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Student/Family Handbook

A NOTE FROM OUR SCHOOL DIRECTOR 

Dear Students and Families, 

Welcome!  We are so happy to have you join our amazing community at Elevate Northeast Middle School and hope that our school and community allows you opportunities to learn and grow during your middle school years.  At Elevate MS, we are committed to ensuring that each and every student in our building is deeply known for the unique gifts and talents that they bring with them to our school.  We are thrilled to offer a world class education to all students and excited to see how much your students grow in their learning and evolve as young adults navigating a complex world.   Our goal for this year is for students to explore, encouraging students to deepen their curiosity in both academics, relationships with others, and their own identities and interests.

 We hope that the information shared in this handbook is a helpful reference as you and your student transition to Elevate MS.  That said, there will surely be questions that arise.  Please do not hesitate to reach out to me anytime via email briana.mesa@scienceandtech.org or my direct line at 303-524-6305.

 We are looking forward to a wonderful year together!

 With Bulldog Pride,

mesa

DSST Elevate NE Middle School
10825 E. 47th Ave
Denver, CO 80239
(303) 524-6355

DSST Public Schools | Mission

 

DSST Public Schools transforms urban public education by eliminating educational inequity and preparing all students for success in college and the 21st century.

 

DSST PUBLIC SCHOOLS | Core Values

 

DSST was founded on 6 Core Values, which create a common language to develop a strong community and are embedded in everything we do.

These values include:

 

Respect: We appreciate each person and their story through our words, actions and attitudes. We value their unique perspective and treat others with dignity. 

Responsibility: We acknowledge that our actions and choices impact ourselves and our community. We take ownership of what we do and how we choose to do it. 

Integrity:  We act and speak with honesty, fairness, and thoughtfulness. We consistently align our words and actions. 

Courage: We possess the confidence and resolve to take risks, push ourselves and persevere in the face of pressure, adversity or unfamiliar circumstances. 

Curiosity: We are eager to learn, question, and explore. We have a thirst for knowledge, a love of investigation, and a desire to learn about ourselves, our community, and our world.

Doing Your Best:  We put our best effort into everything we do. We know that individual and collective effort are required for our community to thrive.

 

DSST PUBLIC SCHOOLS | Guiding Principles

 

Integrated

Create a community centered on our six core values which are lived and shared, not just talked about. And where equal importance is placed on character development and academic learning. 

Build a common understanding where each student and staff member embraces being a part of our community, sharing in the responsibilities and sacrifices such a commitment brings

Build a unified team that embraces the challenges of gender, economic and racial diversity, and which fulfills our commitment to have a student body of at least 40 percent students from economically disadvantaged families and 45 percent women. Engaging with a diversity of backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints will prepare our students for a diverse society and workplace.

Effectively use technology as a tool to enhance learning and integrate it across disciplines, preparing students for STEM careers and beyond

Understand that a strong liberal arts education, including athletic, artistic, and service endeavors, is a vital piece of our academic blueprint. 

Actively encourage parents to partner with DSST and to play significant roles in the daily lives and work of their children. 

Personalized

Create a community where each student is known and supported to achieve his/her potential.

Provide an advisory where each student has personalized adult guidance and understands his/her unique place in the larger school community. 

Instill in students the desire and the knowledge of how to pursue independent learning.

Teach with the aim of producing outstanding individual student learning results, not to adhere to a particular pedagogical philosophy that dictates how we teach.

Rigorous 

Create a campus environment in which everyone gives their best effort daily, provides the foundation for all students to succeed, and supports their efforts to do so.

Create a world-class academic culture where core academic goals apply to all students.

Provide academic programs centered on the belief that students need a strong foundation in each academic discipline to engage in rigorous project-based work.

Achieve mastery in a set of core performance standards (writing, reading, math, science, critical thinking) that produces college- and career-ready graduates.

Build thinkers who have the skills to solve real-world problems through the ability to understand, analyze, apply, and synthesize ideas and knowledge.

Assess student learning in ways that challenge students to demonstrate mastery in a variety of forms, methods and settings.

I. Campus Policies

Closed Campus 1. Closed Campus

Attendance 2. Attendance

Arrival and Dismissal 3. Arrival and Dismissal

Dress Code_Uniform 4. Dress Code

Parents_Guardians And Visitors 5. Family/Guardians and Visitors

Student Phone Usage 6. Student Phone Usage and Headphones

Deliveries to students 7. Deliveries to Students

II. Academic Policies

DSST academic policies support and enhance student growth and achievement at DSST through consistently upholding the systems and structures designed to promote their success. This includes providing a safe, supportive and nondiscriminatory no-opt out learning and working environment for all students and staff. DSST will continue to value all students' histories, identities, literacies and liberation in pedagogy and focus on multiple aspects of student achievement and experiences as we support students to uphold their cultural identities. Consistent with the Culturally and Historically Relevant Pedagogical (CHRP) framework, there may be times where curriculum, concepts, discussion and topics may result in difficult and critical conversations within the classroom learning environment and across the school.

