Himlie Hello

Dear Dunn Families,

Happy September!

We are off to a wonderfully strong start this school year. If you walk through our halls you would see our students settling into their routines, engaging deeply in their learning, and already putting our theme—Connection: Seen. Heard. Valued.—into practice every single day.

A heartfelt thank you to all of our families for your incredible flexibility and patience over the first few weeks. Between the district half-day heat days and our unexpected indoor recesses due to local bear activity, you have adapted right alongside us with warmth and understanding. Managing early dismissals and keeping active kids indoors takes a village, and we are so grateful for your continued partnership and humor through it all.

I also want to share a quick update regarding my recent absence from the building. I miss seeing all of you so much—especially welcoming students and chatting with you during morning car drop-off! Please rest assured that even while away, I am in regular, daily contact with Ms. Latuda and our team virtually to ensure everything continues running smoothly. I have an appointment this Tuesday and am very hopeful it brings good news—and the physical relief I need—so that I can be back in the building with everyone very soon. I am also extremely grateful for Mr. Patterson (retired principal) for supporting the staff and building while I have been out.

Thank you again for your unwavering support, your grace, and the wonderful energy you bring to our Dunn community every day.

Connected,

Abby

Arabic PSD 2025-2026 Calendar HERE

Spanish PSD 2025-2026 Calendar HERE

• Fri, Sept 11-Sun, Sept 13: Rosh Hashanah
• Mon, Sept 14-Fri, Sept 18: Dunn Safety Week (see details below)
• Mon, Sept 14: Student Council Food Drive Begins
• Wed, Sept 16: A+ School Accountability Committee Meeting, 3:45-5pm (see details below)
• Fri, Sept 18: 5th Grade Walking Field Trip to Lee Martinez Park
• Sun, Sept 20-Mon, Sept 21: Yom Kippur
• Wed, Sept 23: PTO Meeting at Mugs on College, 5:30-7pm
• Fri, Sept 25: Dunn Spirit Dress Day (TBA)
• Sat, Sept 26: Dunn PTO Fall Carnival (details to come)
• Mon, Sept 28: Teacher Work Day (NO SCHOOL)
• Wed, Sept 30: 1st-4th Grade International Citizen Assemblies (see details below)
• Wed, Sept 30-Fri, Oct 2: ECO Week for 5th Graders!
• Mon, Oct 5: Principal Listening Session at University Village Apartments, 5-6pm
• Tues, Oct 6: Principal Listening Session at Aggie Village Family Apartments, 5-6pm

Each school in PSD holds a fire drill monthly, and two scheduled lockdown drills - one in the fall and one in the spring. The purpose of these drills is to practice safe procedures, so that if there were ever an actual emergency, our community knows what to do. We also have one unannounced lockdown drill in November.

In September, we spend one week talking about safety at school. We have our monthly fire drill on Tuesday. Wednesday, we hold our first lockdown drill. We explain that this is to practice. We focus on age-appropriate communication and maintaining a calm environment during these drills. Some resources I have shared with our staff to support students with drills are ATTACHED HERE. Our incredible School Resource Officer, Jaclyn Shaklee, visits classrooms to introduce herself to build relationships with our students on Thursday. On Friday, we practice our long-whistle procedure to call students in when they are outside.

Please let your teacher know if your child has experienced trauma or loss that causes you to be concerned about their response to drills.

If you choose to opt your child out of the SRO classroom visits or the drills, please contact our front office at 488-4825, then press 5.

Are you interested in learning more about Dunn's planning process?

Can you commit to meeting throughout the year to provide your input on our school improvement plan, budget priorities, and our implementation of school goals?

We hope to have an A+ SAC who represents our Dunn community, with a variety of backgrounds and perspectives.

Meetings will be held in the library from 3:45 to 5pm. Topics include:

• 9.16.26: A+ Member Roles and Responsibilities, School Improvement Plan Process
• 10.8.26: Beginning of Year Data Review, School Improvement Plan
• 1.28.27: Middle of Year Data Review
• 2.17.27: Dunn Budget Priority Input
• 3.25.27: 2026-2027 Budget Overview
• 5.26.27: End of Year UIP Data Review

We are in need of volunteers the week of September 21-25 before and after school to help us sell wristbands and tickets: TICKET SELLING SIGN UP

We also need day-of volunteers to help make the event run smoothly: CARNIVAL VOLUNTEERS

Do you have a middle-schooler or high-schooler looking for some volunteer hours? We have shifts for them too! MS AND HS STUDENT SIGN UP

You will notice that Dunn holds International Citizen Assemblies the last Wednesday of each month. Throughout the school year, your child's teacher will write a paragraph about how they demonstrated one of the learner profile traits this year. We hold the assembly with two grades at a time (they are paired with their book buddy classes). Each child is recognized once throughout the year, and you will get an email from Sandy Murphy in the front office notifying you two weeks prior to your child's recognition. It is a pretty special assembly, and I look forward to seeing you there.

**Kindergarten/5th grade assemblies will begin in October**

2nd/4th Grades: 1:20-1:50pm

K/5th Grades: 2-2:30pm

1st/3rd Grades: 2:40-3:10pm

We love to support our local businesses - CHECK OUT DUNN FAMILY BUSINESSES HERE.

Do you have a local business? Please enter your business information in the LINK HERE to share your information, so we can spread the word!

Beginning Saturday, August 29, families with bus route modifications will receive an email notification directing them to their student’s most recently published:

• Bus route

• Stop location

• Stop time

The portal also allows eligible families to submit a new transportation request or update an existing request.

Families with ParentVUE should access the portal using their ParentVUE account. Early childhood families and others without ParentVUE may request their student’s route information by entering an email address already associated with the student’s record.

Because routes and stop times may change, families will receive weekly notifications when updates occur. You may also check the portal at any time for the most recently published information. Every Friday at 5:30 p.m., the portal will be updated with bus routes for the following week.

Visit the PSD Busing Portal

Questions or need assistance? Email busrequest@psdschools.org.

• *WHAT: Your Dunn PTO keeps our community connected by hosting free events (Fall Carnival, End of Year Celebration, Family Dance), and provide funding and support for Dunn activities and staff (Assemblies, Teacher Appreciation) just to name a few! Curious about what goes on behind the scenes at Dunn? Want to help support teachers with mini-grants? Your Dunn PTO is a wonderful way to learn more about the Dunn community while donating a small piece of your time.
• *WHO: This fun group of engaged parents is a great way to build relationships with other caregivers, amazing teachers, and our dedicated principal, while finding creative ways to support this wonderful school.
• *HOW: Simply show up to a meeting at Mugs Old Town! For questions please email: dunnelementarypto@gmail.com.
• *WHEN: Monthly Wednesday meetings, 5:30-7pm. Can't commit to a monthly meeting? No problem! Just email us and we'll let you know about one off events that you can get involved with.

• Sep 2, Sept 23, Oct 21, Nov 18, Dec 9, Jan 13, Feb 17, April 14, May 12

Instagram: Click Here

Email: ahimlie@psdschools.org
Website: https://dun.psdschools.org/
Location: 501 South Washington Avenue
Phone: 970-488-4825
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dunn-IB-World-School-833838369983073/
Twitter: @dunn_ib