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from the head of school
We are all in this together
Dear AL Community,
Thank you to everyone that has expressed appreciation of our dedicated staff that has to make the difficult decisions as we experience this worldwide pandemic. We also value the feedback we received from a few parents regarding our decision to stay in phase I of our reopening plan. The safety of all our staff and students is paramount.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, parents, teachers, staff, and board members have volunteered to be part of the school Covid-19 Task Force that helped successfully transition our school into online learning, develop the school reentry plan, continually monitor the effectiveness of our program and assess the local Covid-19 situation. Our school has always opted for a cross-constituency approach to addressing our challenges and improving our services. That's the AL Way! I would like to thank them all for giving their time and sharing their expertise.
We will continue with online school and will discuss a possible in-person reopening at our October 26 meeting. Our teachers and staff have already returned into the buildings to get our facilities cleaned and our classrooms prepared for a successful reopening. Some of you may have experienced a loss of connection with the teachers during live classes. This was due to our IT department making updates and the changes necessary to accommodate those that will be online during our hybrid days.
Please note that next Wednesday 10/14 and Thursday 10/15 are our virtual parent-teacher conferences. The offices will not be open for parents to pick up supplies as teachers and staff will be working remotely. Friday, October 16, will be a professional development day for our teachers and staff. Students will only have class on Monday and Tuesday that week.
We are looking forward to welcoming back our students into the buildings once the conditions are safe. Thank you for your patience, understanding, and invaluable support.
Have a good weekend.
Elimane Mbengue
Head of School
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In This Edition:
Please use any of the links below to be taken directly to the section you wish to read.
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calendar
Upcoming Events
Board of Directors Meeting AL FB page
October 19Diversity Committee virtual conversation about race and racism II, 6-7 pm
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October 14-15
No-School-Parent Teacher Conferences Online
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No school-School Improvement Day
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Access the 2020-21 school calendar by clicking here.
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INFO SHARING
Board Meeting Notice
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INFO SHARING
Chromebook Annual Fund
Académie Lafayette is currently trying to purchase more Chromebooks to accommodate students on our waiting list. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to the Chromebook fund, click here and choose the first option.
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INFO SHARING
Parents of 2nd-5th graders
For the parent-teacher conferences, if you would like to meet with your child's support teachers, please send her/him an email to request a time to meet.
Dates: Wednesday, Oct 14 (11 am - 7 pm) and Thursday, Oct. 15 (8 am - 4 pm)
Oak campus:
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INFO SHARING
Conversations about race and racism II
The Diversity Committee would like to invite any interested parents to our second and third virtual conversations about race and racism on Oct. 19 from 6:00-7:00 and Nov. 16 from 6-7 pm facilitated by Académie Lafayette parent, Diversity Consultant and author of "Anchored in Bias, Fired Over White Tears" Lisa Benson Cooper.
The first conversation focused on key terms related to diversity, equity, & inclusion and took a deeper dive into understanding unconscious bias. You can check out the recording of the session here. For our next two conversations, we'd like to focus on the history of systemic racism in our country. The conversation will be based on the documentary Race- The Power of an Illusion. Each episode is 1 hour long so our first conversation will be about Episode I and half of Episode II, and our second conversation will be about the second half of Episode II and all of Episode III. We hope many of you will be able to watch the episodes, but even if you don't have time to watch them, we encourage you to still attend to be part of the conversation. Please RSVP here if you plan to attend so we can plan for the right number of participants. You will be asked for your email address so we can send you the link for the meeting.
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INFO SHARING
Annual $10,000 Cash Raffle Online updates & Weekly Winner
 The Annual $10,000 Cash Raffle has gone completely online this year! The winner will be drawn on Saturday, October 31st.
Important links:
- Click here to view the updated Kick-off video.
- The exclusive QR code that directly links anyone to our raffle website
Raffle Updates:
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This Friday's Weekly Winner is fourth-grader Lyla Mott! The winner was drawn
 from the students who sold at least 5 tickets over the past week. Lyla won a $25 gift card to Cold Stone Creamery! The weekly drawing will be announced every Friday based on tickets sold Friday through Thursday of each week. Remember: it just takes 5 tickets sold each week to be eligible for this weekly drawing! - We currently have 20+ ticket entries that DO NOT have a student listed to receive their credit. The emails registered with the purchase have been contacted frequently to properly update tickets sold. Please tell your friends and family to check their emails if you think that this might have been an issue. Email devintern@academielafayette.org with any questions.
- We will continue to email parents each Wednesday with updates on ticket sales for your student(s). As you close in on qualifying deadlines to earn prizes, you can email devintern@academielafayette.org to get an update.
- We're seeing students ask local businesses if they can put the poster up in their storefronts, which makes it easy for more members in the community to buy tickets. If you need posters printed for this purpose, please contact devintern@academielafayette.org.
