Dear Family and Friends of ACS,

February is here! It is the time of year that I start to create a list of items that our ACS staff will work on for next year. I am very proud of all the improvements our ACS staff has worked hard to implement this year and am looking forward to hearing any feedback you mACSight have for me about this year. Creating and aligning policies and procedures in K-8 (not just K-5 as I was accustomed to) is a huge job and I would like to hear how you are feeling about our school this year and what improvements can be made for next year to continue our mission toward a unified K-8 school. Please email me at nelsonk@academycharter.org if you have any feedback for me. Thank you!

I was unable to attend the 8th grade play last Friday night; however, I heard it was just amazing! Congratulations to Ms. Been and to our 8th grade students for working so hard and committing so many hours to this production.

On Friday, February 17th, our school will be closed for an in-service day. On in-service days, even though our ACS staff is going through different trainings, our office has always been open; however, on this particular day please make note that our entire staff will be in-servicing and even our office will be closed this day. Please do not try to come to the school to retrieve missing student items or to discuss an issue with our office or staff, as we will all be learning about positive and effective communication this day and cannot be interrupted. Thanks for your understanding!

A Look Ahead:

• Monday, February 13- Third Specials Rotation for Third Quarter
• Monday, February 13- Governing Board Meeting, 6:00
• Tuesday, February 14-
• Wednesday, February 15- Athletic Day (for more information on this day, see Dean Peters blurb below)
• Thursday, February 16- Dress Down Day
• Friday, February 17- In-service Day- No Students (See above for important information about this day)
• Monday, February 20- President’s Day- School Closed!
• Friday, February 24- PTO Breakfast
• Friday, February 24- Elementary Virtue Assembly, 8:50, Cafeteria
• Friday, February 24- MS Virtue Assembly, 2:50, Cafeteria
• Friday, February 24- MS and Specials Newsletter goes home

Have a fabulous weekend!

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

Dear ACS Families and Friends,

I wanted to remind Middle School students and parents that Ms. Been will be starting her after school drama club this month. The reason for the change from being an elective to an after school club, is due to the numerous activities student council is responsible for coordinating, we felt student council needed to became an elective for the rest of the year in order to accomplish their goals. Ms. Been has volunteered to host the Drama Club because of the tremendous interest on the part of our ACS middle school students. She has a sign up sheet posted outside her classroom for students who are interested in participating in this club. A flyer will be sent home next week providing more information as to when the informational meeting will be held.

Student Council is busy with their ACS Blanket Drive. Flyers were sent home last week in Friday folders. Blankets will be donated to the Denver Rescue Mission and the class with the most blankets will be receiving an ice cream party. More information regarding this can be found in the newsletter.

Student Council is also hosting an all school Athletic Day on Wednesday, February 15th. ACS students and staff may dress in “athletic wear” that day to honor all of our Middle School students who have participated in sports so far in the school year. We will be having a middle school pep rally to recognize our ACS athletes in the gym that morning. Flyers will be sent out in Friday folders regarding this.

Student Council is also sponsoring a Valentine’s Dance on Friday, February 10th, in the ACS gym from 5:30-9:00 pm. This event is open only to ACS middle school students and the cost is $3.00 at the door. Formal attire is requested and refreshments will be available for a minimal cost.

Progress reports go out this Friday for students in grades 3-8. Middle school parents: Every Friday, middle school students receive a packet which contains graded papers from the middle school team. Included in the packet of papers are all flyers from PTO, student council, as well as progress reports, if a student is below a C in any content area. Please be sure to ask your student for their Friday packet of papers!

Castle View High School hosted their Parent Registration Information Meeting this past Tuesday, January 31st . The freshman registration forms for Castle View High school are due this Friday, February 3rd. Please turn in the completed forms to the office.

Third grade reading CSAP testing will begin on Tuesday, February 14th, and last through Wednesday, February 15th, this year. If you need to schedule any appointments on these days, please do so in the afternoon, as students will be testing in the morning. I will provide more information regarding the rest of CSAP testing for grades 3-8 in the next few weeks once we’ve finalized the testing schedule.

I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate the 8th grade class for the outstanding job they did with their performances of Twelfth Night last Friday evening. All of your hard work, practicing lines, and working as a team definitely paid off with a very entertaining evening!

Thank you as always for your support of Academy Charter School!

Kendra Peters
Assistant Dean of Academy Charter School
email: petersk@academycharter.org

Lots of folks have been inquiring about how to get their volunteer hours finished and I have tried to give suggestions. One option is helping with the staff breakfast once a month when PTO furnishes breakfast for the ACS staff. You can check with Jackie Radcliffe and Michelle Schiebe to get information on this event. The PTO also does lunch for the ACS staff during Parent Teacher conferences in March. This is a way to log some volunteer time that you actually perform from your home.

Our Technology Coordinator, Robert Fortelka, will be needing some help in the next week or two to move computers around in the school. Please watch this column for more information on this important project.

I would like to thank the wonderful volunteers who have coached our boys and girls basketball teams—Steven Solita, Scott Mann, Art Landrey, Tom Whittemore, Dennis Caldwell and Kimberly Runyan. Please remember to thank these coaches for all the time they have given to our students….they are truly “Making a Difference” at ACS!

Please pick up your ACS license plate holder as a little gift to you if you have completed at least 20 hours of volunteer time. Thanks again for volunteering at our school!

Anne Belfrage
Volunteer Coordinator
belfragea@academycharter.org

Spelling Bee Update

The Academy Charter School spelling bee was held on January 26th. The bee was for students in 4th-8th grade. It was held after school and had quite an exciting ending.

