The Dolphin Times

NEW DATE FOR FALL FESTIVAL IS OCTOBER 17th!

We have moved our Fall Festival from October 24th to October 17th due to the fact that Pickens High School has a home football game 🏈 and Easley has its downtown trunk or treat on the 24th. 🎃

Dear Dacusville families!

Another great week at DES thanks to our faculty, staff, students, and YOU! We appreciate your support so much! September is School Attendance Awareness Month and we have a lot of great things planned to try and encourage you to make sure your child is here every day. They should have received a blue bracelet (image below) this week. We encourage them to wear this bracelet daily. Your children are "Wanted at DES!" We miss them when they are not here.

I want to begin sharing with you a talking point for you and your child based on some things we may have seen or observed recently at school. This is meant to help form stronger connections between school and home and ultimately to better support our students. Here is this week's talking point:

Talking point at home this week:

• Anger is natural and normal. We all get angry from time to time. Sometimes people say mean things to us. Sometimes they won't let us play with them. Those things can make us angry. Anger is an emotion we will all experience, and it's OK! Anger is not what gets people in trouble. It's what we do when we are angry, which usually has some tough consequences. When you're angry, you can take some deep breaths, take a walk, count to ten in your head, etc. What we don't want to do is choose to use our words and actions to display our anger. Calling someone names, hitting them, or threatening to harm them are all inappropriate responses to being angry. Those will carry severe consequences, and they don't remove our anger. If someone is really doing something mean or hurtful to you, please be sure to tell an adult and let them handle it.

Have a fabulous weekend!

If you ever have any questions or want to provide feedback, please email me at travischapman@pickens.k12.sc.us, or you can call me directly at 397-2810.

Sincerely,

Travis A. Chapman

You may purchase gift cards at Literati.com. You will shop a book fair and connect to Dacusville Elementary. You can shop online for a larger collection of books for students at this website! We can't wait to see what new books you get during book fair! All money earned will go towards updating our library collection with newer, more interesting books. Thank you for you support!

Dear Families,

Next week, our school will focus on the character strength of Open-Mindedness. This means being willing to consider new ideas and try new things. It involves looking at situations from all sides and not jumping to conclusions.

Open-mindedness is about seeking out and fairly weighing evidence, even if it goes against our own opinions or goals. Open-minded people listen to different viewpoints, including those that are less popular. They are often good listeners and provide balanced advice, which makes them great friends and confidants. This strength helps individuals form meaningful and lasting relationships.

To practice and encourage the character strength of open-mindedness at home, please visit The Positivity Project’s mobile-friendly P2 for Families (available in English and Spanish), where you will watch a video together and discuss a quote and three questions. Below are links to this week’s P2 for Families lessons. Click on the grade level that best meets your child’s needs.

Pre-K–K

Grades 1–2

Grades 3–5

Thank you for your support!

Attention Parents of 3rd-8th graders:

If your child is planning to participate in our Young Appalachian Musicians (YAM) afterschool program, they need to turn in their registration forms now. Mrs. Flowers has extra forms if your child needs one. You can also register by scanning the QR Code below. All questions should be sent to:

cristyflowers@pickens.k12.sc.us

Do you or another parent or adult in Pickens County who is in need of training to start a new career?

SDPC is continuing and expanding our partnership with Tri-County Technical College (TCTC) to bring adult workforce development opportunities to our community. The EmpowerUp program provides free or low-cost training opportunities that are flexible and locally relevant, designed to support adult learners, strengthen our workforce, and grow the local economy.

We will be hosting an EmpowerUp OPEN HOUSE next week:

• EmpowerUp OPEN HOUSE (https://5il.co/3p6qe)

• Tuesday, September 9

• 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

• Pickens County Career & Technology Center (990 Chastain Road, Liberty, SC)

At the Open House, community members can explore a wide range of training opportunities, including:

• Commercial Truck Driving

• Construction & Plumbing

• Certified Nurse Aide (CNA)

• Emergency Medical Technology (EMT)

• Medical Billing & Coding

• Business Office Specialist, and more.

These programs are offered at little to no cost to community members.

➡️ More information is available at: tctc.edu/EmpowerUp ! (https://5il.co/3p6qe)

All Title 1 papers will be sent home this year on lavender paper so that they can be easily distinguished from other papers. Please be sure to look for these in your child's folders.

🚗 Buckle Up Zone = Safety 🚗
For everyone’s safety and to keep our car line moving efficiently, please pull all the way forward to the “Buckle Up Zone” before helping your child buckle in.
This helps us load students safely and keeps the line moving steadily.
Thank you for helping us keep our dolphins safe! 🐬

Tech It Home Fee - $25 for 2025-2026

The School District of Pickens County views the use of digital resources as central to the delivery of its educational program and expects that all students will use digital resources as an essential part of their learning experiences. Students using a mobile learning device at school and at home are expected to follow the SDPC Tech It Home Mobile Learning Device Guidelines and all SDPC Technology Acceptable Use Policies. Tech It Home Fees will be $25 for the 2025-2026 school year. For more on Tech it Home please click HERE.

Students are not issued their Chromebooks until fees are paid and this is not optional.

