CEO Program

CEO Program | Overview

The CEO program is open to 6th, 7th & 8th graders and is offered exclusively as a 5-day program; Monday through Friday from 2:45pm to 5:00pm with an option to stay until 6pm. See below for grade based curriculum.

The success of your student in the CEO program comes with consistency and daily reinforcement of study and organizational concepts throughout the entire school year. This is not a triage approach to grades, but rather a long-term year long commitment to executive function skill building. CEO students experience success with agenda management, long-range planning, and adopting a disciplined approach to study time. Students learn to take control doing regular audits of their agenda, Schoology, Teacher Pages, and the School Portal to become more mindful of how they can balance academic responsibilities with extracurricular activities and social time. Families enjoy the evening family time and morning rituals without the anxiety of last minute homework and looming deadlines.

CEO is a way of life for DMS students. All students enrolled in the CEO Program walk to DSU independently after school and check-in at the front desk when they arrive anytime between 2:45pm and 3:30pm. All CEO students must also check out at the front desk when they leave. CEO Students are responsible for their own behavior. Families should discuss, determine and enforce expectations around middle school students coming and going from DSU. They are encouraged to pursue extracurricular activities, visit a teacher after school, catch up with friends and enjoy a snack prior to arriving in the Academic Center at 3:30pm.

Students are asked to turn cell phones off during homework time. Students are expected to be follow DSU’s Code of Conduct, be respectful to staff, to other students and to the learning environment at DSU. CEO’s are enrolled for the full school year. There are no refunds for students who miss days due to illness, vacations or sports activities.

All students enrolled in the CEO Program walk to DSU independently after school and check-in at the front desk when they arrive. All CEO students must also check out at the front desk when they leave. CEO Students are responsible for their own behavior. Families should discuss, determine and enforce expectations around middle school students coming and going from DSU.

Students are asked to turn cell phones off during homework time. Students are expected to be calm, respectful to staff, to other students and to the learning environment at DSU.

Features

The focus from 3:30 to 5pm daily is to complete homework with an emphasis on effective study skills, agenda management, time management and tracking long-term projects and assignments. We will start off the school year with activities focused on:

• Study area expectations and workspace set up
• Personal care, advocacy, awareness
• At-home preparation for success
• Effective classroom habits
• Short-term and long-term planning
• General organization and study skills
• Beneficial use of technology

6th Grade CEO

For our new 6th graders, the transition to middle school is a significant one! A new school environment with a team of teachers, some with different expectations, deadlines and homework delivery systems. It can quickly feel overwhelming. First and foremost, students appreciate DSU’s Academic Center for its Monday through Friday distraction free environment with computers and all the school supplies they need to execute the daily homework. During the first term, students learn Schoology, First Class email and track their progress on the School Portal. DSU staff role play strategies for the student to learn to advocate for themselves and build lasting relationships with their teachers. Strategies are reinforced throughout the year to feel in control and develop ongoing homework and study habits.

7th Grade CEO

By the 7th grade, our CEOs are ready to take on more in their schedules. They can appreciate the value of using their after school time purposefully and they may visit CEO only 3-5 times per week. They enjoy the camaraderie of friends but also want their evenings free to pursue their activities or enjoy time to relax. They are developing as independent learners but still appreciate the structure, distraction free environment and regular check ins with staff.

8th Grade CEO

By the 8th grade, our CEO’s have a system that works and the daily coaching requires more of a check in. Audits of agendas/schoology/teacher pages and portal are still implemented but students are generally far more connected to their grades and strive to do well. For an 8th grader who has never done CEO, it’s not too late to implement executive function strategies to build a strong homework and study habits.

2020/2021 Fees

Program payment in full, or, a non-refundable* program deposit with a commitment to a 10-month payment plan is required in addition to the state required forms to fulfill your student’s registration.

*Program deposits are non-refundable

DSU offers a sibling discount of 5% off the annual tuition of each child enrolling in DSU programming. This discount will be applied to each monthly payment. Discount is applicable to families with multiple children.

Scholarships are available.

Sibling discounts and scholarships cannot be combined.

Daily Schedule

Monday through Friday
2:45 pm to 3:30pm

DMS students walk independently to DSU and sign in at the front desk.
Enjoy time to blow off steam, grab a snack at the Blender Café, participate in organized group activities led by DSU youth counselor staff, or get a head start on homework.
3:30pm – 5:00pm

Move to the lounge for structured homework time including emphasis on study skills, agenda management, time management, and tracking long term projects and assignments and breaking up work into manageable parts.
5:00 pm

Pack up for dismissal to parent or other authorized adult ensuring all materials are returned to back pack and assignments to be completed at home are marked in agenda.
Students sign out when picked up by an adult or moving to another location (i.e. walk to library, athletics.)