Posted August 17, 2021
Good afternoon Swigert Families,
We are so excited to launch this school year with you! Our staff came together this week to plan for the school year ahead. It was wonderful to be back in person together for the first time after a year and a half. We welcomed new staff, our remote teachers back into the building and returning staff. The excitement and joy was palpable – I am truly inspired by this team.
Our first priority is student health and safety, we will share below the health guidance and guardrails we will be following at this time. Swigert’s priorities also include that every student is known, seen and met where they are in their journey, that they are celebrated for their differences and have choice and agency in their learning. We have learned more information from Denver Public Schools regarding quarantine protocols and health guardrails I will share below. Our theme for the year is grounded in the book I’ll Walk with You, which focused on providing an inclusive and caring community for all students.
I wanted to share information about Meet the Teacher Night this week as well as the first week of school information. Hold tight, it’s a lot of information. Please email me with any questions and I am hosting a question and answer zoom session Wednesday night (8/18) at 5:00 if you have specific questions around covid guidelines or the beginning of school.
Sincerely,
Shelby Dennis
shelby_dennis@dpsk12.org
Yay, we are excited we can host Meet the Teacher Night outside. This is an optional nice opportunity for your child to meet their teacher in an informal setting. We will also be posting class lists in the parent portal and teachers will be communicating information to parents via email so if you can’t make it that is totally fine. Class lists will be posted according to grade levels- K-1 on a window inside the Kindergarten playground and 2-5th in the STEM and Art Room windows adjacent to the playground.
We will have staff with rosters to help guide you. Swigert specials teachers and specialists will also be available to answer any question.
The event will be held outside on the playground from 5:00pm to 6:00pm , open house style. We are encouraging families with the last name A-M to come between 5:00 and 5:30 and N-Z to come between 5:30 and 6:00 to ease congestion. Please say a brief hello to the teacher, sign up for beginning of year assessments and drop off your school supplies. We are asking that families not linger to support social distancing. Masks are required due to the number of people on the playground at one time and ask that you socially distance as best as possible.
If you have school supplies to drop off, there will be a designated area by each teacher. If you are not able to attend or would like to drop off supplies ahead of time please email Richard Fisher at Richard_Fisher@dsk12.org.
Here is the map for meet locations of grade levels for Meet the Teacher Night:
We hope ALL FAMILIES, will help us enhance and reach our mission by JOINING the Swigert PTA Today.
Swigertpta.com
PTA Goals:
Added PTA Benefits:
$15 annually **Sponsorship available for those experiencing financial hardship.
You can still order school supplies through EPI (https://www.
Please note: most grades have split supply lists by last name, so that we don’t end up with too many of one item and not enough of another.
ECE A-M
ECE N-Z
Kdg A-M
Kdg N-Z
1st Grade
2nd Grade A-M
2nd Grade N-Z
3rd Grade A-M
3rd Grade N-Z
4th Grade
5th Grade A-M
5th Grade N-Z
The first two days – August 23rd and 24th – of school are half days. This allows students to ease into their new schedule and provide time for individual assessments in the afternoon. Your classroom teacher will reach out to you to set up individual time slots for these afternoon assessments. The arrival time is the same, with students arriving between 8:00 am and 8:15, with classes starting at 8:15. The dismissal time is noon, no lunch will be provided. Be sure to pack a water bottle, snack and mask.
We will have our annual park to school walk on the first day. We will gather at 7:45am at the dog statue park at 35th and Xanthia Court. We will begin our walk to school at 7:50am. Parents and siblings are welcome to join us for this walk. Staff will be out on the playground beginning at 8:00 am to welcome students and guide them to their arrival door. If you are unable to join the walk, no problem. Staff will be out on the playground ready to greet your children and guide them to the right door. Bus students will enter through the main door off of Syracuse and 35th. Here are the entry doors by grade level: Entry Doors
Students will need a mask on before entering the building. At the end of the day, each teacher will have a parent pick up area on the playground for dismissal, see map here for detailed spot.
will be running their regular routes for both arrival and dismissal, picking the students up at noon and dropping them off 3 – 3.25 hours before their usual time. For example, if your child is normally scheduled dropped off at 3:45, they will be dropped off between 12:30 and 12:45 on Monday and Tuesday. To see your child’s bus route, you need to log into Parent Portal and look at the Bus/Transportation tab. If they have a stop and time listed, they’re scheduled for a bus and if you haven’t already done so, you should opt in to have your child ride the bus. If they’re listed as a “walker,” that means they aren’t scheduled for a bus. You can still submit an Exception Request (through Parent Portal) until this Thursday, 8/18. The process will close on Friday and not re-open until October. We have been informed that students who are not on the manifest, and therefore in possession of a +Pass, will not be allowed on the bus.