The final two spellers went eight rounds before the winner was finally determined. Congratulations to Mariah Mays for being the 2006 ACS spelling bee champion and Bill Kakenmaster for coming in as a close runner-up. Congratulations also to all the participants; we know how hard you all worked.

As for our winner, Mariah, she will now be moving on to the Douglas County Spelling Bee. This bee will be held at Northeast Elementary on Wednesday, February 15th. Good job and good luck!

Our Lost and Found is brimming over! Please have your student check for any missing items as the collection has really grown since we came back from Winter Break. The ACS Lost and Found is located right inside the school cafeteria to your right.

Blanket Drive

What: We are going to be having a Blanket Drive at our school!
When: From January 27th to February 8th!
Who: The blankets will be donated to the Denver Rescue Mission!
Prize: Pie and Ice Cream Party for the classrooms that collect the most blankets!! YaY!!!

Please bring your blankets to your homeroom. The elementary and middle school classroom winners that get the most blankets will be announced at the spirit week pep rally on Friday, the 10th!

ACS Middle School’s Valentine’s Dance

Friday, February 10th- 5:30-9:00
Formal Attire Requested

Cost: $3.00 per person at the door
(ACS Middle School Students Only- I.D.’s will be checked)

Athletic Day

Please click here for more information

SEE’S VALENTINE CANDY FOR SALE

Our 8th Graders going to Washington, D.C. will be selling See’s Candy for Valentines Day to earn funds for their trip. We will be selling in the lobby after school on February 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th, and 14th.

Governing Board Report to the ACS Community

Greetings! The Governing Board traditionally reports on the status of the school following the first half of the 2005-2006 school year. ACS began our 12th year with a few budget challenges. A meeting was held with parents and staff to apprise them of the situation and seek suggestions to reduce the shortfall. School fees were increased to bring ACS in line with those of other area schools, and more financial help for this school year came in the form of an additional 30 students enrolling in our home school program. This brought our budget up out of the red.

We continue to be proud and supportive of the administration and staff at ACS. Dean Nelson has given 110% in her position overseeing both the elementary and middle schools, and guiding the school to continually higher standards. Dean Peters is finding her niche at ACS, and has greatly lightened Dean Nelson’s load by handling many additional academic responsibilities this year. Goals are set yearly for school improvement by the deans and the governing board – goals that ultimately make ACS a better school, and positively impact our students. Reports from the dean on school progress at ACS are given at monthly governing board meetings, which are open to all parents and are announced in advance in the school newsletter.

Our teachers and staff continue to guide our children in a productive way. CSAP scores are up in both elementary and middle school. In fact, our elementary is only 3 points from scoring “EXCELLENT” on the state standards. Specifically, our elementary scored “HIGH-with improvement,” and is ranked 113 out of 978 Colorado elementary schools. Our middle school was “HIGH – stable,” and moved up 10 points to rank 142 out of 448 Colorado middle schools. We should all be very proud of the achievements of our students and the hard work of our teachers!

Speaking of our teachers - Be sure to check your teacher’s websites for classroom “wish lists.” Any and all help is appreciated, and goes a long way toward better educational tools and supplies for our children.

An updated parent survey was sent out recently to gauge the pulse of parents at our school. Plans are underway to share results with the ACS community in the future.

Our parents provide much-needed support and assistance for ACS in the form of thousands of volunteer hours; their time and involvement set ACS apart from other schools. In addition, our Parent-Teacher Organization has been instrumental in providing ACS with many of our needs, as well as some “extras.” In fall of 2005, the PTO voted to add $25,000 in funds, to their previously granted $10,000, to update computers and technology at the school. Those funds purchased 21 new Dell computers for one of our computer labs, along with numerous monitors slated elsewhere in the school. Parents will be needed to help set these up in classrooms; so watch for more information on this in future ACS newsletters.

Academy Charter School has made significant progress in several areas for the first half of the school year, and it will be exciting to watch the remainder of the year unfold. We look forward to the continued success of our students, heartfelt guidance of our teachers, and inspired involvement of our parents.

ACS Governing Board

FOURTH ACS TESTIMONIAL

We spoke with another ACS middle school graduate and found that he had little trouble making the transition from Academy Charter School to Douglas County High School. This newsletter’s subject, Jacob, is a current ninth grader at the high school. In his opinion, the most notable adjustment in high school was having to walk farther to get to his classes. “Going between classes was more difficult. There is a lot more distance between classes there than at ACS.” Still, it took him only a short time to adapt.

Another area Jacob found to be different from middle school was “dealing with the fact that the (high school) teachers treat you as a group, not as an individual.” He recalls the personal attention at ACS as being a plus. Jacobs also says that academically he is on an even par with other freshman, if not ahead in some areas. Math, in particular, is one subject where he felt well prepared for high school courses. “I was in pre-Algebra at ACS, and went right into Algebra I, no problem. Math with Mr. Orcutt really helped.”

While at ACS, Jacob was a member of the yearbook staff, an activity he enjoyed. He does recall wishing that it hadn’t been a year-long elective, so that he could have taken some other electives during the year. He says he is currently focusing on his required classes for now at DCHS, and looks forward to other choices in the future.

While at the high school, Jacob has met many new people, saying, “I am enjoying all the friends I’ve made so far.” He also says that half the time, the school doesn’t really feel all that big to him.

Jacob feels like he did not miss out on anything while attending ACS. “No, nothing at all, except maybe not having lockers, and having to wear uniforms.” The change of clothing became another adjustment, since most of his wardrobe consisted of required ACS items. A couple of weeks after school started, Jacob was up to speed clothes-wise with everyone else.

Jacob thinks that ACS did help prepare him for the transition into high school. He summed it all up with his final comment - “Actually, I do believe that. I made the adjustment pretty easily.”