DreamBox icon at the bottom of the page.
4. Click Setup Parent Access at the bottom of the page.
5. Follow the instructions to create a login (email) and password.
6. Read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
7. Click Submit.
Before/After Care
Leading Edge will be providing childcare before and after school along with continuing its remote learning support for those in grades 2-5 until they begin in-person. Please visit their page for more info and updated pricing: https://www.leadingedgekids.com/stedman/ and see below more information about HOW to enroll.
  • What will I need to enroll? A credit/debit card or checking account is required to pay the annual registration fee and schedule future tuition payments. The non-refundable registration fee is due at the time of enrollment. Future payments will be scheduled to automatically debit from the financial information you provide. Any credit amount on your account may be applied to the registration fee and/or future payments. Enroll your child by logging in to the Leading Edge Parent Portal at https://families.leadingedgekids.com/. In order for your child(ren) to be on the roster and accepted into Leading Edge he/she must be enrolled in our available programs.
  • Log into our Parent Portal at https://families.leadingedgekids.com/ and follow the prompts to complete the online enrollment.
  • What if I previously had an account with Springboard? The email address associated with the primary account holder is your username for your Leading Edge account. To access your account, you will need to use the reset password function. Here is a link to reset your password on login. https://families.leadingedgekids.com/index/password/forgot
  • How do I complete and submit the required parent forms? As required by state licensing, family/child information forms (Parent Agreement, Medical Release, etc.) must be completed before your child can attend Leading Edge. These forms can be downloaded from your Parent Portal under Account - Downloads and returned to your Site Coordinator on the first day of program. Updated forms are required each school year. Also included in Downloads is our Family Handbook and other important information.
  • Questions about billing or enrollment? Please contact Customer Care at support@leadsschools.com or 800-341-5791.
EASY WAY TO SUPPORT STEDMAN!
 
Link your King Soopers Reward # and earn money for Stedman! Shop as normal, and 5% of your purchases will come back to our wonderful school.

ASK ALL YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS TO DO THE SAME! Any City Market brand stores work!

How To Use the King Soopers/ City Market Community Rewards Program:


Step 2: Sign in to your account (or create a new account with your email and King Soopers card #)

Step 3: Search for Stedman Knights PTA (NPO # -- XK374)

Step 4: Select Enroll

Congrats, you have successfully enrolled in the Community Rewards program and 5% of your purchases will support Stedman Elementary!!
Important Reminders for In-Person Learners
  • New Hours for In-Person learners:
  • Grades ECE-2: 9am-3pm (Monday-Thursday) and 9am-1pm (Friday)
  • Grades 3-5: 9:10am-3:10pm (Monday-Thursday) and 9:10am-1:10pm (Friday) (this is due to the need for separate entrance/exit use)

  • Please do NOT arrive any earlier than 5 minutes before your bell. We cannot have students lingering or playing on the playground before school unfortunately.

  • No playground use before/after school.

  • Every class must only enter/exit through their assigned door.

  • Temperature checks will take place every morning before entering school. We also ask that you "pre-screen" your child at home to make sure your child is not exhibiting any symptoms of illness. (You can find a sample of the self-screening form HERE (or HERE in Spanish).

  • In-person learners, please be sure to bring the following to school daily:
  • any materials you've been given by your teacher
  • your Chromebook and charger
  • any remaining school supplies
  • personal water bottle

  • Specials classes will take place after the in-person school day (after 3pm) and will be participated in asynchronously. We know this is not ideal, but it is a necessary adjustment to make sure we have adults supporting our classrooms in a safe and healthy manner.
Additional Reminders:

  • All Families: Please complete your lunch application, whether or not you believe you qualify for Free or Reduced Priced Lunch. This is important data for our school and district to get accurate funding for nutrition. Apply HERE if you have not already.

  • Device Fees: We received communication from our Department of Technology Services (DoTS) that families will be charged for lost or damaged DPS devices. Please be sure to take care of your child's device. A minimum of $25 will be charged for damage with up to $250 possible in damages. A lost device will cost you $250.

  • Health & Safety: it is our duty to keep our children and staff safe. Please be mindful of your interactions outside of school and continue to practice social distancing and mask-wearing so that our classrooms can be safe spaces for everyone.

  • As our students are now using the field, please remember that dogs are not allowed. We understand many community members utilize the space for their dogs, and it is difficult to enforce the prohibition, but we've had an issue with people not cleaning up after their pets. Please encourage your neighbors to be responsible.

  • Meals are still being provided free of charge to all kids - stop by our front lawn 11am-1pm Monday-Friday. Students in K/1 will begin receiving their meals in the classroom.
  • If you want to receive a "blue bag" for your family each Friday, please click HERE to let us know how many you will need. This is confidential of course. These bags will be similar to previous years and provide some food items for weekend consumption. This program will begin next week!

  • If you are in need of additional assistance, please be sure to contact our Family Liaison, Ali Larson at alison_larson@dpsk12.org or by text at 303-242-6414.