This Week at Charlotte Lab School
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Dear Lab Family,
For several years now, one question has consistently been asked at almost every open house and family event that we’ve hosted: “Will Charlotte Lab have a high school?”
I’m happy to report - finally, definitively - that, yes, we will, and we have some great news to share! Lab has been awarded a $1.25M, 5-year grant from the US Department of Education Charter School Program (DOE CSP) to open a Lab high school. I am delighted to say that receiving this grant brings us a step closer to our dream of a K-12 school.
The grant was highly competitive, and we are honored to be one of 32 recipients nationally of the
2018 CSP Grants to Developers for the Replication and Expansion of High-Quality Charter Schools
. While this grant certainly makes the possibility of opening an Uptown High School within our reach, we know there are many more milestones and obstacles to successfully navigate on our path - location, staffing, funding, and curriculum development are among the highest priorities.
As the first of many next steps, we will be convening an advisory committee of parents and community members to help guide us along the way in our Charlotte Lab High School planning process. If you are interested in joining this group, or supporting the high school in another way, please send an email to
HS@charlottelabschool.org
and indicate your interest; we will be in touch after the new year. We will have several events and opportunities this spring for you all to learn more and contribute to our Lab HS planning process.
While we are excited about the high school, we understand that our continued growth may raise some concerns, so want to address those directly:
- We know that Lab has not yet achieved its goals in every way that we envisioned; we are working every day to make it better. Help us today by giving your Trimester 1 feedback by taking the survey below. While we are growing and ensuring that we provide a Lab education through 12th grade, we are committed to continual improvement to ensure that Lab works for all students at all grades.
- The Lab HS will be a small, academically focused school modeled after the NYCiSchool (the school I co-founded in NY) and we understand that it will not be the best fit for a high school experience for all of our current students; we will therefore continue to focus on preparing all students to be prepared for and make a successful transition to any high school environment of their family’s choice.
- We know that we have immediate and pressing needs within our K-8 school. Primarily, we have had many questions about our middle school plans, and how we will accommodate 8th grade into our Seigle Ave building. Thankfully, our board, landlords, and architects have been helping us to consider the various options available to us. After carefully weighing the information, we have decided to reduce the number of kids in each grade at the middle school so that we do not have to add additional space at our middle school campus. This allows us to 1) not take on a costly construction project at this time, 2) build a stronger school culture by not adding as many new middle school students to each grade, and 3) focus on our long-term goal of securing a K-12 facility. We are confident that our building will be able to accommodate the middle school students we anticipate serving for the 2019-2020 school year and are working with neighborhood partners to explore options for additional space, if needed.
We are entering an important time for Charlotte Lab School. Our Board of Directors has been working diligently behind the scenes to craft a thoughtful strategic plan and set goals that will guide our organization’s work over the next several years, which we now know will include a high school and a permanent facility. We also want our work in the coming years to include improvement in our current programs, which we can only do with your support and feedback.
I hope that you will
take 5 minutes to complete this survey
about your experiences this fall to inform our mid-year reflections and provide input into our planning during the upcoming faculty work days.
I know that we have a lot of work to do, but we can also see the difference that Lab is making every day for our students. During this holiday season, I am especially grateful for the trust you have put in me and the Lab team for educating your child and shaping his/her future. We all remain committed to creating a learning community and experience at Lab that truly defines what’s possible in public k-12 education.
Please remember that
tomorrow we will be operating on a 3-hour delay
(see email for additional information) and this
Wednesday is a half day for Parent-Teacher Conferences
.
Sincerely,
Dr. Mary Moss
Executive Director
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Last Chance to Give to the Staff Holiday Gift Collection
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Our annual Lab staff holiday gift collection goes through Wednesday, December 12. A letter and envelope were sent home in last week’s Friday communication folders. If you wish to contribute to your grade-level collection, please return the envelope or
contribute online
.
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MySchoolAnywhere Online Directory
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The MySchoolAnywhere school directory will go live this week! This directory will give you the ability to:
- search for a class list by Homeroom Teacher (for Lower School) and by Advisory (for Middle School);
- gain access to directory information from any browser or smartphone; and
- find faculty, parents and/or students by name.
