Knight Times

Greetings Students & Families,

We hope you all had a wonderful summer break! The new school year always brings a great deal of excitment, and this year is particularly special given that students are returning to full time, in-person learning. We can't wait to meet our new students and welcome back our returning students. If you've driven by the campus this summer, I'm sure you couldn't help but notice all of the construction going on. We are pleased to share that our parking lot is completed and 10 of our classrooms were modernized this summer. Our teachers are thrilled to see all of you and welcome you into their classrooms. It's going to be a great year!

Mrs. Working, Mr. Buescher & Mrs. Roberts

Si necesita esta boletine informativo traducido en Español, por favor, haga cliq en la palabra a la derecha que dice "Translate" y escoja "Spanish".

Our parking lot is completed and we now have a drop off lane! This will help the flow of traffic before and after school. Construction is still ongoing but we will do everything possible to ensure that it will not disrupt the learning of our students. Due to the fact that our Multi-purpose room will not be completed until the end of next summer, we are excited to partner with the City for part of the day to utilize the Georgie Duke Center. While there will initially be a lot of fences up around campus, these fences will shrink in the coming weeks as our quad space is completed. We are also very excited for our new Science building and Engineering/Robotics classroom to be built in the coming year.

We have new room numbers this year! We will have copies of the map available to students.

At Buckingham we follow the VUSD Student Calendar with one exception. The calendar denotes that all students are released early on Wednesdays (Collaborative Days). At Buckingham, students are instead released early on Fridays (with the exception of the first Friday of the school year). See the Bell Schedule button above for the Friday bell schedule.

Currently students are required to wear a mask while indoors while masking outdoors is optional. Our students' health and well being is of the upmost importance. While we are thrilled to have all students returning to in person-learning, we recognize that this no longer makes social distancing in the classroom a possiblity. This is in accordance with CDC and CDPH guidelines given that we are layering our safety approach with other prevention strategies. Please see the link to the COVID-19 FAQ for additional information and don't hesitate to contact our office if you have any questions or concerns.

It is wonderful that we have the opportunity to feed all of our students for free this year with the continuation of the free lunch for all program. However, this opportunity also presents challenges from a facilities standpoint in ensuring that all students get lunch, and that we can provide for safe and adequate physical spacing of students in the lunch lines and cafeteria. In order to address this need, and to provide students the opportunity to develop responsibility and positive citizenship, the VUSD school board recently approved a new policy (pilot program) that allows all high school students to leave campus at lunch time. The new board policy (below) will take effect on the first day of school, 8/12/21.

Because this is a pilot program at all our high schools, we will be tracking both the attendance impact and any possible community impact of this change. If this change proves to negatively impact our students and/or community, the district will return to our previous closed campus policy for 9th-11th graders. Parents and Guardians: You can log into Aeries Parent Portal daily to verify your student’s school attendance, or call us at (707) 453-7300.

Please note, as a parent, you can communicate to your child whether or not you are comfortable with them leaving campus for lunch, as students who choose to leave campus will not be supervised by school staff during that time. School administration may revoke this privilege for any student based on school discipline, off campus behavior issues, or excessive attendance problems. Students with excessive attendance problems may also lose eligibility for athletics and extracurricular participation, so it is important for all students to act responsibly while off campus and get back to school on time. We will reiterate to students the importance of being safe and responsible community members whether walking or driving on or off campus. We know our Knights will make us proud!

Click HERE to view the Board Policy/Ed Code about this topic.

We have a new member of our administrative team this year. We are pleased to introduce Mrs. Laura Roberts, our Dean of Learning Support. Below is a message from Mrs. Roberts:

Hello everyone! My name is Laura Roberts, and I am so excited to be part of the Buckingham family! This year I am joining your team as the Dean of Learning Support. I will be working alongside many of you and cannot wait to get to know you all. To share a little bit about me, I am a product of Vacaville schools and love that I’ve been able to work in the community that I grew up in. I attended UC Davis and earned a BA in Sociology while also being a reservist in the military. My teaching credential and MA are also from UCD, and I received my administrative credential from the University of Southern California (Fight On!). I taught Social Science and English for 12 years with most of them at Will C Wood High School. Last year I was fortunate enough to be named both Vacaville Unified’s and Solano County’s Teacher of the Year - a recognition that I truly appreciate especially during such a unique school year. I love working with students in a fun, inspiring, and inclusive environment and cherish the relationships that I make. I look forward to being a part of the esteemed Buckingham community and its continuing growth. Please feel free to stop by if you have any questions or just to say hello.

Laura Roberts

The Buckingham SHIELD is our parent advisory group. Participation in this group will allow you to serve our students and staff and have a direct impact on the quality of your student's educational experience. This is also the place to share your great ideas, talk with our admin team, ask questions, and learn up-to-date information about what is happening on campus. Agendas and guest speakers are typically shared in advance via text/email and/or the SHIELD Facebook page.

The Shield parent group meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 6 PM (currently via Zoom). Reminders with the zoom link will be sent out prior to the meetings. Everyone is invited to attend. Please join us to give your input, stay informed and get involved!

Are you interested in Fall Sports? Please remember to have your completed VUSD physical packet ready for the first day of fall sports. Students are not allowed to tryout or practice without a completed physical packet.

All students of all grades are welcome and encouraged to participate in our programs. You can give your completed physical packets to the coaches when you go to practice or tryouts. Our Fall Sports include:

• Co-Ed Cross Country
• Boys Varsity Soccer
• Girls Varstiy Volleyball

Clink this LINK for additional information including updates about practice and tryouts.

Student Google Accounts get reset annually. On Monday, August 9, passwords were changed to the student's date of birth in a 10 digit birthdate format with leading zeroes and slashes (e.g. 01/01/2005). Contact the office if you need help with acessing your Google Account.

Students can choose to bring a device to school if they'd like to, however, this is not a requirement. We have chromebooks on campus for students to utilize as needed.

See the map below for City Coach routes available to students. Go to https://www.citycoach.com/ for more information.

Returning Buckingham/VUSD families can login to the Parent Portal to make updates to contact information and get a preview of your students' schedule by Tuesday, August 10. Families who have a student who is new to VUSD should receive an email later this month with information about how to register for an account.

This year, the Parent Portal has a new component called the Parent verification and income survey. This is very important information to help us with funding programs at our school. Traditionally, this information was gather through applicaitons for students to access free/reduced lunch, but with school lunches being free to all, this is the new way the information is being collected. Below are some links to access the Parent Portal:

Information about Parent Portal

How to Create a Parent Portal Account

Buckingham Collegiate Charter Academy is a diverse, tightly-knit learning community where every student is known, challenged, and empowered. Devoted staff and students work together to create a safe and supportive atmosphere with a wide variety of classes, clubs, sports, and extracurricular activities.

Email: samanthaw@vacavilleusd.org
Website: buckingham.schoolloop.com
Location: 100 McClellan Street, Vacaville, CA, USA
Phone: 707-453-7300
Facebook: Facebook.com/bcmhs
Twitter: @BCMHSLeadership