Current Families with Medicine in the Health Room

If your student has medication in the health room, please plan to pick it up between 9 and 11:30 a.m. during the last day of school. Only a parent/guardian or a designated adult can pick up medicine. Parents also can request that their student take home any remaining medicine, but parents must email Teri DeBellis in our Health Room by Friday, May 20, with the request. She will put the medicine in a sealed envelope and send it home with the student. She will not release any medication to a student unless she receives a written request from the parent. 

If applicable, you also will need to pick up any medication stored in BASE, as we will not transfer medications for summer camp. Any medication left at school after the school year ends will be disposed of per CDPHE rules and regulations governing schools.

Please email our Health Assistant, Teri DeBellis, with any questions.

Students Who Plan to Take Medicine at School Next School Year 

For those students who take medicine at school, per Douglas County School District (DCSD), new medication forms are required at the beginning of each school year. Medication forms from the prior school year are considered EXPIRED.

If your student will need medicine at school next year, please complete a Student Medication Release Form and a Provider Medication Authorization Form. There are very specific instructions related to bringing medicine to school. Please see the letter from our health room for details.

Provider Medication Authorization Forms, Asthma Care Plans, Allergy Care Plans, and Medication Request and Release Forms are available in the school health room or on the school website. If your student has an appointment with his/her physician during the summer, that's a good time to get the paperwork completed. Records can be emailed to the health office, faxed to 303-974-1738 or dropped off during BFA Annual Family Check-In.   

Reminder about Over-the-Counter Medicine

Acetaminophen or any other over-the-counter medication cannot be administered at school without an order from the health care provider (Provider Medication Authorization Form). Ben Franklin Academy provides Acetaminophen in 80 mg chewable tablets and 325 mg pills. If your student needs a different dose or form, you will need to provide the medication.

Herbal and homeopathic remedies may not be administered at school.

Vaccinations

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment would like us to share the following letters with you regarding immunizations for next school year. These letters are important as they provide information about required vaccines, resources for low cost vaccines, and details about the exemption process.

Preschool Immunization Letter

K-12 Immunization Letter

Upcoming 6th Grade Student Tdap Immunization Letter

All new immunization records and exemption letters should be provided to the school by Friday, August 26. 

Information about the Nonmedical Exemption Process for Vaccinations

Per the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the process for claiming a nonmedical exemption changed last year. If you choose not to have your child(ren) vaccinated according to the current recommended schedule because of personal belief or religious reasons, you must submit a Certificate of Nonmedical Exemption to the school.

Nonmedical exemptions must be submitted annually, which means parents have to submit the certificate every new school year (In the instance that the exemption is filed with the state, please give the Health Room a copy of the signed exemption form). The school year begins on July 1, and runs through June 30 of the following year. There are two ways to file a nonmedical exemption:

• File the Certificate of Nonmedical Exemption WITH a signature from an immunizing provider, OR
• File the Certificate of Nonmedical Exemption received upon the completion of the online education module.

Downloadable certificates and the online education module are available at:
https://cdphe.colorado.gov/vaccine-exemptions.

Thank you for adhering to these processes. As always, our highest priority is to keep all students safe at school

If you have questions about any of these processes during the summer, please contact our school nurse consultant, Peggy Brown.

There are two important steps parents need to complete before the start of every school year for K-8 BFA student(s):

• Mid-summer you will go online to complete Douglas County School District (DCSD) Express Check-In; and
• Before school starts, your family will complete BFA Annual Family Check-In, in-person at BFA.

Additional details about these processes will be in future communications, but there is an important step you can take TODAY to make sure Check-In goes smoothly.

Returning BFA Families:

BFA parents of current K-8 students should have a Parent Portal username and password already. Please take the opportunity NOW to make sure you remember it by logging into the EngagED Parent Portal. If you're successful, you'll be able to login when Express Check-In opens. If you can't login, please email BFA's registrar, Colleen Bobbin, by Thursday, May 12.

DCSD Intra-District Transfers and/or Former DCSD Families:

Parents who have had students at other DCSD schools should have a Parent Portal username and password already. Please take the opportunity NOW to make sure you remember it by logging into the EngagED Parent Portal. If you're successful, you'll be able to login when Express Check-In opens. If you can't login, please email BFA's registrar, Colleen Bobbin, by Thursday, May 12.

New DCSD Parents:

Parents who have never had a K-12 student in a DCSD school created a Parent Portal username and password when completing Open Enrollment for their child(ren). Please take the opportunity NOW to make sure you remember it. Login to the EngagED Parent Portal. If you're successful, you'll be able to login when Express Check-In opens. If you cannot, Colleen Bobbin can help you reset your account after July 1, 2022.

This week is Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week and the PTO has been recognizing all of our amazing teachers and staff who lift us up and make BFA such a special place for our children. Take a look at the flier to learn more about what the PTO has done this week and how your student can participate tomorrow. 

We’d love to have your student(s) make a card, bring in a flower, or even greet their teacher(s) with a high five TOMORROW, May 6.

In response to a proposal by a sixth grade student to the BFA Board, we have decided that every Friday in May will be Fun Sock Friday. Students may wear their favorite 'fun' socks as long as the graphics/words are appropriate.

The Board will be reviewing the sock section of the Uniform Policy at their May meeting

Thank You Donuts with Dads Volunteers and Attendees!

The CEC (Community Events Committee) wants to thank all the dads, families and students who woke up early to attend Donuts with Dads. With 703 people in attendance, this was the largest turnout for any CEC event in its history!

A huge shout out to all the amazing volunteers who made this event possible and such a success! Also, thank you to the coordinator of this event, Anneke DelPiccolo, for her hard work. The CEC also wants to recognize the local donut shop, Mr. Donuts in Lone Tree, for all the amazing donuts! Please say thank you when you stop in.

