2300 S. St. Paul St., Denver, CO 80210
720-424-3410
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Hello UPark Families,
We all know the phrase, "It Takes a Village." That couldn't be more true in an elementary school. As you know, our wonderful and caring UPark teachers spent all week last week attending training, collaborative planning, and enjoying each other's company in preparation for a great start to the school year. It is truly an honor to work with such a dedicated group of educators! Additionally, our PTA has done so much to celebrate us and to take care of us as we start the 22-23 school year. We were all treated to a tasty lunch last Friday capping off a great week. This week we received four new hallway fans that our PTA purchased to keep all of us cool during the hot weeks ahead. Our amazing parents brought in much needed supplies last Thursday, ensuring that we have all the tools we need to teach and reach every UPark Owl. I'm looking forward to celebrating the start of the school year with each and every one of you later today during our Back to School night. I hope your takeaway from the night will be how much our teachers love teaching and how much our Owls are going to love learning this school year. Thank you for all you do to support our UPark! See you tonight at 5:00 on the UPark blacktop!!!
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Eric Atonna
UPark Principal, Team UPark
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Online Registration Due on Wednesday! |
Please visit the link below to get started!
Online Registration opened July 26th and closes on August 31st. ALL FAMILIES must complete online registration to update student information before school starts each year. If you completed Early Bird Online Registration this past spring you do not need to do it again.
To complete Online Registration you must have an active DPS Parent Portal account.
Log into your Parent Portal Account here.
New families create a new Parent Portal Account here.
If you do not know your student ID # you can find it here.
For FAQs and step by step instructions click here.
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Kiss and Go Drop Off Information |
The Kiss and Go lane is a quick and efficient way to drop your child off at school. The Kiss and Go lane is open and available every day from 8:00-8:20 for all of our students and is a great option for dropping your child off at school. The Kiss and Go lane runs North on St. Paul street.
Here are some reminders about Kiss and Go:
- Do not park on the East side of St. Paul anytime between 7:55 and 8:25.
- Stay in line! The line moves quicker when everyone waits their turn and doesn't jump out of line. St. Paul is also a two way street, so jumping out of line can put you in danger of being hit by an oncoming car.
- Please make sure your child is ready to hop out of the car when it is their turn, this helps us keep our lane moving smoothly.
- Be patient! It is important for us to start your child's day off on the right foot and sometimes this slows down our line, so we thank you in advance for your patience.
- If your child wants to jump out of the car when they are far back in the line, that is just fine, but please stay in the line until you pass Ms. Jacobsen and Mrs. Dominguez.
If you ever have any questions about Kiss and Go, please feel free to reach out to Ms. Jacobsen directly.
Also, please make sure that all adults and students are using the crosswalk when crossing the street. We have two crossing guards at the corner of St. Paul and Iliff. This is the safest way to cross the street and we want to teach and model healthy habits for our UPark Owls!
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PTA Membership and Meeting |
The UPARK PTA supports critical academic needs, is an active voice on decisions that impact your child’s health, safety, and quality of education, and builds a stronger, more inclusive school community. We invite you to join the UPARK PTA because your membership supports your child’s potential and the future success of our school. We can do more together!
PTA membership is only $10 per year. Click here to join online.
Mark your calendar for our first PTA meeting on Tuesday, September 13th at 6pm. There will be opportunities to meet in person or join us via Zoom. At this first meeting we will approve the 2022-23 budget, introduce committees/opportunities to get involved, and outline the PTA calendar for the year.
Want to volunteer your time participating on a PTA committee? Click here to fill out our volunteer interest form.
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Backpacks for Kids Food Program |
The UPark "Backpacks for Kids" food assistance program provides bags of nutritious food once per week to UPark families who may need a little extra help with rising food costs. We believe every child should be prepared for an active and healthy lifestyle, full of learning and curiosity. We help with this by providing fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, healthy meals, and nutritious snacks for UPark children who may not have access to such food on the weekends.
If you would like your family to receive food, or if your family participated in this program last year and would like to continue to receive food, please complete this form.
We will begin food distribution at 3:00 PM on Thursday, September 8, 2022, so please fill out the form by Tuesday, September 6, 2022. Families may pick up their bags every Thursday from 3:00 PM-3:30 PM in the UPark parking lot. If your children ride the bus, your bags will go home with your children on the bus every Thursday. If your children are in Discovery Link, the bags will be brought to the Discovery Link staff for distribution. If you have any questions about the program, or would like more information, please reach out to our School Psychologist, Alicia Vega, by phone at 720-424-3458 or by email at alicia_vega@dpsk12.org.
