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Letter from the Director

“Podrán cortar todas las flores, pero no podrán detener la primavera” (“You can cut all the flowers, but you can’t keep Spring from coming”)  Pablo Neruda.

June 18th, 2021

Queridas familias, 

Greetings and happy summer vacation!   I would like to thank you all for everything that you did to help us this last school year, as it is was definitely a struggle for so many within the community--taking into account the struggles of distance learning, the Covid protocols throughout and upon return, and overall--the social, emotional, economic, and academic achievement toll that this pandemic had on our society.  Through it all, we had each other to lean on, and could always count on our faculty and our families working together in the best interest of our students. 

Building/Moving Update: 

This year is notable as well in that it will be our last year at the Shady Oak Road location.  There are so many memories from this space for all of us, and so many accomplishments. However, we are excited for the possibilities and opportunities that will be provided for us at the new building site: 5350 78th Street, Edina, MN.   Our teachers and staff have been busy packing up our materials for the move, and we will be completely moved out of our current building by July 27th, the week after our final summer camp and summer school session is finished.   

There have been significant delays in the construction/remodeling of the new school building, most of which have been a result of code interpretation issues with the city of Edina.  In fact, we are about 20 working days behind schedule, and this will affect our move in date, occupancy date, and potentially, the start of the school year. 

At the end of this month, we will have a more clearly defined schedule for the recovery from our construction company (which will include significant overtime and weekends).  At our ISLA board meeting this week, we discussed the possibility of starting school a week or so later than we had planned.  While this is not ideal, we are asking ISLA families to prepare for this increasingly likely possibility:  changing our school calendar so that our first day of school will be after Labor day, most likely September 9th.  

I regret to inform you of this change, but I did want to give you as much advance notice as possible.  We are working with our real estate broker and our charter authorizer to find alternative sites for the first week of September where we can conduct staff development, classes for the El Nido Pre-K.    We will keep you informed about the progress and let you know as soon as we land on a definitive start date.  

Atentamente, 

Jeremy

Language Ambassadors

ISLA Families - we have 6 amazing LAs coming to ISLA next school year, and we are looking for some aunt/uncle families for them. This is honestly as great as it sounds - you get to be the fun second family for an LA throughout the school year, invite them over for dinner once in a while and organize their birthday party. Who wouldn't love that?! Your kids will LOVE it, and their Spanish will blossom with those 1-1 conversations!

If interested, please email islaLAprogram@gmail.com.

Huge thanks to our amazing Fall host families: Mahowalds, Baileys, Coopers, Lovas, Sjogrens and Paines! It'll be great to have LAs back!

If you are interested in hosting for the spring semester (mid-January to beginning of June), let us know as well.

Thank you!

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ISLA Board Opportunity

$$$$$ Do you love numbers and finance?? Join the ISLA Board and serve as Treasurer!  

We are looking for an individual with a passion for finance to join the ISLA Board of Directors and serve as ISLA’s Treasurer.  The Board is responsible for overseeing the general operations of the school, implementing policies and procedures, and long-term strategic and financial planning. The Treasurer works with the Finance Committee to oversee the financial health of our school.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact Liz Crouse, Chair of the Governance Committee at lcrouse@isla.school.  

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2021-2022 Busing Request

ISLA has signed a contract with Northstar Bus Company to provide busing for ISLA students for the 2021-2022 school year. Please read transportation offerings for more information about what this will look like. If you would like to take advantage of busing transportation for your scholars, click here to sign up. Please register each child separately. Please register your children for busing by June 30 so that the bus company can start routing buses. If you would like to check to see if you have already put in a bus request for your child(ren), please contact Emily Smith in the ISLA office or email transportation@isla.school.

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