DMS Principal Notes

I wanted to share some information with you about flu on our campus.  We are seeing some increases in student absentee rates due to flu-like symptoms.  The most common symptoms are fever, cough and runny nose, and can include body aches, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.  It is very important to keep your child home if he/she has these symptoms until he/she is fever-free for at least 24 hours without fever reducing medication.  This measure is critical in helping control the spread of flu.  It is also helpful if you let the school know your child is out with flu-like symptoms when calling in to report the absence.  It is important to take precautions such as covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue, avoiding touching eyes, mouth or nose, and most importantly washing hands often.  These precautions are important anywhere out in public.  We also encourage everyone to receive the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines when available.  Our campus custodians and our bus drivers are diligently working to keep the classrooms, cafeterias, rest rooms and buses disinfected.  If you have any concerns or questions, please contact me (gartzkeh@hayscisd.net) or our school nurse Jan Del Castillo (delcastilloj@hayscisd.net). 

DMS comunity members, parents, and students have two opportunities to let your opinions be heard.  The first is your response to a short survery listed above about safe routes to school.  This is a grant from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the city of Buda.  Please answer the short survey to let us know if your child would walk or bike to Dahlstrom if there were sidewalks in place.

The second way for your opinion to be heard is to be a part of the Ideas Summit, scheduled for Thursday, September 17 at either 11:30 a.n. or 6:30 p.m. at the PAC.  This is your chance to work with school and community members to identify strategies to get us to our lofitiest aspirations.  Please take the time to become a part of the decision-making group for Hays CISD, and let your opinion be heard!!

This is the question I have been asked many times, so I thought I would respond here.

Each day at Dahlstrom, our custodians sanitize all desk tops, door knobs, light switches, and handles on sinks and toilets.  In the computer labs, they sanitize keyboards, computer desks, and the computer mouse.  In our cafeteria, the utensils students use in the salad bar are replaced with clean ones every 15 minutes.  The tables are sanitized after each lunch period.  Portable hand sanitizing machines have been ordered by the district, and will be placed throughout the campus as soon as they arrive this week.  On the announcements each day, students are being reminded to cover their mouth when coughing and sneezing, and to wash their hands frequently.  Please visit our Hays CISD web site (http://www.hayscisd.net/) for more details and a link to the CDC web site. 

I hope you are planning to come to Dahlstrom on September 24.  The evening begins at 6:00 p.m. in our Mustang gym with the fall general PTA meeting.  At 6:30, we will begin our Open House.  You will walk each period of your child's schedule, meeting and hearing an 8-10 minute presentation from each teacher.  You will see lots of student produced work, and the teachers will be availble for general questions about their curriculum. 

I hope each of you is signed up to receive the DMS newsletter.  The first one comes out on Oct.9, the same day report cards go home.  This year the newsletter is being put together by the Multi-Media class.

We continue to emphasize general hygiene at Dahlstrom.  Please encourage your child to wash their hands at school, and not to eat or drink after anyone. 

This has been an amazing first week of school!!  Our wonderful students continue to amaze me each and every day.  They have had lots thrown at them this week including receiving their ID cards (which they must wear at all times), getting from class to class within three minutes, and already having tests to study for and homework to do!  But our students do a great job, as do our teachers and staff.

Please stay in touch with your child's teachers as the year progresses.  It is the collaboration between home and school that creates a successful environment for all.  Feel free to come see us at any time. 

We have had a great first day of school!!  We currently have 692 students enrolled, about 60 more than we had planned.  But what great students they are!  Everyone got to eat lunch today, they made it from class to class with only three minute passing periods, and we even had a few late buses today after school.  But the students Mr. Certain and I talked to told us they had had a great day at Dahlstrom. 

Many thanks to our parents who took the time to make sure each child was up to date on the new required immunizations.  Thank you so very much.

Just a reminder to parents - please do not pull into the bus lane when buses are present.  This creates a possible safety hazard for our students.  Please use the parent drop off area on Buda Sprotsplex Dr. 

We will begin the day on Tuesday with grade level assemblies, where Mr. Certain and I will talk to the students about general school rules and procedures, lunch time etiquette, covering their coughs and sneezes, not eating or drinking after each other, and washing their hands regularly.  Then the students will begin to get their ID's on Wednesday (6th graders), Thursday (7th graders) and Friday (8th graders) through their science classes.  The first ID is free, but if an ID is lost, it will cost $5 to replace it. 

We look forward to a wonderful year at DMS!!

Wow, what an open house we had on Thursday afternoon and evening!  Out of the 707 registered students, only 40 or so students were not able to join us.  We had a fantastic turnout.  I am so thankful for the wonderful Dahstrom staff who worked tirelessly to ensure the afternoon was a success for students and parents. 

I hope everyone has made plans to attend our Back to School night on Thursday, September 24 from 6:30-7:30.  At that time, you will hear short presentations from each of your child's teachers about plans for the year, and will also be able to view displays of student work.

School starts Monday.  We are ready to work with each student, and push them onto higher levels of learning.  Our goal is to help as many students as possible earn commended status on their TAKS tests next spring.  Our teachers will be staying in close contact with parents, and it will truly be a collaborative effort for us to achieve this.  Please stay in close contact with our teachers regarding your child's progress.

We are looking forward to a fantastic school year!!

Are you ready for school??  We are!!  I hope every Mustang (and their parents!) plan to come to Dahlstrom on Thursday, August 20, anytime between 12:00-7:00 p.m.  This is the day you will fill out all those very important (and required) school forms, and receive your schedule for the 2009-2010 school year.  Students will be able to walk their schedule and meet their teachers at two different times:  2:00-3:00 or 6:00-7:00.  We always have a very good turnout on this day, so expect long lines, lots of traffic, and limited parking space.  Please be patient with us and with each other! 

In addition to filling out all those forms, you will have the opportunity to join our PTA, and buy t-shirts, lanyards, and a required planner.  You may want to bring cash or a check book for these items.  T-shirts are $10, PTA membership is $5 (the lowest in the district!), lanyards are $4, and the planners are $3 (did I say the planners are required??!!)  Be sure to check out our PTA link on this web site.  It details all that our wonderful PTA does for your children and for Dahlstrom.

Please plan now to attend our DMS Open House on Thursday, September 24 from 6:30-7:30.  You will see lots of student work displayed in addition to hearing from each of your child's teachers.  We will also hold our first general PTA meeting that evening in our Mustang gym at 6:00.  We hope you are able to join us for this all important evening at Dahsltrom.

Are you signed up on our parent email list?  Simply click on the DMS Email List above, choose your child's grade, add your email and you are done!  I email the parents occasionally as needed, but most importantly I email the Dahlstrom newsletter each time report cards go home every six weeks.  This is a fun way to keep up with what is happening at DMS all year.  Feel free to add multiple email addresses, and be sure to invite family and friends to sign up.

We are so very excited about the upcoming school year at Dahlstrom!  I know we will have a great year because we have the best teachers, students, parents, and community members EVER!