Detailed Information

Mission Statement

We desire to teach to the immediate needs of each child in a Christ-Centered environment so that success can be experienced and children can become self-motivated learners.

Statement of Faith

Dove Christian Academy is a nondenominational school. The school's governing board has adopted the following statement of faith that is consistent with the doctrinal statements of the national association of evangelicals and the association of Christian schools international. These doctrines are taught in the classroom and proclaimed in the chapel and worship services.

We believe the appropriate response to the grace of God is to believe, repent, confess, be baptized, and grow in the knowledge of the Lord. We believe the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to convict men, regenerate the sinner, indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the Christian to live a Godly life.

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His reconciling death for all people, His bodily resurrection from the dead, His ascension to the Father as our advocate and His return in victory.

We believe the Bible is the inspired, authoritative Word of God and is truth without error, written to reveal His will for salvation of men and to guide Christians in faith and life. We believe all men fell into sin through Adam and that all need salvation through Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, apart from personal work or merit.

Admission Standards

The admissions process at DCA is as follows:

1. An interview is scheduled with the administrator. A legal parent and/or guardian must attend this interview along with the student-seeking enrollment.
   
   
2. All previous testing papers need to be brought to the interview. These papers should include the IEP, if available, the Woodcock Johnson Academic Assessment, and the WISC-R psychological assessment. Should your child not have any of these test scores, current testing will be necessary.
   
   
3. Typically, learning disabled children have an average IQ(100), but they are functioning at a much lower level than would be expected. DCA does require the child to have an IQ of at least 80. However, we do investigate the child on an individual basis rather than just looking at the IQ. Many factors regarding each child's ability to learn are taken into consideration.
   
   
4. During the interview, parents will be asked to sign a release form allowing our school to check with the child's previous school to ensure that your child is currently in good standing. A child who has been expelled from his previous school would make him ineligible to enroll at Dove.
   
   
5. After the interview and all necessary papers have been
   reviewed, our administrator will contact you as to whether
   your child has been accepted at our school.

The School

Dove Christian Academy opened its doors in 1997. It has focused its energies and talents on helping students with special needs and overcoming learning disabilities. Small class sizes have been maintained in order to offer maximum individualization. The basics of reading, written language, and mathematics are emphasized. Our goal is to remediate a child's learning disability and to return these potentially bright students to regular school programs within just a few years. Typically, after one or two years at DCA, a student is ready to return to a neighborhood school environment and to succeed both academically and socially. Subsequently, our students are promoted to private and public schools across the Denver area.

Financial Commitment

Registration Fee
A nonrefundable registration fee of $350.00 is required that covers administrative costs and textbooks. A student's place in the classroom will be held upon receipt of this amount. We do reserve current positions for students who already attend Dove before we accept outside applicants. However, to ensure your child's enrollment for the next year, your deposit needs to be submitted.

Activity Fee
An annual activity fee of $75.00 is due with the first tuition payment to cover all entrance fees and transportation fees for scheduled field trips. Should this fee not be included with the first tuition payment.

Tuition Fee
The tuition fee for the high school student is $7000.00/year. For the 2nd grade through the 8th grade tuition is $6000.00/year. A 5% discount is available if paid in full and submitted by August 1st. Monthly payments are due on the first of every month. If the payment has not been received by the 10th of every month, a $50.00 late fee will be incurred. Should a student withdraw from Dove at any time during the school year, parents are responsible for the remainder of the current month's tuition and one additional month's payment. The payment schedule begins on August 1st and ends May 1st. Checks must be sent directly to the administration office. Teachers and church secretaries are asked not to receive payments.

Multiple Child Discounts (tuition only)
Child #1: 0% child # 2: 5% off

Communication

Friday Folders
Every Friday your child brings home a folder with all of his weekly work inside as well as a weekly progress report. This will help to keep the communication strong between school and parent. This progress report needs to be signed by the parent and returned to the school the following Monday.

