Hello Vanden Families,

We have completed two days of distance learning and 93% of our students were present in their live classes. We are off to a very good start! Thank you to all our parents and family members that have been so supportive and patient during these first few days. Our IT department has continued to work around the clock to get devices ready for the entire district and we are hoping laptops will be ready for our Vanden students this week. Please know that we will contact you when it is ready to arrange a pick up time. We know many of you are waiting patiently and we appreciate this! 

With the forecasted heat wave and possible rolling blackouts/power outages, we are anticipating there may be times where students and teachers may not be able to be online for classes. Please know that we don't want students (parents or teachers) to worry about missing class due to a power outage. Due dates will be extended as needed. 

Students wanting to request a schedule change need to email their counselor by tomorrow after school. If a schedule change is warranted, we want to get the change taken care of quickly so students do not miss class.

We are planning a textbook swap day on Wednesday or Thursday afternoon, depending on when the shipment of new French, Spanish, and various other textbooks arrive. This swap day will be for students that have had a schedule change and need a different book or if they never received a book for a class. We will send out information of the exact date/time of the textbook swap once we get a confirmation of the Spanish/French delivery. 

On Friday we had an incident in one class where a student entered the class under a fake name and used foul language. We are in the process of investigating this incident and have contacted the parents of the students in this class. This incident has shown us how important it is for our teachers to only admit students to the class who are on the roster and have their correct name displayed. We will be reviewing all our protocols with teachers and we will have an administrator present in this virtual classroom on Monday. Additionally, we ask that parents discuss Vanden's online behavioral expectations with their students. These have been discussed in classes, but it would be helpful to discuss and reinforce at home. Vanden has four Core Values that we integrate into all aspects of what it means to be a Viking. Our Core values are: Have Self Control, Own Their Actions, Show Up on Time, and Build Strong Relationships. These core values are part of our regular school year behavior expectations as well as during distance learning. We will be working with students that are struggling to demonstrate our core values. Please expect teachers, counselors, administrators and other support staff to reach out to families as needed. 

Other reminders: 

• For technology help with laptops, Google Classroom or Launchpad, please email ewilson@travisusd.org.

• Our school continues to be closed to the public. Please email or call as needed. We are returning emails and phone calls as quickly as we can continuously through the day.

• Students needing new work permits or to extend a summer work permit can find information on the Vanden website. https://www.travisusd.org/Domain/869

 We hope you are having a good week and are staying cool, healthy, and safe.

Kristin