The Next Governing Board Meeting is Sept. 11 at 6:00 PM



Dear Family and Friends of ACS,

Thank you for the great attendance we had at Back to School Night! It was a success thanks to you!

Our individual student CSAP results have just arrived, and you will be receiving your student’s reports shortly. I am very proud of our school results for last year! Of course, the CSAP results are only one measurement of our academic program, but they do help Dean Peters and me understand what curriculum areas need support in our school. Our results are as follows:

Unsatisfactory Partially Proficient Proficient Advanced
Third Grade Writing
State
7
41
41
11
District
2
31
51
15
ACS
2
37
52
10
Third Grade Math
State
7
22
42
29
District
2
13
42
43
ACS
3
12
43
42
Fourth Grade Reading
State
10
22
62
5
District
3
13
75
8
ACS
0
13
80
7
Fourth Grade Writing
State
8
42
42
8
District
2
32
54
11
ACS
0
43
48
8
Fourth Grade Math
State
8
23
43
26
District
3
12
46
39
ACS
0
15
47
38
Fifth Grade Reading
State
12
18
60
9
District
3
10
71
15
ACS
0
11
11
76
Fifth Grade Writing
State
6
34
47
13
District
1
20
59
18
ACS
1
14
65
20
Fifth Grade Math
State
9
25
38
27
District
3
15
39
43
ACS
1
13
43
44
Fifth Grade Science
State
21
41
26
11
District
8
40
37
15
ACS
8
40
33
20
Sixth Grade Reading
State
10
20
59
10
District
3
9
70
18
ACS
2
15
76
7
Sixth Grade Writing
State
5
35
48
11
District
1
20
60
18
ACS
2
19
78
2
Sixth Grade Math
State
15
27
35
21
District
5
18
40
37
ACS
0
36
58
7
Seventh Grade Reading
State
13
22
56
8
District
5
15
68
12
ACS
7
21
67
5
Seventh Grade Writing
State
5
38
45
11
District
2
25
56
16
ACS
0
38
52
10
Seventh Grade Math
State
21
34
27
17
District
8
26
35
30
ACS
19
26
43
12

Please remember that these scores are from last year’s assessments, so to determine your child’s class scores, look at the grade level they were in last year.

Reminders from our first Newsletter:

If there is lightning during afternoon carpool, please be aware that carpool will shut down for student, parent and staff safety. If it is shut down, you will be notified while in the carpool lane, if possible. If the lightning is too bad for staff to walk to the carpool lane and notify you, please understand that carpool will be closed when we can see lightning in the sky, even if it looks far off for the moment. We all know how fast a storm can move in and we will not have staff or students entering or exiting the building during these hazardous conditions. Once carpool is shut down, you have the choice to either park and walk into the building to retrieve your student(s), or wait safely in your car until the lightning has ceased, which ACS strongly recommends. You will not be penalized for taking this recommendation and retrieving your student late. Thank you for your support on this important matter!

This year we have added Lockdown Drills to our monthly drill schedule. Our teachers in all grade levels will be discussing Lockdown Drills with their students and we will be performing these drills monthly as we do Fire Drills. We need to have students practice what to do in the case of someone or something in the building that could harm them.

Our classroom teachers in grades K-8 have also had age-appropriate discussions with all students about the Student Rights and Responsibilities: Code of Conduct and Discipline handbook given out to parents at registration. This handbook is extremely important because it discusses appropriate behavior in school and items that cannot be brought to school! Please read through this handbook with your child, and if you did not receive one, please see our office for a copy. If you have a Middle School student, they were also told about this handbook, and some of the things in it, at an assembly I held on Tuesday. Thank you for your help with this, as even ‘innocent’ actions by students will have harsh consequences if they break these codes of conducts.

I also need your support and help during carpool. We have tried to put in every safety measure that we possibly can during this chaotic time; however, I do have some parents that are using other doors in the school rather than the front door and some kids that are still running across the parking lot unattended. I am pleading with parents and/or carpool designees, please use the front door to enter the building and walk your students across the parking lot back to your cars! I do not want a student to get hurt before we all follow the rules, I just want everyone to follow the rules so no one gets hurt (or worse)! Thank you very much!

Have a terrific weekend!

Kindra Whitmyre-Nelson
Dean of Academy Charter School
email: nelsonk@academycharter.org

Dear ACS Families and Friends,

It was so wonderful to see all the familiar, as well as new faces at Back to School Night last week! I am really looking forward to a great year at ACS!

Students have been learning about the exciting new things they will be covering this year as well as learning the procedures for their classrooms. Teachers have been working hard assessing students in order to gauge where to begin lessons with their various content areas. I know they are very excited to get into the “meat” of our curriculum and I think our students are as well!

We will be having our PTO Entertainment Book “kick-off” assembly this Friday, August 25th, in the cafeteria. The order form and example book will be going home in this week’s Friday folder so be on the lookout for them!

