August 7, 2012 Dear Design Lab Families, Welcome to the 2012-2013 school year.

Before we look forward to the upcoming year, lets look back at the year that was. So much happened at Design Lab in 201112. First and most importantly, we successfully held our first commencement ceremony and forty-nine students became the first ever to graduate from Design Lab Early College High School. Additionally, within our first group of graduates, three of our students also completed their Associates Degrees from Tri-C, and almost every student in the graduating class enters college this year as a second semester freshman or as a sophomore, because of all the college credit they earned while students at Design Lab Early College High School. We have more good news to share as well. Were proud to announce that eighteen of our incoming 11th grade students passed all five parts of the OGT in the spring. We are also able to announce that we have strengthened our partnership with the Tri-C robotics department and we have a program in place to ensure our 11th and 12th grade students have the opportunity to take robotics classes this year. Last year, we successfully held our schools first ever Pep Rally, Homecoming, Fashion Show, two amazing talent shows, our first prom, a Senior Breakfast, and of course, our first graduation. These were amazing events, and I know well improve upon them this year. Well also plan new events to showcase our students interests and talents. I am incredibly excited about the 2012-2013 school year. Well have many new teachers instructing your children. As appointments and teaching assignments are finalized, Ill make sure to introduce you to our new and returning faculty. Our Design Lab students will be thinkers, problem solvers and makers. We want our students to use their minds and hands as they learn the skills they need to compete in our changing global economy. Together, we must develop a culture where students, teachers and parents believe failure at a task means not having succeeded yet. We intend to create a lab where students will learn by doing. Ultimately, we want our Design Lab students engaging in the real work occurring across Cleveland to transform this city into a successful city of the future. Our shared task is to ensure that every Design Lab student graduates from our school with the choice to attend college; armed with the skills they need to compete for jobs in a global economy. This journey will take time, and we need to move step by step to reach our goals together. As a school community, our main focus for the 2012-13 school year is to build a culture of care. What must we do daily at Design Lab to make sure parents feel cared for? How does a school operate, when teachers feel cared for? What is happening daily to show students they are cared for? Its these questions and others

that we must ask and answer this year to continue to grow the school our students need to be successful. I will need your help and participation in our school activities and events to make Design Lab an amazing place for our students, parents, and teachers. My personal goal this year is to communicate better with our families. To make sure this occurs, I want to share with you several new communication tools. First, Ill be sending out a monthly newsletter. Youll receive the first one, the last week of August. Weve also begun a Design Lab Blog. You can find the blog at http://designlabhs.wordpress.com/ Ill post news and information on the blog, as well as pictures of whats happening in our school. All the fliers, documents and information we send home, can be found and downloaded on the blog also. Weve also started a school twitter account (@designlabhs). If you want quick updates with news, pictures and events, and you have a twitter account, please follow us. If you do not have a twitter account, you can receive our updates via text message. All you have to do is send a text to the number 40404 and send the message follow @designlabhs. This will enable you to follow our twitter account, without ever signing up for twitter. We will have two School Parent Organizations (SPO) this year. We will have one group for senior parents only who want to focus their efforts on planning all the great senior events we want to have this year, Well call this our SSPO. Our second group will consist of parents of 9-11 grade students, and their work will be about meeting student and parent needs across the rest of the grade levels. This group will be our SPO. We will hold our first meeting for both groups on Thursday, August 30. The Senior Parents Group (SSPO) will meet from 5:30-6:30 PM and the SPO Group will meet from 6:45-7:45. We need your voices to be heard this year to make this the best possible school for our students. Please make the time to attend our meetings. The first day of school is August 22nd and our school day runs from 8:00-2:30. We will strictly enforce the district dress code this year beginning on the first day of school. Please review the dress code requirements attached to this letter, and they can be found on the district website at this address: http://www.cmsdnet.net/en/Resources/Students/DressCode.aspx Students out of dress code will have the opportunity to change into appropriate dress at school if they have it. If they do not, a parent, guardian, or family member must bring the student appropriate dress. If this is not an option, the student will be sent home for the day. All students must be in appropriate dress code each and every day. If you have specific concerns about the dress code for your child, please contact me directly before the first day of school. I can be reached by email at

eric.r.juli@cmsdnet.net or at the school at 216-621-5064, or on my cell at 216-8821547. Student IDs will also be the students RTA pass this year. We expect to have these passes in place for the first day of school. If there is a delay, we will have bus passes on hand to make sure students can get to and from school. It is a district requirement this year that all students wear their identification badges at all times. Because most of our students travel to Design Lab by bus, it should not be a problem to wear the ID daily, because the ID and the bus pass are now one and the same. However, please note that only Safety and Security can replace lost IDs. The cost is $10.00 per ID and all replacement IDs need to be ordered in person at the Board of Education. Parents, guardians, and families, we need your help to make sure all our students wear their IDs everyday. For those of you new to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, we can take new ID photos at our school in the first few days of school. Attached with this letter, please also find two forms. The first is a paper copy of the district dress code, and the second is the Media Consent Form. The Media Consent Form allows us to photograph or videotape your child at school events or in class. Please return this form with your child on the first day of school. Together, lets look to the future of Design Lab through our school creed, coauthored by our first graduating class, the class of 2012. As students of Design Lab Early College High School, we are committed to creating a future path so others may follow in our footsteps. We promise to become positive role models by showing leadership and taking ownership of our educational and personal goals. We are making a commitment to achieve, to become innovative problem solvers, and to work to the best of our potential. Our purposes are to imagine creatively, accept new challenges with an open mind, and to welcome new opportunities so we will become the successful citizens we are destined to be. Welcome to the 2012-2013 school year. Welcome to our new families and welcome to our returning families. Help us make this a year where we purposefully grow our caring school community. Thanks in advance for your support and willingness to

participate as we prepare Design Lab students to be Thinkers, Problem Solvers, and Makers. Sincerely, Eric Juli Head of School Design Lab Early College High School