Sunday, March 26, 2017
Dear Advanced Learning Academy Families,
On Monday, March 20th, the San Antonio Independent School District Board of Trustees accepted the recommendation to formalize our school name as the Advanced Learning Academy! Rather than choose only one name from the three student proposals, we plan to establish a new Wonder Playground at ALA on Euclid, the L.I.G.H.T. playground, and the Acequia Commons at the Fox Tech campus. The playgrounds will be provided as a gift from Kingdom for Kids, a partnership with the Rotary Club of San Antonio and City Year. We are planning a fall project to inform the design of several playground and commons elements ahead of the November of 2017 building date, during which the community will be invited to volunteer to help with the project. This week, we will be polling students to determine a preference among logo and secondary color options, in addition to the already selected royal blue. We hope to have the logo and colors finalized in the next week or two.
Now that our name has been formalized, we are also launching our official Advanced Learning Academy Facebook page and Twitter @SAISDALA. We encourage you to follow us for updates and photos about the many great things happening at ALA!
On our Facebook page, families will find an overview of the upcoming STAAR Testing schedules. The STAAR exams will be given this week to 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grade ALA students. On Tuesday, March 28th, our 4th and 7th grade students take the writing STAAR test, our 5th and 8th grade students take the math STAAR test, and our freshmen take the STAAR English I end-of-course exam. On Wednesday, March 29th, our 5th and 8th grade students take reading. Finally on Thursday, March 30th, our sophomores take the STAAR English II end-of-course exam. Please help by making sure your son or daughter gets a good night’s sleep and eats breakfast, so all are ready to put forth best efforts each morning. Our teachers have been working hard with students to prepare them well, and we know they will do their best!
These testing sessions will take up almost the entire day, with a lunch break mid-way through the exam. Testing regulations require us to collect all electronic devices (cell phones, iPods and other personal media devices) from students prior to testing. Students will not be able to use them during or after they finish testing in their testing room. However, they do have access to a landline in the front office.
During testing, our number one priority is supporting the students who are testing. Therefore, our ability to deliver items, check-out students, and process other paperwork is more limited than on a regular school day; please expect longer delays Tuesday thru Thursday should you need assistance from a faculty member or our support staff. While many of our students will be testing, students who are not testing will follow the regular bell schedule, attend their elective and core academic classes, and will not be dismissed early.
Report cards will be sent home this week to all Advanced Learning Academy students on Thursday, March 30 for families to review. We will not have a Report Card Pick-Up night this nine-weeks at ALA at Fox Tech; however, we are planning a student exhibition of work for Thursday, April 13 before the next PTSA meeting. Look for more details in an upcoming community update.
The National Hispanic Institute @FOX TECH invites our ALA & Magnet families and their friends to the SPURS vs Jazz (Sunday, April 2nd) or Clippers (Saturday, April 8th) basketball game at discounted ticket prices. Click HERE for details. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the campus organization.
Parents of our ALA middle school theatre company, the schedule for The Tempest cast and crew rehearsals can be found here. Please make sure that your child attends each rehearsal; our UIL competition is on April 8th! If your family has a conflict with a scheduled date; please email or text me as soon as possible, so that the best plan can be made for the students in attendance.
Looking ahead the 5th Annual San Antonio Book Festival is right around the corner. On April 8th from 10 am-5 pm Central Library and the Southwest School of Arts and Crafts will host a day of exciting author panels, book signings, games, food, and fun to support literacy at all ages. Free parking will be available to ALA and all SAISD families at the Fox Tech Campus. Teens can volunteer during the festival for service hours, extra fun, and a free t-shirt. Students may contact Laura Sisson, Fox Tech and ALA Librarian, to sign up.
Finally, we want to invite the ALA community to Night in Old Tech on March 31st from 5-9 p.m. at the Fox Tech Campus. There will be booths and games for all age levels along with wonderful mariachi performances throughout the event. We hope to see many of you there!
Have a wonderful week!
Kathy Bieser
Principal, Advanced Learning Academy
