May 10
Parent Council, 6 pm
May 11
Board Meeting, 5:30 pm
May 12
I-Ready Testing at home
May 17-21
Spirit Week
May 19
No School- Grades Day
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2nd grade watercolor paintings |
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Update from the Director
Greetings Madrone Trail Community,
What a week! I honestly think I'm just going to sleep all day tomorrow.
I'm sure the COVID-19 notification was not welcome news, but so far I have yet to hear of anyone else developing symptoms. It was surely one of the most stressful learning experiences of my life. I must have called the Jackson County Health Department at least 20 times on Wednesday with new questions every five minutes. I was confused why a sibling of a close contact was not a concern as well as the instructions detailing how a positively infected person can actually come back to school four days before those that were just exposed to them but not positive. (Turns out a positive person will only shed the virus for 10 days, while an exposed person who is not yet positive can take up to 14 to show symptoms, and then their 10 days start.)
Here is a flow chart that details the different scenarios so that you are also better able to understand why certain actions are necessary. Hopefully we won't need it again. We have shared this before, but it doesn't hurt to share it again.
On a more positive note, we will be announcing some new additions to the Madrone Trail Faculty next week as well as wishing those leaving a farewell on their journeys.
Also, next Friday morning I will be picking up our new bee hives! I have been wanting to start an after-school beekeeping program since I used to teach High School science. I was even more delighted to see there is already some Waldorf curriculum to accompany this new after school club. I want to thank Old Sol Apiaries for donating some of the hives. I will be opening this up to current 5th-8th graders given we only have a month left which means this will be an after school program for 6th-8th graders next year. I will be leading this and we will only meet once or twice a month. Please email me if your child is interested. As you can imagine, there is a waiver to be signed by you and proper fitting equipment to be purchased for your child. Obviously, this is not a good hobby for those allergic to bees. For those not interested, rest assured these hives will be fenced off in the far corner of the field. We will only have three to four hives. Bees typically forage two miles from their hive but have also been known to travel up to five. There are a few hundred hives less than two miles from the school that I know of and I'm sure there are many more I don't know of. If you have any safety concerns, please reach out to me.
Re-enrollment forms for next year have been sent home. In looking towards next school year, our plan is to have all of our students back five days a week, barring any major changes in the current guidelines. To accomplish this we will not be requiring our class and specialty teachers to teach online to any students still wanting to remain home. If we are still required to offer an online education to those that opt to remain at home, we will come up with an alternative plan to fulfill that requirement.
As always, please reach out with any questions or concerns, and I hope you all have a restful weekend.
-John Bissey
Director
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Auction Update
Thank you to all the bidders who participated in our Virtual Auction! It was fun to see the bid amounts go up all weekend and to see who outbid who. We made $8250! That's great compared to other years' silent auction portion of our Annual Auction. It was a small group of dedicated parents that put this together, so big thanks to Julie Furrer, Michelle Sanders, Leslie Town, Nicole Stanislawski, Amanda Giannaros, and Cori Royer for all their hard work!
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Jog-a-thon Update
Thank you to all the students and parents who have brought their Jog-a-thon money back. So far we have brought in $10,300, with another $2,100 left in pledges to collect! Ms. Cori will be sending home reminders to students with uncollected pledges next week.
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State Testing and I-Ready
I-Ready testing has begun. The next date students will take it will be Wednesday, May 12.
May 10-14 the 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes will take SBAC and May 17-21 the 4th and 5th grade classes will take it.
For us to be able to administer SBAC at school we will need all students who have a school chromebook at home to bring it to school with them on the days they attend in person, even if they are not taking the test that day, or are in a grade that does not test (1-2). This will ensure we will have enough school computers for several grades to test at once. The computers will be returned for use at home on Tuesdays for Group A and Fridays for Group B.
If you choose to opt your student out of testing you will need to fill out this form and return it to Ms. Cori, the School Test Coordinator, either in person (at drop off or pick up) or via email.
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Sprouts Pre-K
We are planning to have two mixed-age kindergarten classes next year. This was our plan for this school year, but the pandemic put a hold on it. The classes will be made up of 14 kindergartners and 6 pre-k aged students. Pre-k students will need to be 4 years old by June 1. We are offering a half-day program four days a week (M-Th). If you are interested in our Sprouts program please email our Enrollment Specialist, Sky Walker to get more information.
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Spirit Week
The week of May 17-21 we will be having Spirit Week! We will be combining themes since most students are here only two days a week. Monday and Thursday will be Creative Hair and Pajamas Day. Tuesday and Friday will be Hats and Rainbow Day. Students can pick which theme they would like to do each day, or they can do both, their choice!
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Yearbook Update
Online ordering is happening now! Click the link below to order yours. This year the yearbook will be delayed due to the late dates of our Picture Day and wanting to have more than a few weeks to take pictures at school. We will be sending it to the printers June 1, so they will not be ready by the end of school. They will be ready mid-summer.
Weekly reminder! We still need more pictures of online school activities, but luckily now that students have returned to school we are getting pictures of them on campus, like this one of the 6th graders doing archery in Games class.
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Latest Metrics from the State
4/4-4/17 Case Count: 543 Cases Per 100,000: 245.4 Test Positivity Rate: 6.9%
4/11-4/24 Case Count: 600 Cases Per 100,000: 271.1 Test Positivity Rate: 9.6%
4/18-5/1 Case Count: 599 Cases Per 100,000: 270.7 Test Positivity Rate: 9.2%
To see how other counties are doing click below.
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MADRONE TRAIL PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL
www.madronetrail.org
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Madrone Trail Public Charter School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or age in its programs and activities. |
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