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.

Senior Academy Priorities for the Year

1. A school where character and school culture are developed through positive relationships with students, parents, staff and the community.
2. A school where we facilitate high quality STEAM/PBL learning, and everyone understands how these principles and practices prepare students for postsecondary success.
3. A school that supports all students’ intellectual, social, and emotional growth and understands how these elements impact learning and development.

Shout-outs to:

• Our staff, students and parents for a great start to the 2017-2018 school year!
• Mr. Myers and Ms. Herman for planning and facilitating our first annual Blazer Ceremony!
• Our math, ELA and special education teams for working to administer the MAP this week and next week!
• Ms. Ricks for engaging SA students in the Summer Reading Celebration for EA and JA!
• All of our new teachers and staff for hitting the ground running with instruction this week!
• Mr. Bennett for coming down to the cafeteria to eat with the students each day!
• Peyton Rodgers for her awesome performance at the Blazer Ceremony!
• The College and Career Readiness team and senior teachers for helping lead and chaperone an amazing essay writing workshop at Agnes Scott!

Calendar:

Upcoming Events:

• 8/16
  • 4:15-5:00 – ELA Department Meeting
  • 4:30-6:30 – Drew Teaching and Learning Committee Meeting
  • 5:30 – Softball vs. Langston Hughes [Home – Southside Park]
• 8/17
  • 4:00 – PTA: Parent Gathering [Formerly Principal’s Coffee – Eva Davis Board Room]
  • JV/Varsity Volleyball vs. Decatur/Maynard Jackson [Decatur HS]
• 8/18, 4:30 – Softball @ The Weber School
• 8/19 – Senior Portraits Make-Up
• 8/21, ~2:00-3:00 – Solar Eclipse
• 8/25 –
  • Half Day for Parent Conferences
  • Blazer Day
• 8/30 – Cross Country Meet @Grant Park
• 9/4 – Labor Day

Announcements:

• Free and Reduced Lunch – Unfortunately, in contrast to previous years, breakfast and lunch are no longer free for all students.  Breakfast now costs $0.75 and lunch costs $2.50.  Students can bring cash, but we would prefer for students either to qualify for free/reduced lunch or for families to pre-pay.  Links to both options are included below.
  • Click here to submit a Lunch Application.  Paper applications are also available in the main office. (Please submit an application, even if your student does not eat school lunch or if you do not anticipate qualifying for free or reduced lunch.  It is important for the school to have 100% participation with this process.)
  • Click here to pre-pay for student meals
• Infinite Campus Parent Portal Access – Parents of students in grades K–12 have access to class schedules, attendance records and grades through the Parent Portal which is an easy-to-use, secure communications tool. Additionally, the Parent Portal enables parents to verify household information, including their email address, home address and telephone numbers.  Parents can sign up using the directions available here.  Please note that in contrast to last year, students’ grades will be recorded in Infinite Campus, instead of Blackboard.  Parent/guardians can secure their own log-in using the link above.
• MyPaymentsPlus – In order to make paying for dues, field trips and other fees easier and to limit the use of cash, we have enabled online payments by credit card and bank account through MyPaymentsPlus.  Information to register is available on this flyer.
• Dues – We need to collect class dues in order to fund many of the cultural events that our students enjoy.  Payment of class dues includes access to Midnight Madness and SGA Day of Play as well as a class T-Shirt and participation in other grade-level specific activities.
  • Freshman and Sophomore
    • $30
  • Junior
    • $200
    • Includes participation in prom both junior and senior years
  • Senior
    • $200
    • See flyer for additional information
• Senior Portraits– Seniors who have not taken formal senior photos for the yearbook need to call Score Photos to sign up for a time slot at the final portrait date, Saturday, August 19.  Additional information and pricing can be found here.
• Mu Alpha Theta (Math Honor Society) – Students who have completed Algebra 1 and Geometry with at least a 3.0 GPA are eligible to apply for the Mu Alpha Theta math honor society.  Student applications, additional information and directions for application can be accessed here.  Applications are due to Mrs. Isbell (formerly Ms. Desprez) by August 31st.
• Spirit Wear – We are excited to announce a Free Logo Promotion with Tommy Hilfiger School Uniforms now through August 14th, 2017!  You can add our school logo for FREE! No promotion code is needed.  The free logo price will automatically be reflected on our Tommy Hilfiger School Uniforms website! Please see the attached flyer for details.

Quick Links:

(Please note that these links are always available on the Links page of this blog)

• Charles R. Drew Charter School
  • www.drewcharterschool.org
  • Infinite Campus Parent Portal (Grades, Attendance, Schedules) –
    • Infinite Campus Parent Portal How-to-Guide
  • Blackboard Learning Management System (Projects and Curriculum) – https://drewcharter.blackboard.com/
    • Blackboard How-To-Guide
  • Calendar
  • Student/Parent Handbook (rev 11/11/16)
  • www.MyPaymentsPlus.com
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Link to Sign up for Weekly and Other Email Communications (Mail Chimp)
  • STEAM Website – http://steamatdrew.weebly.com
  • Engineering Design Team Website – http://drewdesign.weebly.com/
• Remind Communications – Remind accounts have been set up to distribute information via text message for each grade level.  Parents, guardians and students can sign up for these reminders using the directions linked below:
  • Class of 2021
  • Class of 2020
  • Class of 2019
  • Class of 2018
  • Class of 2017 (Legacy Class Alumni)
• Drew Senior Academy College and Career Readiness
  • www.DrewCCR.com
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Naviance – Senior Academy college and career readiness platform.
  • MyGivingPoint – http://www.mygivingpoint.org/ – All 10-12th Grade students should have accounts to this site in order to log community service hours.  Please direct questions about community services to your student’s grade-level counselor.
  • Hands-on-Atlanta Volunteer Opportunity Calendar
• Drew PTA – http://www.drewcharterschoolpta.com
• Eagle Nation Athletic Booster Club – http://www.dreweaglenation.org/
  • Great information about our athletic teams, including their schedules and records.
• Band Booster Club – http://drewbandboosters.org/