Dear ACS Families and Community,

Last night we had our first School Advisory Council meeting and we had an incredible turn out of parents! Kristen Wenaas and Ellen Neal-Eakin gave an overview presentation on SAC and CSAP. Thanks Kristen and Ellen. Our next SAC meeting will be on October 10 from 5:00-6:00. Please join us to learn more about the academic excellence at ACS!

Below is a link to the Colorado Department of Education. It is a link to the released CSAP test items. Many parents during the SAC meeting expressed interest in this information!

http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeassess/released_items.html

We have had several instances of parked cars being hit in the parking lot in the last week. Please be careful in the parking lot, drive slowly, attentively, and extend the courtesy of informing the office if you do accidentally hit another car. Let’s try to be good role models for our students!

Please also remember the DCSD Board of Education will meet on September 18, 2007 at 5:30 in the Administration Building at 620 Wilcox St. During the Board meeting, the school start time will be decided upon. Please attend, if you would like to voice your opinion and concerns.

“Not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but children have the equal right to develop their talent, their ability, and their motivation.”
John F. Kennedy

Sincerely,
Yvette Brown
Academy Charter School Dean
browny@academycharter.org

Carpool Reminders

• Afternoon carpool will not be changed until the parking lot expansion is complete.
• Please remember to refrain from talking on your cell phone as you pick up or drop off your children at school!
• All carpool numbers must be visible on the right side of the front windshield throughout carpool. It may be taken down once all your passengers have entered the vehicle.
• If you are picking up your student at their classrooms, teachers will not be able to visit with you at this time as they are ensuring students are being attentive to their numbers being posted on the TV and/or are quiet and listening for their numbers. Feel free to schedule an appointment with the classroom teacher!

Dress Code Policy

• We are in the process of printing out new Dress Code Policy Violation Forms.
• Once we have these new forms printed, if a student receives 3 or more violations within a month, they will lose their dress down day privilege!

Important Dates

• Friday, September 14-Movie Night at ACS 6-8
• Volleyball home game-Sept. 18
• PTO Meeting Sept. 19 6-7
• Ronald McDonald Assembly Sept. 20 8:50-9:50am

Miscellaneous Items
Fun Facts
L. Frank Baum made up stories to tell neighborhood children. When he was telling one story, the children asked him to make up a name for the place where the story took place. Baum spotted his file cabinets labeled A-M and O-Z. Maybe you know his story…The Wizard of Oz?

Fun Website
US State Detectives
http://games.funschool.com/game.php?g=1179&category=61&level=5

Dear Families and Friends of ACS,

This week on Friday, September 14th, we will be having a bullying assembly for all ACS students. Please see the calendar on the website for the specific times for grades K-2; 3-5 and 6-8. During this time we will be talking with students regarding what bullying is, what it is not, and what to do if it is happening to a student. We will be having these assemblies once per quarter.

Students in grades 3-8 should be receiving their first progress reports for this quarter in their Friday Folders. If you have any questions, please be sure to contact your student’s teacher so they can provide clarification for you!

Our middle school teachers and specials’ teachers who teach grades 6-8, have been using Infinite Campus for inputting student grades this year. This past week we have experienced some issues with our server which delayed teachers’ ability to input grades. Students were told that any missing work was due by this past Wednesday, September 12th, in order for it to appear in this week’s progress report. Students have until the end of the quarter to turn in any missing assignments for ½ credit. Teachers don’t always grade late assignments right away, as they are working on current assignments first.

Dean Brown and I also spoke with the middle school team last week regarding Discipline Notices. Through our discussion with the team we have determined that some student behaviors require immediate attention. These behaviors would include but are not limited to, pushing or shoving, taking someone’s personal belongings, blatantly not following an adult’s directive, or throwing things from the upper floor to the lower floor of the building. In respect to these offenses as well as other serious issues, teachers will refer a student to the office with a discipline notice rather than utilize the regular classroom management of name on board, check-PSP, and second check-Discipline notice. We met with the middle school students on Friday to discuss these changes as they became effective starting Monday, September 10th.

