Purpose – Drew Charter School serves as a key component of the cradle-to-college pipeline within the holistic East Lake neighborhood revitalization. Appreciating our unique status as a mixed-income school, Drew Charter School’s primary purpose is to provide an excellent education to all children living in the Villages of East Lake so that each student reaches his or her full potential and is launched on a pathway to health, impact and prosperity.

Vision – Drew Charter School students are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and passion to create positive change in the world.

Mission – Drew Charter School is an exemplary, innovative education community that empowers all students to achieve their full potential. 

Shout Outs to. . .

• To Brandon Sykes, who was named 2017 Teen of the Year and will be represented among the Archdiocese of Atlanta!
• To Xavier Jones, who was interviewed last week on CBS Radio 92.9 THE GAME, speaking about his challenges with Sickle Cell!  He was a part of the CHOA Marathon, which included a 15 minute interview with Xavier and his parents.
• The Senior Academy for being named a 2017 AP Access and Support School by the GA DOE!  These are schools where at least 30% of AP exams are taken by students who identified themselves as African-American and/or Hispanic and at least 30% of all AP exams earn scores of 3 or higher.
• To the SA Chorus and Mr. Sessoms, who earned superior ratings in sight reading and performance at Larger Group Performance Evaluation!
• To the Debate Team and Ms. Schaffer, who placed 4th out of 22 teams at their last competition!  Special recognition to:
  • Maddox Gates who received an individual speaker award.  He placed 10^th out of 45 individual speakers
  • Maddox Gates and Payton Gunner who earned the 4^th place policy team award
  • Aniya Ray and Terron Joiner – Outstanding Novice Performance
• Emily Desprez who is among the top three nominees for the Georgia Charter Schools Association’s Reach for the Stars Award!
• To Mr. Harris, Ms. Herman, Ms. Kaney, Ms. Thomas and Ms. Young for chaperoning the Sophomore College Trip through Georgia and Florida, and particularly to Ms. Young who planned the trip [See picture above]!
• Ms. Nguyen and Ms. Schaffer for their presentation of the GAGA curriculum at the National Art Education Association (NAEA) National Conference!
• To Ms. Ulbrich and some of her seniors who were filmed by Georgia Public Broadcasting for a PSA encouraging people to join the teaching profession!
• The CCR Team and Ms. Foster for their work getting the juniors assessed on the Accuplacer for Early College!
• Ms. Akinyela for reaching out to military veterans for her entry event to help launch her project!

Calendar:

• Monday, March 6^th – B Day
  • Flex Time – Clubs
  • 3:00 – Tennis early dismissal
  • 6:00 – Rising 9th Grade Transition Night [Theater] – This night will focus on information to prepare rising ninth graders and their families for the transition to the Senior Academy, including course selection for next year.
    • Rising Ninth Grade Parents/Guardians: Please follow this linkto get directions for signing up to receive text message notifications about transition activities.
• Tuesday, March 7^th – A Day
  • Flex Time – Advisory
  • 3:30 – Soccer early dismissal
  • 3:45 – Golf early dismissal
  • 6:00 – Early College Parent Night [Theater]
• Wednesday, March 8^th – B Day
  • 1:30-4:00 – Hidden Figures Screening (Theater)
  • 3:15 – Tennis Early Dismissal
• Thursday, March 9^th – A Day
  • 9:30-1:30 – 11th Grade Chemistry Field Trip
  • Flex Time – Extended Learning
    • Tenth Grade Community Forum
  • 3:00 – Tennis early dismissal
  • 3:30 – JV Baseball early dismissal
• Friday, March 10^th – B Day
  • Vision Screening
  • 9:30-1:30 – 10th Grade Chemistry Field Trip
  • Flex Time – Male and Female Mentoring Activities
• Saturday, March 11^th – A Day
  • 9:00-12:00 – Saturday School: Algebra 1

Upcoming Events:

• 3/13 – End of Quarter 3
• 3/14 – Pi Day
  • 9:00-1:00 – Spanish Field Trip to the Zoo
• 3/17 – STEAM Day [See note below on how to help]
• 3/18, 3:00-6:00 – Design-O-Rama [See note below on how to help]
• 3/20-3/24 – College and Career Week
  • SA Re-Enrollment
• 3/20, 2:00-4:00 – Drew College Fair
• 3/22 – Quarter 3 PBL Showcase
• 3/24, 1:30-3:00 – Senior College Walk
• 3/29, 6:00 – Taste of Drew
• 3/30, 6:00 – Spring Orchestra Concert
• 4/3-4/7 – Spring Break
• 4/14 – Prom
• 4/24-5/12 – Milestone Assessments and AP Exams: Please be careful about scheduling student absences during this time
• Saturday, 5/20, 4:00 pm – Graduation
• June 6-17th – Summer BRIDGE Program for rising ninth grade students [Georgia Tech – Flyer]

Announcements:

• Principal’s Coffee Materials – This past Tuesday we held our monthly Principal’s Coffee and discussed the 6-12 math programs of study and other math initiatives. The full presentation is available here.
• Beta Club – This week Beta Club invitation letters were given to all eligible 9^th-11^thgraders who are not currently members.  In order to be inducted, those students must:
  1. Complete the application that was provided.
  2. Pay the one-time dues of $20.
  3. Read and affirm the Beta Club by-laws (which are on the back of the application).

The application must be returned to Ms. Manwell and the dues must be paid by Friday, March 10^th.   Dues can be paid by check or money order to Ms. Manwell or online through Payments Plus.  Any applications submitted after March 10th will not be accepted.  Any questions can be directed to Ms. Manwell at barbara.manwell@drewcharterschool.org.

• Reminder: Georgia Parent Survey – The Georgia Parent Survey is modeled after the student survey and contains 24 questions. Parents may complete the survey using their personal computer, smartphones or tablet.  All parents are encouraged to participate in the Georgia Parent Survey because the data will be used as part of the calculation of the School Climate Star Rating. Survey responses are anonymous and will be submitted directly to the Georgia Department of Education for analysis.
• Reminder: MyPaymentsPlus – We are excited to announce a new way to pay for student dues, yearbooks, field trips and other expenses.  MyPaymentsPlus allows parents/guardians to pay for these obligations online via credit card.  More information about the program and how to register are available in this flyer.
• Reminder: Yearbook – The Charles R. Drew Charter School  2017 Yearbook is now available for sale!! This year’s book is a Signature Series Hardcover bound, PreK-12 (Drew’s FIRST graduating senior class), full color, 140 pages and is available for delivery 5/8/2017. Order yours TODAY for the lowest price possible!!  Sales will work as follows:

1. ONLINE through 11/25/16 $28.00 EARLY BIRD SPECIAL PRICE!!Purchase now with the link below.
2. http://link.entourageyearbooks.com/view_account.asp?l=F1940BDA-4103-4DFE-9899-5802744E3719
   • ONLINE 11/26/16 through 02/26/17 $30.00
   • ONLINE 02/27/17 through 04/10/17 $35.00
   • After 04/10/17 In person at either campus, $35 cash or credit.