WE'VE BEEN MAKING IMPROVEMENTS ON OUR BUILDING! PAGE 3
IN THIS ISSUE:
EVENTS:
IMPORTANT SECOND SEMESTER UPDATES PAGE 3
FAFSA NIGHT- FEB 9
5TH YEAR CONTRACT INFORMATION PAGE 5 THANK YOU FENIX & HOME DEPOT PAGE 6 THE EARLY COLLEGE OF ARVADA IS A 6-12, TUITION-FREE, PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL LOCATED AT 4905 W 60TH AVE., ARVADA, CO 80003 WWW.ECARVADA.ORG 720-473-4405
PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES- FEB 17 NO SCHOOL (PRESIDENT'S DAY WEEKEND)- FEB 17-21 @EARLY_COLLEGEARVADA
@EARLYCOLLEGEARVADA
February Events JAN 31
FEB 1
FEB 2
FEB 3
FEB 4
FEB 7
FEB 8
FEB 9
FEB 10
FEB 11
FEB 17
FEB 18
FAFSA NIGHT AT 4:00 PM
FEB 14
FEB 15
FEB 16
VALENTINE'S
PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES
DAY
FEB 21
FEB 22
FEB 23
FEB 24
FEB 25
MARCH 1
MARCH 2
MARCH 3
MARCH 4
PRESIDENT'S DAY
FEB 28
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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MASK MANDATE UPDATE ECA Students and Families, Starting on Monday, ECA will be adjusting our mask policy. While we continue to encourage students to participate in mask wearing as it can help to prevent the spread of COVID, and other illnesses, we will be adjusting our policy to reflect the new guidelines from the Tri-County Health Department. Those new guidelines lift the mandate that requires all people to be masked indoors. Masks are still considered an important preventative tool for preventing the spread of germs, and we highly encourage staff and students to use them. We will not however be enforcing students' continual use of them on school property. There are a number of individuals in our community that are at high risk so we would encourage everyone to keep that in mind when making their decisions around mask wearing. Students will not be discouraged from wearing masks, but they will not be forced to wear them. As educators, we are not trained or equipped to navigate the complexity of factors driving the overall pandemic response. That is the role of our public health experts. ECA has done its best to follow expert guidance as closely as possible all along and we will continue to do so. Tri County Health is citing several factors for why they are ending the mandate that include; 1 . Case trends in Adams County are now dramatically declining more rapidly than expected – dropping more than 65% since the peak on January 11th. 2. Hospitalizations across Colorado are dropping. 3. Immunity is rising. Immunity to Omicron has reached 75% of the population and is still rising. 4. Access to vaccines, rapid testing, higher quality masks, and a growing list of effective therapies to treat severe infection. ECA will still continue to follow the guidance set by our local health officials as well as monitor the impact this policy has on our school and adjust accordingly. Our weekly testing on Mondays will continue as well as all of our policies regarding the quarantine of students and staff that may test positive. We ask that families continue to utilize this important tool to help us monitor and contacttrace within the school community. We will continue to use that data to be intentional about how we move forward. We appreciate the way that you all have continued to support our students and school through this pandemic. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to reach out to our administration.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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SECOND SEMESTER UPDATES JANICE ANDERSON JANDERSON@ECARVADA.ORG
Dear ECA Parents, 2022 has started off with the continued challenges of COVID on our students and staff. Like many parents, I worry about the impact on my student's learning. We continue to offer testing on Monday mornings every week and we encourage all students to test in order to try to mitigate the spreading of the virus, so we can continue to offer in person instruction. We also appreciate all of your support in keeping your students home when symptoms arise. Parents, in an effort to keep all of our students safe, please make sure to follow the pick up and drop off path, entering at Wolff and exiting at 60th Avenue. In addition, please keep in mind that it is a right turn only exiting our property. This pattern ensures that students walking home have a safe path to leave our property. I know that we want to make sure that all our students are safe coming to and from school.
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
This month we will also be offering a FAFSA night, on February 9th at 4 PM, to help the parents of our Seniors and students navigate through the application process. This is one of the most important steps in the College application process. There will be translation services available. This month we will have Parent Conferences on February 17th from 4-7 PM. This is one of the most impactful times for our staff and families to team with parents in order to celebrate our student's strengths and to build a cohesive path to ensure all student's academic success. We look forward to seeing all our parents/guardians on that night. Our Middle School and High School will be reaching out with the specific details for conferences. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need to reach out to one of our staff. We look forward to seeing you all there. Parents, we really need your help, as we have had many tardies both to school and to classes. School begins at 8 AM everyday. Please make sure that your students are getting here by 7:55, so they can get to their classes on time, and encourage them to do so for all of their classes. Also, remember to call your students in if they are going to be absent. It is critical during these times to track illness and to ensure that your student is properly excused. As a reminder, absences must be excused within 24 hours of the absences. You will receive notifications of the absence throughout the day if you do not call in. Excused absences include illness, injury, medical or legal appointments or family emergency. Lastly, ECA would like to extend a huge thank you to FENIX and Home depot for all they have done for our school. Both have offered their valuable time and resources to spruce up our wonderful building. Thank you so much from all of us at ECA, and we look forward to everything they will accomplish!
