Newsletter

Anser Charter School Flight Plan

December 17th, 2021

Welcome to the Anser Flight Plan. If you have Anser related submissions, please email them to Maua Romano at mromano@ansercharterschool.org by Monday 4:00 PM for inclusion in that week's Flight Plan.

Anser Website

A Message from Our Directors

Please read a message from our directors Heather Dennis and Michelle Dunstan with updates about the ongoing school year and with more info on how we are resuming more of our loved acitvities!

Read here!

Important Dates to Remember

December 17th No School

December 18th-January 2nd Winter Break

January 13th Early Release for SLC

January 14th No School for SLC

January 17th No School

Anser Covid Update

Anser Specific Covid Data:

Week of 12/13-12/17 as of today Number of confirmed cases in students or staff: 0

Week of 12/13-12/17 as of today : Number of staff/students in quarantine: 2

Staffing impacts due to Covid: minimal

Anser’s weekly cases are included in the Anser Covid Tracker on the website, which is Linked here.

Wider Community Data

Cases of Covid in Ada county: cases per 139.17/ 100,000 down from 170.89 cases per /100,00.)

If parents or children in your family are not yet fully vaccinated, or need a Covid booster, resources are linked below. High levels of immunization, proper masking and social distancing continue to be our best tools to keep people safe and to keep school operating in person five days per week.

For more information or to find a vaccine provider click here.

Testing for COVID After Travelling

If you are travelling for the break, we hope you enjoy your trip and travel safe! Anser reccommends that when you return from travelling you take a COVID test, especially if you are travelling to more populated areas. Testing is still available through Anser, or through BSU and other local heatlhcare facilities.

Link to Responsive Return Plan

Important Communications for Families

Fall Fund Drive

Thank you to everyone who has donated thus far to our 2021 Fall Fund Drive! We are just 10,000 dollars short of our goal! We know not everyone can make contributions in the same way and we are so grateful to have support from families regardless of the size of donation. Even just 5$ can help every child get access to educational opportunities at Anser!

This week closes out our Fall Fund Drive, and we welcome anyone to make any final donations to help us to our goal of $40,000!

Thank you to the following families for making their contributions this week: Rebecca Brollier and Emily Barnett

Click here to donate!

Information Needed from Families

During the pandemic, meals have been free for all families and a Free and Reduced Meals application has not been available. This creates a challenge for Anser because our Title 1, and a portion of the Special Education funding based is on the number of students that qualify for free or reduced price meals. We are asking ALL families to please fill out the Income Survey linked here. The survey does not ask for specific income information, but rather for parents to certify a range of income. No personally identifiable information will be shared. Please help us get all of the funding that Anser is entitled to in order to provide the most comprehensive supports to our students, by filling this survey right away.

Recommitment Forms: Required for All Enrolled Students

Parents/guardians are required to complete and return a recommitment form by January 21st, indicating their intent to continue their child's enrollment at Anser. Students currently enrolled at Anser automatically qualify for readmission for the next academic year. Click here to complete the form online.

Any student who chooses not to re-enroll or who does not submit a recommitment form by the deadline will lose his/her spot. They are always welcome to re-apply later as part of the regular lottery process.

If you have children not currently enrolled at Anser and are interested in attending next year (such as incoming Kindergartners), complete one lottery form per student via our website https:// ansercharterschool.schoolmint. net/

Classroom Coordinators

CALLING ALL PARENTS - WE NEED YOU!

Would you like to be a classroom coordinator?

We are looking for volunteers!

Update: Many wonderful parents have volunteered to be classroom coordinators, THANK YOU!

We are still in need of a coordinator for:

Katie's 4/5 crew

Becky's Junior High Crew

Heather B's Junior High Crew

Pete's Junior High Crew

Family Council has decided to bring back Anser's long standing tradition of having classroom coordinators for each crew. This has been on hold since the pandemic started but we are ready to restart. Classroom coordinators are a great way to increase parent involvement and also support our hard working teachers and staff! We are aiming to have classroom coordinators assigned by the end of December and up and running as of January.

