Arcadia This Week 2/27/2022
Hello, Arcadia families, students, and friends,
Here’s what’s up at Arcadia this week! March is going to be a busy month–the “Upcoming Events” section at the end has a list of everything happening!
Monday, 2/28: Day 4
Tuesday, 3/1: Day 5
Wednesday, 3/2: Special Schedule for Senior Presentation Day
Thursday, 3/3: Day 6
Friday, 3/4: Day 1
Senior Presentation Day
Following the finalizations of their senior projects, which have been taking place in the last month, the Seniors will present their work to their fellow students on Wednesday! Students in grades 6-11 will attend their presentations. After presenting, the seniors have a special lunch time together, and the 6th-11th grade students will participate in a variety of creative and team-building activities for the afternoon.
Gertens Fundraiser
We have until April 7th to sell plants! This fundraiser helps support active learning opportunities (things like field trips, May Term, and student projects). For some of us, it also supports our gardening habits.
Once again, here is a sample email you could send to people you would like to invite to participate:
Hello, family and friends!
My school, Arcadia Charter School, is raising money to support experiential learning opportunities for all Arcadia students. Gertens created an online site where you can order plants to support us! We receive 30% of all plant sales, and 15% of gift card sales. The plants are high quality, and Gertens guarantees them.
Orders must be completed by 10 PM on Thursday, April 7–Gertens does not accept late orders.
The plants will be delivered to Arcadia on May 5th, in time for Mother’s Day!
To access the site and place an order:
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Enter the Store ID code provided into the text field and click ‘Enter ID to Continue’.
Store ID code for Arcadia Charter School: 43
Thank you for supporting me!
Sincerely,
COVID Update–New Information about Masking (Again)
Rice County’s COVID-19 case rate for the one-week period ending February 22, 2022 is down to 141.85/100,000. This is still considered a high level of community transmission based on previously published levels.
However, the CDC is now recommending that community and individual decisions around prevention strategies, like masking, are based on “COVID-19 Community Levels.” Here is a link to the page at the CDC that explains this metric: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/community-levels.html
Rice County’s level is currently low. I will revisit our mask requirement with the Board at the next meeting on March 15th to align it with the new CDC guidance. In the meantime, we will stick with our previous plan–which means required masking this week and the week after Spring Break. We will likely move to masks recommended starting March 21st, assuming Rice County’s COVID-19 Community Level stays low.
The current criteria are:
1) The Rice County case rate is at the (previously) CDC-recommended case rate of <50/100,000 in a one week period.
2) The Rice County test positivity rate is at or below 5%.
3) Our student vaccination rate is above 80%. (We've already met this criterion!)
4) Our Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) rate in the school is 5% or lower. (We have generally stayed below 5%.)
Based on these criteria, we stated that we would require masks again if we could not meet criteria 1 and 2, or criterion 4. (I.e., the county case rate rises beyond 50/100,000 in a one-week period AND the county's test positivity rate goes above 5%, OR Arcadia's ILI rate rises to greater than 5%.)
I will likely recommend that, in the future, we base our decision on two criteria:
1) The Rice County COVID-19 Community Level is low (based on Rice County or CDC reporting, depending on which is updated most frequently, and assuming Rice County changes the way it’s reporting to match the CDC).
2) Our Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) rate in the school is 5% or lower. (We have generally stayed below 5%.)
We would then request masks if the community level rose to medium, and require masks if it rose to high or the ILI was above 5%.
Upcoming Events
Mar. 2: Senior Presentation Day
Mar. 7-11: Spring Break!
Mar. 15, 6:30-8:30pm: Arcadia Board Meeting, in-person or online at: https://meet.google.com/wpo-dsqd-ahr
Or dial: (US) +1 650-466-6043 PIN: 232 545 378#
Mar. 17: Chris Koza Arts Residency Kick-Off
Mar. 22: HS Field Trip to The Tempest at the Guthrie
Mar. 25: End of 3rd Quarter
Mar. 28: No School
Mar. 29: Beginning of 4th Quarter
Mar. 31: Authorizer Site Visit (Northfield Public Schools is our charter authorizer, and they come visit us for a day to see what we do.)
Apr. 4: Asynchronous Learning Day
Apr. 7: Gertens Fundraiser Ends
Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
