UPCOMING EVENTS: 

9/2/2022: No School: Professional Development 

9/5/2022: No School: Labor Day   

CAMPUS ANNOUNCEMENTS:

ATTENTION ALL 7th GRADE FAMILIES:

Each year, all incoming 7th-grade scholars are required by state law to submit proof of receiving the Tetanus (Tdap) booster vaccine, a medical exemption from a medical provider, or a note from a parent/guardian stating a religious objection to it. This is a state requirement, and if this documentation is not received by 8/19/22, then any scholar without documentation on file will not be allowed in school until documentation is received.

Required immunizations must be documented on the official TN Immunization Certificate by a medical provider. This certificate is available in local health departments and at many medical offices in Tennessee. 

***If you have already submitted your scholar’s Tdap vaccine record, or a religious or medical exemption, please disregard this announcement***

There are several different options for getting the form to us:

-email a digital copy of the documentation to health@valorcollegiate.org

-bring a physical copy of the documentation to your school’s front office. 

-Doctor’s office can fax a copy directly to Valor at 615-577-8320

Please note: due to HIPAA and privacy laws, we are generally unable to contact your scholar’s physician directly to obtain this information. 

If you have questions or need assistance in locating a facility to get this vaccination, please email us at health@valorcollegiate.org. You can also call the MNPS Health Centers at 615-259-8755 to find a vaccine location near you.

Best, 

Kelly Strazzeri, BSN, RN

Valor School Nurse

Note From James Treimanis, School Nurse

Hello Valor Families,

I have had the pleasure of working as one of the Valor School Nurses since May of 2021. But, after Friday August 12th, 2022 I will be leaving Valor. I have greatly enjoyed my time here at Valor, and will deeply miss the families and students I have worked with during this time. I, my School Nurse colleague Kelly Strazzeri, and the Health Team are greatly appreciative of the support Valor has shown during the COVID Pandemic and this past school year. Since I am leaving, Kelly Strazzeri will be taking over the school nursing role for all three Valor schools. If you need to contact the school nurse directly, please email kstrazzeri@valorcollegiate.org, or health@valorcollegiate.org

Best,

James Treimanis, RN, BSN

2022-2023 Meal Plan

As most of you are already aware, the statewide “all students eat free” program has officially ended. As a result Valor moved back to paid meals this year for those who don’t qualify for free or reduced meals. We are aware that MNPS will be using federal funding to support free meals for one more year, however, we are not covered under MNPS’ funding. 

We ask that everyone complete the FRL application that was included in the family community agreement.  You can access it at myschoolapps.com – please make sure to choose Valor Collegiate Academies, NOT MNPS. We are a separate food program and want to make sure you get your application processed correctly.

If you have any questions regarding the meal policy, please email info@valorcollegiate.org. Thank you.

Religious Accommodations 

For families that would like for their scholars to have religious accommodations during school, please know that freedom of religion is an individual right and a collective responsibility. Valor commits to working with the community to foster an inclusive learning environment that promotes acceptance and protects religious freedom for all individuals. We appreciate the students & families who are willing to help create such space. Prayer request forms are available at every campus’ Compass Center. 

Jum’ah Services

If you are interested in your scholar attending Jum’ah services on Fridays, please complete this form so we can plan for accommodations.

Jum’ah services will be held on Fridays at each Valor Campus, led by scholars, staff members, and parent volunteers.

Jum’ah will take place during the FRIDAY Lunch/Mentor time schedule to avoid losing academic time while still providing an opportunity for students to fulfill their religious obligations.

For questions, please contact the Muslim Student Association (MSA) Club leaders at MsaValor@gmail.com or our Family Engagement Coordinators Ayda Doski at 615-414-6929 and Sipel Ibrahim at 615.881.5034. Students can also see their Compass Coach.

Middle School 2022-2023 Syllabi 

We hope your scholars had a great first week in their classes! If you’d like to learn more about a course, in this landing page here, you can find the syllabi for all middle school courses for the coming school year. If you missed our family kickoff events this week, you can find the slides from the event and each teacher below.

Flagship deck here. 

Voyager decks:

5th Grade Slides

6th Grade Slides

7th Grade Slides

8th Grade Slides

Flagship Homework Agenda 

We are resharing our homework agenda for Flagship at this link. Staff updates this homework agenda Monday mornings so scholars and families are aware of the homework for the week. We hope this is a helpful support for your scholar and family! 

