Friday Five: Mental Health Matters | Sept. 1, 2023

⏰ Today’s newsletter is 551 words, a 2.5-minute read.

1. 🎒 #APSBack2School: View the Photo Gallery

Earlier this week, APS welcomed back students for the new school year! We are excited to share a gallery of curated photos from the first day.

Check out the #APSBack2School hashtag on social media.
Watch this preview clip of the back-to-school video premiering next week.

2. 🫶🏼 Mental Health Matters—View Resources

To ensure a successful school year, prioritize mental health, take care of one another and ACT when you see someone struggling. This means: Acknowledge when someone is struggling, show them you Care, and Tell a professional so they get the help they need. If you know someone who needs help:

Call or text 988, or use the online chat at 988lifeline.org. Services are for mental health and substance abuse support.
Call the School Support Line, available for students, staff and families, at 833-Me-Cigna (833-632–4462) for help with bullying, isolation or other mental health issues.
Report bullying through the Bully Harassment Incident Form.
Contact an APS substance abuse counselor or other trusted adult at the school, if you have concerns about someone you believe may be using opioids or other substances and needs help.
View additional resources.

Let us all work together to protect the well-being of our students.

3. 🤝🏽 Volunteer or Partner with APS—Here’s How!

We are excited to welcome back volunteers and encourage others to apply to be a volunteer, mentor students or partner with a school. APS provides numerous opportunities for parents, businesses and the community to enrich the education of our students. All volunteers, including chaperones for field trips, must complete the online volunteer application.

Learn more.

4. ⏰ Changes to High School Early Release

Early release times at our high schools and programs overlapped during the previous school year, resulting in late arrivals. To address this, impacted high schools and programs will have an additional 15-25 minutes of instructional time on early release days. For example, Wakefield, Washington-Liberty and Yorktown will dismiss at 1 p.m. instead of 12:35 p.m. on early release days.

Early release dates for the 2023-24 school year are Dec. 6, Feb. 7, March 15, May 3 and June 10-12.

View the time changes.

5. 👟 Important Athletic Events Information

At athletic events, we encourage everyone to cheer on our student-athletes. We also expect our students and fans to use sound judgment and demonstrate appropriate behavior that presents a positive viewing experience. Based on growing attendance at our games as student enrollment has increased, APS is taking precautions to ensure that all spectators have a safe and enjoyable experience at all high school athletic events.

Only students from the participating schools are allowed admission without a parent or guardian.
School IDs or StudentVUE will be checked at the gate.
Any students in 8th grade or younger must be accompanied by an adult for admission to any Arlington high school sporting event.
No backpacks or bags are allowed and no outside food or beverages can be brought into any games.