DEER RUN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL News

Important Parent and Community Information

Senate Enrolled Act 217

• Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, Indiana’s public and

charter schools must meet added requirements to identify, as early as possible, struggling readers who show risk factors for dyslexia.

• All students in kindergarten through second grade participate in a universal screener to check foundational skill areas. These areas are phonological and phonemic awareness (ability to separate and change sounds in words), alphabet knowledge (name different letters), sound-symbol relationship (phonics), decoding (reading words), rapid naming (quickly name common objects), and encoding (spelling).
• Students that do not meet benchmark on the universal screener may be “at-risk” or “at some risk” for the characteristics of dyslexia and get extra help to learn these skills.
• Schools inform families if students score below benchmark, sharing the child’s scores, information about the characteristics of dyslexia, and next steps to acquire more specific information on the student’s skills and where to start intervention lessons.

Skylert is the district's automated notification system that provides emergency alerts, notifications, and other informational alerts via phone call, email, and/or text message.

It has recently come to our attention that many of our families have been receiving Skylert emails, but not texts. 
This is because there is a specific "Text Message Numbers" field in Skyward Family Access that MUST be completed in order to receive text messages.

In past years, our Back to School Night allowed parents to attend a short presentation by their child's teacher about expectations and information for the year.  Due to Covid-19, that format will not be possible this year.  So, we have created a virtual Back to School Night presentation instead! 

Please click here to view our 2020-2021 Back to School Night presentation!

Due to our traditional and balanced calendars becoming more aligned, our School Board has approved a universal calendar that will begin in the 2020-21 school year. This fall, we surveyed staff, parents, and the community, which generated feedback for drafting a single calendar. The use of a universal calendar will increase efficiencies and eliminate some operational and scheduling challenges. It will not impact the school assignments of our current students. Eagle Creek, Fishback, and New Augusta North and South will continue as “choice” schools but with a curriculum concentration. The School Board will consider feedback from the district survey and focus group discussions as they finalize the concentration in the new year. Thank you for your patience, input, and support throughout this process.