August 26, 2022

We had a great kick-off to the school year with our community during Back To School Night last night. Thank you to all who joined us and for your participation and enthusiasm during our pep assembly. I look forward to seeing you all help support BVSW the next time you hear the fight song or SW chant at one of our events! Our parents and community play a pivotal role within our culture and are key contributors within our work to Protect The Pack! Thank you for being involved.

Starting this week, we will conclude our newsletter with a staff spotlight section. Each week we will highlight a few staff members with their picture, their role at BVSW, and a short bio. We feel it is important for our community to learn a bit more about all the adults that work with their students on a daily basis.

Make sure to follow the official social media accounts of BVSW to stay up to date on all things BVSW, especially as we start athletic and activity events this week. @SWTimberwolves on both Twitter and Instagram.

Have a great weekend!

Blue Valley Families,

We are excited to have your families come to support our high school activities and athletics this school year. It is great to see the entire community at these events. It is imperative that our parent community partner with us as we work to encourage a positive atmosphere for our high school games or events.

• Sportsmanship/officials: We want to give our student athletes the opportunity to play as many games as possible and we need officials to make those games happen. With a local and national shortage of officials, we want to make sure officials continue to choose to work Blue Valley events. The number one way we can create a welcoming environment is for spectators, coaches and student athletes to be courteous and respect the official’s decisions.

• Tailgating: Tailgating before games has become a tradition for many students and families. We love to see our community gathering together to enjoy food and tailgate games in our parking lots. As a reminder, alcohol and tobacco are not allowed on district property including parking lots.

Thank you for your help in making our district events a great experience for all who attend. We hope to see your family cheering for our Blue Valley teams this school year.

Matt Ortman

Director of School Administration, Athletics and Activities

Blue Valley School District

Literacy is an essential skill for learning and life beyond K-12 education. As such, and in accordance with state policies around literacy and dyslexia, all Kansas schools will screen students in Kindergarten through 12th grade to determine if they are at risk of not reaching grade level benchmarks in reading. At the high school level, this screening for most students will be a brief measure taken in a classroom setting. If this were to indicate a possibility a student is not reaching grade level benchmarks in reading, additional brief measures could be administered. Families would be contacted if data indicated the student was not at grade level benchmarks. We welcome this opportunity to take a closer look at reading for the benefit of our students. Further, this information will support teachers in planning instruction and providing support when needed in reading.

We are ready for you! It is time to Support THE PACK with all of you SW spirit wear needs! Our site is back up and running – you can purchase online and we will notify you when it is ready for pick up. New FALL HOURS go live Monday 8/29! Please remember that this is a STUDENT-RUN Enterprise and is part of our Marketing Management course, our hours are determined by the bell schedule and may shift at times based on the daily schedule.

We want to share a testing opportunity with you that may be of interest to our juniors and seniors, especially those who want to enter the workforce right out of high school.

The ACT WorkKeys exam is designed so that employers can see what job-specific skills a future employee may possess. Specifically, WorkKeys measures a prospective employee’s abilities with regard to Applied Math, Graphic Literacy, and Workplace Documents. Click here for more information on what these tests contain.

WorkKeys will happen at Hilltop Conference Center on October 5, 2022, and is an opt-in testing event, meaning that students must sign-up to participate in this test. The test is paper/pencil. To learn more about ACT WorkKeys, please click here.

To sign up for ACT WorkKeys, please complete the Google Form, found here by Wednesday, August 24th. For those who enroll in WorkKeys, information will be sent out in mid-September.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Anne Kastelic (akastelic@bluevalleyk12.org).

ATTENTION Parents/Guardians

Enjoy a cup of coffee while the Counseling Team covers helpful topics related to our BVSW Students. September's topic will be: Navigating BVSW Resources

MNHS applications are open for another great year! Look at the poster below for more information. Scan the QR code or click on the link below to fill out the application. Applications are DUE on Friday, September 2nd.

https://tinyurl.com/bvswMNHS22-23

JCCC will be hosting two information sessions where we will discuss the process of Apply/Placement/Enroll/Pay to high school students and their parents. Representatives from several public universities in Kansas will be there to discuss transferability of coursework. Both information sessions will be held from 6:30 – 8 p.m. and no reservation is necessary. Not able to come in person? Join by Zoom at the same time.

• Aug 30 – JCCC main campus, Regnier Center 101, Capitol Federal Conference Room

• Sept 8 – JCCC main campus, Regnier Center 101, Capitol Federal Conference Room

Here are some important reminders for your College Now students:

1. Apply - NEW College Now Students apply for admission now if this is your first-time taking College Now courses. The application priority submission deadline is Aug 26 to guarantee your admission application will be processed before the enrollment deadline.
   