Each year the Community Events Committee (CEC) hosts One Act of Kindness (OAK). OAK is a week-long event in which BFA partners with a community organization to make a BIG impact! This year BFA has selected the Collaborative Foster Care Program (CFCP).  

CFCP serves foster parents and foster youth in Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson Counties. Their mission is to provide a temporary environment when a child is in need of protection and is unable to remain at home. Additionally, CFCP ensures foster parents have adequate training, support and resources to promote the child’s best interest.   

We have several foster parents in our BFA community including Kate and David Hughes who said this when discussing the importance of being a foster parent:

“I'll never forget hearing the presenter say that there were currently 8,000 foster kids in Colorado alone. We heard that presentation 5-6 years ago. Three years ago we started the process of becoming foster parents, and two years ago in June we became foster and foster-to-adopt certified. Since then we've had two little babies stay in our house - one that needed extensive medical care, including heart surgery. It's been quite the adventure and experience.”

The event will take place NEXT WEEK, May 9-13, 2022. Consider supporting foster kids and foster parents in our community in the following ways:

Donate Summer Fun Items!

• Sunscreen, hats or sunglasses
• Summer toys (i.e. sidewalk chalk, bubbles, pool toys, sports balls, goggles, water balloons, pool floaties, water guns, etc.)
• Swimsuits (ages 10 and up have the greatest need)

Donate Gift Cards!

• Visa
• Restaurants (i.e. Chipotle, Red Robin, Chilis, Kneaders, Panera, Olive Garden, etc.)
• Target, Kohls, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Walmart
• Activities (i.e. Bowling, Movie Theater, Mini Golf, Main Event, Boondocks, etc.)

*Please consider donating in increments of $25.00 to support more kids and families

To wrap up the week, we will be hosting a Foster Parent Information Night. If you are interested in learning more about becoming a foster parent OR how to support a foster family in our community, please join us from 6 - 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 12, in the Middle School Commons. We will have foster parents from our community joining us to speak about their experience.

Attention Readers! All library books need to be returned by Wednesday, May 18. Charges for lost and damaged books will be in your MySchoolBucks account if the books are not returned or there is damage that cannot be repaired.

Please do not send in a replacement book for one that has been damaged or lost. We order our books through the Douglas County School District (DCSD) vendor so they are library bound.

And, we’re encouraging all our readers to participate in the Douglas County Libraries (DCL) Summer Reading program again this year! Registration is open now, and the program begins in early June. The school with the most sign-ups gets bragging rights AND a check for $500 to help buy additional books. Click here to get started!

Incoming kindergarten parents – you’re welcome to sign up your student for the Kindergarten Boot Camp this summer! Students will be introduced to the Kindergarten academic atmosphere and to BFA's campus. Students will become familiar with kindergarten rules, expectations, activities, and have fun! Boot camps will be held from 9 – 11 a.m., June 6 - 9 and June 13 – 16.

Students who attend the camp will meet new friends so school in the fall won’t be quite as intimidating. Registration begins today at 2 p.m., and will be first come, first served. Sign up here for one of the sessions (16 slots per session). The registration fee is $80. Please see the flier for additional details and email Ms. Monica McGinty at mmcginty@bfacademy.org with any questions.

If you enjoy science labs and experiments, come join us for one or both weeks of science camp this summer. Biology Camp will be June 13 - 15, with the focus on Biology. If you love learning more about life science, or a career as a doctor interests you, then you will love Biology Camp. We will learn interesting facts about vertebrates and invertebrates while dissecting more than six different animals including starfish, frogs, crayfish, worms, clams and a mini shark. 

Chemistry Camp will be July 11-13. If you love things that fizz, bubble, change color and form, or explode, then Chemistry Camp will be the perfect camp for you. We will focus on physical and chemical changes with dry ice, different types of slime, polymers, elephant toothpastes, fruit volcanoes, and so much more. Each day will have a new theme, and students will go home with experiments to show the family. For more information on either camp, see the links below.

•  Biology Camp 
•  Chemistry Camp

The time is almost here for the 2022 Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) Expo on Friday, May 13! This year we are returning to a booth-style Expo featuring STEAM activities from 20+ vendors and the BFA parent community.  

There will be rockets, there will be llamas, robots, geology, chemistry, Rubik's cubes, and much, much more! Every student in the school will have an hour to explore and learn about the wonderful world of STEAM.  

The STEM committee needs your help to make this BFA tradition a success. Please sign up today and support the students of BFA on their journey of STEAM discovery. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at stem@bfacademy.org. Also, be sure to ask your student what they learned and about their favorite booth/activity. We can't wait to hear what they have to share!

Sign up here to help with the STEAM Expo.

Please join the members of the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) for their end-of-year meeting! The meeting will be held from 4-6 p.m. on Sunday, May 15, at Plum Valley Park in Highlands Ranch. The PTO will be providing dinner. Please RSVP and indicate on your sign-up if you have gluten-free and/or vegetarian dietary needs. We will do our best to accommodate. Hope to see you there!

We hope you’ll join us for the last spirit night of the year from 6-8 p.m. next Tuesday, May 10, at Skate City in Littleton (5801 S. Lowell Way, 80123). This is a private event for our school community! We need at least 50 skaters to earn money back to our school. 

If your child(ren) in grades K-7 will not return for the 2022-23 school year, please email BFA's registrar, Colleen Bobbin, TODAY, May 5. Specific information and, in some cases, forms are needed to initiate the withdrawal process. In addition, if a new school requires records, this will allow us time to prepare them before the new school year.