DaVinci Connection – July 27, 2023

Dear DaVinci Community,

It is with great anticipation that we welcome you back to school for the 23-24 school year. We look forward to seeing everyone at our back-to-school open house where we can reconnect as a community, meet new teachers, and get to know new classmates. Now is the time to ask questions of administrators and office staff as we will all be here to help in whatever way we can.  

See you soon!

Holly Fischer

The back-to-school open house is Thursday, August 3. It is highly recommended that families plan to attend the open house, as back-to-school information packets will not be mailed home.

Families will receive all back-to-school information during the open house. You will meet your teachers, tour classrooms, and receive your back-to-school packet(s) and class schedule(s). 

The open house is also an excellent opportunity to get information about school meals, after-school and enrichment programming, and school sports; receive help with Silent Dismissal and Infinite Campus; drop off school supplies; and most importantly, connect as a community!

Open House Information

Thursday, August 3, 2023

• 1:00 – 3:00 pm 6th Grade Orientation (6th-grade students only) 
• 3:00 – 4:00 pm | Families new to DaVinci
  • (There will be a new family presentation beginning at 3:15)
• 4:00 – 7:00 pm | All Families

Bring your appetites! Our awesome PTO group has arranged for five food trucks to be on-site during our open house. Lots of great food options, including:

• Eggroll Queen
• Sugar Shack (hot dogs, nachos, cotton candy, walking tacos, and more)
• Now That’s Waffles
• Comfort Smash Foods (burgers, etc.)
• The Treat Truck (ice cream treats)

If you cannot attend the open house, families can pick up back-to-school packets from the main office on Friday, August 4, or Monday, August 7, between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

DaVinci Academy is using an online platform for late-start Sunrise Program registration. 

To access this, you will log into your Infinite Campus parent portal and shop for the late start Sunrise Program care dates you need in the School Store. 

Cost: $10 per child, per Monday (eligible for educational benefits, applied in the school store)

(Open to students in grades K-8)

Note: If the cost of this program is a hardship for you, please complete this  23-24 Late Start Sunrise Program Fee Reduction Form

Registration for each late start Monday will close on the preceding school day Wednesday as follows:

AUGUST

• August 14: Registration closes on 8/9/23 at 11:59 pm
• August 21: Registration closes on 8/16/23 at 11:59 pm
• August 28: Registration closes on 8/23/23 at 11:59 pm

SEPTEMBER

• September 11: Registration closes on 9/6/23 at 11:59 pm
• September 18: Registration closes on 9/13/23 at 11:59 pm

OCTOBER

• October 2: registration closes on 9/27/23 at 11:59 pm
• October 9: registration closes on 10/4/23 at 11:59 pm
• October 23: registration closes on 10/18/23 at 11:59 pm
• October 30: registration closes on 10/25/23 at 11:59 pm

NOVEMBER 

• November 6: Registration closes on 11/1/23 at 11:59 pm
• November 13: Registration closes on 11/8/23 at 11:59 pm

DECEMBER

• December 4:  registration closes on 11/29/23 at 11:59 pm
• December 11: registration closes on 12/6/23 at 11:59 pm

JANUARY

• January 8: registration closes on 1/3/24 at 11:59 pm
• January 22: registration closes on 1/17/24 at 11:59 pm
• January 29: registration closes on 1/24/24 at 11:59 pm

FEBRUARY

• February 5: registration closes on 1/31/24 at 11:59 pm
• February 19: registration closes on 2/14/24 at 11:59 pm
• February 26: registration closes on 2/21/24 at 11:59 pm

MARCH

• March 4: registration closes on 2/28/24 at 11:59 pm
• March 25: registration closes on 3/20/24 at 11:59 pm

APRIL

• April 1: Registration closes on 3/27/24 at 11:59 pm
• April 8: Registration closes on 4/3/24 at 11:59 pm
• April 22: Registration closes on 4/17/24 at 11:59 pm
• April 29: Registration closes on 4/24/24 at 11:59 pm

Hours of operation: 7:30-8:40 am (students arriving after 8:00 am will be able to enter the school building at 8:30 am for the school day)

There will be 150 available spots for students each Monday morning. Additional spots may be added if additional staff members become available.

Staff will be scheduled based on student registrations. Once the deadline has passed, we will not be able to accommodate any further registrations. 

We are also not able to accommodate any refunds or credits due to absences, inclement weather, etc.

Once you are logged into the parent portal, you will scroll down the left-hand side to find the School Store option. 

Select the Late Start Sunrise Program option, next choose the date(s) you’d like your student(s) to attend the Late Start Sunrise Program, then choose the student(s) you are signing up for and add to your cart. 

Continue adding options to your cart until you are ready to check out. 

