The Scorpion

Innovation Academy September 2024 Newsletter

Principal News

Almost 20 days into the 24-25 school year and I can say without a doubt that this has been the best start to a school year in my career. The excitement and engagement that I see in classrooms each day is inspiring. Our teachers are planning outstanding STEM units of study. Students are excited to learn about and research topics that they never thought about or knew existed.

We held our first Pep Assembly on August 28. We gave out 24 Kind Kid awards, a new PE award, Library award, Top Musicians, and Top Artists. It was great to see 427 students excited to cheer for and recognize each other’s accomplishments. Four teachers new to IA participated in the STEM teacher challenge and Mrs. Blank took the title.

DYK-Innovation Academy is one of under just 250 STEM Accredited school in the world. This year is our reaccreditation and review year. We are working through the application process and will have a site visit and application review in January. This is a great opportunity to evaluate what we do, assess our alignment with our mission and to improve our practices.

Meet Mr. Peace!

Hello Scorpions, thank you for the warm welcome to the TEAM. I have some big shoes to fill taking over for Mrs. Friezen, so please tell me what I need to know and keep me straight on what the process is here at IA. Naturally I will do things a little differently, but I have been a part of teams my whole life and know communication is key. You can reach out to me with any questions or concerns.

You might know that I have been coaching at CDO for over half my life, but I like to think of myself more than the stereotypical football coach. I taught math for 5 years before I started teaching PE and also got my masters in admin, but I will happily leave that to Mr. McConnell.

I wanted to give you a little insight to the culture I am trying to create in the PE classroom. TEAM is the acronym I will use to help foster that culture. I will of course explain to the kids and remind them what TEAM means. I will assign NFL (fall) /NBA (spring) teams to each class so when they come in to class they will be "Watson's Steelers". I am working on how each class will pick their team but there is a good chance it may not be the actual team you are a fan of. I thought it would be something fun to connect them to the professional sport seasons.

Here is what TEAM means.

T Together is always better

E Effort level is your choice

A Attitude affects ALL

M Make the moment magical

My one ask right now is to communicate to parents to help remind students that it is helpful to have tennis shoes on the day of PE. Crocs and slides unfortunately cause students to fall more and are unsafe even when they are in "sport mode", as they say.

Again, if you need anything from me, please reach out.

Dusty Peace

IA - PE

Student Council Underwear Drive

Help StuCo help the kids of Amphi School District! Donate new in package kids underwear.

2024/2025 District Calendar

Below is the link to the 24/25 District Calendar. Please note that school starts on a Wednesday and it will be an early release day.

https://www.amphi.com/cms/lib/AZ01901095/Centricity/Domain/1054/Approved%20Calendar%20SY%2024-25%204.11.23.pdf

IA Staff is Ready!

Even though we work hard getting ready for students to return to school, we did have some fun at our back to school meetings!

Bond & Override Election

The Amphitheater Governing Board called for a Bond and Override Election for the November ballot. For more information: https://www.amphi.com/Page/25809

IA PTO Direct Giving Campaign

The PTO Direct Giving Campaign ends on Friday. We are close to our goal; it is not too late to donate. https://innovationacademypto.org/ The Direct Giving Campaign raises money for IA classrooms, free attendance to events, capital projects, clubs and much more! The campaign keeps our kids from selling door to door, and 100% of the funds raised go to IA.