Dear Mountain Phoenix Community,

On behalf of the faculty and staff of Mountain Phoenix Community School, I would like to welcome you to the new school year of 2016-2017! We look forward to seeing you on campus soon. A special welcome to all of the new families who will be joining us too.

We are excited about many plans for the upcoming year. The faculty and staff will be working with Kim John Payne during our upcoming in-service this week and also later in the fall to continue our training in Restorative Discipline and Social Wellness as support for the students in our school. Kim is the author ofThe Soul of Discipline and Simplicity Parenting, excellent resources for parenting, and he also works with teachers on developing student support systems within a school.

Additionally, in the last several months, we have done some slight restructuring of a couple administrative roles to further support the teachers and the development of the school. We are welcoming Jennifer Chace who will be working alongside of me as Assistant Director of Curriculum and Instruction and will be focusing most of her time on supporting our Middle School teachers, program, and students. Her office will be located in the Middle School building. Maggie Payne has shifted to Assistant Director of Operations along with her role from last year as Assessment Coordinator. She will be workingalongside of Dirk, Director of Operations, while also coordinating assessment and supporting grades 1-5 teachers with READ plans and restorative discipline tools. Her office will be located in the grades 3-5 building. In Early Childhood, Elizabeth McCune, Joy Wegs, and Ashley Mendoza will be sharing the roles and responsibilities that were held in the past by our ECE Licensing Director. They recently sent out a message that outlines their individual roles and also collaborative work together.

I also would like to extend a warm welcome to our new faculty and staff who will be joining us this year! We have some who are new to our school and community, while a few others are shifting to different positions. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with some of the new faces and names. We look forward to the many gifts they will be sharing with our community!

Finally, please watch for information from your class teacher regarding a Back-to-School picnic for your class. This is an opportunity to reconnect with those in your class before returning to school and also meet new families. For those of you returning to MPCS this year, this is replacing the whole community Back-to-School picnic we have had in the past since the size of our community has outgrown that event.

I hope all of you have a chance to stop and see some of the work done on campus this summer including the lovely grass in the field and also the beautifully lazured walls upstairs in the Middle School. As we enter into our sixth year on our current campus (10 years since the start of Mountain Phoenix), we continue to create beautiful and enlivened spaces for our children to engage actively in learning on campus.

If you are a new parent to our community, please stop by to introduce yourself at the Meet and Greet with the Directors on Friday, August 19 at 8:30 a.m.in the Eurythmy Room. If you are not new to the community and just want to stop to say hello, you are also welcome to do so!

I look forward to seeing the smiles of the children on campus once again! Enjoy your last few days of summer fun.

With warm regards,
Kelly Morrow
Director of Education

Important Reminders for All MPCS Families

Timely Arrival and Departure 
The start of the day is very important for all children. Please make every effort to have your child at school to begin the school day at the designated start time and pick-up your child at the designated end time. Start and end times are listed here. Please also remember to schedule your child’s appointments outside of school hours whenever possible and your family vacations during our school breaks. Late arrivals are unsettling and disruptive for the child and for the whole class. Additionally, frequent tardies and absences often negatively affect a child’s academic performance and social/emotional well-being. Thank you for your attention to this.
School Campus for Connecting With People in Person
While much work is done on campus that uses the tools of technology, we want to ensure that our playground areas, classrooms, and hallways are areas free of screens and electronic devices for the health and wellbeing of our children. So that we, as adults – parents, teachers, staff – can be fully present to the children and in-person conversations with the adults, we would likeparents and visitors to not use electronic devices (e.g.  smartphones, iPods, iPads, etc.) in the presence of children on campus, except in emergency/medical situations. Take the time to talk in person to those on campus! If you must use your device for an urgent communication, please step into an office or space that does not have children present on campus. Thank you!

Updated Parent/Student Handbook With Revisions to Student Dress Code
During your registration, you were probably directed to the Parent/Student Handbook. A few minor changes have occurred in the handbook since last year. Please take the time to review it. Based on input I gathered from faculty, parents, and Middle School students, we have made some slight revisions to the Student Dress Code. No major changes, just updates on language and organization with clarification and slight revisions to some issues that caused confusion last year. You will see the grades 6-8 section is not a separate section now, but variations for those ages are noted in the main section and these also include some minor revisions that Middle School students suggested. To read the handbook, click here.

Communication from Sandra Konta, our Communications Coordinator
The community life at MPCS is vibrant and healthy. To be fully engaged as a parent and take advantage of all that is happening, it is very important to read school communications. Below is a breakdown of what each tool has to offer:

• The Weekly Reporter – The Weekly Reporter will arrive in your inbox every Friday afternoon. The Reporter contains important updates from the Directors, upcoming events, school news, volunteer opportunities, and more. It is very important that you read it every week to stay informed.
• School Messenger – All other school communications will be sent via School Messenger. School Messenger is tied to your child’s Jeffco Connect account. To ensure you receive all communications, please make sure that the contact info for each child is correct.
• The Phoenix Flyer  – The Phoenix Flyer is our quarterly newsletter that features in-depth articles on Waldorf Education.
• Friday Folders – We no longer have a formal Friday folder system but will send home important forms and fliers when necessary.
• Bulletin Boards Around Campus – Look for important reminders and fliers that feature upcoming events.
• Check out MPCS on Facebook and Instagram to see what is happening in the classroom and around campus!
• Coming Soon! – A tool that allows you to find carpool buddies, the updated school directory, and a new school blog.