Parent-Teacher Conferences
Conferences are scheduled twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring. This time is used to more formally report the achievements and strengths of your child, to provide encouragement in areas of weakness, and to acquire feedback from the parents.

Curriculum Overview

Because learning styles are so varied in each child, a learning program is tailored to the student's particular needs. Intensive, customized instruction is the only way to work effectively with children striving to overcome dyslexia and other learning difficulties. With our trained and caring teachers, this highly personalized approach works very well. Every member of the staff is directly involved with students. Each child follows an academic program designed for his or her specific ability level. We use a range of phonemic awareness techniques, which includes a multi-sensory Orton-Gillingham phonics based instruction, math manipulatives, and reading technique called neurological impress. These techniques are all taught in small, sequential steps, which instill a sense of accomplishment and success.

It is also important that students are involved in group work and some subjects are taught with two or more classes grouped together. This type of interaction helps to foster a sense of camaraderie among the school as a whole. Core subject classes are organized according to the functioning level of the student. As the year progresses, students are given more independent work.

Children write fictional stories at least four days a week. Expository writing is developed as a student's skills progress. Work on written expression, grammar, and usage evolves naturally and informally during this writing process. Much emphasis is given to the writing process and students are taught this through modeling and several prewriting skills.

Organization skills and time management become part of the daily routine. Students are responsible for maintaining notebooks, keeping up materials, and turning in homework on time. Learning to change classes helps students prepare for middle school and at Dove a child will be given a homeroom but may change rooms two to three times a day.

While enrolled, each student's progress is monitored closely. Weekly reports are sent home to parents. Formal conferences are scheduled periodically and academic testing is used to document progress. Formal, individual assessment is available upon parental request. One major component of our school is that we highly encourage our students to be advocates for one another. A sense of nurturing prevails among the children that tends to help each child feel safe and non-threatened. Our commitment to Christ enables our children to be sensitive to the learning and social needs of their fellow classmates. Students understand that they may have a definite academic need, but that they also have a definite strength to share with others as well. We teach children how to genuinely care for one another and to put others needs ahead of their own.

The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. — Galatians 5:22-23

The Orton-Gillingham approach

The Orton-Gillingham approach was named for Samuel Torrey Orton (1879-1948), a physician, a scientist, and an educator and for Ann Gillingham (1878-1963), and educator with a mastery of the English language. Dr. Orton was a pioneer in the field of reading dysfunction and related language based difficulties. As early as 1925, he identified the syndrome of dyslexia as an educational problem. He combined neuroscientific information and developed a theory used to help remediate learning disabilities. Orton-Gillingham is taught in the primary, elementary and intermediate grades. In every lesson the student experiences a high degree of success and therefore learning becomes a positive experience.

Homework Lab

We offer an after school homework lab program for grades 2 through 8 to ensure accountability issues for each student. You may choose to enroll your child two, three, or four days a week scheduled Monday through Thursday. Payments are made to DCA and unlike the tuition, this payment should be hand delivered to your child's homeroom teacher. A billing schedule will be dispersed at the beginning of each semester, which will vary slightly due to holidays. The first payment is due, along with the homework lab sign-up sheet, the first week of school. Subsequently, the next month's payment will be due by the first of each month. The teacher will send home a reminder the last Friday of each month indicating what the bill will be for the following month. Again, please note that there will be no homework lab after scheduled field trips.

Goody Box

Students will be keeping a log of earned points for having completed homework assignments and those points are converted to purchase items from the goody box. If you should have any useable toys, school supplies, or just "interesting junk," please consider donating it to the school for our goody box.

