Purchase a Planner for your Student TODAY!
Planners are on sale now for $15! Order can be placed on the 21-22 Planner and picked up in the school office.
Planners are on sale now for $15! Order can be placed on the 21-22 Planner and picked up in the school office.
Stay up to date with what's happening at our school. View the latest communications on the Platt Weekly Howler News Website.
Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year! I am excited to have you and your family in our Platt community! I hope you have been enjoying the summer as much as could be possible during this time....
August 8, 2020
Dear Platt and CHOICE Families,
Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year! I am excited to have you and your family in our Platt community! I hope you have been enjoying the summer as much as could be possible during this time. I know we are all under a great deal of stress, a lot of it in anticipation with how schools will open in a few weeks. Information has been changing at such a fast pace that I haven’t sent an update until now, to avoid providing misinformation.
Yesterday, the BVSD Superintendent, Dr. Anderson, presented to the Board the plan to open schools on August 26 in Phase 1: Home Learning only. I understand that home learning was difficult for many of our families last year, but we will make several improvements and have more time to prepare to create a better home learning experience for all.
Now that we have this plan to move forward, you can expect to hear from me regularly about what this will look like for our Platt and CHOICE students. I will be working with our teachers on expectations and schedules. We ask for your patience as we finalize our plans and get our systems and structures in place.
Although this year will feel different and look different than years past, we are committed to grounding our work in our Mission, Vision, and Guiding Principles. We believe this foundation reflects who we are as a community, what we believe about teaching and learning and what we want our students to embody as they enter high school.
Mission
Empower students to contribute positively to the world by providing diverse learning experiences, personal discovery and strong relationships.
Vision
Students believe in themselves, think critically and problem solve. With a sense of social justice, inclusion and advocacy, students value hard work, kindness and finding balance and joy in their lives.
Guiding Principles
We believe in...
Respect: When people feel safe, they thrive, so we will…
Relationships: When people feel safe, they thrive, so we will…
Relevance: When people discover their purpose, they thrive, so we will…
provide authentic, data driven, inquiry based learning that supports tenacity, academic growth and social emotional development.
While I am disappointed that I won’t be able to see your kids' faces in-person on the first day of school, I am committed to making this experience as best as possible for them and for you. I am grateful for the opportunity to work in such an amazing community. We will navigate through this together.
I hope that you enjoy the last three weeks of this summer and that you all stay safe and healthy. I will send updates as soon as our plan is in place, please continue to check your email.
Please reach out to me with any questions and I will provide more information for you as soon as I can.
Respectfully,
Brooke Daerr
She/Her/Hers
Principal
Platt Middle School
6096 Baseline Road | Boulder, CO 80303
720-561-5536
brooke.daerr@bvsd.org | npm.bvsd.org
We know that many of our students and families are eagerly awaiting word regarding who will be their teachers this fall. We appreciate this excitement and are working to provide student schedules by Friday, August 21.
August 10, 2020
Dear Platt and CHOICE Families,
We know that many of our students and families are eagerly awaiting word regarding who will be their teachers this fall. We appreciate this excitement and are working to provide student schedules by Friday, August 21.
While we are starting the school year on Wednesday, August 26 in Phase 1 – Home Learning, it was still important for us to sort students into cohorts (student groups) so that we are ready whenever we are able to transition to higher phases, hopefully beginning with Phase 2+ - Limited In-Person Learning some time this fall. Under our Back Together BVSD reintroduction plan and the latest guidance from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, cohorts are required to ensure that we are able to quickly contact trace and quarantine students following a possible exposure to someone who has a probable or confirmed case of COVID-19.
Students will be assigned to Group A or Group B. Siblings and students who live in the same household will be in the same cohort, plus there was accounting based on whether students were planning to attend in-person learning or had opted for remote learning through their home school. These cohorts will not impact students’ schedules while in Phase 1 of our Reintroduction Plan, lasting through at least September 22.
Now we, at the school level, are working to make class assignments using this information. Again, we will have this to everyone by August 21, 2020.
Additionally, we are continuing to work on our daily schedule. I know you are eager to know what your students' day will look like in terms of time spent in each class and with teachers. This information will also be provided by August 21, 2020.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions. Again, we thank you for your patience and understanding.
Brooke Daerr
She/Her/Hers
Principal
Platt Middle School
6096 Baseline Road | Boulder, CO 80303
720-561-5536
brooke.daerr@bvsd.org | npm.bvsd.org
Yesterday’s attack on a peaceful vigil in the heart of our community is not only a vile assault on our Jewish community—it is an attack on us all. Those bearing the physical wounds from this unprovoked violence are in pain today—we wish them successful and speedy recoveries. Our hearts are also with those bearing psychological wounds, who may find themselves fearful today—we hope you are surrounded by love to lighten the burden.
This time of the year is always special. As the school year wraps up, it’s a perfect time for all of us to reflect on what has been accomplished and how much all of our students have grown. I couldn’t be more proud. As we begin Summer Break, I hope that it is a fun and safe time of learning and adventure!
As school wraps up, students are looking forward to more fun and freetime, which is why representatives with Be SMART are reminding parents about safe gun storage. A new state law should help them get the word out through school districts across the state.
BVSD is continuing to monitor enrollment in all schools across the district and keep the Board and our community informed on this important topic.
The Boulder Valley School District is proud to celebrate the Class of 2025 and its many varying accomplishments. Among those, we are pleased to share the names of students who have been selected for outstanding academic honors in our district.
This year’s graduation season is extra special at BVSD because the District had its first class of students who obtained the Seal of Climate Literacy. In April, as a fitting tribute to Earth Month, twenty students representing numerous BVSD high schools presented portfolios that illustrated their “green trailway” during their time in the district and then received their Seal of Climate Literacy certificates, medals (made of sustainably sourced wood) and bamboo cords to wear at graduation.
The Colorado Department of Education recently announced its annual awards for 2023 and 2024 and 28 Boulder Valley schools were among those honored. BVSD was also the only Denver Metro school district to be Accredited with Distinction in 2024. This represents the highest ranking from the Colorado Department of Education, signifying excellence in education.
Riley Nuttycombe, a graduating senior at New Vista High School is relieved to be finished with high school, after a year of working on her culminating senior project. But not because she’s tired of learning, she’s ready for the next challenge.
Nuttycombe enrolled in New Vista following the years of covid online learning, seeking a new social group and a building-based school experience before heading to college.
What she didn’t expect was that her time there would culminate in a senior project about space suit design, and multiple visits to the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah, the second of four simulated Mars habitats in the world, built and managed by the Mars Society.
A traditional high school diploma signifies a student has achieved the basic requirements of course completion and state performance measures in math and language arts. This graduation season, many students have gone above and beyond the standard requirements of a diploma thanks to BVSD’s Grad Plus framework.
In the Boulder Valley School District, preparing students for the future means more than college and career preparedness at the end of high school—it means starting career exploration early, building curiosity, and connecting classroom learning to the world that awaits our students.