2021-05-07 Noticias de ISLA y ISLA PTO
Emily Smith
Letter from the Director
“Un niño, un profesor, un libro y un lápiz pueden cambiar el mundo. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.” Malala Yousafzai, address to the United Nations, July 12th, 2013
May 7th, 2021
Queridas familias,
- Transportation to ISLA’s New School Building, 2021-2022 School Year: We are pleased to let you know that after an exhaustive search, we have signed a bus contract with Northstar Transport. As you know, ISLA is moving to a new building this Summer. You may be wondering how your student will be transported to the new location. Please see below for the highlights and get all the details here: Transportation Offerings
- Edina is our new home; Edina students will have in-district bussing available
- Current bus riders will have legacy status for free bussing (see the fine print here: Transportation Offerings)
- Fee-based bussing will be available for student’s residing within ISLA’s New Transportation Boundary (north and east of 494, south of 55, and west of 35W/94)
- Subsidized or free transport available in certain circumstances
- We heard your feedback and:
- All bus stops will be neighborhood stops
- Each bus route is planned so that no student rides for more than 60 minutes per ride on a regular day
Please check all the details in the Transportation Offerings document as your student may qualify under more than one scenario. If so, you can select the option that works best for your family. Please remember that ISLA’s new start time is 9:20 am and the day ends at 4:15 pm.
- We are excited that more families will now have transportation available to them in their neighborhood!! (66% of families vs. 49% of families)
- BUS SIGN UP: Our bus sign up form is ready, so please go into the sign-up form and request busing by the end of May so that our new transportation company can begin routing our students. https://forms.gle/Zfm1wiwZLtmvk3vSA
- 2021-2022 Calendar: I encourage you all once again to take a look at our calendar for the upcoming school year. ISLA 2021-2022 Calendar. One major change is that we will be having early releases instead of late starts for our staff development, and we will utilize many of those early releases for teacher grading/assessment time. We anticipate that this will allow us to move to a grading system in which we can send a Toddle report card home after every Unit of Inquiry, (every six weeks), eliminates the need to have a non-school grading day, and allows us to follow through on our staff development calendar that is necessary for the International Baccalaureate and immersion language programming.
- Covid 19 protocols: I would like to thank you for your help and your vigilance with Covid 19 protocols. Because of your precautions, such as quarantining after travel, erring on the side of caution by keeping your children home when they display symptoms, etc, we have been able to keep in person learning in place much longer. We look forward to the following updated guidelines that Gov. Walz released earlier this week.
Thank you for everything you are doing to help us on this journey.
Atentamente,
Jeremy
PTO Meeting
Tuesday, May 11th at 7:00 is the last PTO meeting of the year! Come join us for elections (we are still looking for nominations! -see link below) and to discuss other volunteer opportunities. Everyone is invited! See the ISLA website calendar for the Zoom link. For questions, please contact Casie Budolfson at PTOchair@isla.school.
https://forms.gle/qwFDTBDVPToC8pdq
Field Day
Field Day is on Friday, May 28th and this year we are going to be able to celebrate it in person. The alternate day in case of bad weather will be Tuesday, June 1st. Field Day is a non uniform day for students and I encourage them to bring sport clothes and comfortable tennis shoes. Due to COVID restrictions we will have two sessions for Field Day:
- Morning session from 9:30 - 11:30 for Kinder - second grade.
- Afternoon session from 1:00 - 3:00 for third - sixth grade.
Please make sure your kid brings a water bottle and sunscreen.
Come lend a hand and spend the day with your kids as they enjoy Field Day! Sr. Diaz needs help with activities throughout the day. Please sign up through the following link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0D4FA4A62AA1FF2-isla20
ISLA Annual Board Election
ISLA’s annual election for Board Directors will take place this month. The candidates and short biographies are posted to the ISLA website. To access the information, go to ISLA’s website and click on ‘BOARD CANDIDATES’. Please take time to review the slate of candidates that have been nominated and cast your vote May 13 to May 15. Voting will take place online. No lines! No waiting! If you do not receive emails from the school (i.e., if your email is not on a distribution list) and you would like to receive an online ballot, please let Emily know if there is a specific email address you would like to use for purposes of voting. If you prefer to vote in person, paper ballots will be available in the ISLA office.
School Supplies
Great News! This year we will again be offering the Teacher Tailored supply kit program which offers pre-packaged, school supply boxes filled with the exact items requested by your child’s teacher. It’s a triple win: students and teachers get exactly what they need, you get to avoid the school supply rush at the stores this summer, and a portion of the proceeds goes to support the ISLA PTO. Supplies will get delivered directly to ISLA at the start of the school year.
Ordering opens April 19th and CLOSES JUNE 25.Order online at www.shopttkits.com.Enter our school’s account number 28056Enter your child’s grade for next year (school year 21/22).Questions? Contact Betsey at betseypalmgren@gmail.com Note: this is an optional service and not required; school supply lists will be posted on the ISLA website this summer.
Are you excited about ISLA's new building? Join the ISLA Affiliated Building Company's Board of Directors!
ISLA ABC, the related entity that owns ISLA's new school building in Edina, anticipates having two openings on its Board of Directors beginning July 1 of this year. ABC board members serve one-year terms and will work in tandem with the ISLA Board to oversee the renovation of the new facility and ISLA’s relocation to that site. Expertise in real estate/property management or finance would be an asset, but is not required.
If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please contact Liz Crouse at lcrouse@isla.school or 612-716-7448. Thank you!
Gratitude Videos for Staff Appreciation Week!
The PTO is keeping the links open this weekend for your child/family to make a quick "Thank You" video for our wonderful staff! It's easy-peasy, just click on this link and find all the staff members you would like to make a video for. Log in as a guest and use the password "ThankYouISLA2021!". Questions? email Casie Budolfson at PTOchair@isla.school
Hello ISLA Community,
We are sending some sad news about a former ISLA teacher, César Cruz. He worked as a music teacher at ISLA some years ago. César went to visit his family in Guatemala for the first time in years, and was in the hospital with Covid. This week César passed away.
Thank you for your positive thoughts for his family!