Ready for Blended!

I hope all of our Deer Park Families are enjoying their Labor Day weekend!  We've had a great two weeks of school, and we thank you again for all the support from our families and students.

Starting this week, we will begin our blended/hybrid learning approach.  As a reminder, this simply means that when students are not in school, they will be expected to continue in their learning.  Teachers will be providing assignments to students to work on outside of school that supplements their work inside of school.  

We've been working with our students to develop not only the processes and procedures to help with this transition, but we've also been focussing on establishing trusting relationships.  Our goal is that the relationships that have been established with lead to increased communication between students and teachers, and this will allow us all to be more successful.

As we transition to this blended learning approach, please know that we are all new at this.  We know this is a huge challenge for parents (see the Six R's article below)!  We also know that our students are being asked to be more responsible for their own learning, and that involves increased self-advocacy.  As teachers, we are certainly planning ahead but learning along the way.  However, I also know that we are all dedicated to working together to Help Others, Help Our School, and Help Ourselves.

Thank you,

Shane Hartley
Principal, Deer Park Jr/Sr High School
hartley.s@dpccsd.org 

What's New?

6 R's for Less Stress Blended Learning: Prevention Action Alliance released a guiding document for parents and students for working from home.  These 6 R's are: Realistic Expectations, Requirements, Rules and Routines, Reliefs, and Resources.  For more details, please read the article here.

School Photos: School photos will take place on Tuesday, September 8th and Friday, September 11th this year.  There are a couple of ways that students and their families can preorder photos in order to make the process as efficient and paperless as possible.

1.  Go to: https://ritchiephoto.simplephoto.com/ and enter in the code: DPHS21U into the "Private Gallery Search."  From there, enter the information requested (Student Name, Grade, Homeroom) and confirm.  You'll also need to select a background before selecting a picture package.

NOTE: Please use your student's 1st bell class as their Homeroom.

OR

2.  Print out and complete this order form ahead of time.  On picture day, students can turn this completed form into the photographer, and the photographer requests either exact cash or check in an envelope if ordering through this method.

Weekly Updates

Counselors' Corner: Here is a link to this week's Counselors' Corner!

NEW!  Counselors' Corner, Virtual Student Edition: Our counselors have created a special Counselors' Corner for our virtual students.  Please click here for that version!

Apex Learners: Extra Activities! Please see the links below for the weekly activities for our online students:

Remote Learning Orientation and Video

Middle School Links and Extra Activities

High School Links and Extra Activities

In Case You Missed It

Labor Day Week: Last week, Deer Park released the updated yearly calendar.  If you missed it, please click here for more information.   As part of the update, please see that A-Day Students will report to school on Tuesday (9/8/20) AND Wednesday (9/9/20).

School Vaccinations Requirements: Students in 7th and 12th grade will need to have certain vaccinations as they begin the school year.  Please see this letter from our school nurse with more information for these requirements.  Thank you!

Wednesdays: Over the course of the first two weeks, teachers and administrators will be meeting on Wednesdays review processes and procedures.  If any adjustments need to be made and communicated out to our families, we will be sure to do so!

Starting September 16th, teachers will be in the building holding "office hours" and offering instructional learning opportunities for students.  Students are expected to be engaged in their learning on Wednesdays as well.  Please see this document for more information as it relates to Wednesday Processes and Schedules.

Schoology: Deer Park Community City School District is excited to continue our partnership with Schoology.  Schoology is an integrated learning management solution (LMS) that provides support for district and school-wide communication. Schoology enables our parents and teachers to engage with learning materials and their school community from the classroom and beyond.  We believe that Schoology streamlines teacher, student, and parent communication while providing a user friendly and intuitive LMS for all users.

You should have previously received login credentials. However, if you need your parent access code, please reach out. If you have not signed up for Schoology, we encourage you to do so before school starts.  With Schoology, you can review grades, receive announcements and more, just by logging in to the website or checking the app on your smartphone. It is important that as a parent, you access Schoology through the parent code and not your student’s code, as each platform receives different information.

Website: www.schoology.com
Deer Park Parent Schoology Guide

If you have questions, please feel free to contact us at 513-891-5995.

A Day in the Life

Wonder what a typical day will look like for a student this year?

• Here is what A Day in the Life of a student who will be attending A/B Days may look like!
• Here is what A Day in the Life of a student who will be attending virtually may look like!