13 May 2024

Superintendent's Office

Dear ACS Community,

I enjoyed seeing many of you at the Elementary School Cougar Cup last week.  In addition, last week we were pleased to have visitors from the accreditation agency with which we work, the New England Association of Schools and Colleagues, on campus.  We thank all the parents, students, and teachers who were involved in meetings with them.  We expect their report in approximately one month.

This is another full week.  We have an open house for potential new ACS families tomorrow.  Then toward the end of the week we have secondary music and drama performances as well as parent coffee discussions on Friday.  

Finally, you can now preorder a memento of the year in the form of our yearbook.  You can find a link in my message.

Have a great week ahead.

Yours,

Andrew


Estimada Comunidad de ACS,


Disfruté ver a muchos de ustedes en la Copa Cougar de Primaria la semana pasada. Así mismo, la semana pasada tuvimos el placer de recibir en el campus visitas de la agencia de acreditación con la que trabajamos, la Asociación de Colegios y Universidades de Nueva Inglaterra. Agradecemos a todos los padres, alumnos y profesores que participaron en las reuniones con ellos. Esperamos su informe dentro de un mes aproximadamente.

 

Esta es otra semana llena de actividades. Mañana tendremos la jornada de puertas abiertas para nuevas familias potenciales de ACS. Luego, hacia el final de la semana, tenemos presentaciones de música y teatro de Secundaria, así como las charlas del café para padres el viernes.

 

Finalmente, ya pueden reservar un recuerdo del año en forma de nuestro anuario. Encontrarán el enlace en mi mensaje.

 

Que tengan una gran semana,

 

Atentamente,


Andrew

Open Message

Urgent Action Items

 

  • 5 May, tuition was due
  • Grade 12 Parents and Students  Cuzco Trip Meeting: Monday, May 13, 6:00pm SS Library
  • Open House: Tuesday, May 14, 6:00pm ES Library
  • SS Drama Night, Thursday, May 16, 6:00pm Theater
  • SS Music Performance, Friday, May 17, 6:00pm Theater
  • ES Parent Coffee Friday, May 17, 8:15am ES Library
  • Don’t Forget to Pre-order Your Yearbook! https://acscougars.com/
    • Open Message

    ACS Calendar

    • Mon – G5-G6 Transition Week
    • Wed – PD 1.5
    • Thu – ACS Chess Tournament
    • Fri – MS Madness; End of year Secondary Concert 6pm
    • Fri – End of year Secondary Concert
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    Elementary School

    Dear Elementary Parents,

    It was lovely to see so many of you at our Nations Parade, as part of International Day this past Friday. I would also like to give our gratitude and thanks to the parents who helped to put on a wonderful "World Expo" Friday morning. The event was lovely and it was such a joy to see our students exploring the various activities, foods and presentations from the 10 countries present. This week is a relatively quiet week, comparatively. We have just a few events to mention:

    Open House Tomorrow from 8:30-10:30 am: Please share the poster below and relevant information with anyone you know who might be interested in enrolling children here at ACS. Thank you!


    Wednesday Middle School Transition Evening for Grade 5 Parents: If you are a Grade 5 parent, please join us on Wednesday evening from 5:30-6:30 pm to learn about the upcoming move to Middle School. Our MS team will be there to answer questions and present about the exciting changes on the horizon for our graduating Fifth Graders!

    Parent Coffee this Friday on the Elementary's New Schedule: Please join us Friday morning at 8:15 am for a Parent Coffee on Elementary's exciting new schedule! We hope to see you there!


    Thanks for reading! Have a lovely week,

    Eric Crabtree
    Elementary Principal


    Open Message

    Secondary School

    Dear Parents,

    Teacher Appreciation Week Thank You
    As many of you know, last week was Teacher Appreciation Week. Many of you contributed food and other items to thank our teachers for their commitment and dedication to their students. On behalf of our teaching team, please accept a genuine thank you for your kindness and generosity. Effective learning for our students requires a partnership with parents, and we are grateful for your support in our efforts. We return our appreciation back to you!

    Classroom Without Walls
    Thank you to all those who responded to the Experiential Learning/CWW interest survey. The committee met again last week to review progress and continue planning, and reaffirmed that CWW will continue next year - no plans to cancel CWW or remove trips were made. Instead, the focus has been on providing choices where possible, including offering engaging learning opportunities for those unable to travel. In Middle School, trips to Isla del Sol, Senda Verde, and Sucre & Potosí are being planned, and in high school, grade 9 will travel to Salar de Uyuni and grade 12 to Cusco & Machu Picchu. Options for grades 10 & 11 are still under development - possible options include Samaipata, Parque Madidi, and 1-2 others. Committee members also worked on several non-travel community engagement options and a possible trip to Washington, D.C. All activities will occur during the week of October 7-11, 2024. Students are not required to travel, but all must participate in an activity during that week. We will share details about trips and several local options as soon as they are available. 

    Staffing for 2024-2025
    Each year teachers leave the school to pursue professional opportunities elsewhere, and this year is no different. Although not all have made formal announcements, a small number of middle and high school teachers will not return in August. We have been recruiting qualified teachers to replace those planning to leave as well as making some adjustments to current teaching assignments, and have nearly finished the hiring and reassignment process. We will provide a more detailed update before the end of the year.

    Weekly Schedule for 2024-2025
    In response to challenges with this year's course schedule, we are now finalizing a substantial revision for the 2024-2025 schedule. Some of the features include flexible periods during which students can receive individualized academic support, work on extended projects, or participate in assemblies and other activities, and also an early release day each Wednesday to allow Secondary teachers to benefit from collaborative meetings and professional development, similar to the current arrangement in the Elementary School. Students are now in the process of making course requests for next year which will help guide decisions about the availability of certain courses. Although the overall schedule will be finalized before school is out in June, minor adjustments often need to be made over the summer. Students will receive their individual schedules in late July or early August, and those that have questions or concerns will be able to consult with our counselor before school starts or during the first few days of classes.

    Performances This Week
    Drama students will perform this Thursday and the final musical concert of the year occurs this Friday. Both events start at 6:00 in the Theater. We look forward to seeing you there.



    Open Message

    Learning & Teaching

     

    Monday, May 13, 2024

    On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of last week, our two NEASC Visitors, Howard Thiery and Susan McKinney, had the pleasure of getting to know our school community. The schedule was packed with meetings that included elementary and secondary students, staff, faculty, parents, leadership, and board members. The NEASC team provided us with highly valuable immediate feedback, with a much more in-depth report currently in the preparation phase. 


    Not surprisingly, our visitors had an abundance of wonderful things to say about our school! They were also very astute at identifying areas for growth and have already begun to offer support in developing continuous improvement plans. 


    A huge and deeply heartfelt THANK YOU to all of you. We look forward to sharing the key takeaways from the visit prior to the end of the school year. 


    Learning & Teaching Highlights

    • Visiting Grade 1, French, and Tech Classes - seeing our students highly engaged in the learning process!

    • Holding the first half of our TeachMeet on Wednesday where teachers provided snapshots of their professional learning journey this year for their colleagues - WOW! This was a wonderful success and we look forward to hosting TeachMeet Part 2 before the end of the school year. We have an amazing teaching and learning community with much to CELEBRATE! 

    • Establishing which course will be modified and/or added in the secondary school.

    • Planning parent coffees this month to ensure clear communication: ES on May 17th, and SS on May 24th


    Thank you for reading and have a fabulous week ahead!


    Open Message