2020-10-23 Noticias de ISLA y ISLA PTO

September 7, 2021

Emily Smith

Administrative Assistant

‘Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” ― Margaret Mead

Queridas familias, 

Greetings and best wishes on this chilly “fall” day.  For those of you who logged in to our ISLA Board meeting this week, you know that the ISLA School Board did not vote on what version of our Phase 3 Learning plan we should implement, due to the fact that we had a power outage here at ISLA, and they also wanted to give all families time to fill out the survey that went out at 1:00pm the same day.  The ISLA school board will reconvene and vote on this issue during a special board meeting next Monday, October 26th, at 6:30 pm.   

Please know that we are processing and discussing each and every one of the responses to this survey, and will be passing this data on to the ISLA School Board as a tool in their decision making process.  Your responses have been thoughtful and helpful, and also all over the spectrum of opinion and perspective.  Indeed, we once again have clarity that there will not be a consensus that will be satisfactory to the entire community, as there is no perfect solution which balances all of the personal, professional, economical, educational, and social-emotional needs of all families.  We will all have to make concessions in this process.  

It is helpful in these trying times to consult our mission statement, which states that our school “empowers the whole child by nurturing the development of personal growth, strong character, academic excellence, and global vision.” The school board will  keep these ambitious and noble goals in mind when they make their decision next week.  If you read the mission statement of the International Baccalaureate you can find many similarities, as it was consulted as the ISLA founders crafted ours.  We can also find some additional guidance about reaching an agreement when there are differing opinions, needs, and yes--even different ideologies and philosophies-- among constituents during decision making processes. 

At the end of the IB mission statement, they state that they “encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.”   We must make a decision which leverages the needs of the greatest number of students, faculty, and families,  which fulfills our mission to the greatest extent possible--all while still contemplating and planning for the very real public health concerns of this pandemic. No change will be easy, but we can do this together as the caring and collaborative ISLA community that we are.  Si se puede.

Thank you for everything you are doing to help us on this journey. 

Atentamente,     


Jeremy


Creating a New Routine for Your Child

Hillary, the wonderful Parent Educator, is back for another session! Next week's theme is titled "Creating Routines while Staying Flexible".  She will discuss balancing the need for routines in an ever-changing world and how to create a routine that allows for flexibility and creativity.  See flyer for more details on how to register (it's free!) and get the Google Meets link.  

https://hopkins.ce.eleyo.com

October 28th, 6:30 - 7:30pm

Contact Casie Budolfson at ptochair@isla.school for any questions.

Employment Opportunity

Do you have project management/marketing experience?  Do you have any openings in your schedule?  

The building working group is looking for a part-time Building Relocation Project Manager.  This position will require a time commitment of approximately 10 hours per week, and the Manager will be compensated  with an hourly stipend.

If interested, please send an email to info@isla.school.

ISLA PTO Dia de los Muertos Activities

We wish we could celebrate DDLM with the whole community this year, but we hope you will join in and enjoy the virtual festivities planned throughout the week of October 26-30!

The ISLA PTO has planned a fun, virtual Dia de los Muertos activity for each day next week! Have fun with the crafts and activities and then plan to wrap up the week with an exciting, virtual community event on Friday evening ... Bingo and prizes!

We will share the activity list for the family friendly DDLM activities via email on Monday! Also look for the ISLA PTO DDLM Online Bingo registration early next week and mark your calendars for Bingo on Friday, October 30, 6:30p-7:30p.

Don’t forget to share your weekly activities on ISLA Families Facebook page and email to ptochair@isla.school for a chance to be included in an upcoming ISLA newsletter!

Minnesota Give to the Max

Mark your calendars, Give to the Max is coming up on NOVEMBER 19th!  This is our biggest fundraiser of the year and our goal is to raise $45,000 to support our ongoing programs, including the 5 LAs scheduled to come in January. This is our ONLY  fall fundraiser this year, so we’re counting on the ISLA community to step up this year!

Art Start

Art is for everyone and creating your own art has real benefits — including stimulating the imagination, zapping stress, increasing dopamine in your brain and more! Now is the perfect time to check out our online art classes this fall!


Click here to explore offerings.

School portraits are coming up! Due to Covid-19, this year’s portrait arrangements will be a little different in order to allow you to bring your kids in to school for a safe portrait session with masks and social distancing.

Grades K & 1: Picture Day will be October 30, 9:00am - 3:00pm.Order envelopes will be sent home with your children. In addition, the form from the envelope will be emailed for students that are distance learning to print. Complete these and bring them, along with payment, to the photographer on picture day. You will need to sign up for a portrait time using Signup Genius. Click here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c084babaf2da31-portraits

Grades 2 - 6: Picture days will be November 2, 1:00pm - 8:00pm &November 3, 9:00am - 4:00pm. Order Forms will be emailed to you prior to picture day. Please print the form and bring it along with payment to give to the photographer on picture day. You will need to sign up for a portrait time using Signup Genius. Click here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c084babaf2da31-photos

Additional Session: For students who were not able to schedule in the regular sessions, an additional session will offered on November 13 from 11:00am to 7:00pm. This session is not intended as a retake day, but as an opportunity for every family to schedule their portrait session. Please have your portrait done during the regular sessions if possible, in order to reserve this additional session and in particular, reserving the evening slots for those with conflicts. To schedule a session on this day, click here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c084babaf2da31-portraits1