Flagship Dismissal Reminders

Thank you all for the patience this week with our first week of dismissal! A couple of reminders for dismissal: 

1. If you are picking up scholars from multiple Valor schools, we recommend that families use our Carpool Circle with the entrance on Cotton Lane. 
2. If you are waiting in the Traffic Circle line with the entrance on Bass Avenue, please make sure you are not blocking businesses or side streets while waiting on Nolensville. Additionally, please make sure you are entering in the back of the line and not entering the line in gaps where cars have stopped to keep streets and driveways clear. 
3. If you are turning left into the traffic circle at the light, we recommend going straight through the light instead of turning left into Valor. You can then join the traffic circle line turning right into the traffic circle which helps with our traffic flow. 
4. Please have your scholar’s name card visible for the traffic team. Mr. Gutter should walk past to input your scholar’s name. These cards make that task way more efficient, especially as we learn new scholar names. If you entered in a space where Mr. Gutter did not get your name, please make sure a member of our staff in the traffic circle gets your scholar’s name (generally the teacher by the rock directing traffic into the school) so that your scholar knows you are here to pick them up. 
5. Please stay in your cars during traffic circle and don’t park and walk up to our building. 

We appreciate everyone’s patience this week with our dismissal and hope that we’ll continue to see improvements in our traffic flow and time it takes to safely dismiss all 500+ scholars. 

Middle School Paychecks

Students will be bringing home their first paychecks on Monday! Be on the lookout for those, and make sure that you sign them and send them back to school on Tuesday morning with your scholar. If you are still needing to get signed up for Kickboard, check out this one pager for how to get access! 

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT/VFG (VALOR FAMILY GROUP) ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Let’s Get Involved !!!

We are looking for families that would like to work together to enrich the school community. All are invited and welcome to be involved with the VFG at a level of commitment that works for you. The VFG Leadership team is composed of representatives from each campus and from subcommittees that promote a variety of interests and initiatives. Please take a moment to complete the survey below with your interest  https://bit.ly/VFGInterest

For more information please contact Alexis Morris- alexis.morris@valorcollegiate.org. 

ATHLETIC ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Tryouts for several sports are coming up. It is important to make sure your scholar is the listed locations for these tryouts as there will be no makeup days:

Co-Ed Cross Country Try-Outs:

August 16, 2022, at Whitfield Park (5150 Edmondson Pike, Nashville, TN 37211) from 4pm-5:30pm

Middle School Girls Soccer Tryouts:

August 18, 2022, at Orchard Bend Park (5605 Pettus Rd, Antioch, TN 37013) from 4 pm-6:30 pm

Middle School Boys Soccer Tryouts:

September 8th and 9th, 2022, at Orchard Bend Park (5605 Pettus Rd, Antioch, TN 37013) from 4 pm-6:30 pm

More information regarding tryouts/athletics can be found here: https://valorfamilynews.com/2022/08/01/valor-middle-school-sports-information/

FACE: FINE ARTS, CLUBS & ENRICHMENTS ANNOUNCEMENTS:

AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMMING STARTS MONDAY AUGUST 29TH!

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And update regarding Boys & Girls Club from the senior director of operations Dr. Chandra McPherson:

Due to a staffing shortage, we regret to inform you that our school-based Clubs sites have reached capacity for the 2022-2023 school year. We expect to resolve these matters within the next 2-4 weeks as we continue to screen qualified candidates.

A wait list has been created, and families will be contacted in the order received.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee thanks you for your continued interest and

support and looks forward to another successful school year.

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Registration for the 2022 Fall after-school Fine Arts, Clubs, & Enrichment (FACE) programming is now open!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN YOUR SCHOLAR(S) UP TODAY! 

After-school programs List

A note about the thespian troupe:  This troupe is currently only available to high school students.  More information will be going out later this semester regarding our middle school spring musical.

Limited Availability of Scholarships

FACE believes in providing every scholar with the experiences and adventure our after school programming offers, so we have made available a limited number of scholarships to cover programming fees.  To apply for a scholarship, please fill out our Scholarship Request Form.

Vex Robotics Needs You!

Have you always wanted to know how robots are built & programmed?  Well we have just the opportunity for you!  Vex Robotics is seeking parent-volunteers to help after school with supervising our award winning robotics teams.  Very low lift, lots of fun watching students build, program, test, and compete with their robots!  Contact Jessica Weakley (jweakley@valorcollegiate.org) or Jennifer Sternberg (jennifer.sternberg@gmail.com) for more information.