2020-03-27 Noticias de ISLA y ISLA PTO

September 7, 2021

Emily Smith

Administrative Assistant

Letter from the Director

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all. Emily Dickinson


RE:  ISLA Distance Learning Plan/ Covid 19

Queridas Familias, 

We hope this letter finds as well as can be expected in this trying time. This COVID 19 pandemic is clearly going to change the world forever, in terms of physical, social and emotional well being, economic stability, our daily way of life; and of course, even the way we teach and learn.

As you know, Governor Walz has issued a stay at home order starting this evening, March 27th,  at 11:59 pm, and ISLA will remain closed to students until at least May 4th as part of that order. Distance learning will begin on Monday, April 6th. 

Thank you for your continued support and attention during the statewide school closure. We know this is an unusual and stressful time for our students, families, teachers and staff. We are thankful to have had this time to begin the process of e-learning with our students, and would like to get your feedback on how this past week went, so that we can make any adjustments as needed.  As this is new to all of us, could you please fill out this quick survey?  Transitional Week Distance Learning Survey.

Our team has been hard at work developing our distance learning plan, as well as our child care plan for the children of first responders and other essential workers, all while thinking about additional support systems for our students and family.  Although we know that this learning model will obviously not be the same, and it is impossible to replicate the hands on, “roll your sleeves up “ inquiry learning model, we have had the additional challenge of creating engaging lessons which follow the two pillars of our mission:  the International Baccalaureate, and full Spanish Immersion. 

While we hope that connecting through distance learning will return a level of normalcy and structure to your student’s life, we also do not want to add undue stress to families, as you also get used to working from home, juggle staffing changes at your place of employment, economic uncertainty, and navigate other difficult family matters.   Because of this, we will be easing students into e-learning on April 6th, and we will do our best to help all students adjust to this new method of learning through patience, empathy, and kindness.  

As far as attendance, teachers will take attendance through the observation of student participation in Seesaw, morning meetings, and other applications.  Please contact the attendance office and your student’s teacher if your ISLA student will be absent. In addition, we know that sometimes parents and other caretakers simply need quick access to a list of a student’s tasks for the day, so classroom teachers will update a basic “to do list”  for each day’s schedule on our website. While our transitional learning plan provided a good base for what the day to day learning will look like starting on April 6th, this daily checklist for each class will provide helpful structure. A sample of what this “to do list” will look like can be found in our  ISLA Distance Learning Plan.  

More than ever before, we need your support on this journey, but we are also here to support you in any way that we can.  We would like to thank all of the families who gave to the “ISLA food shelf” during the past week.  This will be an ongoing project, with the anticipation that this need will most likely continue as this pandemic develops.  More food basket pickups will be available during the week of April 6th, during the normal ISLA office hours of 8:30 to 4:30. 

Atentamente, 


Jeremy Perrin Sarah Devers
Executive Director Dean of Academics

ISLA Food Donations!

ISLA families are so generous! Look at all the food that was donated for pick up by our ISLA community! Thanks for being so caring. These pictures are after 5 families came and picked up needed groceries.

ISLA Board Elections

Election for ISLA's board of directors for the 2020-2021 year will take place on May 19, 2020.

For the slate of candidates go here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qn9CEc6IOstWzJeEDdORe4cWIOe-Oem4/view?usp=sharing

For candidate biographies go here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/156cD_fhLrbqvkKvdhdnZYMCpxdAlp9DB/view?usp=sharing