Reminders:

• Homework Assignments:
  Check out the ACS website where you can find your student’s weekly homework assignments, upcoming projects and test dates. If your student is in elementary, click on the elementary tab and go to the corresponding grade level. If you student is in middle school, click on the middle school tab and go to the corresponding content area. Elementary teachers and core middle school teachers update this information each Monday by 4:00 p.m.
• “Parent Portal” for Middle School to be opened by 2nd quarter.
  Our goal is to have the parental portal open by 2nd quarter. What this means to you, is that middle school parents will be given a password and logon ID to access the portal. After logging in, you will have the ability to check your middle school student’s grades for all of their classes via the internet. For those families who do not have internet access, we will continue to provide hard copies of student’s progress reports during our regular progress report period. We will be providing more information as 2nd quarter gets closer!
• After School Detention:
  As you might recall, the teachers presented to us that they would prefer to have detention after school rather than at lunch time. Teachers will be rotating this duty in the middle school team. Detentions will be held on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 4:10-4:40. Dean Brown and I will be assigning the dates for detention to the middle school students and the teachers will be monitoring the detentions. If you have any questions regarding this, please feel free to contact me.
• Middle School Extra Dress Down Day:
  Dean Brown and I asked the Governing Board if we could provide an extra dress down day per month for the middle school students. We told them that if they are showing us their leadership in this area more consistently, we would like to reward them. The Governing Board gave us permission for this and we feel this is a good way to reward the upperclassmen of ACS. We will be monitoring dress code the rest of this month with our middle school and hopefully, announcing the date of the extra day in the near future.
  

Thank you as always for your wonderful support of ACS, its staff and our students!

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

I would like to thank all of you who attended the Volunteer Training last Friday. I believe our Volunteer Coordinators are armed with the information they need, and I hope you will respond positively when they need your assistance.

I am still looking for folks to help with the preschool playground equipment on September 29th. I need 5 more people for the morning shift and 9 more for the afternoon. Please let me know if you can help with this project.

Please come in and have your picture taken for your name badge if you haven’t already. Remember to log your hours in the card file on the volunteer table. Thanks for being that ONE person that makes a difference!

Anne Belfrage
belfragea@academycharter.org
Volunteer Coordinator

Please click the following link to read the most current, important information from the PTO.

ACS PTO NEWS

ORIGINAL WORKS IS BACK WITH MORE NEW PRODUCTS!!!!

This great program is back and just in time for the holidays! Mrs. Huskins has our students working on a special project in art class which Original Works will use to create beautiful full color products. These products include magnets, mugs, journals, night lights, aprons, pot holders, shirts and much more. New items this fall are coasters, a message board and a fabric flying disk! Posters and samples will be on display shortly. Information about the program and how to order these products will be in the October 5th Friday Folders. Orders will be due on October 10th to ensure we receive them in time for the holidays.

This is a great opportunity to purchase one-of-a-kind gifts for family members and friends as well as help raise money for the art department. All proceeds from this fundraiser go directly to the art department to replenish art supplies, fund special classes and more. If you have any questions about this program, please do not hesitate to call Mrs. Huskins or Cindy Hazlehurst (303-688-9134). Thank you for your support!

Wheel Chair Needed

We would like to have a wheel chair available here in our clinic for injured students or staff members. If you know of anyone that might have a used wheel chair that they would be willing to donate, or we could purchase, please let us know.

Anne Belfrage
Office Manager
belfragea@academycharter.org

Saturday, November 3rd, Douglas County School District is sponsoring a Community Night with the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche will be playing the Vancouver Canucks at 8:00 p.m. at the Pepsi Center. Tickets are available in the school office for $20.00 each (normally a $25-$38.00 ticket). Let’s support the Douglas County Educational Foundation by enjoying an exciting hockey game!

Target Fundraising Program

We recently earned $238.90 from the Take Charge of Education Fundraising Program sponsored by Target stores. Target donates up to 1% of purchases made using the REDcard to K-12 schools. To learn more about this program, visit Target.com/tcoe or call 1-800-316-6142.

Tutoring Available

Tutoring K-4 in math, reading, writing or test prep

Availability is Monday – Thursday from 4:05-5:00

Contact info. Tina Villari : villarik@academycharter.org or at the school number 303-660-4881 x 101

PTO Presents

Family Movie Night

Friday, September 14, 2007

6:30pm