March 3, 2025 Family Newsletter
SCHOOL NEWS:
Parent Teacher Conferences are March 6th and 7th: Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held this Thursday, March 6th from 3:30pm to 5:30pm and 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Conferences at the secondary school are open to all families through a drop-in structure on Thursday. Friday, March 7th conferences are by invite only. Invitations will be sent via email today (Monday).
Staff Dinner Donations : One of our traditions at JA is to provide dinner for the staff when they are here late during Parent/Teacher Conferences. It's coming up on March 6th, and donations will help us put together a really nice dinner break in the midst of a long day. For the Fall Conferences, we asked our Junior High families to donate, so this time we're hoping for donations from High School families - this can be done via CheddarUp at https://hospitality-donations-41526.cheddarup.com, or drop off an envelope in the office indicating "Parent Teacher Conference Staff Dinner".
We are also looking for volunteers to help with dinner for parent teacher conferences on Thursday March 6th. Set up is at 4: 45 pm and clean up is at 7:00 pm in the teachers’ lounge.
Any help is much appreciated! Contact Katy or Cristy kbake31@netzero.net or cl.hamilton@yahoo.com
Scam Alert: Please be aware that recently a scam involving College Board(PSAT/SAT) has been taking place. Callers, posing as employees of the College Board, contact students and families attempting to sell test preparation products or requesting sensitive personally identifying information, such as credit card and social security numbers. You can learn more here, but know this is a scam and in no way connected to JA or College Board.
Super testing days are coming: School attendance is of utmost importance every day-and very important during our assessment season. Please make sure students eat a good breakfast and arrive at school on time.
CMAS ELA & Math for 7 & 8 grade are scheduled in Math and Language Arts classrooms beginning April 7 through April 14.
SAT 11 & CMAS Science 8 is Wednesday, April 16. SAT for 11th grade will be finished by approximately 12 noon and 8th grade CMAS Science will be done by approximately 1:30pm. **Please note–NO SCHOOL for 7, 9, 10 & 12 grade. (8th grade please bring a sack lunch that day! No lunch service provided!)
PSAT 9, PSAT 10 & CMAS Science 11 is Thursday, April 17. PSAT 9 for 9th grade and PSAT 10 for 10th grade will be finished by approximately 12 noon. CMAS Science 11 for 11th grade will begin at 1pm and will be finished by 3pm. **Please note–NO SCHOOL for 7, 8, 12 grade. (No lunch service provided!)
Enrollment for 2025-2026 School Year: If you know that your student will not be returning to JA Secondary next year, please contact Anne Leoni at aleoni@jajags.com. This information helps us plan our class sizes and enrollment for next year.
STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES:
ASCENT (Accelerating Students through Concurrent Enrollment) : *ASCENT is a fifth-year high school program that allows students to participate in concurrent enrollment the year after 12th grade. Your first year of college at a participating school would be tuition-free. You will need to pay for books and fees. It’s important to note students may participate in graduation with their class but will not get their diploma or officially graduate until after they complete their ASCENT year. While there are multiple qualifications for ASCENT, the main one is the student must complete 9 credit hours of college coursework.
An email with additional details was sent to students on February 26.
If you are interested, students must complete the application by March 14. Students will be notified of their status in April once we have confirmation that the program is moving forward.
*There may be potential changes to ASCENT due to Colorado budget shortcomings. This includes reducing or eliminating the program. We should know the final decision by April. I share this not to alarm anyone, but to keep all informed. At this point, we are moving forward with the JA application process but please know that we won’t be able to award any slots until we receive confirmation that the program will be an option for folks for fall 2025.
Career Day 2025: Our annual Career Day took place on Thursday, February 27th and was a huge success! Students got to hear from our keynote speaker, Super Bowl 50 Champion Ryan Harris! Beyond the field, Ryan has continued to work to win. Whether in real estate, investing, startups, or non-profits, Ryan aims to make an impact in Denver and beyond. With these efforts, Ryan was the first African American to be awarded Colorado Sportscaster of the Year in 2020, and he was also named to Denver Business Journal’s "40 under 40" class of 2021. We were honored to have him speak here at Jefferson Academy. We also had an additional 25 other awesome presenters from a wide variety of careers who had the opportunity to present in the classrooms. Students again walked away with vital information to help drive potential career decisions. Thank you to everyone who participated!
Class of 2026 families:
Planning for senior year is underway! If your student is taking college classes, due to the timing of Front Range registration, Ms. LeValley has begun the process of meeting with students on their senior year schedules. She will be meeting with juniors not taking college classes starting in April. In addition to senior year schedules, she will be having general conversations on post-secondary plans. Parents are welcome to attend the meetings. Students will be the ones to schedule the meeting time.
Regarding Senior Seminar (a graduation requirement that all seniors take quarter 1), a packet of information will be given to each Junior soon with information on the career shadow as well as other course considerations.
Upcoming College Visits: Registration is encouraged to ensure we have enough seats, but it is not required.
MSU Denver, Denver, CO, Thursday, March 6, Library, 10:00 am.
Western Colorado University, Gunnison, CO, Tuesday, March 11, Library, 9:15 am.
Upcoming National Virtual College Fair: These virtual fairs are open to all and will have 175 – 400 colleges attending.
ACTIVITIES:
Junior High Play: Come see the Junior High Play-Channeling Grimm on Tuesday, March 4 at 7pm in the JA Auditorium.
Band Concert:The Quarter 3 band concert is Wednesday, March 5 at 7pm in the JA Auditorium.
School Accountability Committee: March’s SAC meeting will be this Wednesday, the 5th beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the elementary campus. You can also join virtually.
8th grade DC/NY Trip 2025: Reminder-pre travel meeting for 8th grade students participating in the 8th grade DC/NY educational trip on Thursday, March 6 at 4pm in the JA Auditorium. The student and at least one parent/guardian must attend. Reach out to Mrs. Porreco at mporreco@jajags.com with any questions.
Current 7th grade students DC/NY Trip 2026: There’s still space on the 2026 8th grade DC/NY educational trip. You can sign up two ways–www.efexploreamerica.com tour #2822048SS or by calling EF at 888-333-9756. Don’t miss out on this incredible learning opportunity. Contact Mrs. Porreco with any questions at mporreco@jajags.com.
ATHLETICS:
Junior High Spring Sports: Registration for 4th quarter JH spring sports opened on Feb. 24th at noon and must be submitted before March 10th in order to participate. Register HERE. Any junior high student can register for JH baseball, but for JH track and JH soccer, the student must already be enrolled in the class to register. You can find your student’s 4th quarter schedule on Infinite Campus.
Online Ticket Sales for Home Games: For any and all home athletic events going forward, we will no longer accept cash or credit cards at the door. You must have a ticket on your phone or printed to enter. Metro passes and CHSAA passes will still be accepted. Students must have an activity pass sticker on their school ID in order to get in or they will be required to purchase a ticket. We will no longer have a list of students' names at the gate. Please encourage your student to stop by the office to get their sticker if they haven’t already done so. You can purchase your tickets here.
IMPORTANT LINKS: