For the month of April, Gen Townsend has been selected as the BFA PTO Volunteer of the Month. She was nominated by Carrie Keen, Keri Street, and the front office staff and is being recognized for the time she has spent "reinventing" the PTO spirit wear store, helping to update BFA logos/colors/fonts, and designing BFA Board election marketing materials. We're incredibly grateful that she spends her free time using her creativity and expertise on behalf of our school! Thank you, Gen!

Gen and her husband Josh have two kids, Jackson (second grade), and Everly (starting kindergarten in the fall!). They have been at BFA since Jackson started kindergarten. 

When asked what they love about BFA, Gen said: “What we love about BFA is the level of challenge the kids get, combined with the support they are given to find success. The teachers and staff are so dedicated to helping create an environment of high-level achievement and for that we are grateful. It’s been said many times before that the best part of BFA is the sense of community, and we couldn’t agree more!”

Congratulations, Gen. We're thankful for all your contributions!

If you know someone who should be considered for volunteer of the month for outstanding volunteerism, please email PTO President, Janelle Nichols, at pto@bfacademy.org.

This month, Hailey Lancaster is the winner of our drawing for her volunteer time in March, and has won a gift card to Starbucks. Congratulations, Hailey! And, thank you again for helping out around school!

BFA parents and staff members have from NOW until 11:59 p.m. TOMORROW, April 12, to cast their vote for Seat 1, Class A. To learn more, visit the Board Election webpage or watch the candidate Q&A session, then cast your vote.

Results of the election will be announced and the appointment for Seat 2, Class A will be made on April 16, at the regularly scheduled Board meeting. 

We'd like EVERY family and staff member to participate! Your vote is important as the ability of BFA to carry out its mission and vision depends upon the strength of our organizational foundation, beginning with the Board of Directors.

If you have any questions, please contact Adam Lucero at adaml@bfacademy.org or Keri Street at keri@bfacademy.org.

Earlier this week, members of the Wray Family--Renee, Allie and Owen--and Christina Ngiralmau spoke to Mrs. Crowe’s first grade class about epilepsy and the importance of being inclusive. They reminded the students that even if people are different from each other, we all have something in common—we want to be loved and appreciated. They also brought in fun purple goodies for epilepsy awareness. It was a very special, heartwarming day in Mrs. Crowe’s class and we’re very grateful to our speakers for sharing their stories!

The middle school dance, The Enchanted Forest, is from 6 - 8 p.m. this Saturday, April 13, at BFA.

The dance is free, but parents must register their student(s) through MySchoolBucks. Students should bring the signed Dance Policy Form as their ticket to the dance. (Note: Students will not be allowed into the dance without the signed form/ticket.) There is a NO CELL PHONE/SMART WATCH rule this year so devices can be left at home or checked in at the dance. Light snacks will be provided.

We still need some help with the event, including bringing desserts/snacks. All parents and students are welcome to help, so please sign up to bring snacks and/or volunteer! 

Summer is right around the corner! Each year BFA teachers offer different enrichment camps throughout the summer. We have such a wide variety of camps this year, that we created a catalog of choices. There are camps for all interests and age groups. Please see our Summer Camp Catalog for all the details. 

The BFA PTO will use RaiseRight for end-of-year staff gifting again this year. Collections will take place NOW through Sunday, April 14 with gift cards being distributed during Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week (May 6-10).

Each family makes one payment for all of their teacher and staff gifts. At the end of collections, each staff member will receive an email with the total collected on their behalf and is able to select gift cards they would like to receive. Participation in the RaiseRight program is completely voluntary.

Follow these Simple Instructions to Gift Through RaiseRight

To place your RaiseRight order and pay with credit card, visit MySchoolBucks.com. Staff are grouped by grade or category; click here for a current staff list. Select the appropriate grade or category to open the group window. Use the dropdown menu to select the staff member you’re gifting and enter your gift amount in the “Amount to Pay” box. You may designate how much you would like to give to each teacher/staff member in whole-dollar increments. (You may also elect to have your student's name only, not gift amount, shared with the recipient when you place your order.) Repeat as many times as needed until all of your staff gift orders have been placed. And, don’t forget to check out when you’re all done!

Questions?

Visit the PTO webpage or email Rebecca Mullenix, RaiseRight committee manager, at bfascrip@bfacademy.org.

The mother-son social event, a 9-hole LED mini golf course set up at the school, will be held from 3-8 p.m. on Saturday, April 20.