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UPark Garden Farmers Market THIS FRIDAY! |
The UPark Garden has been thriving all summer thanks to our amazing volunteers. We are excited to welcome everyone back and share our crops with a Farmers Market this Friday, August 26 3:20 to 3:45pm. There will be beets, carrots, swiss chard, kale, squash, beans, cherry tomatoes, and lots of herbs. Looking forward to seeing you there!
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Support UPark Through Our Annual Apple Campaign!
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The Apple Campaign is going live today! The Apple Campaign is our PTA’s fall giving campaign that helps to fund the $125,000 grant the PTA provides UPARK. This grant helps fund things such as smaller class sizes, reading intervention, additional Gifted & Talented instruction time, full-time art, and paraprofessionals in younger classrooms.
We need donations of all sizes to reach our goal. Of the families who gave last year:
10% gave $25-$100
18% gave $100-$149
37% gave $150-$499
12% gave $500-$999
15% gave $1,000-$2,499
7% gave $2,500 or more
Help us take a bite out of our $75,000 goal by donating today at http://bit.ly/apple-upark, or mail or drop off a check to the main office Attn: PTA Apple Campaign.
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UPark Enrichment Registration Closes on Wednesday! |
Fall enrichment registration opened Wednesday, August 17th at 6am and will close on Tuesday, September 6th at 6pm.
Enrichment programming begins the week of September 12th and goes through December 9th.
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A first grade family is looking for assistance with transportation to and from school. If you make your way past the intersection of University and Asbury on your way to school and back and would be able to help out, please contact Alicia Vega at ALICIA_VEGA@dpsk12.org.
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Our fantastic Facilities Manager, Dylan, has been given a promotion by Denver Public Schools and will be leaving UPark for a new role. We don't yet know when Dylan's last day will be, but we can't thank him enough for all the incredibly hard work he has put in to keep our building running these last few years. Give him a big thank you if you see him around the grounds.
Dylan and our new Technology Partner, Mel, were the big winners of the 2nd annual UPark staff Corn Hole tournament that we hold as a team building event before school starts. Congrats Dylan and we hope to see him back next year to defend his title!
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Field Day and Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration! Save the Date! |
Our annual Field Day and Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration will be held on Thursday, September 29th. Be sure to save the date and be ready for a day full of fun activities! Families will be invited to join on the field to watch the festivities. Be on the lookout for additional information coming soon! |
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UPark Visitor Information |
If you are visiting the building to help out in our cafeteria, library or for a school event, please be sure to fill out the volunteer background check, before you volunteer. Click here for the volunteer services webpage and find the purple "Volunteer Background Check Portal" button to begin your application. If you plan to volunteer for field trips or other classroom events, now is a good time to get the background check completed. Background checks expire 1 year from the last completion date, so need to be done every year.
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Green Team is looking for Student Members and Adult Lunch Heroes |
The UPark Green Team is looking for student members and adult volunteers to support in the cafeteria! If your child is interested in helping make UPark a greener, more sustainable community, please complete this form. We are also looking for parent volunteers to help get our recycling and composting systems up and running. If you have 20 minutes to spare during the first weeks of school and want to help out in the cafeteria and be a Lunch Hero, please sign up here:
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UPark and DPS Attendance Policy Reminder |
The UPark and DPS attendance policy follows the Colorado School Attendance Law. Based on this law only the absence reasons listed below will be marked as excused:
- Temporary illness or injury (doctor’s note is not required until chronic)
- COVID Quarantine
- Physical, mental, or emotional disability
- Legal custody by public agency
- Religious holiday or observance
- Death in the family
PLEASE NOTE: Under the Colorado School Attendance Law, family days and vacations taken while school is in session are not an excusable absence and are therefore recorded as unexcused.
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2022- 2023 School Meals Update |
Be sure to complete your meal application now! ALL families should to fill out an application to either qualify for or opt-out of free or reduced cost meals. Complete the application here!
If you do not qualify for free or reduced cost meals, lunch money can be added to student accounts to pay for lunch using MySchoolBucks. Visit payonline.dpsk12.org/ for details.
What will meal prices be in the 2022-2023 school year?
- Universal breakfast = FREE breakfast for all, regardless of eligibility status
- Elementary Lunch $2.60
- Milk Only $0.75
*Please note – DPS is required to keep track of all meals (breakfast and lunch) served using student ID numbers. Please help your child memorize their student ID if they do not already know it. This number can be found in Parent Portal.
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University Park Elementary Calendar
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Thursday Extras
This is where you will find a list of flyers that DPS or approved organizations have asked we pass out to our community. Simply click on the flyer name to view in its entirety. Please ask our office staff if you need a paper copy.
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Looking Ahead
August 25: Back to School Night
August 31: Online Registration Closes
September 5: NO SCHOOL-Labor Day
September 29: Field Day and Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration
September 30: NO SCHOOL-DPS Planning
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University Park | 720-424-3410 | 2300 S. St. Paul | Website
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