Shoutout to Senior Academy students for all of the comments, posts, smiles, and stories they shared on social media last week! Thank you for the amazing memories; I am very thankful for our time together virtually, it was a week full of fun.
As we go into Spring Break, I encourage everyone to use this time to rest and relax. Please use this time to indulge in your favorite hobby or to simply rest, and put your computer to the side!
You deserve this time – enjoy it. Have a great break!
Governor Brian Kemp announced today that all K-12 schools in Georgia will remain closed for in-person instruction for the remainder of this school year. In keeping with this order, Drew Charter School will remain closed for the remainder of this school year and will continue implementing e-learning Days for the duration of the closure.
As this closure was just announced, we will work on the specific impact of this decision as it relates to considering alternatives to celebrate our Drew 2020 graduates and to address the loss of comprehensive instructional learning time for the school year. Once we have had the opportunity to consider all aspects of this closure extension, we will follow up with families and staff to communicate more details.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through these developments. In the meantime, please do all you can to take care of yourself, your family and your loved ones. We will be back in touch soon.
As you may have seen in the local news, earlier today Governor Brian Kemp announced the continued closure of schools in Georgia until at least April 24th in the ongoing battle against the coronavirus. In keeping with the Governor’s order, Drew Charter School will remain closed until at least Friday, April 24th, until further notice.
During this closure, Drew will continue to implement e-learning Days. Drew will observe Spring Break during the week of April 6th – April 10th as originally scheduled. Drew will not hold e-learning Days during the week of Spring Break.
For information updates and resources available to your family during this crisis, please visit Drew’s Coronavirus webpage on Drew’s website.
We continue to keep the safety and well-being of you and your family in our thoughts as we collectively work our way through this monumental crisis.
As we continue making preparations for the changing conditions that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is presenting for our students, staff and families, we wanted to follow up on our earlier communication. Yesterday, we communicated that Drew Charter School will be officially closed starting Monday, March 16th, for at least two weeks and potentially beyond Spring Break. With the intent of being thoughtful and understanding about many of the challenges that our community may be facing, we are sharing a few important updates with you as it relates to our school closure and transitioning to our E-learning environment. We encourage you to carefully review the below information:
UPDATED E-LEARNING DAYS INFORMATION
Today, we had a successful dry-run of our E-Learning process. We have updated our E-learning Guidelines to include more details and helpful tips. Please click here to review the Updated E-learning Information Guide. If your child is not familiar with logging into Google Classroom, be sure to review login instructions at the end of the E-learning guide.
Free Internet Access
If your family is in need of internet access, please note that Comcast is now offering free internet access for up to 60 days. Please see details at the website below:
Effective today, March 13th, 2020, all middle and high school athletic activities are canceled. Team coaches have communicated these closures to their respective teams.
Additionally, all school events are canceled for the duration of the time school is closed.
Re-enrollment for 2020-2021
The on-site portion of re-enrollment for the 2020 – 2021 school year, which was scheduled to begin next week, has been postponed. Please note that the online re-enrollment form, which was the first step of the re-enrollment process, is available now and should be completed by March 27. Thank you to everyone who has already completed this! If you have yet to do so, please look for an email with the subject line “Drew Online Re-enrollment Form”, which was initially sent on Monday, March 9 (you may need to check your spam folder). If you did not receive this, let us know by emailing enrollment@drewcharterschool.org with the name of your student, and we will make sure you receive it.
Once we have finalized the next steps for the on-site, in-person portion of re-enrollment, we will update all communication channels. Additional information is always available on the re-enrollment section of our website.
Food & Nutrition – Free meals for children during Coronavirus School Closures
Beginning Monday, March 16, 2020, all APS students can daily receive free bagged meals at 5 school sites that will be open for food distribution Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Douglass High School
Cleveland Ave Elementary School
Bunche Middle School
Sylvan Middle School
Phoenix Academy (Crim High School)
Beginning Monday, March 16, 2020, APS partner, GOODR, will provide ready to eat meals at the following local community sites:
Hosea Williams Feed The Hungry (4779 Mindy St. Atlanta, GA. 30366 * 404-755-3353) Food Pantry – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10 a.m. – Noon. Bring ID and Social Security Card
Loaves and Fishes @ St.John the Wonderworker Parish (543 Cherokee Ave., SE Atlanta, GA. 30312 * 678-373-9433) Serves food Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Beginning Monday, March 23, 2020, all APS families can report to one of the 5 open APS school sites Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. to receive a bag of shelf stable grocery items from the Atlanta Community Food Bank.