Physical Education Program

Dove offers a noncompetitive physical education program that stresses participation rather than winning. Our mission statement regarding physical education is to expose our children to various types of sports while nurturing a tolerance for all levels of physical abilities. Our PE program offers the following:

• Students learn a variety of sports and games
  
• Honesty and sportsmanship
  
• Positive attitude and respect for others
  
• Exercise for healthy bodies
  

Dress Code

Boys' Attire
Boys must wear only navy blue slacks with belt loops. These types of slacks must be purchased from the Dennis Uniform Company located at 1901 w. Mississippi Ave., east of Federal on Mississippi (303.935.5911). Dennis Uniform shorts may be worn during 1st and 4th quarters only. No jackets may be worn during school so sweaters and vests should be purchased there as well. The store has an order form from Dove and the clerk will be able to inform parents exactly what is required. See insert regarding Dennis Uniform store. Orders may be made on the Internet. Ordering your child's uniform as early as possible is highly recommended as Dennis Uniform services a high volume of clients. Body jewelry is not allowed at school. Hair color may be used but only in natural hair colors.

Girls' Attire
Girls in grades 2nd through 4th must wear the designated plaid jumpers, shorts, or navy slacks. Girls in grades 5th through 12th must wear the designated plaid skorts, skirts, or navy slacks. These items must be purchased from Dennis Uniform store located at 1901 W. Mississippi Ave. (303.935.5911), east of Federal on Mississippi. Shorts must also be purchased only from the Dennis Uniform Store and shorts may be worn during 1st and 4th quarters only. No jackets may be worn during school so sweaters and vests should be purchased there as well. The store has an order form from Dove and the clerk will be able to inform parents exactly what is required. See insert regarding Dennis Uniform Store. Orders may be made on the Internet. Ordering your child's uniform as early as possible is highly recommended as Dennis Uniform services a high volume of clients. Girls may wear earrings but only the studded type due to possible injury with other types. No other body jewelry is allowed at school. Hair color may be used but only in natural hair colors.

Shoes
Sandals are allowed during 1st and 4th quarters. Shoes and socks must be worn at all times if not wearing sandals. Tennis shoes are not allowed. Students must wear leather deck shoes or penny loafers. A pair of tennis shoes will be required to be kept at school for physical education purposes or for outside lunch recess.

Drop-off & Pickup Procedures

School Hours
School begins promptly at 8:30. Bible reading and prayer requests commence at this time. We realize that many students who come from far distances may have difficulty arriving at school on time. However, every effort to be on time is appreciated. School ends at 2:30 (HS 3:30) and prompt pickup is necessary as there is no after school teacher supervision.

Late Pickup
Please keep in mind that you will need to pick up your student promptly at either 2:30 or 3:30 as you have prearranged. For every 15 minutes that your child has not been picked up, a $10 fee will be incurred. This late charge will be billed to your tuition balance statement.

Field Trips

Field trips are scheduled periodically and it has always been an enhancement to our learning. If there is a parent who would like to volunteer his/her time to help transport our students for any of these trips, please let the homeroom teacher know. It would be appreciated so much. Field trips are used as positive reinforcement to a child fulfilling his homework expectations. Should the student fail to hand in his assignment regularly, he may not be allowed to attend a scheduled field trip. Please note that if your child loses his privilege to attend the outing, the child will need to stay home that day and there will be no reimbursement for field trip fee or tuition fee for the day. There is no homework lab on field trip days. If your child chooses not to turn in homework on a regular basis, the teacher has the option of keeping the student home on the next scheduled field trip. Teachers will be responsible to contact the parents at least three days prior to the field trip if they have a student who cannot attend.

Rules and Regulations

Discipline
DCA implements a program called Love and Logic which focuses on natural consequences incurred by students. This method of discipline allows the student to make better choices for himself. He learns the benefits of taking responsibility for his actions.

All students are required to uphold the following behavioral standards:

• Respect will be maintained toward classmates and teachers.
• Students will comply with work assigned by teachers.
• Toys, video games, and Walkman are not allowed at school.
• Candy, gum, and sodas are not allowed.

If a student has demonstrated a significant lack of effort toward his/her work or if a student has not turned in homework, they may be required to stay inside for lunch and may not be able to attend a scheduled field trip.

