AVA Newsletter - October 9th, 2025

October 9th, 2025

Admin Address

Safety Corner

School safety is a partnership, and we're committed to keeping you informed about our procedures. Our school uses the Standard Response Protocol (SRP), a series of simple, consistent actions designed to keep our students and staff safe in any situation. Let’s review two important actions: Secure and Lockdown.

Secure: “Get Inside. Lock Outside Doors”

A Secure is called when there is a potential threat or hazard outside the school building. This protocol focuses on quickly getting everyone safely inside and locking all exterior doors to prevent the threat from entering. It's often used for situations like police activity in the area or a dangerous animal on school grounds.

During a Secure:

All students and staff come inside immediately.
All exterior doors are locked.
The school day continues as usual inside the building.
No one is allowed to enter or exit the building until the "All Clear" is announced.

This protocol ensures our school is a safe haven from outside threats while allowing learning to continue with minimal disruption.

Lockdown: “Locks, Lights, Out of Sight”

A Lockdown is called when there is a threat or hazard inside the school building. The goal of a Lockdown is to secure individual rooms and keep students quiet and out of sight.

During a Lockdown:

Students move away from the sightlines of interior doors and windows.
Lights are turned off.
Classroom doors are locked and, if possible, barricaded.
Students and staff remain silent and do not open the door for anyone until law enforcement enters using keys.

This is our most serious protocol, and we practice it with drills to ensure everyone knows what to do and where to go in the rare event it is needed.

What You Can Do As a Parent

Your role in school safety is crucial. Here are some key actions you can take to help our school community stay safe and prepared.

Talk to Your Child

Use this newsletter as a starting point for a simple, calm conversation with your child. Focus on the positive aspects of safety drills, like how they help us practice and stay safe, just like we practice for a fire.
Keep it age-appropriate. For younger students (Pre-K to 1st grade), emphasize the importance of listening to their teacher and following directions quickly. For older students, you can talk more about the purpose of each protocol and how their cooperation helps everyone.

During an Emergency

Stay informed through official channels. During a real emergency, we will use our official communication systems like email and text alerts to provide you with updates. Please do not call or come to the school. This can jam phone lines, overwhelm our staff, and block the path of first responders.
Wait for official reunification instructions. After an emergency is over, we will provide clear instructions on where and when to pick up your child. This process, known as reunification, is a critical part of our safety plan and ensures that every student is released safely to an authorized adult. Following these instructions is the best way you can help us.

Trust the Process

Our staff and students regularly practice these safety protocols. We also work closely with the Castle Rock Police Department and Douglas County School District Security to refine our plans and ensure we're prepared for any situation.
Your trust is vital. Knowing that you trust our plan and our staff allows us to focus on what's most important: ensuring the safety of every student in our care.

Please reach out with any questions or concerns about our safety response protocols. For more information please visit https://iloveuguys.org/The-Standard-Response-Protocol.html

Middle School Only News

Middle School Fall Sports

Check out the Athletic calendar on our website and come cheer on our AVA Wolves!

Surprise your middle school best friend with a tasty treat by sending them a boo gram! National Juniors Honors Society is selling these boo grams for $1 each (cash only) from October 20th-29th. We will be selling these before school starts primarily for 6th graders, and during lunchtime for 7th and 8th graders. Boo grams will be delivered to their homeroom on Friday, October 31.

Click here for purchase your ticket in MySchoolBucks.

General Announcements

Click the sign up genius to host a trunk at this fun event.

Vision and Hearing Screening-Volunteers Needed

On October 22nd and 23rd we will be conducting vision and hearing screening for students in grades Kindergarten, 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7, as well as new students and those receiving special education services. Students who missed last year's screening and are in these grades now will also be included.

We need volunteers for our Vision and Hearing Screening. Please click here to sign up to volunteer.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our School Nurse Consultant Jacenta Wirth, RN at jwirth@aspenviewacademy.org.