   
2. Upload Placement Documentation or Complete Placement Test if required. Students may place into many courses using their qualifying high school GPA, AP test score, ACT score, or may schedule an appointment to take the Accuplacer test at JCCC.

• For College Now Classes: Go to jccc.edu/CollegeNow and click See Class Schedules and Counselors to look up available courses for BVSW. If a prerequisite or test score is required for your class, it will be noted. Go to jccc.edu/CollegeNowTesting to upload your placement documentation or to schedule an Accuplacer test.
  
  
• For Quick Step Plus College Algebra: New this year, JCCC has expanded the ways that Quickstep Plus or College Now students may place into College Algebra! Go to jccc.edu/QuickStepPlus to view placement methods, upload placement documentation, or schedule an Accuplacer test.
  
  

1. Enroll – Enrollment in College Now classes will begin soon. You can view our class schedule online!
   
   
2. Pay – Payment is due at the time of enrollment. Excel in CTE courses are only available to residents of Kansas.
   
   

1. College Now/QSPCA Grant – Funding Quadruples!
   JCCC has received an additional $200,000 in grant funds that are available for our College Now and Quick Step Plus College Algebra students. Students must enroll and submit the grant application before the semester enrollment deadlines to be considered. If awarded, the grant will cover up to two classes at the full tuition rate. Deadline for enrollment and College Now/QSPCA Grant Application submission is Friday, Sept 16 by 5 p.m. for College Now and Friday, Oct 7 by 5 p.m. for QSPCA.
   

1. Check out the College Now website with FAQs to help answer all your questions.
2. Visit the BVSW Counseling Canvas for more information!

REGISTER @ https://forms.gle/5SJyMqX6XXPehznH7

Please contact Jody Buchman, jredbuchman@gmail.com, with any questions

The Booster Club Presidents Council meetings have CHANGED LOCATIONS. All booster club presidents are invited to attend ONE of these meetings:

Tuesday 8/23, 6pm @ SW Outside Concession Stand across from the soccer field.
Or
Wednesday 8/24, 9am @SW Outside Concession Stand across from the soccer field.

This will be a meeting to train each booster club on how to run concessions. Please send a representative from your booster club. Running concessions is now a fundraising opportunity for each booster club to benefit their organization.

Please contact Katie Gillis or Heidi Christmann with any questions. (ekgillis@mac.com / hchristmann@gmail.com)

The PTO store is OPEN!

The PTO has a new website and a store filled with items you want to fill your cart with!

• Yard Signs & Activity Plates for your student
• Rally Flags
• Senior Paw Prints
• PTO Membership
• Invest in Southwest

Go check it out so you're ready to display your SW spirit!

For all AP Testings detail students/parents will need to visit the BVSW Counseling Canvas page:

https://bvusd.instructure.com/courses/27288/pages/ap-2022-2023

Students taking AP courses/exams at Blue Valley Southwest must enroll/register by 7:00 am, November 1st. There is no cost for enrolling in AP courses, but the 2023 AP Exams cost $108 per exam. Exam registrations opens September 1st.

ATTENTION! Students and guardians should complete this registration/enrollment together.

This is a two-step process and both steps MUST be completed to order the AP Exams. The entire process (both steps) can be completed in a single sitting in approximately 10 minutes. Exam fee is $108 for each exam.

Blue Valley Southwest is excited to offer families the ability to pay their exam fees online at the time of registration. Please be sure to have a credit card or debit card available before beginning registration.

1. Complete the registration payment process with Total Registration: https://user.totalregistration.net/AP/172302

2. Enroll all your AP courses and exams in the College Board's MyAP system with the correct Join Codes. https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/

Step two should be completed directly after step one as exams will not be ordered if both steps are not completed.

Exam Registration Deadline

Deadline to register for a yearlong AP course is November 1st.

Deadline to register for a second semester course (Government, Computer Science A, Computer Principles, and 2D Art) March 1st.

No registrations are accepted after March 1st.

Exam Dates

The 2023 AP Exams will be administered in schools over two weeks in May: May 1-5 and May 8-12.

Online orders can be placed here.

All Activities and School Events can be found on the Eastern Kansas League website. Go to BVSW homepage, click on calendar, then click on the Eastern Kansas League website or click on the following:

https://www.easternkansasleague.org/public/genie/997/school/11/

Newsletters may also be found on our BVSW website - About Us - News

Check out the official student media of BVSW: https://www.bvswnews.com/

Want to include something in our Friday newsletter during the school year?

The deadline for submissions to the Friday weekly newsletter is Thursday noon. Any fundraisers must be pre-approved before they may be added to the newsletter. Fundraiser questions, contact Kim Rich at KARich@bluevalleyk12.org.