USD 490 eNews

Community Newsletter

August 9, 2023

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Classroom Teachers and Schedules

The schools will not be doing the traditional back to school mailing this year to announce classroom teachers and schedules.

At the elementary level, invitations from classroom teachers will be sent to parents via Class Dojo this afternoon and evening. Please be sure to check your text messages and emails to see who your child's teacher will be. Kindergarten students will have a staggered start and will not be assigned a classroom teacher until after school on August 16.

At the middle and high school level, student schedules are available via PowerSchool. Parents can log in any time to view those schedules. Student PowerSchool logins are being worked on by the tech team, and they will email students when those are fixed and open for students to log in.

Middle school locker combinations will be available during the Open House on Monday, August 14, at 6:00 p.m. If students are unable to attend the Open House, they will receive their locker combination on the first day of school.

District website changes

We have worked to re-organize the district website this summer to make it easier to navigate. One new feature is the Enrollment page. It was designed to be a one stop shop for back to school information:

online enrollment
forms and handbooks
after school childcare
calendars
social media
school fees
school meal information
school hours and contact information
Safe Routes to School maps
school supply lists

Teachers are still using Landing Pages, but the way to find them is a little bit different this year. You will still navigate to the district website (www.usd490.org) and select your child's school. Next, you will need to click on Menu. There is an icon at the top of the menu titled Staff Directory. Staff is listed in alphabetical order by last name and the teacher Landing Pages are included with their contact information.

There are also useful resources for parents on the Parent Resources page (https://www.usd490.org/page/parent-resources)

pdf

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Setting up Accounts brochure.pdf

Instructions for accessing PowerSchool, online payments, managing communication preferences, reporting bullying, and accessing the online calendar.

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Emergency communication

El Dorado Public Schools believes that planning is a key element to emergency preparedness. We have a carefully developed crisis plan for many potential emergency situations and these are practiced with staff and students on a regular basis.

Below are some things parents should know and steps they can take to make sure they are able to receive communications if an emergency arises.

USD 490 uses School Messenger to communicate with families. Information is sent via email, text, phone call, or push notification depending on the type of information being shared. Please make sure your contact information is up-to-date with your child's school. To receive any text notifications, parents and staff must text Y to 67587 in order to opt-in.

Parents are able to choose how they receive different types of communication by logging in to the PowerSchool portal and clicking on the School Messenger link in the menu. Once that opens, click the three lines in the top right-hand corner and select Preferences. You can then select the phone numbers or email addresses to choose which which types of communication each of those should receive. You can also adjust preferences based on Communication Type.

During an emergency, student and staff safety is our primary concern. Please be patient as we work with emergency personnel and keep roads leading to the school clear to allow emergency personnel to access the building.

Encourage students to follow the directions of school personnel. This is important all of the time, but is even more critical during an emergency.

District logo and school mascot refresh

Last school year, USD 490 began researching our community and school district history as part of a Branding Identity Project. One of the pieces of that project includes refreshing the district logo and school mascots. There will be no changes to school colors or mascot types; however, we want to create a sense of visual unity between all of our schools and programs so everyone can see they are all #PartOfThePride.

We began by looking in old yearbooks and reading books about the history of El Dorado and our schools. Next, we hosted several meetings with students, parents, staff, alumni, and community members to learn what they are proud of about our schools and what characteristics they feel best represent the people who learn, work, and live here.

The District hired a company to help design an updated district logo and mascots. School and district leadership will look at four proposed designs for each school and narrow the choices down to two options that would best reflect the qualities identified during the research meetings. Students and staff will then get to vote for the one they want to represent their school. The version with the most votes will become the official mascot.

This project will be completed in phases, beginning with the district logo and high school mascot. Once these are determined, we will continue on to the middle and elementary school mascots.

Be sure to join us for the Homecoming Parade on October 6 for the unveiling of the refreshed high school mascot! The middle and elementary ones will be announced sometime after winter break.

Don't forget to make sure your child has meal money for the first day of school!

You can check the balance carried over from last year by logging in to your PowerSchool parent portal or in the RevTrak online payment portal under Student Food and Fee Payments.

If you haven't already, don't forget to fill out a Free & Reduced Meal Application for the 2023-2024 school year: https://www.usd490.org/page/food-service