Messages from Executive Director, Joy Warner

State of School Highlights - June 2021

• Purchased and implemented K5 Foundations Phonics Instruction

• Received our new Handicapped Accessible School Bus this year. Thanks to our Charter ACCESS grant, we have targeted the purchase of 3 additional buses to support our morning/afternoon bus transportation, field trip bus transportation, and athletics bus transportation. However, we are in serious need of bus drivers and we cannot expand our services without securing new bus drivers. Please reach out to Nancy Ellington if you are interested in training to drive a CSD bus or know someone who may be interested in driving for us.

• Opened Spartan Park “Spark” - Special thanks to Jay Martin for leading this project. In addition to a full array of middle and high school athletics, we were able to hold many other events and activities such as a High School Community Art Day, field days, picnics, etc. at this awesome K12 facility. We will continue developing Spartan Park “Spark” in the coming year as we add an accessible playground, gardens, baseball field, art installations, science study areas, and much more. We will never be finished. If you and your family want to help with service this summer, we always have needs at Spartan Park. Be on the lookout for service opportunities this summer at both buildings AND Spartan Park.

• Increased technology infrastructure and device capacity and made enormous progress with the professional development and use of instructional technology to facilitate student learning.

• Opened new EmpowerED course multidisciplinary integrated course elective options at the High School based on student interest and request:

• EmpowerED-Race (opened 2020-2021)

• EmpowerED-Stem (slated to open 2021-2022 school year)

• Future EmpowerED Ideas:

• EmpowerED-Trades

• EmpowerED-Entrepreneur/Business

• EmpowerED-Arts

• While some children struggled with blended in-person/virtual instruction this year, others thrived with the flexible schedules and alternate instructional tools. We plan to return to our normal school schedule next year, but we also plan to use this information to help us explore better meeting the needs of our students who thrive with alternative learning options. CSD will pilot our new blended learning program (RIPPLE) for the 2021-2022 school year and we have targeted two class sections (1st and 2nd grade) for this pilot program. Two classroom teachers have been hired to teach these classes and Andie Snyder (CSD teacher leader) will help lead this effort in addition to her technology and math teacher leadership duties. These classes will meet in the learning classroom at Spark. We welcome our CSD RIPPLE families to our school community!

• Purchased and implemented Updated handwriting instructional program for early elementary students called Size Matters

• K12 History Curriculum - continued efforts with ensuring that we include developmentally appropriate, truthful, and inclusive history.

• We achieved our fundraising goal and raised over $400,000 thanks to the hard work and generosity of our CSD families and staff. Our annual fundraising allows us to accomplish many important things at CSD but our best use of funds is in ensuring that our Human Resources continue to be our priority. Most schools do not have assistant teachers in grades 2-5. These 16 positions add about $400,000 to our budget annually and our annual fundraising goal helps ensure that these positions are safe while we still spend money on the many other resources that we need from K-12 to ensure our students and teachers have what they need in their classrooms. Watch for the fundraising plan for 2021-2022 coming soon!

• Technology use at CSD High School is transitioning from BYOD (Bring your own device) to phasing in school owned devices. Beginning with 9th grade for the 2021-2022 school year, all rising 9th graders will use a school owned and provided device. We will expand in subsequent years so that, eventually, all CSD high school students will use a school owned device.

• Purchased Singapore Math curriculum and professional development series for K-5 that will be rolled out in the 2021-2022 school year. This program is aligned with our philosophy of teaching both skills and fluency in the context of mathematical thinking and number sense. CSD K5 teachers are participating in the first two days of professional development training this week and will continue next year. We will conduct parent math sessions next year to help keep you informed and able to partner to support your children’s mathematics education.

• Strategic Planning for CSD Athletics - now that we have opened our Spartan Park, we are conducting updated strategic planning to ensure that our CSD athletics program continues to grow and thrive as well as reflect the mission and vision of CSD. We are committed to an athletics program where student athletes compete with honor and integrity; one where they use athletics to grow themselves as whole people. Please watch for opportunities to volunteer and support our CSD Spartans efforts from grades K through 12.

We wish you all a safe and happy summer. We never take the privilege of serving your families for granted. We are honored and humbled by your trust and we cherish our partnership. We look forward to welcoming you all back to school in August. Stay well!