Dear AGCS Families,

There is a lot of excitement for the future of our Avon Grove Charter School Community. After months of planning and anticipation, we are delighted to announce that the Groundbreaking Ceremony for our new academic building took place on February 29th. We are thrilled to see this project finally come to fruition.

The construction of this new building signifies an investment in our community's future, providing us with a space that will serve as a hub for various educational initiatives, activities, programs, and events for our middle and upper school students.

As we embark on this exciting journey, it's important to note that construction will be underway as we head into the spring season. While we are committed to minimizing disruptions to our daily lives, we ask for your patience and understanding. Rest assured, every effort will be made to ensure the construction process is as smooth and efficient as possible.

Thank all of you for your continued support and dedication to our community. Together, we are building a brighter future for generations to come.

Kristen Bishop, CEO/Head of School

Something extraordinary happened at Charter this winter, something educators strive for: seeing their students use their newfound knowledge to effect change in the real-world. While checking the vital signs of his "patient" during a lab in Mrs. Marielle Veilleux's Principles of Biomedical Science, a Project Lead The Way (PLTW) course, Upper School student Wyatt Nelson identified what turned out to be a rare heart murmur in a classmate. The murmur was later confirmed by the student's doctors.

Check out the news coverage of this exciting story below!

Katelynn and Emma Arnold advanced through the district and regional tournaments and qualified for the first-ever PIAA girl's championship in Hershey. They will be representing the Avon Grove School District and are the first girls in Avon Grove history to qualify for regionals and make it to this upcoming tournament.

We are so proud of these two; they truly are trailblazers in Pennsylvania girl's wrestling.

On February 29th, we held our "Digging Blue and Gold" Groundbreaking Ceremony which officially kicked off the construction of our USDA funded 7-12 Academic Building! This huge project promises to bring state of the art learning facilities to our middle school and high school students, replacing the temporary modular buildings for good.

To help fund this exciting project, the USDA gave us an $84 million dollar loan which will be used as follows:

• $52 million: Construction of the new 7-12 Academic Building
• $32 million: Refinancing debt from the 2018 Early Learning Center expansion at a reduced interest rate of 3.6%

Take a look at coverage of our Groundbreaking Ceremony and building project covered by The Daily Local below. Please note: we were given an $84 million loan from the USDA. We did not receive a grant.

In February, twenty-five DECA students competed in a three-day State Career Development Conference in Hershey, PA. The AGCS Chapter came home with some significant wins:

• Anneli Erion, Thaddeus Purifoy, Tennyson Nelson and Max Guttman advanced with medals, earning them a seat at the International Career Development Conference in California this spring!
• DECA Quizbowl team members Julia Smith, Tito Matlock, Casey Gallagher and Will Mullen won 2nd place
• Anna Parker was a finalist in her category of Professional Selling

DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.

Mrs. Strange's high school and 8th-grade dance students choreographed and performed a series of Black and African-inspired dances for our 4th and 5th grade elementary students. The dances performed were:

• "I Rise"- A dance performed to the first stanza of Maya Angelou's famous poem.
• "A Change Is Gonna Come"- A jazz dance that reflects the Civil Rights Movement
  
• West African Dance- A showing of traditional African dance from Ghana. This was an audience participation number as 4th and 5th graders were brought up to learn steps and play instruments.
  
• Hip-Hop Dance- A modern dance that showed how traditional African dance steps influence present-day hip-hop dance.
  

During Global School Play Day, schools are encouraged to allow students ample time for free play without the use of screens, structured games, or adult direction. The idea is to let children explore their creativity, problem-solving skills, and social interactions in an unstructured and spontaneous environment.

Additionally, our classroom teachers use this time to help support the development of our CASEL 5 standards: self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.

A component of our curricular review process is to seek input from stakeholders when considering new instructional materials. When this occurs the Head of School or their designee can create a committee to review the materials. Caregivers and community members are an important part of the committee and review process.

We are seeking members for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year. At the start of the 2024-2025 school year, we will reshare the sign up so that we can keep the list as current as possible.

If you would be interested and willing to serve on a review committee, we encourage you to complete the brief interest form below.

Thank you for your consideration!

Click the example storyboard below to view all grades.

Avon Grove Charter School is expected to meet 95% participation in the state assessments set forth by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). In the 2021-2022 school year, AGCS did not meet this threshold and was required to submit an improvement plan to the Pennsylvania Department of Education outlining how we would increase participation to meet this expectation.

We understand that many families hold strong opinions related to state assessments and standardized testing and exercise their right to opt their child out of testing. This is your right as parents/guardians and we encourage families to do what is best for their individual children. However, we do ask that families consider the ramifications for the school when children do not participate in the state assessments for whatever reason.

As a reminder, below are the dates of administration for the PSSA assessments in Spring 2024.

English Language Arts: April 22nd-24th (3rd-8th Grade)

Math: April 29th-30th (3rd-8th Grades)

Science: May 1st-2nd (4th and 8th Grades only)

According to the school’s attendance policy, any vacation requests during the assessment window will not be approved and absences will be marked as “unexcused.”

In late February, the winter athletics season came to a close.

