Cherry Crest Chronicler
January 7, 2022
Happy New Year Charger Families!
I hope you are all staying safe, warm and dry following the recent snow and rain storms. Most importantly, I pray you are healthy. COVID and the omicron variant continue to provide challenges for our personal and work lives. I’m happy to report that I am on the mend after my family was hit with the COVID virus during the holiday break. I look forward to rejoining students and staff in the coming week.
As always, January is a busy month as we prepare for the end of first semester on January 28th and the ensuing progress reports that will be sent home to families in early February. There will be no school on Monday, January 17th as we are closed in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. .
Thank you for taking a few moments to read the important dates and announcements in the parent newsletter below.
Dusty Steere, Principal Cherry Crest Elementary
IMPORTANT DATES
January
11 – Kindergarten Parent Information Night @ 6 pm Teams Link
11 – PTSA General Meeting, 7:00 Teams link
14- Virtual Principal Chat @ 8:30 am Join Microsoft Teams Meeting
17 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (No School)
28 – End of First Semester
31 – First Day of Second Semester
Please remember to regularly visit the Cherry Crest & PTSA websites for the most current information.
https://bsd405.org/cherrycrest https://www.cherrycrest-ptsa.org/
Pooled COVID-19 Testing. It’s not too late to provide consent to participate in COVID-19 testing. Permission for testing can be updated at any time. Testing may only occur with consent. You may provide us with information on your desire to opt-in or opt-out of the COVID-19 testing by completing this COVID Testing Consent form. Because the Washington Department of Health requires the district to obtain written parental consent for minor students, any student that does not have consent will not be tested.
Learn more about COVID-19 testing at Tillicum.
See the BSD COVID-19 Testing Page.
Annual Family Engagement Survey. The Bellevue School District’s Department of Family Engagement is hosting its annual Family Engagement Survey from January 4 to February 1, 2022. You likely received an email on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, with a survey link and instructions.
The purpose of the survey is to gather feedback from you, our families, around how our school informs, supports, and empowers you to contribute to your student’s success. Your valuable feedback is essential to the continuous improvement and advancement of the family engagement practices at Cherry Crest elementary and we thank you in advance, for your participation.
For more information, please visit: Family Engagement Survey
PTSA General Meeting with Guest Speaker on Anxiety. Please join us at our Cherry Crest PTSA General Membership meeting, Tuesday January 11th, at 7:00pm via Microsoft Teams. We invite all parents, caregivers and community members to participate (PTSA membership is not required).
Our speaker this month is Diana Bastien, Clinical Psychologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Dr. Bastien will talk about anxiety and how to support children during this pandemic including the social and emotional adjustment to in-person learning.
Questions? Contact your PTSA Co-President at [email protected]
Parent Information Sessions. To help families transition to their next step in the 2022-23 school year, every neighborhood school offers a parent information session for incoming kindergartners, sixth graders and ninth graders. Some high schools have information sessions for all grades. Additionally, each choice school hosts an information night for families who may be interested in applying.
All sessions will be virtual, and recorded for those who would like to watch them on-demand. Please visit your school’s website for live meeting links and to access the recordings as they become available. Learn more and view the full schedule.
Cherry Crest Virtual Kindergarten Information Session Tuesday January 11th @ 6:00 pm. This event is designed for families starting kindergarten next school year (2022-23). We hold this event early prior to closing of the Open Enrollment window. Please share this date and time with any incoming kindergarten families for the 2020-21 school year. Click here to join the virtual meeting
District News: Open Transfer & Choice Schools. Open Transfer (formerly Open enrollment) is a period of time each year when Bellevue School District RESIDENT students may apply to attend a school other than their neighborhood school. All students in the Bellevue School District are guaranteed a spot at their neighborhood school. If you are interested in learning about the process, please read on.
Open Transfer Timeline. This year, Open Transfer applications will be accepted until Friday January 14th 2022 at 4:30 p.m.
