What an incredible first two weeks we have had with your amazing children during the launch of RASA! Thank you ever so much for being a key part of our founding team and for affording us the amazing opportunity to work with your kiddos! Our inaugural days have been filled with so much excitement, learning, and new beginnings. RASA students have quickly adapted to all of the new learning routines and teaching, which in all honesty has generated energy in the classrooms that has been nothing short of inspiring! As we continue to progress into the school year, we hope that these newsletters help families stay informed and prepared for the upcoming weeks ahead. Below, you'll find important information about our visitor policy, innovation at RASA, and so much more. Thank you for building this such a phenomenal new community!
Responsive Arts & STEAM Academy FNE (RASA)
No School Monday 9/2
In observance of Labor Day, ALL DPS schools (including RASA) will be closed this Monday 9/2/24. Hope you have a wonderful 3-day weekend!!! Even with innovation, RASA is a district-run school, so we will follow the DPS Calendar, minus a few additional non-student contact days, which we will post to our website and follow up via email as soon as they are approved.
Visitor Policy
As we begin the 24-25 school year, please familiarize yourself with our visitor policy. We are currently working with DPS Safety & Security on installing the Raptor System, which will ensure that any visitor to the school is safe to be around students. As we complete installation on that (aiming for early September), ALL visitors to the building must first make an appointment with our office staff (miriam_arneros@dpsk12.net), and then when you arrive sign in at the front office before entering the building. Please also make sure to inform your homeroom teacher, especially if you are planning to visit in-class during the school day.
We honor and value both the connection to home/families as well as the safety of our students and appreciate your support with these procedures. We will also include this information on the RASA website under the “Family Resources” tab. We will update you once Raptor is fully in operation.
Day in the Life of a RASA Student
For those of you who have been asking about what our students do at school all day, here is what a typical day in the life of a RASA student looks like :)
Extra Clothes
Since we are in a brand new building, we have not yet accumulated a robust stash of extra clothing in our lost and found, which typically would be washed and saved for the following year (once unclaimed) in order to be used as a backup when accidents occur. If you would like to help out by donating any gently used clothing items that we could use for this (shirts, pants, shorts, etc), we all would greatly appreciate it. Please do not feel obligated to do this by any means, but we will gladly take any donations you might be willing/able to help our students with.
Emergency & Safety Drills
Fire drills, shelter in place, and lockdown are just some of the emergency drills staff and students are required to practice. Although it's important for everyone to know what to do during emergency situations, adults should be aware of both the positive and negative impact participating in drills can have on students and visitors. Here at RASA, we wanted to make sure to inform you that we conducted a lockdown and secure perimeter practice drill this week on Thursday 8/29. Please be assured that this drill was purely precautionary and provided us with an opportunity to practice our emergency procedures to ensure the safety of our students. Additionally, we will conduct a fire drill in early September, which will reoccur once per month.
These drills are conducted in collaboration with the DPS Department of Safety & Security, as well as with local emergency response teams , as was the case earlier this week. This collaboration with emergency responders is critical and allows these departments to familiarize them with our building procedures proactively, to ensure we are equipped to handle any real emergencies efficiently and effectively. The insights gained from these drills are invaluable for continuously refining our School Safety Plans. We have a dedicated committee that regularly reviews and updates our procedures to ensure that we maintain the safest possible environment for our students and staff.
If you have any questions or need further information about the drills or our school safety measures, please do not hesitate to contact the RASA front office at 720-424-2310. You can also find more information on both the RASA website and/or at the DPS Climate and Safety site or call 720-423-3200 or 720-423-3911 for dispatch. We have also included a quick reference guide below for your convenience.
Innovation Plan
Discover Our 2024-2025 Innovation Plan: A Roadmap to Excellence
We are excited to share with you the RASA Innovation Plan for the 2024-2025 school year. This comprehensive plan is designed to enhance our educational strategies, foster a more inclusive and supportive environment, and drive our mission forward. Our focus this year is on empowering students and staff through innovative practices that address the unique needs of our community.
The Innovation Plan outlines key areas of improvement, including:
Personalized Learning: Tailoring education to meet the diverse learning styles and needs of our students.
Equity and Inclusion: Ensuring that all students have access to the resources and opportunities they need to succeed.
Community Engagement: Strengthening the connection between our school and the broader community through collaborative efforts and shared goals.
We believe that this plan will not only benefit our students but also create a more dynamic and supportive environment for our entire school community.
Click here to see our Innovation Plan for this school year! (English version)
Click here to see our Innovation Plan for this school year! (Spanish version)
If you need to translate this document into another language using Google Docs, follow these simple steps:
Open the Document:
Open the Google Doc you want to translate.Access the Translation Tool:
Click on “Tools” in the top menu, then select “Translate document…” from the dropdown.Choose a New Title:
In the pop-up window, enter a new title for the translated document.Select the Language:
From the dropdown menu, choose the language you want to translate the document into.Translate:
Click “Translate” to create a new document with the translated text.
The original document will remain unchanged, and a new Google Doc with the translated content will open in a new tab.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to reach out to elise_koehl@dpsk12.net
A Note from our Social Worker
Hi Rasa Community! My name is Kara Karpus and I am excited to be supporting your students and their social emotional wellbeing this year at RASA. This is my 4th school year as a social worker in DPS, and I love being a mental health professional. If you ever have a question, want more information or have a concern, please come see me or email me at: kara_karpus@dpsk12.net
Assessing our students social emotional needs:
In order to help support our students' social emotional needs, the BESS screener is required in all schools within DPS this year. The BESS is a questionnaire that assists our school/district in knowing what social emotional needs the students have. Your students' teachers will be filling out these screeners for each of their students, but we also need valuable parent input!
If you could please follow the instructions and fill out this questionnaire for your student/s! It should take no more than 5 minutes. You will be asked for your student’s name, birthday and student ID#.
Again, we cannot express enough how much we appreciate each and every one of you for rolling hard with us to launch this school together. It takes a village, and we are so fortunate to have the best founding community ever. So THANK YOU families and staff for making our opening week something for the books!
Forever & Always,
Dr. Nieto & Team RASA