The classroom coordinator role is typically carried out by one or two parents per crew. Since we are still schooling in a pandemic, this role will look a bit different than in prior years but the goals will still be the same. The classroom coordinator(s) help support the crew leader with welcoming new families, communication tasks, coordinating volunteers, building community within their crew and facilitating the crew leader's birthday celebration and teacher appreciation week. If teachers don't feel they have a high need for help, the role will be smaller and if certain teachers need more support, the role will be bigger. At the very least, the classroom coordinator is a contact point to support families and answer crew specific questions. Support will be provided to guide classroom coordinators through the role as needed. This can be a great way to get involved!

If this role interests you, please reach out to Stacey Nolan at staceymnolan@gmail.com.

Student Led Conferences to be Held In-Peron-Covid Conditions Permitting

Before the Winter Break you will receive information regarding Student Led conferences for 2^nd-8^th graders and Goal Setting conferences for K-1^st graders. The Covid Response Team reviewed the current Covid conditions within the school and in the larger community, and has determined that these conferences will be held in person, as long as Covid conditions in our community continue to support that at that time.

Parents will be expected to follow all of the Responsive Return Plan protocols, which include universal masking, hand washing/sanitizing, social distancing, maintaining small groups, and socializing outdoors only.

We will only have two families in a classroom at a time to maintain a good distance between families. If you have concerns about being on campus with your child for their Learner Goal Setting (K-1) or Student-Led Conferences (2-8), please reach out to your child's Crew Leader.

More details will be sent out with the sign up before break. We are thrilled to have this opportunity to have these times to connect with our families- we know you have missed being on campus and we have missed you too.

Cozy Collection for The Boise Bike Project:

We did it!

We are so grateful to the Anser community for coming together to support the Boise Bicycle Project in their Cozy Collection. Through your generous donations our community collected over 1,200 items to support local communities during this holiday season. The holiday giveaway will be held on December 18^th and over 500 families will have access to “cozy items” thanks to this effort!

The Anser Lottery is Now Open!

Did you know Anser is the first school in the state to run a weighted lottery? Your friends and family members might benefit from this new opportunity! Learn more about how a weighted lottery works, and see the positive impact it is already having on our school community in this article about Anser!

Part of Anser’s expansion planning has included working hard to reach into and enroll students from communities that have historically faced barriers to charter school enrollment. We’ve lengthened our lottery application period, have attended many local events to inform people about the school, partnered with Head Start and the Agency for New Americans and the Boys and Girls Club and are planning more events before our lottery is held in February. We need help from our Anser families to get the word out to their friends and families about the opportunities expansion brings to so many families in the Garden City/Boise community. You can help us out by sharing our social media posts, or forwarding the flight plan info about upcoming opportunities for families to learn more about Anser.

1. We have two Anser Information Nights planned at the school on December 2nd and February 3rd . You can send folks this link to learn more!

2. We are offering limited group size enrollment tours! You can find out more here.

3. People can apply for next year now! This next year will be a great opportunity for folks to get in as we expand! Share this link to apply!

DrugFree Idaho Free Online Class

DrugFree Idaho received funding to offer these evidenced based online classes, free to parents!
To view the course, go towww.drugfreeidaho.org/parent-craft to access this amazing resource and share this with others!

This is a $200 value absolutely free for parents who may not have the resources or feel comfortable seeking help in person.
This video course provides them an evidenced based resource that they can access from the privacy of their own home and try and gain some new techniques to better communicate with their child.

Looking for Fast Covid Test Results?

Boise State has testing available to students and the turn around on results is often same day! They are offering both PCR and Rapid testing so you can get answers about your child’s illness! Anser is still offering PCR saliva testing, but the turnaround is 36-48 hours for results.

Lunch Calendar

Lunch Calendar

Reminder that lunch and breakfast are free to all students this year! However, you may add money to their student account though Infinite Campus if they would like to purchase a la cart items such as extra milk, or PBJ.