Supporting Drew Families in Need
The Drew community is prepared to come together during this challenging time to support one another. Drew’s social worker, Mr. Rashid, and counselors will be connecting with those families who are experiencing hardship during the extended leave, and funding from the Drew Opportunity Fund will be used to help meet immediate needs such as food, medicine, hygiene products, etc. If you would like to support these efforts, please consider making a gift to the Drew Opportunity Fund. A portion of existing Drew Opportunity Fund money will be used for this purpose; additionally, beginning March 13, 2020, all funds raised will go toward assisting families who need it most during this time of uncertainty.
If you or another Drew family is experiencing hardship due to the unforeseen closure, please contact your grade level counselors or Akil Rashid, Drew’s social worker. His email address is akil.rashid@drewcharterschool.org and his phone number is 731-236-0258.
Drew Communications
Academy principals will continue to send weekly academy newsletters/blogs. Please anticipate receiving additional communication updates as needed.
Questions
We realize that transitioning from a physical school building to E-Learning Days will be a learning process for us all as students, parents and staff. With change we understand that there is often a need to ask questions and gain clarity. With that in mind, please feel free to contact the following should you have questions:
For questions related to classes, content, assignments and instruction, email your child’s teacher. Email addresses for all teachers are listed in the Faculty and Staff Directory on our website or by clicking here.
For questions or concerns about the social, emotional or well-being of your child, yourself, or your family, please contact your child’s counselor and/or our school social worker, as they are available to offer support. Their email addresses are below:
We thank you for your continuous patience as we navigate this new territory together to ensure that our students remain academically engaged in the learning process. Be safe, and know that we will be in touch with updates as needed.
Following the recommendation from Governor Brian Kemp, Atlanta Public Schools just announced that APS schools will closed starting on Monday, March 16th, for an extended leave. The leave is anticipated to last for at least two weeks and potentially extend beyond Spring Break. In keeping with APS’s decision, Drew Charter School will also close beginning Monday, March 16th.Drew Charter School will be open tomorrow, March 13th, for full instruction. A dry-run of Drew’s E-learning process with staff and students was already scheduled for tomorrow. We will continue with that plan tomorrow as we prepare to implement full scale E-Learning Days starting next Monday. Please anticipate an E-Learning update tomorrow. In the meantime, we encourage you to review the E-learning Days guidelines, which have been previously shared with you. Please click here to view the guidelines.
As a reminder, on tomorrow, Drew will implement all of the precautions in the Coronavirus Update sent earlier this afternoon.
Thank you for your continued understanding and support as this situation continues to evolve.
Lottery Application Window for New Students Open Now Through April 30, 2020
If your student has a sibling who is interested in attending Drew for the 2020-2021 school year, the lottery application for potential new students is available now through April 30, 2020. The online application is also available on Drew’s website. All qualifying applications will be included in the lottery on May 7th. Drew is not participating in Atlanta Public Schools’ pilot “Enroll APS Charter” project for the 2020-2021 school year. All Drew lottery applications must be submitted via Drew’s online process.
Please note that the lottery is for potential new students only. This includes students currently enrolled in the Cox Pre-K Program at Drew. All current rising 1st through 12th grade Drew students will have the opportunity to re-enroll in March (more details to come). Additional lottery information can be found at www.drewcharterschool.org/enrollment. Please contact Mary Hartigan at 404-450-0567 or enrollment@drewcharterschool.org with any questions.
Happy New Year! We hope your family had a peaceful holiday, and your student is rejuvenated and off to a great start for the new semester. We are looking forward to a productive 2020 for Drew’s students and staff. As we start this new semester, we wanted to remind you of the Drew Student Calendar for the remainder of the 2019 – 2020 School Year. Please note, based on the testing schedule for the Atlanta Public School District, May 1st, which was previously designated as a Parent-Teacher Conference Day, will now be a regular school day. The last Parent-Teacher Conference Day for the school year has been moved to April 24th, meaning April 24th will now be a half-day for students.Click here to view the updated Spring of 2020 Calendar.
Spring Semester Student Calendar Holidays/School Closures are listed below: January 20: Martin Luther King National Holiday – School Closed February 7:Half Day of School and Parent/Teacher Conferences – All Academies Dismiss by Noon February 14 – February 17:Winter Break – School Closed for Students
April 6 – April 10:Spring Break – School Closed April 24:Half Day of School and Parent/Teacher Conferences – All Academies Dismiss by Noon May 21:Last Day of School for Students
Best Wishes for 2020! Peter McKnight Head of School
