The FAST Flyer

MAP assessments are scheduled for all students Monday-Thursday next week. Please make every effort to have your student at school on time to avoid disruptions for students who are testing. Students who arrive late, may have to wait in Innovation Hall until testing is over before they are permitted to go to class. Make-up testing will begin Friday and continue into the following week. Please note that these tests are not about passing or failing, instead they are used as a tool to help identify strengths and gaps to ensure students academic needs are being met.

Mark your calendar for curriculum night! Our annual curriculum night is scheduled for Wednesday, August 28 at 5pm. This event will be held in person at FAST for all grades. Please do not bring your children to this event as space is limited. Further information will be coming soon.

As a reminder, our communication process is designed to ensure that your concerns are directed to the appropriate team members so that they can be addressed promptly and efficiently. It is also important that you read the emails we send as they contain important information about things happening at FAST.

ABSENCES: Please report student absences to both attendance@fastk8.org and your student's homeroom teacher. You may send doctors' notes for absences directly to attendance@fastk8.org

TRANSPORTATION CHANGES: If your child’s transportation arrangements need to change for the day, please notify both your child's homeroom teacher and Ms. Cadogan at gail.cadogan@fastk8.org by no later than 11:30am.

CURRICULUM/CLASSROOM CONCERNS: If you have questions or concerns regarding your child's class, your first point of contact should be your child’s classroom teacher. They are the best resource to explain classroom content, assignments, and expectations. If further clarification or assistance is needed, you can contact the respective assistant principal (anesha.james@fastk8.org or elementary or demetria.walker@fastk8.org for middle school.)

We understand that occasionally students who take the bus will go home via carpool, or students who are in ASP will go home by bus, etc. It is critical that we know of any changes to your student's dismissal. Please be sure that you are communicating any changes to your student's afternoon dismissal to both their homeroom teacher and Ms. Cadogan (gail.cadogan@fastk8.org). Please be sure to email them as early in the day as possible as many teachers are not able to check their email throughout the day. It is imperative that we know about these changes to ensure students are where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there. This is a matter of student safety.

Please be sure that you are following the rules for carpool to ensure student and staff safety. If you will have a babysitter, grandparent, or someone else picking up your child, please share this information with them as well.

Please also remind your students that they have a very important role in our dismissal process -- they should make their way promptly to the carpool area when their name either appears on the board or are paged to carpool.

RULES FOR CARPOOL:

• Follow all staff directions. Please be courteous with our staff and adhere to all of their directions. They will be out in the sweltering heat, freezing cold, and torrential downpours working to keep your students safe.
• Please do not arrive prior to 3:10pm (2:10pm on Fridays) for pick up. Arriving early only causes traffic backups in the surrounding area.
• Right turns only out of the lot even if the police officer is not there.
• Please keep your carpool tag visible in your window until your student is in your car.
• If your student goes by a name other than what is on their carpool tag, please let us know.
• All students should enter and exit vehicle on the passenger side only. (This is a safety issue.)
• Students should not retrieve items from the trunk during drop off. (This is a safety issue.)
• Please do not get out of your car during carpool.
• If your child has NOT arrived at your car, you may be directed to drive to the ‘holding area.” Please do so immediately for your safety and the safety of our staff/students.
• Pro-tip: help your younger student recognize your car in the carpool line by adding a unique magnet on the passenger side of your car!

You may have received an email from PikMyKid referencing a QR code. You do not need this code. It was system generated when we updated/added students for this school year. You do not need to announce your arrival on campus through the app as we do that once you are in the carpool queue, just be sure your carpool tag is visible,

If you have not received your carpool tag, please email marie.emerson@fastk8.org with your student's name and grade.

Per our charter, all students who attend FAST must reside within the Fulton County School district (FCS). Residency is verified at various points of enrollment. If your student will be in 6th grade in the 2024-25 school year, we will require verification that you still reside within the FCS district. You may find a list of acceptable documents on the FCS website: https://www.fultonschools.org/Page/660

Documents should be emailed to alexandra.hernandez@fastk8.org. If you are not able to provide the necessary documents, please contact Ms. Hernandez as soon as possible.

Georgia Certificate of Immunization Form 3231 is required for all students registered for school. In order to ensure that these are up to date, parents/guardians of 7th grade students must provide a current 3231 form for their student. We will require this information by no later than September 30. Please email completed forms to: alexandra.hernandez@fastk8.org.

As a reminder students are not permitted to use their cell phones or Bluetooth devices throughout the day. Students who have a cell phone out after school begins at 7:40am through 3pm will have their phone confiscated for the day. Please remind your students of this policy so that you will not have to come to the office to retrieve their phone.

As a reminder, FAST does not have a kitchen for school lunch. All students are expected to bring their lunch (and snack as needed) or you may order lunch through Ordo at ordo.com. Lunch orders must be placed by no later than Friday night for the following week.

• FAST is a nut-free school. Please do not send any foods that contain nut products with your student.
• Please adhere to any additional food restrictions you may hear from your child's teacher due to allergies.

• All food sent to school should be ready-to-eat. Staff will not be able to heat food for students.
• Students should not be receiving food deliveries at school from anywhere other than Ordo. Please do not order UberEats, DoorDash, etc. to be delivered to your child.

Morning carpool begins at 7:05am. Please do not drop students off before carpool as begun. This is for student safety.