ACTION REQUIRED BY ALL FAMILIES: You will receive a personalized link via email from MySchoolAnywhere over the next few days. Please be sure to check your junk/spam mail. Specific instructions will be included in that email on how to access to the directory. You will also receive a temporary password in this email as well as instructions on how to change your password once you login. If you would like to access the directory from your mobile phone, detailed instructions will be included for this, too.
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Select Your Child's Yearbook Photo
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Please
check this list to see if your student still needs a photo selected for the yearbook. If so, follow these instructions to select the picture. You do not need to place an order to do this.
- Go to ‘SCHOOLS’ and select ‘Order Photos.’
- Scroll do.wn to ‘Charlotte Lab School’ and select it
- Select ‘Individual, Class and Team Photos - 2018-2019'
- Enter password ‘CTLC.'
- Go to the ‘Search’ icon on the right and select it.
- Enter student last name.
- Select the photo you wish to include.
- Select ‘Yearbook Choice’ from the options on the right side of the screen.
- Select ‘Select Photo’ and then ‘Confirm’ when prompted.
- You do not need to order anything or go to the shopping cart. Once the photo is confirmed, you are finished.
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Volunteer or Make a Donation for the Middle School Holiday Party
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The PTSO and Lab staff are planning a fun holiday celebration for the afternoon of the last day of school, December 19. We need hot chocolate, marshmallow, candy cane, insulated cups, and hot water carafe donations for the holiday movie showings. We also need volunteers to make and deliver the hot chocolate.
Sign up to help or donate.
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Claim Your Lost & Found Items!
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We have many unlabeled coats, sweaters, water bottles, hats, pants(!), lunch boxes, and more in Lost and Found. Anything left at the end of day on December 19 will be donated.
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Please bring your child’s lunch account to good standing before signing off for the holidays. If you are not current, you should have received at least one email from
lunch@charlottelabschool.org.
We will be publishing a new order template for January - June very soon.
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Early Dismissals End at 3:00 PM
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Please remember that
early dismissals end promptly at 3:00 pm. If you need to pick up your child early, you must pick up prior to 3:00 pm.
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7th Grade Families - Please make sure all Enderly Coffee sales forms and money are returned to the front office of the Middle School. Thank you for all of your support! Coffee will be delivered next week. We will also announce the gift card winners and have a winning advisory pizza party next week.
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3rd Annual Hat, Sock & Glove Drive
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We are collecting new hats, socks and gloves in all sizes to benefit students in New Bern, NC who were impacted by the floodwaters of Hurricane Florence. Collection bins are located at the Lower and Middle Schools. Make your donations by December 14!
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Don't Forget Those BoxTops!
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Don’t forget to save your BoxTops over the holiday season and ask family, friends, and neighbors to do the same! The homeroom who brings in the most will earn a pizza party at the end of Trimester 2.
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If you are looking to treat your child's teacher to something special this holiday season, don't forget to check the
Lab Staff Wishlist for ideas. The middle school in particular is hoping for a donation of a
coffee maker to use at open houses, PTSO general meetings, students’ holiday parties for hot cocoa, and many other events!
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- Dec. 10-14 - Conference Week
- Dec. 12 - Half Day for Conferences
- Dec. 19 - Holiday Classroom Parties
- Dec. 20-Jan. 2 - Winter Break - No School
- Jan. 7 - Dining Night at Mama Ricottas
- Jan. 9 - Admissions Application Opens
- Jan. 9 - Lower and Middle School Open House - 6:30 pm
- Jan. 17 - Multicultural Night - 6:30 pm
- Jan. 21 - MLK Holiday - No School
- Jan. 22 - Teacher Workday- No School
- Jan. 24 - Lab Family Middle School Open House - 6:30-8:00 pm
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The
Parenting Series
is brought to you
by Wellness Intern, Molly Warner
.
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The holidays are once again upon us and if you’re anything like me, you're already starting to feel like the “expectations police” when it comes to your kids’ hopes and dreams. If I’m not careful, guilt usually ensues, followed by resentment. The good news is, we can gain some objectivity and restore our sanity by asking ourselves a few simple questions:
So what?
Who cares?
What’s the worst that could happen?
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