January 27, 2012

Dear GW Community,

I want to inform you of an incident that occurred at our school earlier today. A teacher discovered that a student had brought an unloaded handgun to school. The student immediately handed the unloaded weapon over to school leaders, who notified DPS security and Denver police. Denver police arrived, and the student was taken into custody.

At no time were students, staff or the school in danger.  I would like to commend the swift and professional response of our leadership team and security personnel.

I encourage you to speak with your student about our individual responsibility to look out for each other and our community. It is a strict expectation that students do not bring weapons of any kind onto school property.

I want to assure you that safety is a top priority in Denver Public Schools and at George Washington High School. In order to maintain a safe environment, it is critical that students and others feel comfortable reporting to the appropriate adults when they know there are weapons in schools.

Thank you for your support in keeping our students safe. As always, feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Loan Maas

Principal

SCRIP is an easy way to buy gift cards for gifts or for things you buy every week like groceris (king soopers, safeway).  You pay any amount for a gift card - say $50 and you recieve a gift card for $50.  GW gets 4%-8% of every card.  All money goes back to the GW community.  Click here for sign up instructions and more info!  It's very easy and you can electronically reload many of the cards.  Sign up now and have your gift cards on time for the holidays!!!!

TCAP (formerly CSAP) Testing Coming Up and We Need Your HELP!!!

The staff and administration at GW are working on changing the way the state-testing week is viewed. Instead of being a week of pure testing and no fun, the intention is to make the week memorable and worthwhile for our students. TCAP (formerly known as CSAP) will be occurring on March 5-8. GW is in need of parents that are willing to do some extra work to get donations and services made to the school. There are a variety of ways that parents can be involved. Please see specific list below. If you feel that you can contribute to some of the items on the list, please contact Andrea Gordon or Emily O'Ryan at skigordon@comcast.net or emily_oryan@dpsk12.org.

We need parents who are willing to solicit local business to supply enough food to feed all 9th and 10th graders for either a pancake breakfast or lunch, or perhaps you know someone who will donate tickets to a nuggets game.

Some ideas for testing week include

1.  March 5^th: pancake drive starting at 7am. In need of supplies and pancake making experts.

2.       Lunch: Buffet style on March 8. In need of food such as salads, casseroles, and deserts. Also in need of organizers and servers.

3.       Teacher gift baskets: a care package such as hot cocoa, Motrin, Starbucks, candy, fruit to be placed in the teacher boxes.

Or

4.       Teacher breakfast on the second day such as bagels, cream cheese, fruit, OJ, and coffee.

5.       T-shirts for the teachers

6.       T-shirts for the students who scored proficient last year

7.       Gift cards as mini prizes such as Starbucks, Chipotle, Subway…but not McDonalds. (This is a great opportunity to buy gift cards with SCRIP - see above - the school will earn money from all gift card purchases!!)

FREE Dental Care for Kids!

Colorado Dental Association's annual Give Kids a Smile Day program NEXT FRIDAY, FEB. 3. This is an annual program that offers FREE dental care to KIDS from low-income families without dental insurance or a way to afford dental care. Additional participating offices have been added to our listing since my last email to you.  We still have 1,000 appointments for FREE dental care available and I would LOVE any help you can offer to communicate this opportunity to deserving families. Please remember that appointments are first-come, first-served. 

Of special note, the CU School of Dentistry in Aurora has over 220 appointments available and we will have oral surgeons and pediatric dentists (in addition to general dentists) available to provide extended treatment if needed.

To qualify for a Give Kids a Smile Day appointment, the child/family must meet ALL 5 of the following criteria.

• The child needing an appointment must be 17 years old or younger.
• The family must be low-income and unable to afford dental care.
• The child must be dentally uninsured (no dental insurance or CHP+ coverage).
• The family must have transportation to get to the appointment.
• The family must be able to show-up at the appointment on time.

For a list of available appointments across Colorado, please go to www.cdaonline.org/gkaspatient.