Arcadia This Week 3/15/2020
Hello, Arcadia Families,
Here’s what’s up at Arcadia for the coming week!
Monday, Mar. 16: Day 1 (no after school activities)
Tuesday, Mar. 17: Day 2 (no after school activities)
Wednesday, Mar. 18 - Friday, Mar. 20: No School
Saturday, Mar. 21-Monday, Mar. 30: Spring Break
Tuesday, Mar. 31: School Resumes (at least that’s the current plan)
Mission Spotlight
It is the mission of Arcadia Charter School to prepare our students to transition intellectually, emotionally, and ethically to higher education, future employment, and engaged citizenship.
Arcadia Charter School envisions a supportive learning community that, through collaboration and student-driven, project-based learning, encourages and assists students to:
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Express themselves creatively through the visual, literary, and performing arts.
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Use technology with innovation, imagination, and responsibility.
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Develop critical thinking and creative problem solving skills.
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Construct knowledge and meaning for themselves.
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Value, advocate, and strive for the wellness of the whole person.
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Be empowered to act as local citizens within a rapidly changing global community.
COVID-19 is presenting a lot of challenges, but now is a great time to work on living our mission!
We may need to really dig into using technology with innovation, imagination, and responsibility. While moving to online school is not the current recommendation, schools are closed this week primarily to ensure we have time to train teachers to teach online if it becomes necessary. (I’m glad we already had a plan!) The current plan is to reopen Tuesday, March 31st. If that changes, we will be ready to start with the plan I shared with you last Thursday.
We will also be relying on the creative problem solving skills of our whole community. When challenges arise, we will need to meet them together. Luckily, project-based learning is flexible! If we end up online, we’ll be able to adapt our curriculum. It may not be perfect, but as a team, we’ll be working on creative ways to make online learning accessible and interesting to students. Within the broader community, if your family is in need of food support, the Community Action Center (CAC) is ready to help! In addition, the Northfield School District is going to have meals available, which we will be able to access during the school closure (more details on that are coming tomorrow). There will also be childcare available for healthcare and EMS staff (please contact me for more information). We will all be collaborating on ways to make sure everyone’s needs are met during this challenging time.
Striving for the wellness of the whole person may also require advocating for ourselves, and valuing the wellness of others in addition to ourselves to keep us all healthy. Each of us is empowered to act locally in an effort to support and sustain all of our health.
Thank you all for the ways that you are supporting this effort to “flatten the curve” of the COVID-19 pandemic! We’re all in this together...but now communicating from at least 6 feet apart. Please feel free to contact me via email with any questions, and I will also send out hours that I will be available on Google Meet if you would like to talk further about Arcadia’s response.
Announcements
--The March 20 Presentation Afternoon is postponed.
--If your child has medications at school, we will send these home over the break, but some medications cannot be sent home with students via bus. Please contact Sharon or Jennifer at 507-581-4788, or email them smiller@arcadiacharterschool.org and jkoktavy@arcadiacharterschool.org, to make a plan to pick up these medications.
--If your child would need a Chromebook in the event of moving to online learning, please contact Laura, lstelter@arcadiacharterschool.org to arrange that.
--If you need internet access, there are options. Here is information from Charter/Spectrum:
Charter will offer free Spectrum broadband and Wi-Fi access for 60 days to households with K-12 and/or college students who do not already have a Spectrum broadband subscription and at any service level up to 100 Mbps. To enroll call 1-844-488-8395. Installation fees will be waived for new student households.
Or, if you qualify for free/reduced lunch, you can access internet service through Spectrum Internet Assist: https://www.spectrum.com/browse/content/spectrum-internet-assist
If you don’t like either of those options, but still need internet access; or if you need help accessing one of these internet options; please contact Laura Stelter, lstelter@arcadiacharterschool.org.
--The Arcadia School Board meeting on Tuesday evening will take place at its usual time, but online via Google Meet:
To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/tmk-nfcx-szi
Otherwise, to join by phone, dial +1 513-796-6467 and enter this PIN: 493 475 105#
Help us make school more comfortable for students! Items we still need:
We could use a few more boxes of Kleenex/facial tissues. Thank you to those who have already brought some in! We appreciate it!
If you have extra feminine supplies, or would be willing to purchase some for the school, we try to keep our bathrooms stocked, but are currently running low. Thin, absorbent pads (sample in link) and a range of tampons would be helpful!
Thank you to everyone who donated snacks! Maggie and Jennifer (who also pitched in!) said we are okay on snacks for now.
Upcoming Events
Mar. 17, Arcadia School Board meeting, 6:30-8:30pm (online)
To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/tmk-nfcx-szi
Otherwise, to join by phone, dial +1 513-796-6467 and enter this PIN: 493 475 105#
Mar. 19, Marketing Committee Meeting (online)--we will use the same meeting link as the Board meeting (see above).
Mar. 20, End of 3rd Quarter
Mar. 23-27, No School, Spring Break
Mar. 30, No School, Teacher Professional Development Day
Sincerely,
