Superintendent's Office
Dear ACS Community,
At this point, I hope you have had the opportunity to meet our Elementary Principal, Eric Crabtree; our secondary principal, Dr. Tim Warren; and our Director of Learning and Teaching, Dr. Ann Peterson.If you did not meet them at the back-to-school night, I hope you will see them greeting students at the door. As we have added a new senior academic leader, I recognize that it is important to clarify communication procedures. As always, it is essential to direct questions to whomever is closest to the topic at hand. This often starts with the classroom teacher. Questions about the whole Elementary School should still be directed to the Elementary Principal, and questions about the whole Secondary School should still go to the Secondary Principal. Doctor Peterson's role is a whole-school role focused on teacher professional development, as well as improving and aligning our K-12 curriculum. You will soon have opportunities to engage with her around these topics in parent meetings.
Today, I would also like to add another installment to my descriptions of our summer work on the school physical plant. In particular, I would like to talk about an improvement that you will never see. After many years of ad-hoc repairs and extensions, the plumbing in our elementary school was in desperate need of renovation. I think the only way to appreciate the extent of the renovation and repair that we did in this area is to examine a few of the attached photographs. You will notice that floors, walkways and grassy areas all had to be opened in order to accommodate the extensive work to replace large pipes. While this work is now covered with dirt, it is not unimportant. It was critical to maintain the health and safety of our campus. In addition, water leakage was beginning to cause subsidence in our buildings. Thankfully, these problems are now corrected, and our systems have been brought up to a high standard. Again, we appreciate the timely tuition and fee payments that have allowed us to do these necessary improvements.
Urgent Action Items
- Tuesdays@8:00-8:45 – Elementary library open for parents
- 23 Aug – Secondary School Awards
Elementary School
Secondary School
Dear Parents,
It was great to see so many of you last week at Back-to-School Night. Effective learning is the result of a strong partnership between teachers, students, and parents. Your commitment and support for your child's learning is critical, and getting to know their teachers is an important first step. As the year progresses, please contact teachers directly with any specific questions about your child's learning needs, assignments, or classroom activities. Thank you for your efforts to develop that partnership and thank you in advance for your commitment throughout the coming year.
Regular attendance at school also is important for learning. Please plan appointments and trips around the school calendar. While it is possible for some work to be made up, important learning happens in the classroom every day, and that in-class learning cannot be made up. If an absence is unavoidable, be sure that your child is in contact with his or her teachers and monitors class progress through Google Classroom. Please notify Mariel Ballesteros by phone or email for any absences.
Classroom Without Walls is coming October 2-6. CWW is an essential part of the ACS learning experience, and all grade 6-12 students are expected to participate. Grade level 3-5 day trips are being planned to provide experiential learning opportunities that will expand on regular in-class academic, social, and emotional learning content. For those unable to travel, a local daytime option will be available. Details are coming soon.