Discovery Link will also be running their programming beginning at noon on Monday and Tuesday. If you have questions regarding Discovery Link please reach out to Sydney Price at Sydney_Price@dpsk12.org or reference information on their website : Discovery Link | Equity & Engagement (dpsk12.org).
Our first full day will be Wednesday, August 25th 8:15-3:15pm. We are continuing with our soft start with students arriving between 8:00-8:15. After 8:15, they will need to go through the main office to get a tardy slip. Please do not drop any Kindergarten or 1st Grade students off on the East (Trenton St.) side after 8:15 am, as they would have to walk all the way to the East side of the building to get in.
School ends at 3:10 for ECE and Kindergarten, and 3:15 for 1st – 5th grades. Pick-up – Please see the updated pick-up map for where to find your student(s) after school.
These are the current health and safety guidelines we are following :
Please see DPS safety guidance here:
Update on Masking and Health Procedures for the Start of School | Denver Public Schools (dpsk12.org)
Information on free covid tests for students and community members:
New Quarantining Guidelines:
Denver Public School has released new guidance regarding quarantining for the upcoming school year. If a student tests positive for COVID, they will need to be quarantined for at least ten days after symptom onset and is 24 hours fever free without using medicine. If a student has close contact they will need to quarantine for 10 days without a test or 7 days, if not exhibiting symptoms and with proof of a negative PCR test taken 4 days for last exposure. The biggest change is the exceptions- you don’t need to quarantine if both parties were wearing a mask properly over the mouth and nose at the time of exposure and without symptoms. This is important and if masks are worn properly and consistently inside the building we will not need to quarantine whole classes or students with close contact. There will be no quarantines or contact tracing for any outdoor exposure. Please reiterate the importance of mask wearing inside the building to your children and will do the same at school.
Here is the covid decisions tree:
Here are the Swigert covid coordinators:
Hoang Tran, School Nurse: Hoang_Tran@dpsk12.org; 720-424-4803
Richard Fisher, Dean of Operations, Richard_Fisher@dpsk12.org; 720-424-4742
Shelby Dennis, School Principal, Shelby_Dennis@dpsk12.org; 720-424-4795
Another change this year which will be very different from last year is around live streaming. Denver Public Schools announced last spring that there will be no live streaming for students at home. It was too challenging for teachers to do both in person as well as live streaming, especially with such short notice. At Swigert we are committed to providing work for your child if they are at home quarantining, including posting the assignments students are doing in class and/or posted work, and technology applications including reflex math and lexia.
Please Welcome Hoang Tran to the Swigert/Denver Discovery School Campus. If you have any questions regarding allergies, health are plans, etc. please reach out at Hoang_Tran@dpsk12.org
September 9th
Unfortunately, DPS shared that we cannot hold any in person activities inside for the first sixty days of the school year. This impacts how we planned to do Back to School Night on September 9th. For right now, we will plan on having online sessions with admin to go over important information from the year and have teachers create videos of their classrooms and send our important information. We will reassess when we have the green light to hold in person events on campus.
Lunch will look similar to last year during covid. Students will eat outside with their class. If they choose a hot lunch they will pick it up in the cafeteria. Kindergarten and ECE support staff will pick up lunch for our Kinder and First Grade students. If the weather is untenable for eating and playing, we will have indoor eating options where we can spread out as best as possible.
Hot lunch information here:
Food & Nutrition Services – Denver Public Schools (dpsk12.org)
Please pack a water bottle and an extra snack for your child daily. Students will have a break in the morning for snack/recess.
If your child has health concerns or allergies please email our nurse Hoang Tran at Hoang_Tran@dpsk12.org
Meet The Teacher Night – Thursday, August 19th, 5-6 PM
Join us at Swigert to find out who your teacher and classmates will be for the year! You’ll have an opportunity to say hello to your new teacher, sign up for an assessment time, let teachers know your child’s plan for getting to and from school, and pick up any other pertinent information about the start of the year. The PTA will sell Spirit Wear and administrators will be making their way around to say hello.
PTA Welcome Back Breakfast – Saturday, August 28th, 8:30-10:30 AM
Join the Swigert staff and PTA for a Welcome Breakfast for all Swigert Families on Saturday, August 28th. It takes place on the Swigert playground and includes food from local restaurants, fun activities for the kids, and a chance to get to know other Swigert families.
First Day of School
August 23rd is the first day of school for ECE_5th. We will start with our Annual Walk to School, beginning at 7:45 am at the dog statue park – 35th and Xenia. The first two days of school (August 23 and 24) are half days – dismissal at noon – so teachers can do individual assessments in the afternoon. More information about afternoon enrichments will be shared as soon as we know more
Back to School Night – Thursday, September 9th
Back to School Night is a parent/guardian-only event to hear about your teacher’s plans for the school year, student expectations, general school information and an opportunity for you to ask questions. The night is divided into classroom sessions with your student’s teacher and presentations from our administrators. **Details to come and may differ for COVID protocols.