Be sure to mark July 29th on your calendar!!  We will be having our Back to School Open House/Orientation for ALL of our DHCS students from 9:00am-12:00pm. Kinder & 1st Grade families are welcome to attend from 9:00am-10:30am, and 2nd thru 4th grades from 10:30am-12:00pm.  Students will have the opportunity to meet their teachers, bring in their school supplies, pick up their Welcome Packet which will include the family Zone Cards, purchase agendas and DH Spirit Shirts.  This is a great opportunity for our parents to learn about our Nutrition One lunch ordering process, as well as policies regarding Attendance and our C.U.T.S. program. If you are unable to attend please be sure to make arrangements with the office to pick up your welcome packet so that you have your Zone cards for dismissal on the 1st day of school.

Research shows that children without access to summer learning opportunities lose up to one month of grade level equivalency.  Beginning June 22nd, defeat the "summer slide" by keeping your child(ren) reading aloud with the BOOK IT! Summer Reading Challenge!  Click here for more information. 

We are currently in the process of assigning zones to students for our end of day dismissal process.  It is extremely important that if you are going to carpoool with a family OR would like your child to be assigned to a specific zone that you contact the front office ASAP.  Please keep in mind Zone 1 (at the North East corner of the school is typically for those parents that park on Beverly Lane and walk up to the gate to pick up their student.  Zones 2 & 3 are to the rear of the school and are for SINGLE Kinder, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade students whose parents are going to remain in their vehicle and drive through our back drive to pick up their student.  All other students are picked up in the front drive (Zones 4 thru 9).  Parents have the option of remaining in their vehicles or parking and walking up to pick up their student.  ALL students are assigned a zone, and a zone card is required in order for us to release the student.  2 zone cards will be prepared for each family, however you may purchase additional zone cards for a small fee.  Students that may be attending an aftercare program or daycare facility and are picked up are assigned to zone 9.  It is very important that we have this information ahead of time so that we can make arrangements for your child to be assigned to that zone. Please contact the front office for further information. You may also  refer to our website www.desertheightscharter.org  to view the pickup/dropoff map under the enrollment tab.

Parents, our 2015-2016 School Supply Lists are now available in the front office and are also available on our website. For our 3rd and 4th grade families, please note the DHCS Agenda will be available for purchase in the front office beginning July 23rd for $5.00.

As you begin to make your uniform purchases for the upcoming school please keep in mind our DHCS Uniform Dress Code Policy:

 

Polo Shirts:  Burgundy, Black, or White only

Bottoms:  Khaki colored only

Jumpers:  Khaki colored only

 

For our complete DHCS Uniform Policy, please refer to our website.

For those families that would like to order polo shirts, please be sure to submit your Perfect Touch order form to the front office no later than July 10th for delivery on July 25th.  We do have our DH spirit shirts available for purchase in the front office.  Cost of youth size is $10.00, cost for adult size is $15.00.  Please keep in mind, the spirit shirt may be worn on P.E. days, spirit days, as well as field trips.

We are happy to announce that we have added 2 new bus stops to our Transportation Routes.  We will now be offering stops at 43rd Avenue and Peoria as well as 91st Avenue & Union Hills. Transportation information and contracts will be distributed to our entire Desert Heights community on July 1st.  Transportation will be on a first come, first served basis, and all current transportation fees must be current in order to be eligible for transportation services for the 2015-2016 school year.  

We are excited to announce that Nutrition One will continue to provide lunch services for the 2015-2016 school year and the lunch cost will be $2.90 per student, per day. Additional a la carte items are available so please review the online menu for details and note that registration and ordering for the 2015-2016 school year will begin on July 6, 2015. 

 

Returning Families: Starting July 6th, to ensure your student receives lunch when ordered, please access your student's account to update their grade level so it reflects the appropriate grade for the 2015-2016 school year. See the flyer  for details. 

 

New Families: Starting July 6th, we encourage you to sign up your children on the Nutrition One website. When creating a new account, you will be prompted to enter your child's teacher. Please note that this field does not need to contain a teacher's name. Instead simply put a "." in the space provided and it will allow you to continue with the registration process. See the flyer  for details  

 

All Families: The free/reduced online lunch application will be available starting July 20, 2015 for those who wish to apply. We will communicate additional information regarding this process at a later date. Parents, it is extremely important that you are aware that lunches MUST be preordered if you intend for your child to be served lunch.  Lunch orders MUST be placed no later than 10PM the Wednesday PRIOR to the week of lunch. DHPA will not have extra lunches on hand during the school day so please pre-order your student's lunch as needed. We thank you in advance for your cooperation. 

We know sometimes circumstances change and the decision is made during the summer to change schools.  Please be sure to contact the front office if indeed your child will NOT be returning to DHCS.  Much planning is done throughout the summer, curriculum and classroom furniture is purchased to accommodate the students that we have enrolled.  We also have waiting lists in many of our grades and do our best to accommodate those students when seats become available.  We thank you in advance for your consideration.  

Summer is here and you may be thinking about what your child will do for meals while school is out. The good news is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) partners with organizations in your local community to serve free meals through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). It's food that's in, while school is out. There are no income requirements, and any child age 18 and younger may come to eat.

 

Here is information about your local Summer Food site(s):

 

Click on the link provided here to locate the following information:            

• Days meals are served
• Times meals are served
• Place where meals are served
• Contact for more information

For general information about the Summer Food Service Program, please visit www.azsummerfood.gov.

Know of friends or family looking for a change in their child's education? Be sure to encourage them come by and take a tour of our  campus and learn more about our program! We still have openings in some grade levels while others might have a waiting list, but we encourage all to enroll as things change throughout the summer. As many of you know we strive to instill our three pillars in each and every student; Academic Excellence, Integrity of Character and Social Awareness.  Remember any currently enrolled family that refers other students to our program, once they enroll you will receive a $75.00 student account credit as a thank you!  Be sure to submit a Coyote Referral Form at time of enrollment to ensure that the credit is placed on your student's account.

Turn in bottle caps from participating Coke products.  For more information:
http://www.mycokerewards.com/mcrSchools.do?tab=1&WT.ac=mnuS_PD



Save your Sunny D Labels!!

http://sunnyd.com/bookspree/downloads/SunnyD-Bookspree-Parent-Kit.pdf

 

Target!!!  Make sure your REDcard is linked to Desert Heights!  Here's how it works: When parents, teachers and other school supporters use the REDcard, Target donates up to 1% of their purchases to the eligible K-12 school they designate.  Each September, those funds are distributed to schools nationwide, including Desert Heights. To learn more about the program click here.