07/27/2021
WELCOME BACK, MUSTANGS!!
We are so excited to welcome back our staff, students, and community back this year! For those who are new to Dobson, we wholeheartedly welcome you to the Land of the Mustangs. This year is a great year to be a Mustang as we celebrate our 40th year in the community. And let’s just say, middle age looks good on us!
We wanted to let you know about what to expect before you come back to Dobson, so here are a few details:
FRESHMAN ORIENTATION All freshman families will receive separate communication, but it is scheduled for Monday, August 2nd from 8am to noon. More information will be attached in the invitation.
NON-FRESHMAN ORIENTATION Any newly registered sophomore, junior, or senior student or student who did not attend last year due to remote learning will have the opportunity to explore the campus and receive information for families on Thursday, July 29th from 5pm to 6:30pm. These families should also receive a separate invite to this meeting with more information.
THE RETURN OF ROUNDUP The RoundUp is our built in enrichment and tutoring time during the school day. Students who are failing one or more classes are required to attend Round Up until they are passing the class or classes. Although seniors with blue IDs are allowed off campus for lunch, it is expected that if they are failing, they will attend Round Up. We recommend that work schedules be altered as necessary. If you have a specific concern, please contact the grade-level administrator. And don't worry about lunch! We are able to serve all students with time to spare! For the first few weeks, students will be on an A/B schedule. This means that on some days they will have an hour for lunch starting at 12:15pm and on other days they will start lunch at 12:45pm. We use the first couple of weeks to get meaningful grades in the gradebook and provide important information to students. There will be no RoundUp on Wednesdays as we have an early release every Wednesday.
TECHNOLOGY Every student at Dobson will have a laptop and we received new laptops for students this summer. Laptops will be distributed in English classes during the first week of school. In years past, we have hosted “Mustang Days” prior to the start of school. We are no longer hosting those days as much of the information is already online.
IDs Students will receive IDs during 1st hour on the first day of school. Students first ID is free and replacements are $5 in the bookstore.
ATHLETICS Fall Sports will kick off on August 9th. If your student is interested in participating, please see the ATHLETICS WEBSITE or contact Chris Ginty at [email protected] or 480-472-3054.
LEGACY ASSEMBLY We will have our first assembly on Friday, August 6th and it is an 80s theme! Retro spirit shirts are on sale in the bookstore for $10 and can be purchased on campus starting now.
ATTENDANCE We hope all of our families support the fact that attendance in class throughout the day is extremely important. We know illnesses and emergencies happen, and we will work with our families one on one with that, but getting to class and being on time are very important to the success of each student. Students who miss more than ten days or hours of instruction for one class risk losing credit by law. These are excused or unexcused absences. For those familiar with the audit process, we are bringing that back and holding our students accountable for being in class.
SCHOOL DAY Please find our most current bell schedule on the front page of our website. RoundUp will be the first 30 minutes of lunch and a modified schedule will be posted and shared prior to the start of school. Seniors are not exempt from attending class meetings, alternate schedules, or RoundUp, if they have release for lunch or afternoon release times. We recommend that work schedules be altered as necessary.
STUDENTS WHO ARE LATE TO SCHOOL/CLASS If a student comes to campus and is late, they can go directly to the front office to get a pass to class. If the student is more than ten minutes late to the office, by state law and board policy, it will be counted as an absence. If a student is already on campus and late to a class, the teacher will mark the student tardy. If the student is more than ten minutes late to class, it may be counted as an absence. Tardies may also result in a Minor Incident Report (MIR) whether they come through the office or not. There is no longer a SWEEP room for students who are tardy, but this is not a reason to not be on time.
EXCUSING AN ABSENCE If your student is going to be absent, please call the attendance line at 480-472-3002 or 480-472-3003. We are so busy that you will most likely need to leave a message. We do clear the lines frequently during the day, so one message is sufficient.
STUDENT SCHEDULES You can access student schedules in the student Portal. If you feel that a change needs to be made, please have your student contact their counselor using the link on our website. You can also log into your parent portal and pay for course fees through WebPay. Our bookstore is also open if that’s a better option for you.
BUS ROUTES Bus routes are now loaded into the student portal screen. Route pickup and drop off will be updated by the end of this week and posted to the front page of the website.
