CPA Tiger Talk

There is no school on Monday January 20 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day.

We look forward to welcoming students back in the building on Tuesday January 21!

Elementary families are invited to join us for Reading Night on Wednesday January 22 from 5:30-7pm!

Come and learn about our reading curriculum, read a book with your child, take home free books, decorate a book bag, get info about our FastBridge reading assessments, and discover ways to help your readers at home. Light snacks will be provided!

Please enter through Door A for this event. See you there!

Student Intent to Return forms were due to the CPA office on Friday January 16. We will begin enrolling new students in the coming weeks. Please complete and turn in your forms asap if you haven't already to ensure we save your spot at CPA for fall 2025!

If you have any questions please contact Bonnie Johnson at bonniej@cpapk12.org or 651-280-4587.

Did you know: the #1 reason people enroll at CPA is because a friend or family member recommended it?

We currently have openings, and we are offering a $50 gift card as a thank you for current CPA families who refer new families that enroll and attend CPA.

Who do you know? Tell them to check us out, and make sure they tell us you sent them!

Monday January 20: No School for Students and Staff (MLK Day)

Tuesday January 21: First day of Semester 2 / Quarter 3

Wednesday January 22: Elementary Reading Night, 5:30-7pm

Thursday January 30: Tech with Your Teen Night, 5:30-7pm

Monday February 3: New Student Lottery

Friday February 7: No School PreK-4th Grade, Digital Learning Day 5th-12th Grade

Saturday February 8: CPA Carnival, 11am-2pm

Monday February 10: Board of Directors Meeting, 6pm

Monday February 17: No School: Presidents Day

Friday February 28: Early Release Day (dismissal at 12:30pm)

For the full 2024-2025 CPA Calendar, please visit the CPA website.

Breakfast is available each day to all students for free, and the program allows students to eat in the classroom with their friends.

Breakfast is available to all students 7:40-8:30am every school day.

Please encourage your students to arrive on time and eat a free breakfast!

All Minnesota students are able to receive a free lunch every day. The free lunch includes an unlimited salad bar to ensure no student goes hungry. Students who wish to purchase a second lunch may do so. Students or staff can add money to their lunch account using the SchoolPay system.

Current breakfast and lunch menus can be found on the CPA website.

Make sure you are following CPA on social media to see all the amazing things that are happening at our school!

Follow CPATigers on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to Rusty the CPA Tiger on Youtube!

All are invited to join us for the CPA Carnival Fundraiser & Online Auction! The Carnival will take place in the CPA gyms and cafeteria on Saturday February 8 from 11am-2pm, and will feature games, prizes, an inflatable, food, face paint, an online silent auction, and more.

This event is a fundraiser, and generosity is appreciated, but there are fun free activities to participate in as well--so the excitement doesn't have to stop when your tickets run out! Elementary aged children and younger must be supervised while at this event.

Want to get involved? We are looking for help in many ways:

• Join the planning committee! Contact Sadie Fischer at sadief@cpapk12.org or 651-280-4564to get involved.
• Consider making a donation! We need bottles for our Bottle Lotto (pop, bottled water, gatorade, etc), treats for our cake walk, and new items (gift baskets, gift cards, etc) for our raffle and online auction! Contact Sadie Fischer at sadief@cpapk12.org or 651-280-4564 to connect about making a donation.
• Sign up to volunteer with the carnival! We will need around 75 volunteers to make this awesome event happen. Volunteers will receive 10 free tickets to use at the carnival as a sign of our appreciation. Thanks for your support!
• Bid generously on the CPA Online Auction, which will open at noon on Friday January 31 and will close at 10pm on Saturday Feb 8! Check it out and share the link: new.biddingowl.com/CPA2025

For more information, please contact Sadie Fischer at sadief@cpapk12.org or 651-280-4564.

Middle School families are invited to join us for Tech With Your Teen Night on Thursday January 30 from 5:30-7pm.

Tech with Your Teen Night is an opportunity for middle school parents and guardians to participate in small group discussions with a panel of experts on online health and relationship safety. See you there!

The safety and well-being of students and staff is Community of Peace Academy’s top priority. The decision to close school, delay the start of school, or dismiss school early due to winter weather is based on several factors: the ability to safely operate school buses, total predicted snowfall, predicted temperature, and predicted wind chill factor.

School Closure due to Snow and/or Ice

School will be canceled if heavy snow and/or icy conditions make it extremely hazardous or impossible for school buses to travel their routes and for employees to get to work safely. The decision to close school due to snow and/or ice will be made by 6:00 a.m. the morning of a cancellation, and earlier when possible.

School Closure due to Cold

School will be canceled if the wind chill is forecast to reach -40°F or colder at 6:30 a.m.; and in other instances where predicted temperatures or wind chill presents a danger to students waiting outdoors for school buses. The decision to close school due to cold temperatures will be made by 6:30 p.m. the evening prior.

School will remain in session whenever safely possible. School buildings are warm and comfortable, and a nourishing breakfast and lunch is available for students on winter days.