Grounded in our Core Values and definition of educational equity, teachers have been provided a guide which serves as a policy to support staff and students as we engage in our efforts to ensure all students, staff and families experience the Human Condition so that no story, history, experience or background will be excluded from our DSST curriculum, community or culture. Our daily life encompasses the experiences of being human in a social, cultural, and personal context so that we are fully known and affirmed for who we are, and able to contribute something significant to the human story and to the DSST community at large.

academic honor code 1. Academic Honor Code

academic effort 2. Academic Effort

advisory program 3. Advisory Program

grades 4. Grades

report cards 5. Report Cards and Progress Reports

honors and awards 6. Honors and Awards

middle school promotion 7. Middle School Promotion Requirements

High school promotion 8. High School Promotion Requirements

graduation requirements 9. Graduation Requirements

III. Discipline

The DSST community is founded on the six core values of Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Courage, Curiosity and Doing Your Best. The Core Values foster self-improvement, individual growth and character development and help define our shared expectations. For personal benefit and that of the entire school community, students are expected to consistently live the core values and support their peers in doing so. School staff have the right and responsibility to manage student conduct and to ensure an orderly and safe learning environment.  Conduct that disrupts learning, threatens school operations, interferes with the rights and privileges of community members, endangers health and safety or damages property will not be permitted.

DSST’s core values frame a set of specific expectations. Unpredictable situations and circumstances will arise and will be handled with common sense and in a manner consistent with the guidelines and policies established herein.  Behavioral consequences will always be determined with mutual respect for all involved parties, focused on the safety and development of our students. DSST will make every effort to ensure that behavior consequences are explicit, timely, consistent, age-appropriate, involve Family, respect individual differences, maximize student learning and ultimately address the needs of the student, as well as the overall school community.

Behavioral expectations apply during school, on school grounds, at school sanctioned activities or events, in school vehicles and at school functions that occur off campus. Any violation of school rules during these times will result in disciplinary measures and/or notification of law enforcement authorities.  Behaviors that happen outside of this context, but still end up impacting students or the community on campus during the school day, can also result in disciplinary measures. 

Students with disabilities who are supported through an IEP or Section 504 plan, may require additional considerations for discipline responses in accordance with their documented needs.  Collaboration between the school based Special Education Administrator and Culture leaders will occur prior to any disciplinary decisions.

student behavioral expectations 1. Student Behavioral Expectations

policies 2. Policies

habitually disruptive student 3. Habitually Disruptive Student

actions that may warrant interventions 4. Actions that May Warrant Intervention, Suspension, or Expulsion

actions that will lead to expulsion hearing 5. Actions that will Lead to an Expulsion Hearing

the discipline process 6. The Discipline Process

consequences 7. Consequences

expulsion 8. Expulsion

college bound-1 9. Additional Responses to Student Actions

school supplies 10. Additional School Politics and Expectations

IV. Facility and Resource Policies

school property 1. School Property

textbooks 2. Textbooks

laptop computers 3. Laptop Computers

responsibility for personal property 4. Responsibility for personal property

lost and found 5. Lost and found

school supplies 6. School supplies

student resource fees 7. Student Resource Fees

V. General School Policies

non discrimination statement and title IX 1. Non-Discrimination Statement & Title IX

student special services 2. Exception Student Services

student records and ferpa 3. Student Records and FERPA

educator qualifications 4. Educator Qualifications

student health 5. Student Health

mandated reporting 6. Mandated Reporting of Suspected Abuse and Neglect

media release 7. Media Release

distribution of published materials 8. Distribution of Published Materials or Documents

commerce 9. Commerce

enrollment 10. Enrollment

transportation 11. Transportation

informal grievance 12. Informal Family Grievance Process

formal grievance 13. Formal Family Grievance Process

social media policy 14. Social Media Policy

VI. Athletics and Extracurricular Activities

participation (athletics) 1. Participation

science and tech parent STP 2. Science and Tech Family Group (STF) - Bulldog Pack

VII. Weather and Emergency Procedures

accident or medical emergency 1. Accident or medical emergency

school closings 2. School Closings

fire alarms and building emergencies 3. Fire alarms and building emergencies

APPENDICES FOR THE CURRENT ACADEMIC SCHOOL YEAR

appendix A school hours APPENDIX A - School Hours

appendix B make up work APPENDIX B - Make-up Work Policy

appendix D technology use APPENDIX C - Student Technology Use Summary

appendix E family and student core value APPENDIX D - Family and Student Core Value Pledge

appendix F parent and school shared expectations APPENDIX E - Parent and School Shared Expectations

appendix G signature page APPENDIX F - Student and Family Handbook Contract Signature Page