We all know that the season is starting to get cold and leaves are falling off of trees. There are many people across Colorado that struggle with getting clothes for the different seasons, especially during colder weather. This is where we come in; we want to help get them warm accessories and clothing items. We will be collecting gloves, new socks, and beanies in your classes. This will be a challenge; whoever gets the most donations will win a hot chocolate party. The dates for this event is for the whole school and will be October 20 - 31st. With your help we can improve so many lives this winter season. We wish you luck and hope you have a great holiday season!

Sincerely,

National Junior Honor Society

The fall season is a favorite among many as the weather cools and the leaves change color. Just like the leaves, we start noticing changes in our students. They have acclimated to the school year and are starting to share what they have learned. Our SEL lessons for this month are just another way of providing students with what they need to continue to grow. The topics are:

Kinder- 2nd

Kindergarten and 1st grade will be learning about the Zones of Regulation. This curriculum helps students to recognize feelings and categorize them into the red(angry, frustrated), yellow(excited, anxious), blue(sad, sick), and green(calm, happy) zones. In addition, students will learn coping strategies to help them manage their emotions in a healthy way.

2nd grade will get a review of the Zones and coping strategies they can use.

If you are interested in supporting and utilizing this tool at home there are a few things you can do: ask your child(ren) how they are feeling, ask what zone that feeling belongs in, and ask them to teach you any coping strategies they have learned.

Grades 3-5

We are beginning a book series about bullying that will begin after fall break and continue into November and December. The series gives perspectives from the person getting bullied, the bully, and a bystander. More to come on this series.

Our coping skill for the month is exercise. Exercise takes many forms including playing outside, riding bikes, etc… It can be used in the moment to help calm big feelings while also helping to regulate feelings long term as well.

Have a wonderful, safe fall break!

The AVA Counseling Team

Holiday Support

We're starting to think about the holidays, and we know this time of year can present extra challenges for some of our families.

We're proud to share that AVA partners with the Castle Rock Heroes & Helpers Program to help brighten the holidays for our families who are in need of extra support! This program provides gifts and assistance to ensure a happier holiday season for children and families.

If your family is in need of this extra support this holiday season, please reach out directly to our School Social Worker, Mariah Knapp no later than October 21st.

Nominate an Amazing Teacher or Staff Member through Oct. 20th!

Nominate an educator or staff member that has had a positive impact on your student or your family.

2026 Apple Awards nominations are now open, and we have so many wonderful Aspen View Academy staff deserving of a nomination and this award.

Nomination Window:

September 15th - October 20th, 2025

Each year, the DCSD community celebrates its outstanding teachers and staff through the annual Apple Awards.

To nominate a favorite educator or staff member, visit the 2026 Apple Award Site. It only takes a few minutes, but means so much to our teachers and staff!

Our volunteers logged 702 hours in the month of September. Thank you to all of our volunteers! Every month we will be doing a monthly drawing for our volunteers to win a gift card. Please remember to log your hours through Help Counter. Our volunteer of the month is Sarah Ilgenfritz Please stop by the front office to pick up your gift card.

Yearbooks are Now on Sale!

Order your 25-26 Yearbook Today!

Click on the image above to order

Parents, We need your photos for the yearbook!

Please upload your school photos for the yearbook here. Find our school with our school ID #730171 and click on share your pictures. Once logged on, you are able to submit photos by category (classroom teacher or school event, sport, club etc).

Middle School Engineering is in need of empty 2-liter soda bottles for a project. If you have any clean, empty bottles at home, please consider donating them to Mrs. Farrell in room 327.

Student Pictures

Please log into your parent portal and make sure that your student's photo is correct for this school year. These are the photos that will be in the yearbook. If the picture is not correct, please email DeAnn Carson.

What is the Birthday Book Club?

An opportunity to honor your student and celebrate their birthday - and give the gift of reading to AVA students! Head over to the Birthday Book Club page on the AVA website for more information.