Family and Staff Notification

If school is canceled, delayed or dismissed early due to severe weather, CPA families and staff will be informed via the following:

• SchoolNow text, voice, and email notification

• Television and Radio announcements on the following local media stations:

• WCCO Radio 830

• WCCO TV

• KSTP 5 TV

• Kare 11 TV

• Fox 9 KMSP TV

• Website listing on the following media outlets:

• http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/school-closings/

• http://kstp.com/schoolalert/

• http://www.kare11.com/closings

• http://www.fox9.com/closings

• The CPA website

School closures will be announced under Community of Peace Academy. CPA is independent of the St. Paul Public Schools and is not impacted by SPPS closure decisions.

CPA partners with SchoolNow for mass communications. Here's how it works:

• In urgent situations, such as snow days, reminders about planned school closures, and unexpected incidents, we will communicate with phone calls or texts (you can choose your preferred method)

• For general communications, such as the weekly Tiger Talk newsletter and invitations for special events, we will communicate via email (you can choose to opt out of this service)

Visit the SchoolNow page to update your phone number and email address. You will need to log in with the email address or phone number that is on file with the school, because this secure system pulls family information directly from our database. If you are unable to log in, please ensure the school office has your correct contact information.

Please note that we cannot use this system to contact students directly from our database. However, families can add as many additional phone numbers as desired. If students have their own phone and/or email address and wish to receive communications, their families can add those by logging into SchoolNow.

Applications are open now for the Tree Trust Summer Youth Employment Program!

The Summer Youth Employment Program runs from approximately from June 16 to August 15. In this program, youth work 20 hours a week with a Tree Trust trainer and a crew of 8 youth to complete landscaping projects. Youth must have a barrier to employment and be a resident of Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, or Washington Counties to participate.

Tree Trust’s pay rate is $12.00 an hour and free transportation to and from agreed upon pick up spots is provided. Spots are limited, so interested youth are encouraged to apply early! See the flyer below for more details.

CPA is not in charge of this program and CPA staff will not be present.

Each year, students in English learner programs take the ACCESS for ELLs language proficiency test. The test measures academic English language proficiency for students learning English in our school and throughout our state.

CPA will administer the ACCESS test to students in English Langauge Development programming from Jan 27 - March 21, 2025. Students will take the test in sections: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. It is important for your students to be well-rested and to work hard at this test.

Results will be made available prior to next fall. Teachers in our school use this information to help them make decisions about instruction for your child. Teachers also use these test scores to monitor the progress your child makes toward English proficiency.

If you have any questions, please contact Megan Fink (megan.fink@cpapk12.org) or Aaron Tepp (aaront@cpapk12.org).

CPA partners with a transportation management company called 4MATIV. Please call or text the transportation hotline at 651-478-2482 if you have any of the following:

• Daily transportation changes (cutoff 12pm)
• Questions about pickup or drop off
• Questions about the current location of your vehicle
• Transportation concerns

If you are planning on picking up your student early from school, you must notify the office by 2:00pm.

• PreK-8th Grade: 651-776-5151
• 9-12th Grade: 651-280-4589

To change your student's bus arrangements (either from bus to pick-up OR from pick-up to bus) you must call 651-280-4588 by 1:30pm.

After 1:30pm, staff are attending to students for end-of-day procedures and are unavailable to deliver messages to students.

We discourage parents from picking up their children ten or fifteen minutes before dismissal time. This is a valuable time when teachers are putting closure to the day and it is very distracting to the children when the classroom is receiving phone calls to have a student sent to the office. We want ALL of our students to receive the optimum learning environment and appreciate your understanding in this matter.

CPA students are expected to in uniform every day for school. Families, please help ensure your children are wearing proper uniform clothing each day.

All students must wear:

• A CPA shirt as the outermost layer
• Blue, Black, Khaki or Gray Solid Color Pants or Shorts
• OR Navy Uniform Jumper, Skirt or Skort (elementary only)

Please review the full uniform policy in our Family Handbook for further details. Thank you!

CPA partners with the Every Meal program to provide free weekend food bags for interested families. Paper registration forms are available in the office. Families can also sign up electronically by completing this form.

To learn more about the Every Meal program or to make a donation to support their work, please visit the Every Meal website.

Please let us know if your child is absent from school. Families can report absences in any of the following ways:

• Elementary School Attendance Line: 651-280-4534
• Middle School Attendance Line: 651-289-3740
• High School Attendance Line: 651-280-4535
• Email: CPAAttendance@cpapk12.org
• Attendance Online Form: Available through the CPA Website

The schoolwide Lost & Found is located in the cafeteria. Please encourage your students to check for any missing items as soon as they are lost. All items that remain in the Lost and Found on the first day of each month will be discarded or donated. Thank you!

This newsletter can be auto-translated using the buttons on the top right of the page.

If you prefer, our liaisons will be happy to translate or explain any announcements in Tiger Talk or answer any questions you have about CPA. Contact Maikao Lee at 651-280-4545 (Hmong), Mariana Majil at 651-289-3742 (Spanish), or Paw Nay Bu at 651-280-4591 (Karen) for support.

Teaching Peace. Building Community. Developing Character.

Website: cpapk12.org
Location: 471 Magnolia Avenue East, Saint Paul, MN, USA
Phone: 651-776-5151
Facebook: facebook.com/CPATigers