January 15, 2010

Dear Afya Families:

Happy New Year! Last Friday we sent home the first edition of the Afya Times with students. We hope that you saw this. This year we have been thinking of better ways to communicate with families. I’ve continued to write letters each Friday. I’ve started to use the auto call home to notify families of upcoming events. Our whole staff is trying to be available to you either by phone or by email on a regular basis. I trust that you sense that we are available for you. We always want to know if there is anything we can do to make your child’s experience at Afya better.

Within the next month, our new website will be available. This site will be much more interactive than the current one, allowing families to sign up for email blasts and stay better in touch with what’s going on at school. We’ll let you know when the site is up and running.

In the coming weeks there are two things in particular we want all families to know about:

1.       We are off this Monday for Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday. We also have days off at the end of the month. We have a half-day on Wednesday, January 27^th (school dismisses at noon) and schools are closed for students on Thursday and Friday, January 28^th and 29^th.

 

2.       We are using these days to hold our first series of student-led conferences. The kids are in the process of writing letters home in which they talk about their year so far. They’ll reflect upon their grades, look at how they’ve changed physically and emotionally, and set goals for the rest of the year and beyond. We want every Afya family to participate in these conferences. Advisors are calling home now to set up appointments. If you haven’t heard from them by the end of next week or are having trouble connecting, please feel free to send in a note to them about the best way to reach you or you can call me at 410-736-8980.  During the conferences, Ms. Stone, our guidance counselor, will be here to talk with families about high school options. Our main goal at Afya is to prepare students for the high school of their choice. We work hard on this each and every day. During these conferences, you will have a chance to see your child’s progress on this pathway and learn more information about high schools around the city.

Next week we begin another round of clubs at our school. We have many different clubs this time, including French, German, Explore the Winter Olympics, Jump-Roping, Digital Photography, and of course cooking. We’ll try again to showcase the work our kids create during club time sometime in February. Let’s hope we don’t have more record-breaking snow next time!

 

Will