Suspension or Expulsion

A student is subject to suspension or expulsion for:

1. Willful damage to property - school property or personal property of teachers or fellow students. The offender shall pay for repairs or replacement of damaged property.
   
   
2. Physical injury and/or threats to fellow students or teachers.
   
   
3. Any conduct detrimental to the welfare of the school.
   
   
4. Obscene and profane language on school campus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. — Philippians 4:8

Homework Policy

Teachers will record homework points on a daily basis. Parents' signature must be on students' homework spiral notebook every day. Teachers will give full credit to quality papers that are handed in on time. Late papers will receive only partial credit and will not be awarded a grade higher than a "C." Students are always required to hand in all assignments even if they are late. However, it is important to note, that if a student does not turn in homework on a regular basis, the teacher has the option of keeping the student home on the next scheduled field trip. Teachers will be responsible to contact the parents at least three days prior to the field trip if they have a student who cannot attend.

Grading Scale

F 59 and below

Full credit is given for work handed in on time. Half credit will be given for work handed in late. All assigned work will need to be completed to receive a grade.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
— Proverbs 22:6

Lunch & Snacks

Hot lunch
Once a week each student will have the opportunity to purchase a hot lunch from various fast food establishments. These lunches are delivered directly to the classroom and are coordinated through a parent volunteer.

Snacks
Each afternoon, students have the opportunity to take a short snack break. Fresh fruit is optimal. Please do not send in canned fruit, as it has the potential to damage textbooks. For both snack and lunch, please do not send in cookies, candies, chocolate bars, or sodas.

Health and Safety

Health and Medical Policies
Children are encouraged to remain at home if they have a fever and are visibly ill. However, should a child become ill at school, the teacher will contact the parent.

Medication
The staff, without written consent of the parent, will dispense no medication. An authorization form for medication will be dispersed upon enrollment. This includes simple aspirin. So should your child require aspirin, please know that a form must be signed.

Immunization
Colorado law requires a completed immunization card for each student attending. A completed card is due at the beginning of the school year.

Inclement Weather
In case of extremely bad weather, please watch stations four, seven, or nine on television and DCA will post either a cancellation or delayed schedule. Postings will be broadcast by 6 A.M..

Christmas Program

This is an opportunity for our students to shine and perform before an audience. Regardless of certain academic challenges, our students often have an inherent ability in the area of music and acting. At Dove, it is our deepest desire to prove to our students that they possess talents just like many of their peers.

Volunteer Opportunities

Homeroom Mom
Each class will need one homeroom mom. This person will work closely with their child's teacher. Duties will include planning holiday parties, arranging rides for field trips, planning birthday parties, and general help.

Goody Box Coordinator
The volunteer simply records weekly earned points for each child and monitors the spending of those points every other week.

Hot Lunch Coordinator
This volunteer collects checks from parents indicating the food purchase that each child requests. The volunteer simply makes up a choice of three food combinations with a price list for each choice. The volunteer then pays the vendor and picks up the food once a week.

Christmas Play
Volunteers are needed in props, staging, and various duties.

Fun and Fitness Day
This volunteer organizes field day events at the end of the year. Several outdoor games take place and the students earn ribbons for various events.

Tax Deductibility of Tuition

Dove Christian Academy is designed especially to meet the special education needs of school age children with learning disabilities. While this emphasis and specialized educational care may in some individual cases qualify a portion of the tuition payment for a medical expense deduction under the internal revenue code, you are advised to consult a qualified tax advisor or attorney to determine the availability of such a deduction in your individual case. DCA, a 501c(3) corporation, takes no position as to the partial deductibility of such tuition payments.

Work hard so God can approve you. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth. — 2 Timothy 2:15

Dove Christian Academy
Nonprofit corporation

Member of Learning Disabilities Association
Member of the International Dyslexia Association