Choice Schools and Programs Timeline. Choice Schools and Programs Applications will be accepted until Friday, January 14, 2022 at 4:30 p.m.
As a reminder, the definitions of these two processes are:
- Open Transfer – the time when students can request to attend a school other than their home attendance area school. Click here to see a list of schools and their open transfer status. All applicants will be placed in a lottery. Transfers will be approved or denied based on projected enrollment numbers for the building and grade level at both the neighborhood and requested school in addition to projected staffing levels and building capacity at the requested school.
- Choice Schools and Programs Applications – the time when students can apply for our choice schools – Big Picture (6th grade entry), International (6th grade entry), Jing Mei – Mandarin dual language (Kindergarten entry), Puesta del Sol – Spanish immersion (Kindergarten entry), Spanish Dual Language Program (Kindergarten entry). Acceptance is generally by lottery.
We will once again be using an online application process. Additional details and applications are available on the district website: https://bsd405.org/departments/student-placement/open-enrollment/
Two levies on the ballot for Bellevue School District. Bellevue School District is seeking to renew two local levies that provide funding for our students, staff and schools. These two measures are not new taxes but renew expiring levies.
Proposition 1: Educational Programs and Operations Levy Renewal
Continues funding for:
- Staff, including nurses and counselors
- 7th period classes and tutorial at middle schools and high schools
- World languages in middle school
- Programs like special education, STEM and AP classes
- Opportunities for students not funded by the state including performing arts, athletics and after school activities
Proposition 2: Technology and Capital Projects Levy Renewal
Continues funding for:
- Technology for students and classrooms
- Professional development to ensure our educators have the technology training they need
- Maintaining and updating our school buildings, including large scale school improvements like the carpeting, roofing, and heating and cooling systems and repairs and maintenance to our school buildings Want to learn more about our levy renewals? Read more at https://bsd405.org/about/school-levies/
Stay informed. Subscribe to the Charger Chatter Newsletter. The PTSA sponsored Charger Chatter newsletter is a one-stop read for school related information that is emailed weekly to parents on Tuesdays. The Chatter is a nice complement to the monthly Chronicler sent by the school principal.
The Cherry Crest PTSA’s mission is to serve as a resource for unifying parents, teachers, students, and the comm(UNITY). We provide outstanding educational enhancement opportunities for every child, and work on building a strong community to support our Cherry Crest staff.
The PTSA newsletter strengthens the Cherry Crest community by providing timely information about educational enhancement activities for kids, school events, and BSD news. This year, because of the pandemic, we realize that getting caught up on the news by socializing at school is not possible, and many parents are missing out on a wealth of information. If you haven’t done so yet, please subscribe to the Charger Chatter newsletter here.
The PTSA newsletter is a 100% parent-volunteer led weekly newsletter. Every week, the parent volunteers coordinate and collect information from ALL relevant sources, including the principal/teachers, curriculum/after-school enhancement opportunities, school events calendar with important dates, PTSA events and fundraisers, administrative notices/housekeeping from the office staff. There are handy links provided in the newsletter for any item requiring action, along with links to the online school directory, news from the Bellevue School District and Bellevue School Foundation.
For any feedback on the newsletter, please write to [email protected]
Reporting Safety Concerns. Bullying and safety concerns can always be reported to any staff member at school. The Elementary Level Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying Incident Reporting Form is available to all families in the office. Finally, Bellevue School District also utilizes an anonymous reporting tool called SafeSchools Alert through which anyone can make a verbal or written report of harassment, intimidation or bullying. Information on how to submit a report via any of these methods is available on the district website at www.bsd405.org/help/report.
Cherry Crest Elementary prepares all students to become life-long learners through inquiry, collaboration, and discovery. Each student will feel a sense of belonging in our Comm(UNITY) while learning social-emotional and academic skills to be successful in an ever-changing and diverse society.