Posted July 18, 2023
Dear DCIS Families,
I hope your summer is going well! This letter marks more than one month before the official start date of school, so there is plenty of time to enjoy your summer fun. However, we have some key information to share, especially to welcome our new families in our school community. Information is grouped by topic in the letter below. We’re open in our main office as of July 19th, 2023 so feel free to call the main line or stop by to ask questions and say hello at any point.
For students joining DCIS as new students, we have two incredible academies that run August 7th – 10th 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM. Our middle school new student academy will primarily welcome 6th graders but is open for any incoming grade 6, 7, or 8 student. The leader for this academy is Team Lead Isabel Barajas de Benavidez. More information, including her email address and sign-up link can be found here. For any new students high-school aged (grades 9-12), Team Specialist Camay Hunter will lead the Ninth-Grade Academy. More information can be found here. We strongly encourage attendance for new students to support positive social relationships and healthy transition to a new school environment.
Online registration is strongly encouraged and opens on July 30th, 2023. This can be completed through the Parent Portal. If you need assistance with registration in-person, we will be happy to help on August 10th and August 11th 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM at DCIS in our cafeteria. We have more students requesting seats at DCIS in some grades than we have space, so please complete your registration no later than August 11th so that we have accurate enrollment and waitlist information.
In the first week of school, teachers will communicate a list of supplies helpful for their students to have. If, for any reason, these supplies are difficult for your family to buy, please contact our main office team and they will arrange for supplies to be given to your child privately. Abigail Rodriguez (Spanish-speaking/bilingual) can be reached at abigail_rodriguez@dpsk12.net and Endia Linnie can be reached at endia_linnie@dpsk12.net.
Our bell start and end schedule will be following the DPS Health Start Times and was designated by DPS. It can be reviewed here. While an early dismissal was requested, the district selected a late-start instead for DCIS, and that will happen on Fridays. Important professional development will happen on these days so that our educators and special service providers and support team members can best help your children succeed. We will follow the DPS calendar detailed here with the exception of a finals exam schedule the last week of each semester. The start and end times for our 23-24 school year were and are district-level decisions.
We will continue to build on and re-strengthen the cell phone policy we implemented last year. Details can be found on page 4 of our Community Handbook linked here. We strongly believe our students are healthier and more academically successful with strict cell phone policies in place, both at school and at home. Our middle school policy is different from our high school policy to reflect the different developmental needs of our students. Please sign the forms linked here to show your agreement and support of a school-wide policy: MS English Parent Form, MS Spanish Parent Form, HS English Parent Form, HS Spanish Parent Form. Our Whole Child Support team will be offering workshops for parents and guardians to learn more about safety and technology.
DPS provides transportation for some of our middle school students who live on the West side of Denver. You can contact transportation to find out if you are eligible at 720-423-4600. Those not eligible can request transportation exceptions using the Transportation Exception request process beginning on July 17, 2023. These are granted on a first come, first served basis. More information can be found here about district transportation exception requests. Additionally, DCIS staffs and operates our own bus route. We prioritize middle-school aged students from areas of Denver not served by district buses. The lead of this system is Team Specialist and Librarian Mason Good-Turney. He can be reached at mason_good-turney@dpsk12.net.
We are looking forward to the following “new” aspects of DCIS in 23-24 including, but not limited to:
It is going to be a wonderful year at Denver Center for International Studies. Our partnership with you as families is the foundation for supporting your children. I look forward to meeting our new and returning families and seeing our children grow as empowered leaders in our world.
Sincerely,
Marisa Vasquez
Principal