• The boys basketball team finished their season with a record of 10-14. The boys finished in 5th place in the MIL. Head coach Barry Keith continues to do a great job leading our guys.
• The girls basketball team closed out their inaugural season with a record of 3-13. The season was full of "firsts" and coach Nicole Burns has the program moving in the right direction with her passion and dedication.
• Cheer had a new coach this season: Coach Leah Cross, AGCS Graduate, class of 2023.

Congratulations to 3 of our winter athletes who were recognized by the MIL League:

• Ella Barrett (Grade 10) : 1st Team All-Conference, basketball
• Xavier London (Grade 12): 1st Team All-Conference, basketball
• Ayub Massaquoi (Grade 12): All league honorable mention, basketball

Girls soccer and boys lacrosse held spring tryouts during the last week of February. The varsity girls soccer team, the middle school girls soccer team, and the varsity boys lacrosse team all call Nichol Park home. Come on out to Nichol Park to see our teams in action! Find their schedule below.

We are proud to have more seniors going on to compete at the collegiate level than ever before. On February 7, we held a Senior Athlete Signing Ceremony to honor the commitment these athletes made.

• Riley Campbell: Baylor University, Equestrian
• Emily Colp: Anna Maria College, Volleyball
• Gia Hall: Anna Maria College, Volleyball
• Alexis Himelright: Penn State Brandywine, Soccer
• Agustin Lopez: Goldey Beacom College, Soccer
• Thomas Matuszewski: Mount St. Mary’s University, Baseball
• Ray Sanchez: Ann Maria College, Soccer
• Morgan Tighe: Mercyhurst University, Cheer

AGCS school counselors provide academic, social, and emotional support to all students. Our caring and experienced counselors support students and families with:

• Spontaneous one-on-one meetings
• Short term one-on-one counseling related to a specific concern
• Small group interventions
• Classroom instruction and SEL Half Day activity planning
  
• Making connections to outside resources and counseling
• College and career readiness, exploring all options and ensuring students have the resources and information needed to reach their goals for after high school.

During the upper school’s most recent SEL half day, students participated in "Adulting" Sessions. The purpose of the day was for students to interact with concepts that relate to adulthood which are not typically directly taught in the classroom. We aimed to address the question: What do you wish you learned in high school? Based on feedback, teachers chose topics on which to present including:

• Credit cards and credit scores
• Writing a check
• Money management
• Healthy living
• Childcare
• Gardening
• Stress management
• Trip and vacation planning
• Sewing and mending
• Organization and time management

SEL Half Days include topics and activities related to the CASEL 5 competencies (Self Awareness, Social Awareness, Self Management, Relationship Skills or Responsible Decision Making) and current needs in the school. Some recent examples:

• Assemblies focusing on our school’s PACK Values: positivity, accountability, confidence, kindness
• Special classroom visits such as February's Black History Month celebrations where guest staff members visited and read about Black History
• Next month's K-3 PBIS event will give students the opportunity to use their earned points to sign up for a chosen enrichment activity

Our staff and students are looking forward to field trips in many grade levels this year. Due to staffing, the school nurses do not attend field trips. The only medications allowed on field trips are epinephrine injectors and rescue inhalers. If you need to attend a field trip to manage your child’s medical needs, please contact your child’s teacher and the school nurse.

Multiple illnesses continue to circulate in the community. The AGCS School Nurses ask that all sick students remain home until they are fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications, or 24 hours vomit-free and tolerating foods in the case of stomach viruses. Should your child need to be picked up from school sick, please have a plan in place for your child to be picked up within an hour of the nurse’s call.

April 22-26, 2024 is Every Kid Healthy Week! Click the celebration schedule to see how your family can participate.

March 20, 2024 is World Oral Health Day! Do your children struggle with tooth brushing at home? Visit the World Oral Health Day website for the "Brush and Boogie Challenge" and start the day off with a healthy smile!

If you haven't already, be sure to complete your student's forms in PowerSchool. The annual health update form, including medication permission, is in the document this year. Without this form, the nurses are unable to medicate your child during the school day.

As Spring arrives and temperatures rise, please be sure to send a water bottle to school with your child.

As we welcome the warmer weather and the signs of spring, we also want to take a moment to ensure that the children's safety and security remain our top priority at Avon Grove Charter School. With that in mind, we want to remind you of some of the measures we have in place to keep our school community safe and secure.

• We take a proactive approach to safety with regular reviews and updates to security procedures, addressing any emerging concerns.
• Our visitor management system is in place which requires all visitors to check in at the main office upon arrival. This helps us monitor who is on campus at any given time, and ensures that only authorized individuals have access to our facilities.
• Our school has comprehensive emergency preparedness plans in place to address a wide range of potential scenarios including lockdown drills, fire drills, and severe weather protocols. We regularly review and practice these plans with students and staff to ensure that everyone knows how to respond in the event of an emergency.
• We understand the importance of effective communication. In the event of an emergency, we will communicate with parents and caregivers through our established communication channels, including email, text messages, and phone calls.
• We work closely with local first responder agencies to enhance the safety of our campuses and respond effectively to any incidents that may arise. Our partnership with first responders ensures that we have access to the resources and support we need to keep our school community safe.

As we look forward to the remainder of the school year, we remain committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all members of our school community. Thank you for your continued support and cooperation.