Check out using a credit card (5% fee applied) or checking account number (no fee). If you enter your email address, a receipt will be sent. 

Note: Once care on a particular date is full, it will no longer be available for purchase.

Contact Cassandra Anderson with any questions.

In the next couple of days, we will be updating Bloomz. Parent/Guardian Bloomz accounts will be created based on the email from your Infinite Campus Parent Portal. Please, if you are using a different email, update your contact information in the Parent Portal. We want to make sure we have the most accurate information. If you already have a Bloomz account, it won’t be deleted but you might notice a new invitation to join the school. 

Any questions, contact Profe Lenny at lulloasilva@davincicharterschool.org.

Please review DaVinci’s School Uniform Policy as you plan your child’s wardrobe for this school year. Please note that our K-5 students wear red polos and our middle school students wear navy polos. We have particular considerations about the pants students may wear. You will notice that students may not wear jeans, joggers, jeggings, or leggings. Some of our students get cold in the building, and they are allowed to wear a white, black, or red cardigan, sweater, or crew sweatshirt with no logos. The Uniform Policy outlines all of the details

We have a limited supply of “hand me down” uniforms available to parents at the Open House.

Our amazing Kindergarten teachers will be contacting all families to schedule in-person conferences which will take place August 8 & 9. Families and students will have a chance to see the classroom, drop off school supplies and meet with their teachers to discuss the upcoming year.

Bus routes for the 23-24 school year have been created. If you have registered your child for the bus you should have received an email today from Cassandra Anderson regarding those stop times.  Families were asked to reserve a seat on the bus before June 30 so that accurate bus routes could be created based on known ridership numbers.

If you didn’t receive an email about the bus routes and think an error has been made, please contact Cassandra Anderson at canderson1@davincicharterschool.org.

If you buy school supplies for your child(ren) in kindergarten through 12th grade, you may qualify for one or more tax relief programs available through the Minnesota Department of Revenue.

The Minnesota Department of Revenue has two tax relief programs for families with children in kindergarten through 12th grade: the K-12 Education Subtraction and the K-12 Education Credit. Both programs help lower taxes and may provide a larger refund when you file Form M1, Individual Income Tax. Click on the link below to learn more.

K-12 Education Subtraction and Credit

Start practicing those smiles – school picture day is Friday, August 18. Students need to be in their uniforms for picture day. Picture retakes are scheduled for Friday, September 29. 

DaVinci Academy of Arts and Science offers a variety of after-school activities, most of which take place from 3:15-4:30 p.m. on school days. Some are taught by teachers and staff members employed by the school and some are offered by outside vendors.

There will be three (3) after-school activity sessions offered this year, and most activities will follow this schedule. For the 2023-24 school year, the dates for the sessions are as follows:

• Session 1 (Fall): Sept 6 – Nov 17 (family registration Aug. 15-25)
• Session 2 (Winter): Nov 28 – Feb 7 (family registration Nov. 1-10)
• Session 3 (Spring): Feb 19 – May 10 (family registration Jan. 30-Feb. 7)

Up-to-date information about activity registration is found on our school website. Information is updated on an ongoing basis throughout the school year.

DaVinci currently offers Cross Country, Volleyball, and Basketball.

Our Cross Country season runs from approximately August-October and is exclusively offered for our Middle School students. Practices are tentatively scheduled to start the week of August 21 from 3:30-4:45 pm. Registration opens soon!

DaVinci has partnered with Centennial Community Ed for our Volleyball program. We offer a fall and spring session to students in grades 5-8. Our fall session will open for registration on August 1! Usually, practices are two nights a week at DaVinci. The fall season is approximately from September-November with games held at Centennial Middle School. Volleyball is a co-ed sport!

Basketball is open to students in grades 2-8. Registration will open in September. Girls in-house season starts in October and ends in November. The boys in-house season starts in December and ends in February. Traveling Basketball may be available, depending on interest and number of participants, for students in grades 4-8. Traveling basketball would start in October and end in March, with tryouts in September; for both boys and girls teams.

If you are interested in coaching or would like more information please contact nkosgei@davincicharterschool.org. Remember, without your help athletics would not be possible! 

Please watch for future DaVinci newsletters and/or Bloomz for more information and registration information over the next couple of months as we welcome students back to school.

We are hiring for the following positions: 

• Special Education Director
• 1st Grade Teacher
• EL Teacher
• MS Math Teacher
• MS RTI Teacher
• Special Ed Teacher
• In-House Sub / On-Call Sub
• Lunch/Recess
• Food Service Asst
• Paraprofessional
• Admin Assist / Student Enrollment Coord

To learn more about our current openings and to apply, please visit our employment portal.