Community Update: January 29, 2017

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,

At last Thursday’s extended year informational meeting, we began a discussion of the benefits and challenges of an extended year calendar, along with developing a list of questions from the community. In the coming weeks, we will be sharing Frequently Asked Questions based on our initial conversations last week. At this time, we are not considering an extended year calendar for the 2017-2018. However, we plan to gather more community input over the summer and fall for consideration for the 2018-2019 school year. As your family plans ahead for the 2017-2018 school year, please note that the first day of school district-wide, including ALA, will be Monday, August 14th, 2017.  

Congratulations to entire cast and crew of Alice in Wonderland for the wonderful performances this past weekend.  We celebrate our very first theatre production at ALA and look forward to many more in the years to come. Many thanks to Amy Stengel and Sandy Boydston, theatre teachers, for their leadership and dedication!

Coach Myers asked us to share that cross country has begun for our 7th and 8th grade students.  The team meets for practice Monday thru Friday in the secondary gym at 6:45 am.   Athletes will run around campus, the field house, and routes off campus. In order to practice students must have a completed a physical and be cleared through Rank One. Interested student athletes and their families may contact Coach Myers at cmyers1@saisd.net for more details. Best of luck to our runners!

Dr. Linda Vargas and our guidance office asked that we share some information about Naviance, a comprehensive website that secondary students and families can use to plan for college and a career. Ninth and tenth graders have been taught how to log in and our middle school students will be learning soon. Families are invited to learn about Naviance at any of the upcoming informational sessions on the dates below.  Please remember to sign in at the front office before reporting to the Go Center.

• Tuesday, January 31st @ 9 am and 3:30 pm
• Wednesday, February 1st  @ 9 am and 3:30 pm
• Thursday, February 2nd @ 9 am and 3:30 pm

Dr. Vargas recommends that students log in HERE ,on a weekly basis, for updates posted on various pre-college opportunities.  For instance, there is information posted in Naviance about two opportunities, both with January 31st deadlines:  UTHSCSA Voelcker Biomedical Academy (Freshmen) and  PREP USA (6th grade-Juniors). Parent Naviance sessions will also be available after each Community Coffee at Fox Tech scheduled for the remainder of the year.

The City of San Antonio has begun construction around ALA at Fox Tech that will significantly alter traffic patterns for the remainder of the year.  Beginning Monday, January 30th,  San Pedro south of W. Quincy Street will be closed to all traffic. Cars will no longer be able to make a right off of San Pedro onto Jackson Street (Buffalo Run).  Beginning on Tuesday, Jackson Street (Buffalo Run) will become a one-way street only allowing traffic to travel south towards Main Street.  Please expect longer delays at drop-off and pick-up this week as traffic adjusts to the new patterns.  

Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

Kathy Bieser