Tickets are on sale NOW through Sunday, April 14, on MySchoolBucks. Tickets are $25 per couple and $5 for each additional participant (with a maximum of $35 per family), and includes dinner. Please note that ticket sales are time specific based on the age of your child. Times may be adjusted based on total participants in order to accommodate everyone. New this year, PRESCHOOLERS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND!  

There is limited availability, so be sure to get your tickets early!

Volunteers Needed

The PTO needs your help to make this event a success. If you are interested in volunteering at the event you can sign up to help with Mother-Son social.

Please contact PTO Social Coordinator, Ewelina Chrzanowski, at ptosocial@bfacademy.org with any questions.

The CEC is excited to host all students and their fathers (or other special adult) for a morning of fun from 6:45 - 7:45 a.m. on Friday, April 19, at BFA. The morning will begin in the Lightning (small) gym with donuts, breakfast burritos and refreshments. Festivities will continue in the Thunder (big) gym with a magician performance and photo opportunities. We ask that you arrive no later than 7:30 a.m. as this is a popular event. Fathers and students may begin leaving the gym at 7:45 a.m. so students can head to class. Students should be in their classrooms by the normal time (8:10 a.m.). Gluten free options will be available upon request.

Volunteer Opportunties

Volunteers are needed to help make this a special event. Please see the Daybreak with Dads sign-up for available volunteer positions. We thank you in advance for any assistance you are able to provide.

Parking for the Event

Please park in the upper lot to allow our teachers and staff the opportunity to park in the lower lot. Should the upper lot fill completely, overflow parking will take place in the “B” carpool lane. "A" carpool lane will remain open for regular morning carpool drop off.

For those not attending, morning carpool may take longer so please be patient.

There will be NO BASE care the morning of April 19 due to this event.

Be sure to order your 2023-24 yearbook now for the best pricing! Right now, yearbooks cost $50 per book. A limited number of yearbooks will be available for purchase the week of distribution but will be $60, cash only. So don’t wait, order yours today!

This year, we are using a new company, Jostens, for our yearbooks. Order and pay for your yearbook now!

The PTO Run4Funds Fundraiser kick-off assembly is just around the corner, on Friday, April 19, and the run is scheduled for Thursday, April 25. This is the BFA PTO’s largest fundraiser of the year and we need your help to make it successful! We are asking each student to set a fundraising goal of $75 in order to reach our $50,000 school fundraising goal.

Learn more about the run by watching this short video.

What You Can Do Now:

• Save the date--Thursday, April 25--to cheer on your student(s).
• Take a tour around our custom fundraising website.
• Start thinking about who you can ask to support your student(s), and plan to help your student(s) send out informational/donation request emails when the fundraiser kicks-off next week.

Make plans to support one of our wonderful PTO sponsors at the next BFA spirit night from 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. on Sunday, April 21, at Robeks in Parker (12235 Pine Bluffs Way, 80134). Click to see the Robeks Spirit Night flier.

They will give back 10 percent to the BFA PTO for those who mention BFA in their order, so we hope you’ll stop by to enjoy their smoothies, juices, avocado toasts, and more!

Spring is here! The change in season often brings a feeling of wanting to clean up our houses, yards and personal spaces making this month’s two virtues, cleanliness and frugality, perfect for us to lean into now. This is a great time to teach our students the importance of keeping their spaces clean and to encourage them to be conscious of how to best use the resources that they are given. 

BFA interprets these virtues as:

• Cleanliness - Keep yourself and your work area clean. Keep your uniform clean. Keep your school clean. Keep your words clean. 
• Frugality - Be frugal. Do not waste the schools’ resources. Do not waste what you have been given. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. 

The last two months of school at BFA are activity packed. There are many opportunities to demonstrate cleanliness and frugality.

No doubt our BFA founders would want to remind our community to stay engaged and in good cheer. As we round-out the year, let us all enjoy and embrace the organized chaos the next two months will bring while keeping our eyes focused on finishing strong.

Uniforms are an important part of school at Ben Franklin Academy, and this is the time of year when our uniform vendors have their best sales of the year! Educational Outfitters just sent us their uniform sale flier as well as a menu of options that you might find helpful. Parents also can purchase uniforms from two other vendors--French Toast and Tommy Hilfiger.

You can find out more about uniforms on our uniform webpage (click Uniforms to find vendor information). We’ll share additional sale information via our public Facebook page and/or in our newsletters, as we receive it.