September 29, 2020

Dear Fellow Parents,

We all have seen unimaginable challenges this year and we are all longing to be in more recognizable times. Many of us find ourselves stretched beyond our comforts to be fulltime tutors for our children while also trying to remain loving parents through our frustrations. These days are not sustainable. We must commit to working together to bring effective and engaging education to our kids.

On Monday night, the parents on the Board of Directors voted and approved taking a step toward that more effective and engaging education. The Board of Directors approved bringing Kindergarten through 5^th grade students back into our building in a cohort, hybrid model. The hybrid model, which will begin on October 19, will split each class into two separate groups, or cohorts. This effectively lowers class sizes and allows maximum physical distancing in the classroom. Each cohort will have separate, consecutive instructional days in the building, followed by consecutive days of online work at-home.

The Board chose to leave only grades 6-8 in online learning for Quarter 2 for several reasons. The largest reason is the nature of the middle school model requires teachers to change classrooms more often than the lower grades. These teacher changes would escalate the risk of carrying any exposures from one cohort to another, and make it nearly impossible to not quarantine the majority of the middle school any time a positive incident occurs. 

Once the plan implementing this decision is released, it will be critical that we remain a unified team to successfully carry it out. There cannot be the smallest division within our community. All of us, parents and teachers alike, must own this plan together. We must all make the conscious decision to support the plan to protect each other. If just one of us isn’t “all in”, then we risk endangering others in our community. If any parent witnesses illness symptoms in their family, they must act immediately to keep the effected child or themselves away from others so we do not spread any virus or bacteria.

We understand that there is anxiety over what is to come in the next few weeks. While we cannot alleviate all of those fears, we can promise one thing: you will not be alone! We will continue to be available for you, as I hope you will continue to support and partner with us. We feel blessed and overwhelmed by the support that you show to our administration and staff on a regular basis. We look forward to continuing to work through these coming weeks with you all!

Respectfully,

Parent Board of Directors--

Click here for: Spanish Copy
Click here for: Amharic Copy


Aurora Academy Charter School Parent
Board of Directors
board@aacademy.org

RE: Kindergarten return to in-person learning prior to Quarter 2

September 7, 2020

The Board, on Saturday, September 5^th, approved the recommendation that a plan be created to bring

only our Kindergarten classes back to in-person learning prior to the end of the first quarter of our school year. This recommendation was made by our teachers and backed by administration and teaching data results. There is not a firm date yet as to when this will happen but we are targeting September 21st as the first week our Kindergarten classes will again meet in our building. The date to return to the building will ultimately be decided when all the missing pieces of our safety plan have been filled. We will continue to work diligently to prepare a plan for our entire school for 2^nd quarter.

The children at this age and learning level benefit significantly from face-to-face interactions as they learn to read and emotionally interact with other kids and with teachers. The lack of these interactions has proven extremely difficult to overcome during online learning.

We know that there are many concerns that we will need to speak to with this change. You can expect more updates posted on our website and sent through emails, as well as surveys, asking for your input as we develop the safety plan to pair with this decision to bring our Kindergarten students back to our building.

We ask that if you have any questions or concerns that you email us at board@aacademy.org and we will respond as quickly as we can. We thank you in advance for continuing to support our school and for your trust in this unprecedented time.

Respectfully,

Parent Board of Directors -