*** You can pay this fee online using myschoolbucks.com!

PLEASE READ BEFORE SIGNING UP.... 🙂

Please do not paint on the back of the rock. We have added a plaque in honor of our donor. If damaged, you will be responsible for any cost to fix/replace.

You may reserve the Dolphin Spirit Rock for $15 (pay directly when signing up). You can give a shout out to your favorite student! When you sign up, you can paint the rock starting at 4pm the day before your reserved date.

The cost to reserve The Dolphin Spirit Rock is $15 + processing fee for a total of $16.25. You will have the rock for 24 hrs (4pm-4pm). The day your reserve is the day for your rock to be seen. You MUST paint the rock the day prior to your actual sign up. For example, if you reserve Monday, 8/19, you'll be able to start painting on Sunday, 8/18 at 4PM so that it's up and ready for your student to see on your sign-up date of 8/19. We had several issues last school year with people painting the rock on the wrong date. The DSO is not liable if you painted on the wrong date. If you paint on the wrong date and cover another's design. You will be blocked from further reservations and will be responsible for the charges of the repaint of the original design.

Payments can only be made directly through this app when making your reservation. Dates are available on a first come, first serve basis and you may NOT reserve the rock for consecutive days.

Spirit Rock reservation is valid rain or shine!

*There will be no refunds for weather or school closures*

You are responsible for the painting of the rock. You can do this yourself (see tips below) or hire someone to paint for you. The DSO does not provide the paint or paint this for you.

TIPS: Three or four cans of spray paint will cover the front of the rock, or you can roll on paint as well. If you want to paint words or designs in multiple colors, you can buy small sample jars of any color paint anywhere paint is sold. You can always use some left over house paint you have at home. Please do not use oil based paints!

This year we are blessed with a local painter for hire. Mrs. Miller is the parent of children at Dacusville Elementary and does a wonderful job. She painted our welcome back rock this year. If interested you can contact her directly through the QR code linked below.

Spirit Rock was donated by

Dustin Brown @ Palmetto Upstate Group

If you have any questions you can reach us by emailing dacusvilledso@gmail.com

Thank You,

Dacusville Elementary DSO

We are looking for business partners or sponsors in our community who would be willing to help sponsor events or celebrations for teachers and/or students. If you own a business, lead a church, or know of someone who does that may be willing to be one of our business partners please complete this form or pass it to someone who might. We would love to be to partner with you!

DES Community Partners Form

Arrival -

Car rider doors open at 7:15 a.m. Breakfast is available and FREE to all again this year. Exterior doors to the school are closed at 7:57 a.m. and if there are no adults outside and the red stop sign is out, you must park, walk your child in the main office and sign them in.

Dismissal -

School ends at 2:30 p.m. and we will begin dismissal at that time. Please be patient the first week or so of school as many students and parents are new and learning these new procedures. Expect delays with bus drop off and pick-up also.

We realize that our main car line in the mornings is long. Here are a couple of ways that you can help us speed up our line.

• Please pull up to within 1-2 ft. of the person's bumper in front of you. If you are the first person in the next grouping of cars we ask that you pull past the crosswalk and all the way down to the white cone! - This change alone has allowed us to empty to car line by 7:57 each morning since we started. THANK YOU!

• Stopping traffic to allow a lot of folks to walk across the crosswalk slows down the car line. If you can stay in the car line instead of parking and walking over it will greatly help the line move faster.
• Please be sure your child has all of their things (book bag, lunchbox, etc.) ready to go as soon as you come to a stop.
• If you have a younger child or a child who doesn't want to get out of the car in the mornings please pull up to the white cone and someone will assist you in getting them out.

These 4 actions will help us tremendously. Thank you all for helping us ensure all students arrive on time and safely into the school building.

If you are picking up a PreK student, please remain in your car. Our staff will get your child inside the vehicle and then you may pull down to the stop sign labeled, "Buckle." to complete the car seat secure process. Also, if it is possible please have your child's car seat located behind the passenger seat for easy access in and out of the vehicle.

Also, please be sure to have your car tag displayed from your rear view mirror each day. Thank you for your assistance.

If you have been to DES before in the past to sign out your child for a doctor or dentist appointment you will remember signing our yellow cards. This year we have gone digital. Our sign-in / sign-out process is done by the parent scanning a QR code posted on the window facing the foyer and completing the Google Form on your phone. Please be sure to bring your phone as well as your Driver's License or photo ID in when you come to pick up your child or if you are dropping them off late.

This new 3 digit number was approved Thursday. This increases accessibility and reduces the stigma of utilizing mental health services.

• Allergies (if applicable)
• Transportation (How will your child get home in the afternoons?)
• Specific Needs (Do they have medication to take during the school day? Do they have any physical limitations? Other pertinent information)

Email: travischapman@pickens.k12.sc.us
Website: http://des.pickens.k12.sc.us/
Location: 200 Cherokee Trail, Easley, SC, USA
Phone: 864-397-2800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DacusvilleElementary

Instagram: dacusvilledolphins
Twitter: @DacusvilleElem

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dacusvilleelementaryschool7618