The ACS staff and I discussed The Power of a Team one day during our in-service in August. Due to the recent hurricane events, I would also like to share some of this information with our parent community as it relates to our school as a team:

• I believe in the power of a team
• I believe none of us can do it alone
• I believe in honest and forthright communication with our team members
• I believe in stating my perspective with ‘I feel…’ when conflicts arise
• I believe there are always two sides to a story
• I believe in gathering facts, and not listening to rumors
• I believe we can say anything, even sensitive issues, with a smile
• I believe we can make mistakes and laugh at them
• I believe that it is not the mistakes we make, but how we fix them
• I believe we all have areas of growth
• I believe we should look through others eyes and hear through others ears
• I believe in our team

Our staff has discussed the above for several years now and even though we make mistakes, we also believe the above makes us a stronger team. I hope you do also and can join us in our beliefs!

The Walt Disney Company has the Disney Teacher Awards on a yearly basis to salute outstanding teachers. They are asking for a hand in locating amazing, dynamic and creative teachers between the dates of August 15 and October 15, 2005. To nominate a special teacher in your student’s life you can log on to www.DisneyHand.com or call toll-free 1-877-282-8322.

A couple reminders:
Dogs and/or other animals are not allowed in our building, unless previously discussed with your child’s teacher for show and tell purposes. We have numerous students and parents who are allergic to different animals and would appreciate not having to deal with this during carpool; it is also a Board Policy. Thanks for adhering to our policies; they were made for good reasons!

September has rolled in as quickly as ever and I would like to remind our community of fall and winter clothing that adheres to the Dress Code. Students can wear any jacket they would like into the building and out of the building; however, while in the facility, students can only wear the Academy Charter School hoodie sold at S & S Sports. No other hoodies adhere to our dress code policy. There are other Academy Charter School sweatshirts from past years that our PTO has sold, and a navy or red sweatshirt that have Academy Charter School printed on the front, that also fit our guidelines.

Dates to remember:

• Friday, September 16- Progress Reports for grades 3-8 go home
• Tuesday, September 20- Picture Retakes
• Friday, September 23- Teacher In-service Day- No School
• Monday, September 26- 3rd Specials Rotation for First Quarter- MS Only!
• Volunteer Opportunity to help our PTO with a staff breakfast- Friday, September 30

I hope your weekend is terrific!

Kindra Whitmyre-Nelson
Dean of Academy Charter School
email: nelsonk@academycharter.org
web: http://www.academycharter.org/deannelson

The days are starting to have a crisp feel to them--fall is in the air! Hopefully, this energizes all of our wonderful volunteers here at ACS. It was great to meet with the classroom coordinators last week--what a great group. Hopefully, all the classrooms are getting into a routine utilizing our parent volunteers and helping to support our students.

Mrs. Zoetewey, our librarian, needs some help shelving books at the end of the day on Monday, Thursday and Friday. Please contact Mrs. Zoetewey, zoeteweyj@academycharter.org , or stop in to make arrangements to help with this task.

As of August 31, 2005, volunteers at ACS have logged over 600 hours!! The following families have already completed at least 20 hours: Knight (80 hours), Johnson (23 hours), Mays (26 hours), O'Leary (55 hours), Walgren (25 hours) and Watson (20 hours). What a great start---thanks for all this work. I am sure there are other families that have contributed over 20 hours already, but maybe they forgot to log them in--please update your volunteer hours regularly.

Steve Koehn did a great job installing the shelving in the Art Room. Now they can store many more art projects in their room--thank you, Steve.

Mauri Mays, our previous Volunteer Coordinator, has graciously given her time and talents to help make a smooth transition for me, and continues to help us out in the office (as a volunteer) whenever we need her. Thank you, Mauri, for your support.

I would like to have about 5 folks to help out with picture day on Tuesday, September 20th. This is retake day for student pictures and staff pictures will be done at this time. Volunteers would need to be here at 10:00 and should be finished by 12:30. Please email me if you can give a hand on this day.

Let's keep "Making a Difference" at Academy Charter School!

Anne Belfrage
Volunteer Coordinator
belfragea@academycharter.org

The ACS Governing Board’s monthly meeting was held this past Monday evening, September 12th,, at the school. Business manager Barbara Ireland submitted a proposed budget for the 2005/2006 school year, which was approved. Dean Nelson gave a brief explanation of last year’s CSAP results. Addressing the weed control problem on various areas of our lot, especially near Prairie Hawk Drive, was also discussed.

Updating the parent/staff survey will be completed soon. It will be sent out electronically this fall, and another survey is planned for the spring of 2006.

Board member Robin Gray is seeking volunteers for his Academic committee. Please email him at drgii@msn.com. The other Governing Board committees need members as well - Operations, Policy, Strategic Planning, and Communications. It is a great way to be involved at ACS. Please come to the next meeting or check the ACS website to email the appropriate board member if you are interested.

Don’t forget your obligation to attend at least one Governing Board meeting during the school year. Two parents and one staff member were in attendance at Monday’s meeting – let’s see if we can raise those numbers at our October meeting! Plan to attend on Monday, October 10th at 6 p.m. at ACS.