I’d like to remind everyone that every Friday, students in grades K-5 will receive a physical folder which contains your student’s papers. Middle School students will receive a “packet” of their papers which will be distributed during homeroom at the end of the day. Please note that information from PTO, etc., which used to come home in “paper” form, will now be included in our weekly newsletter as a way of reducing our copying costs. If you do not have email, you will continue to receive a “hard” copy of these items!

Students in MS have been busy hanging up their campaigning posters for student council. I have seen some very creative posters up in the middle school hallways! The primary election will be held today, Thursday, August 23rd, and Mr. Hall will be announcing the winners of the primary on Friday during our morning pledge time as well posting the information on the student council bulletin board at the top of the stairs coming up from the Art room. Next week, on Wednesday, August 30th, the winners of the primary will present their speeches to the middle school student body in the cafeteria starting at 2:50. Students will then vote on Thursday, August 31st, and winners will be announced the following day during the morning pledge time as well as being posted on the student council bulletin board.

I want to remind middle school parents that we love to have you volunteer your time in middle school! Please contact Mrs. Belfrage to see how you can help!

As a reminder, Mrs. Sowter and Mr. Ross will begin the after school band and orchestra for students in grades 4-5 beginning next Monday, August 27th. There should be more details regarding this later in the newsletter.

Thank you again for your support of Academy Charter School, its staff and our students!

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

I hope you and your student have “settled in” and the school routine has become smoother. There certainly has been a lot of activity here and I am seeing volunteers in the building once again. I am in the process of getting name badges made up for all of our wonderful volunteers. Our volunteer theme this year will be teamwork and working as a team. I hope you are planning to “get on our volunteer team” and start logging those hours in for ACS.

It was great to meet many new and returning parents at Back to School Night. If there is any way I can help you or answer questions regarding volunteering, please feel free to contact me.

We will be having a volunteer training soon where I can get more information into your hands. Currently we have need of classroom coordinators for each grade level. Some folks have volunteered to be classroom coordinators, but there are still many classrooms that need a coordinator. Please see your student’s teacher to volunteer for this position. I also need someone to be a coordinator for 6th grade and someone else to fill the 7th grade coordinator position. If you would be willing to serve in this capacity, please let me know. I will be having an orientation for classroom coordinators in the near future.

Thanks again for your commitment to Academy Charter School!

Anne Belfrage
Volunteer Coordinator
belfragea@academycharter.org

ATTENTION ALL 8th GRADE PARENTS!!!!

There will be a meeting on Monday, September 11, at 5:30 p.m. in the library to start planning the annual Washington D.C. trip. Trish Kakenmaster, who has helped previous classes plan their trip, will be there with information and to answer questions. If your child is interested, please plan to attend.

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Stacey Barlow and I am the School Nurse Consultant for Academy Charter School. As a School nurse consultant, my role includes identifying students who have health concerns, consulting with parents, teachers, and other school staff to make sure everyone knows how to care for a student with a health concern or who is on medication at school. I assist school staff with immunization compliance issues and provide education and training for staff and students. I am not at Academy Charter School on a daily basis. If you have any questions or concerns you can reach me by cell/pager 720-284-9825. I look forward to assisting you in providing a healthy and safe school environment for your student(s).

Be Healthy!

Stacey Barlow, RN
School Nurse Consultant
Health Services

Boy’s Soccer and Girl’s Volleyball Beginning

This is a reminder that boy’s soccer and girl’s volleyball practice will start on Monday, August 28.

Soccer practice will begin promptly at 4:00 and end at 5:00. The boys will be released from carpool at 3:45 in order to get changed for practice. Our soccer coach is Christy Groener, who is our 7th and 8th grade Science teacher. Her email address is groenerc@academycharter.org. You may also call her at ACS at 303-660-4881 if you have any questions. She still needs some help if anyone is interested.

Volleyball practice will begin at 3:30 and end at 4:45. The girls will be released from carpool at 3:30. Our volleyball coaches are Shalea Hardison and Lora Colander. Shalea’s email address is shalea.hardison@pcisys.net and her number is 303-660-9931. Lora’s email address is llcola@comcast.net and her number is 303-660-3865.

Please make sure you promptly pick up your child at the end of practice. Please note the change on the soccer schedule on 9/19; it is now a home game.

Remember, your child will not be allowed to participate in practice until the permission/physical form is turned in. If you were not able to come to the meeting on Monday, please remind your child to come pick up the necessary forms from me or the office.

I will be using email to communicate any updates and announcements we have throughout the season.

Please check the ACS Athletics webpage for any updates also.

Looking forward to a great season!

Thanks,

Lisa Arnell
Athletic Director
   

 

 
     
 

This newsletter for ACS parents and students is published each week on Thursday. The purpose of the newsletter is to inform parents and students of events and information directly related to Academy Charter School. If you have inclusions for this newsletter, please submit them to newsletter@academycharter.org in written form (Word Preferred). Deadline for submission is Wednesday at Noon. All submissions must include the name of the person submitting the article and a contact phone number or e-mail address. Articles must be related to ACS, its students or school life. ACS reserves the right to edit submissions and content.

Web: www.academycharter.org      E-mail: newsletter@academycharter.org      Phone: 303-660-4881
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