- When someone buys tickets and receives an email receipt from Raffle Creator, be aware that this is generated from "notifications@rafflecreator.com", so if you respond to that email to update any information, that email is not received at the school. If you need to change or add any information related to the tickets bought, please email devintern@academielafayette.org.
- If you believe that your student(s) has earned their raffle t-shirt or the $50 Amazon gift card but have not heard from Janessa (DevInern), please email devintern@academielafayette.org.
Upcoming deadlines:
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Weekly Winner deadline for next week will be on Thursday, October 15th
- Starting Saturday, October 10th through next Thursday, October 15th, enter in a drawing to win an iFly flying voucher! All you need to do is sell five tickets per entry, with unlimited entries to win! The winner will be announced in next week's newsletter. Tickets sold from the beginning of the raffle through Friday, October 9th will not count, only tickets sold from Saturday, October 10th through Thursday, October 15th will go towards entry to win.
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INFO SHARING
Art Materials for Oak & Cherry Campus
Hello Oak and Cherry Parents,
We will be starting projects that will need materials very soon. Some of the following materials were on the Yubbler list sent home. Others didn't make it on. Could you please make sure that your Oak or Cherry student has the following materials for at home art projects and then for when we transition back to school? We are not allowed to share materials this year. Thank you for your support of the Art program.
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 crayons
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white construction paper
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pencil
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watercolors
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paintbrush
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washable markers
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Elmer's glue bottle
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eraser
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permanent marker
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colored construction paper
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ruler ( not necessary for K&1)
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INFO SHARING
Drive-up COVID-19 Testing available for symptomatic children
Children's Mercy has some exciting news to share: Drive-up COVID-19 Testing available for symptomatic children at the following Urgent Care sites:
- Children's Mercy Blue Valley in Overland Park, KS
- Children's Mercy East in Independence, MO
- Children's Mercy Northland in Kansas City, MO
Testing is by appointment only: Monday- Friday 12 p.m.- 6 p.m.
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INFO SHARING
Change.org Petition to Support J1 Intern and Teacher Programs
 Académie Lafayette welcomes dozens of interns and teachers each year through the J-1 Visa program sponsored by the Amity Institute. On June 24, President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation which temporarily suspended the J-1 visa for several categories, including teachers and interns. A few weeks ago, the Alliance for International Exchange created a Change.org petition to the White House stating that J-1 Exchange Visitor Programs are important to the U.S. economy, national security, and public diplomacy. The organization then goes on to urge that these vital programs be exempted from the June 22 proclamation. For those of you who are not aware of the Alliance's work, it is an association that represents organizations and companies comprising the educational and cultural exchange community in the United States, serving as this community's public policy voice.If you feel inclined, please take a moment to sign onto the petition to support J1 programs (linked here). While this petition does not exclusively address the Teacher and Intern Programs, we believe it is important to support the J-1 exchange program in its entirety. We all know of the enormous benefits of exchange opportunities such as those offered by Amity... however, there is a common misconception as to the actual impact that these exchange programs have in the United States. Therefore, petitions such as Alliance's are important for raising awareness.
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INFO SHARING
Social Work and Counseling Corner
Suicide Awareness & Prevention Family Night was held on Tuesday, October 6th. Thank you to all the parents and guardians who attended this discussion. Here is a link to the counseling and social work website where you can find the video of the event.
Food pick up changed to Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 to 1:30pm. The location is the east door of the Armour campus on McGee Street. Deliveries will also take place on that day. Please contact your school counselor or social worker if you need deliveries. This is available to all families. We want to say a special thank you to the volunteers from St. John's Methodist Church for helping us with deliveries.
Sincerely,
Check out our AL Counseling and Social Services Department website!
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INFO SHARING
Community Outreach Corner
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INFO SHARING
Technology and Equipment
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INFO SHARING
Communication
- To help answer your questions, we have created our Covid-19 webpage, which will be updated as we have more information to share. If, at any time, you have a question, concern or information to share, please do not hesitate to reach out to your child's teachers, counselors, principals or Mr. Mbengue.
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Oak Street Campus
6903 Oak Street
Kansas City, MO 64113
816-361-7735
Armour Campus,
201 E. Armour Blvd,
Kansas City, MO 64111
816-800-8771
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Cherry Street Campus
3421 Cherry Street
Kansas City, MO 64109
816-888-7400
| | | www.academielafayette.org |
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It's hard to believe parent-teacher conferences and fall break are here already. As a simple way to say thanks to teachers and staff for all the ways they've supported our children this year, the PTO will provide individually boxed lunches during parent-teacher conferences. If you would like to contribute to this gesture of gratitude, please make a donation on the PTO's GoFundMe page 