We are halfway through the school year and our Juniors will start preparing for college applications soon. Here’s two amazing resources students should continue to take advantage of while preparing for their future.
Counselor Corner BRIDGETTE FOSTER BFOSTER@ECARVADA.ORG
Seniors, You put in the work, now is the hard part. Waiting. Waiting to hear back from a college or university may feel like years. Though many of you received an admissions decision from your November Early Application deadlines, those of you who applied in January will hear back in February or Early March. Please check your email for a Financial Aid package, and forward that to Miss Foster or set up a time to review your options. Lastly, though colleges require students to put down a deposit, you may change your mind if you receive an acceptance from another college and wish to attend there. You will lose your deposit, but it may be worth it depending on financial aid packages or if it is your dream school. There is still some time to apply to some college or consider a Fifth Year at ECA!
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THANK YOU! JULIE RAMSAY JRAMSAY@ECARVADA.ORG
We would like to thank FENIX, HOME DEPOT, and PRO CHOICE PAINTING - The FENIX group is volunteering their time and resources to help us brighten up our school. Last weekend they spent all of Saturday and all of Sunday painting and cleaning our building. Home Depot donated all of the paint, Pro Choice donated the painting supplies and Fenix donated their time and man-and woman-power. So far they've: Replaced over 50 broken or damaged ceiling tiles on both the upper and lower levels (they bought the tiles) Cleaned classrooms (chairs, desks, tables, file cabinets, etc.) - twice on weekends Mopped the classrooms and common areas - twice on weekends Deep cleaned the restrooms - twice on weekends Changed the weather stripping on three entry doors Painted 6 rooms and two bathrooms (Home Depot donated the paint) Cleaned the lockers Deep cleaned the kitchenette
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They said they will return to do more painting, cleaning and some handyman work around the school. They're working with Home Depot to secure new mulch and landscaping upgrades this spring. They are also working on a few other surprises for our school using money (and some donations-TBA) that they raised on their own. The name "FENIX" was chosen because the definitions are: 1.) a unique bird that lived for five or six centuries in the Arabian desert, after this time burning itself on a funeral pyre and rising from the ashes with renewed youth to live through another cycle; 2.) a person or thing regarded as uniquely remarkable in some respect. These 14 volunteers are truly remarkable and rise above (and beyond). We are forever grateful for their contributions to our school. In the coming weeks FENIX will continue to work on our school. Once their next work date is announced we will invite our staff, students and their families to come and help take pride in their school and join the volunteer day to make ECA shine! ECA students are required to have 50 volunteer hours by the time they graduate. Those who participate on our next Volunteer Day will receive credit hours toward their graduation volunteer requirement. It's a great way to celebrate ECA, show your Griffin pride and meet some terrific people. Stay tuned!!
Rick Heroff Principal/C.E & Career Coordinator (720) 473-4400 EXT 320
Hello ECA family. As you may or may not know I have changed roles this last month. I was the Assistant Principal over college, and Middle school. I am now over Academics for all of High School and Middle School. For those that don’t know me I have been in education for 10 years. I went to UNC in Greeley for college, and I am married with 4 kids. I have been at ECA for 3 years, and I’m looking forward to many more. I love our students, and the community here. I’m excited to continue our mission of meeting your kids where they are at and providing exciting college opportunities to them. Middle School and High School: Conferences are fast approaching on February 17th. It is so important that we have as many parents as possible participate so that our teachers can bring you up to date on how you can best support your child. Please watch for our conference sign up coming via Google Forms, and paper copy to be sent home. You may also receive individual phone calls from teachers to invite you to specific times. Middle school will be set up by appt, whereas High School will be an open house style in the Cafeteria. Concurrent Enrollment: Students are encouraged to continue good communication habits with their college instructors. If they run into a situation where a class needs to be dropped or withdrawn please see Mr. Heroff, or email at rheroff@ecarvada.org or call or 720-473-4400 ext 320
Early College of Arvada | 9
AFTER CLASS ENRICHMENT
& SERVICE PROGRAM SPRING SEMESTER PROGRAMMING
FAFSA Night: Wednesday, February 9th in room 245. We have three sessions available on the hour starting at 4pm. Please click on our Signup Genius to register for this free seminar: https://www.signupgenius.co m/go/10C0D49A8AB22AAFFC7 0-fafsa The early FAFSA deadline is February 15th, so don't procrastinate! Parents: please note that after school help is available M-F from 3:45-4:30 pm. New clubs are starting. Is your student interested in theater? The first theater club meeting is Tuesday, 2/08 in the Performing Arts room. Come check it out!
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