Arcadia This Week 3/8/2021

Hello, Arcadia families,

Here is what’s up at Arcadia this week! This is a HS week in the hybrid. This message is long, but look for:

  • Schedule information for the coming week and through the end of the 3rd quarter

  • Learning model planning updates and a survey for families

  • Announcements about lunch and drop off/pick up for hybrid families

  • Staffing changes (art)

Monday, 3/8: Day 1

Tuesday, 3/9: Day 2

Wednesday, 3/10: Senior Presentation Day for HS/Repeat Day 2 for MS

  • HS students will attend senior presentations and participate in activities with their advisors

  • MS students will attend their usual Day 2 classes--English language arts classes will be asynchronous because their teacher is a high school advisor

Thursday, 3/11: Day 3

Friday, 3/12: Day 4--Asynchronous Day and Picture Day!

  • There will be no students in the building this day except those coming in to have their picture taken.

  • Students coming in to have their picture taken can enter through the front door at their appointment time; the pictures will be taken in Red Advisory.

 

Upcoming Schedule and Model Update

Rice County COVID case rate numbers are down to 15.66/10,000 in a two week period! 

March 8-11: HS Week 

March 12: Asynchronous Day (all students online only) and Picture Day!

March 15-19: MS Week

March 19: End of Third Quarter

March 22-29: Spring Break

As we watch the numbers continue to decrease, we are anticipating that 4th quarter will look different than our current hybrid model. However, we want to make sure that, whatever changes we make, they will serve our students as well as possible. To that end, we need your feedback! If you haven’t already done so, please fill out the Learning Model Preferences survey. 

Thank you so much to the families who have filled it out; your responses have been VERY helpful already! The more feedback we get, the better our model will be!

We are also anticipating that we will use our remaining planning day prior to the start of 4th quarter, so school would be Wednesday-Friday the first week of 4th quarter, and we will be online only (distance learning) those days. If you travel over the break and intend to return to the school building, please use that week to quarantine at home so that we all stay as safe as possible when we return!

And finally: we are planning to return fully in person for May Term! We will, of course, offer online options for those students who cannot return to school this year. And if there is a fourth COVID wave, we will, of course, respect public health restrictions. Overall, though, we are anticipating lots of outdoor, hands on May Term options! (And probably a couple of indoor, masked/distanced May Term options, too.) I will send more details as we get (much) closer, but I wanted to give you all a light at the end of the tunnel--a real May Term! 

Announcements

For students in the hybrid…

Please be sure to bring a lunch! Unfortunately, we are not able to provide lunches on site. If you qualify for free and reduced lunch, you can receive a bag of groceries at the beginning of the week with supplies for making lunches! Email Laura Stelter (lstelter@artech.k12.mn.us) for more information if you would like to access this option.

Drop off in the morning must occur between 7:55am and 8:02am, or 7:55am and 8:25am on Wednesdays. (The bus arrives at 9:00am on Wednesday, but classes still start at 8:30am. They just don’t introduce new content so that students arriving on the bus don’t miss instruction.) 

Students must be picked up between 2:42pm and 2:47pm. This allows all staff to attend our afterschool daily debrief, which has proved to be an important communication tool to create a smoother experience for students. 

Staffing Change

MS families, you should have received an email from me (via JMC) with an update on MS art classes. TJ will be leaving Arcadia at the end of 3rd quarter, and will only be teaching the high school AP Art and the Art, Artist, & Antiquity elective for the remainder of the term. I apologize for the delay in communicating this information, but there were a number of details to be sorted out and finalized.

For middle school students, I have gone through and updated the JMC grades based on the instruction students received prior to TJ’s departure, and what was in Google Classroom. I will send a separate email with instructions for making up missing work. I will keep in touch with TJ around how students are assessed, but I will be managing the gradebook to ensure that students have the opportunity to achieve the outcomes that were set and to know where they stand prior to the end of the term.

In the meantime, Christine Honoré has started the visual arts residency, and students are designing their own illuminated letters! While many of you may know Christine as a riding instructor and horse trainer, her formal education included training in the visual arts and led to her graduation from École Estienne of Book Arts and Industries in Paris, France with a specialty in bookbinding. We are grateful to have someone with the skills and knowledge to step into this role to continue our students’ art education!

Picture Day Rescheduled for March 12th

Last chance to sign up for an appointment time here: Picture Day Sign Up

Attendance Form

Please report attendance-related information (appointments, illness) through our website, even during distance learning! Go to “Current Families” and then “ Report an Absence.” You can fill out as much as is relevant. If your child is ill, please make sure to report symptoms, as we are required to track a lot of information on illness this year! If you’d rather just save a link to the form somewhere accessible to you, here is a link to the form.

Upcoming Events

March 12: Picture Day (Sign Up Form) and Asynchronous Day

March 16, 6:30-8:30pm: Arcadia Board meeting 

(online: https://meet.google.com/tmk-nfcx-szi

Or join by phone: (US) +1 513-796-6467‬ PIN: ‪493 475 105‬#)

March 19: End of the quarter

 

Sincerely,