Dunstan Newsletter

August 21, 2026

Welcome to a new school year! We had a fantastic, smooth, and happy start with our 6th Graders on Thursday, August 20th! Thank you everyone for understanding and supporting the importance of allowing our 6th graders one day to have the school to themselves, to engage in team building, and to familiarize themselves with the school! Our new 6th graders are entirely lovely and our staff enjoyed engaging with them throughout the day as we began to get to know each student!

On Friday, we had all of our students. School buildings and our staff exist to have students in the school! As a principal I spend a few weeks at school before staff and then students return. Without our students and staff the building feels incomplete! Please enjoy the photos of this week below!

The first day is always the day to practice their schedule, get used to their lockers, and to connect with friends and staff members. We are off to a great start together! I was able to walk through all classrooms today and enjoyed interacting with many of our students!

Here are a few fun/interesting facts about Dunstan:

• Our enrollment is higher than many previous years - we have 820 students enrolled and are predicted to continue to grow in the next 8 years to 900 students.

• We have a waitlist at every grade level of families who want to choice enroll into our school. Class sizes cannot exceed 30 students per teacher.

As always, please know our collective staff are here to support you and your student(s)! Please reach out, communicate your needs, and we will problem-solve together. It continues to be an honor to serve our community!

In partnership,

Jen Pennell

• Wednesday, August 26th: Virtual Back to School night (more information coming soon)
• Wednesday, August 26th and Thursday, August 27th: Math MAP testing
• Tuesday, September 1st and Wednesday, September 2nd: ELA MAP testing
• Thursday, September 3rd: 6th Grade Parent night 5:30-6:30 PM at Dunstan (library)

Please click HERE to sign up to support Dunstan's PTA through King Soopers Community Rewards. This is a quick and easy way to support our school!

Dear Families,

Student Insights is a resourceful tool for K-12 families and students in grades 6-12 to view current and historical assessment data and plans that are applicable to your student.

2025-26 CMAS/CoAlt student score reports are now available electronically in Student Insights. Our school will also be sharing paper reports with families on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, through their Advise class. If you would like your paper reports sooner, please request this with Michelle Grove at Michelle.Grove@jeffco.k12.co.us

Login to Student Insights here using your Infinite Campus parent portal login credentials to view the following applicable* information:

• Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) - 2025-26 results now available!

• WIDA ACCESS - 2025-26 results now available!

• MAP Growth results

• DIBELS 8 results

• Lectura results

• READ Plan goals and supports

• Advanced Learning Plan (ALP) goals and programming supports

• Graduation requirements progress report

• High School Transcript Grades

• PSAT & SAT results

Click here to learn more about Student Insights and here to learn more about our state and district assessments.

*Available data listed above is based on student grade levels and programming.

August 2026

Dear Green Mountain Articulation Area Families,

As you prepare to send your student back to school next week, we want to share some important safety reminders about arriving and leaving campus. Our top priority is—as always—ensuring a safe, supportive, and engaging environment for everyone from day one. In that spirit, and with electric bikes, scooters, and other rideable devices becoming an increasingly popular way for students to commute, we would like to highlight a few key rules and guidelines.

We strongly support the use of standard bicycles and legal e-bikes; however, we need your partnership to ensure all students are following state laws and local rules. It is essential to understand what type of vehicle your child is operating:

• E-Bikes: Feature functional pedals assisted by a low-speed electric motor (under 750W as anything 750W or higher is not considered a legal e-bike in Colorado). These are legal for students to ride on streets and public property under specific conditions.

• E-Dirt Bikes & Moped-Style Vehicles: Propelled solely by a higher-powered motor without standard pedals, reaching higher speeds. These are illegal for anyone under 16 to ride on public streets/property, as state law requires a driver's license, DMV registration, and proper road equipment.

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Important: Because elementary and middle school students are under 16, no students should be riding e-dirt bikes, mopeds, or high-powered non-compliant vehicles to school.

Please talk with your child about these rules and make sure any vehicle they ride to school fully complies with the law. Learn more about the difference between e-bikes and e-motos on the Jeffco Sheriff’s Office website.

Our School Resource Officer, John Goodrich, will follow up with families of students who continue to ride illegal or non-compliant vehicles to campus:

1. First Violation: A formal warning will be issued to the family.

2. Subsequent Violations: May result in traffic citations/tickets and potential seizure of the vehicle by law enforcement.

Thank you for your cooperation in keeping our students and neighborhood safe! Please feel free to reach out to the school office if you have any questions.

In partnership,

Megan Madsen, Jennifer Pennell, DeAnn Hoffman, Thomas Gardner, Brad Mallers, Shannon Schneider

Green Mountain Articulation Area Principals

Jeffco has officially launched ParentSquare as our primary platform for school communication. Families will now receive messages through email, app, voice or text, helping everyone stay informed and involved.

An account is automatically created for each parent or guardian using the contact information in Infinite Campus, our student information system. We encourage you to activate your account to download the free mobile app, set your language preferences, and choose how and when you’d like to receive messages.

What you can do with ParentSquare:

• Receive updates from your school via email, app, or text notification

• View posts, photos, calendars, and important announcements

• Communicate in your preferred language with automatic translation

• Comment on school posts and stay engaged with your school community

• Send direct messages to teachers and staff

• Participate in group conversations

Click the link HERE to learn more about blocking YouTube using the Securely feature.

Thanks to Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA), Jeffco Public Schools will continue to provide all students with one breakfast and one lunch at no cost through the 2026-27 school year, regardless of income eligibility. Research shows that students who are not hungry perform better in school. Even though meals are free for all students, families are strongly encouraged to complete a Student Benefits Application.

We use SchoolCafé to:

Families Who Need Meal Modifications - You need to communicate your needs with our new Kitchen Manager, Sandra Bartle at Sandra.Bartle@jeffco.k12.co.us. Also click for the district special diets link with info.