Students must be in homeroom by 7:40am each day. After 7:40, they are considered tardy. Please be sure that you are allowing time to navigate carpool and your student to get to class on time. If you arrive after 8am, you will need to come into Innovation Hall to sign in your student.

If students are late because the bus is in running late, they will not be marked tardy.

Early dismissals are not permitted after 2:40pm (M-Th, 1:40pm Fridays). If you need to pick up your child for any reason, please plan accordingly.

All students are expected to be in full uniform every day. The full uniform code can be found on our website at: https://www.fastk8.org/fast-apparel-and-supplies/

Beginning next week, we will be contacting parents of students who are not in uniform.

Hello FAST families!

Welcome back! I hope you all had a wonderful summer. Please remember that if you’re child needs daily medications or has a medication for me to store in the office I will need the SHS1 form signed by parent and doctor. The doctor does NOT have to sign for over the counter medications. If your child needs a prescription medication, the MD signature is REQUIRED by law. No exceptions can be made. Please read and follow the directions on the form. You can access the form at the Fultoncountyschools.org website under the student health services tab under forms.

As always, I am happy to serve your children and will continue to make sure everyone is happy, safe and healthy. If ever you have questions or concerns please reach out to me. Victoria.murray@fastk8.org. You may also call the office and dial extension 120.

In order to help prevent spread of illness to other students and staff, we ask that you keep your child home if they are sick or could be contagious. Please use the chart below for reference if your child is not feeling well. If your child becomes ill while at school, we may ask that you come pick them up. If that is the case, we ask that you arrive as soon as possible (preferably within the hour).

Absence excuses including from doctor visits can be emailed to attendance@fastk8.org.

Due to a Membership Toolkit Error with the update of the 2024-2025 class lists, not all parents received the newsletter. If you did not receive the newsletter please do the process below.

The FAST PTO uses Membership Toolkit for our directory, event registrations and online sales throughout the year.

At the beginning of each year, it is important that all parents update their information to continue to receive PTO communications.

IF YOU ARE RETURNING TO FAST, please log into Membership Toolkit to update your family contact info:

• Go to https://fastk8pto.membershiptoolkit.com/
• Click on the "Login" button.
• Click "My Account"
• Update your Parent and Student Information
• Once complete, you will be presented with forms for PTO Back to School Packet. This packet includes information on joining the PTO, spirit wear order forms, volunteer opportunities and more!
• Download the Membership Toolkit app on your apple or android device for quick access anytime!

IF YOU ARE NEW TO FAST, please create a free Membership Toolkit account by following these steps:

• Go to https://fastk8pto.membershiptoolkit.com/
• Select "Create Account" and enter the name, email, and password information.
• Click "Verify My Email" and then check your email for a link to complete the process. The link expires in 2 hours. If you do not receive the email, check your spam or junk folders.
• Once you have verified your email address, log back in and finish the registration process.
  • Complete the Parent/Family and Student Information.
  • Complete the Directory/Publish Preferences.
  • Once these forms are complete, you will be presented with forms for PTO Back to School Packet. This packet includes information on joining the PTO, spirit wear order forms, volunteer opportunities, and more!
• Download the Membership Toolkit app on your apple or android device for quick access anytime!

Questions? - If your 2024-2025 membership is not correct or you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at pto@fastk8.org

Our PTO Membership Drive has started for the 2024-2025 school year! Please join us in making a difference in our FAST school community. By becoming a member of the PTO, you can become an important part of supporting our school. PTO memberships raise funds that support FAST students and staff. This includes programs like field day, our learning garden, school assemblies, teacher grants, staff appreciation events, and more! This annual membership drive is our main fundraiser for the school year.

The FAST Family PTO is a non-profit organization, composed of volunteers, focused on supporting the educational experience of all FAST students.

The second round of Spirit Wear is now on sale! The sale ends on August 31st. Spirit Wear will be distributed two weeks AFTER the sale ends in the student's homeroom classroom!

The new school year is quickly approaching and we need a few great volunteers! Please reach out by contacting pto@fastk8.org to find out more.

What's a PTO volunteer? ANYONE who can help out within their capacity. We are looking for parents who can lead projects to parents that can volunteer an hour here or there. There is something for everyone!

Why volunteer? You are providing valuable support and building the FAST community! Be a positive impact to our school by clicking below to learn more.

August 19-22: MAP assessments

August 22: Governing Board Meeting

August 28: Curriculum Night

August 30: Out of uniform day

Sept. 2: Labor Day (SCHOOL CLOSED)

Sept. 3-4: Professional Development (STUDENTS OFF)

Sept. 10: Town Hall with Ms. Miller

FAST leverages various means of communications to keep our families up to date with what is happening at school. Since most people are on social media, we post to different platforms to keep you up to date. If you aren't already following us, check us out on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

To keep up to date with the most recent information available from our district offices, please click on the image below.

Email: info@fastk8.org
Website: www.fastk8.org
Location: 11365 Crabapple Road, Roswell, GA, USA
Phone: 678-321-1100
Facebook: facebook.com/FASTK8.School/
Twitter: @fastk8charter

The FAST Flyer is the electronic newsletter at FAST. Feedback is always welcome. If you have any questions, please call the school (678-321-1100) or email the FAST Communications Director at marie.emerson@fastk8.org.