From the Principal's Desk

Greetings FWAFA Family,

It was so great to see everyone today for what promises to be the best year yet at Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts! We had a fantastic day!

Here's just a few notes about the day:

1. Please remember there's no dropping off in the teacher's parking lot in the morning. Either drop off in the back by the vending machines, in the front by the lobby, or at the south end where the elementary classrooms are. Be on time! Students are considered tardy at 8:00 a.m. sharp!

2. Keep traffic moving on Hulen. There's no picking up your student on Hulen in the afternoon. This is extremely dangerous and backs up traffic. Please do not park your car in the middle of the street on Arborlawn blocking traffic to walk and pick up your child. This also backs up traffic on Hulen.

I appreciate everyone staying cool, calm, and hyper aware of their surroundings as students are exiting all sides of the building. Discuss your pick up spot with your student so they know where to look for you. We will all get in a groove in few days and traffic will flow faster. Thanks for your patience and cooperation as we move traffic through safely and quickly.

3. Microwaves will be placed back in the cafeteria by the end of the week.

4. See the links below for Locker Requests and Schedule Changes. If you are having problems opening your locker, please see Ms. Warner in the front office or Mr. Michler located on the main floor elementary hallway.

5. Please see the website under the Resources tab if you have questions about lunch, dress code, bell schedules, the Student Handbook, etc. You can find all of the information that you are looking for there.

6. We are working on our plan to distribute Chromebooks/laptops as quickly as we can. I will have more details about our distribution date in next Monday's newsletter. Right now, the best thing to do is to let me know that you need a device by completing the Technology Needs Survey that is below in the newsletter. This will give me a head count of how many devices that we will need.

I think that's it for first day questions! :-)

Our official Meet the Teacher Night will be on Thursday, August 26. Families of elementary students will be able to meet both their fine arts and academic teachers that evening. Families of middle school and high school students will follow their student's schedules to meet teachers class by class and hear what is in store for students this year. I will have more details about the Meet the Teacher Night in a JupiterEd email later this week and in next week's newsletter. Just save the date for now.

I am super excited to introduce everyone to our two new counselors. Our secondary counselor Chelsea Smithley will join our team on Tuesday, September 7. Her email address is chelsea.smithley@fwafa.org.

Our elementary counselor substitute is Jessica Rice, and she started with us today. Her email address is jessica.rice@fwafa.org. Please reach out to Ms. Rice about your elementary or secondary students until Ms. Smithley joins us on 9/7. She is ready and excited to help.

If you have questions about Section 504, please reach out to our 504 Coordinator, Marty Walter, at marty.walter@artsacademics.org.

Creatively yours,

Dr. Jackson

Monster Monday

Dress up like any sort of monster, or even your favorite TV monster!

EX: Monster High, Monsters Inc., Aliens, Hotel Transylvania, etc.

TWOsday

Grab a friend and dress up together or as your favorite dynamic duo!

EX: Matching shirts, Jim and Dwight, Sponge Bob and Patrick, Anna and Elsa, etc.

Watch it Wednesday

Dress up like your favorite movie or TV character!

EX: Disney Characters, The Avengers, High School Musical: The Musical - The Series, Barbie.

Teacher Thursday

Dress up as one of your teachers!

EX: Mr. Hill, Mrs. Langford, Mrs. Van Dyck, Dr. Jackson

Fluorescent Friday

Dress up in neon colors!

EX: Neon shirts, neon makeup, etc.

*Information about the Friday doo-dah (3rd-6th) and dance (7th-12th) will come out soon!*

Be sure to note that the FWAFA parking lot moves from the north end of the building to the south end of the building. The traffic all flows one way to the south. Do not drop your student off in the parking lot and have them walk across traffic. Please drop off at one of the entrances. At morning arrival, be ready to hop out of the car with all of your school items quickly to keep the line moving. And, at afternoon dismissal be ready to hop in the car and go. It is imperative that we keep traffic moving safely and do not back up traffic and cars on Hulen street.

We are opening the building 10 minutes earlier this year to cut down on the number of chronic tardies that we had last year. We all commute to this school, so please set your alarms and adjust your schedules so that you are not late. We start assembly promptly at 8:00 a.m. If you are dropping off your student after 8:00 a.m. - that means at 8:01 a.m., you need to come around to the front and escort your student to get a tardy pass. Starting on time is of utmost importance. Please help us in this important endeavor.

Junior Company - open to Grades 4-6, audition is Thursday, August 19, 2021, 4:00-5:30 p.m.

Junior Company rehearses weekly on Wednesdays from 4:00-5:00 p.m.

Find all Junior Company dance audition information here.

Company II - open to grades 7-12, audition is Friday, August 20, 2021, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Company II rehearses weekly on Thursdays from 4:00-5:30 p.m.

Find all Company II dance audition information here.

Auditions take place on the FWAFA stage. Dancers should wear dance attire and bring ballet and jazz shoes. Dancers will be taught movement combinations at the audition. Dance Company Members perform with Academy Dance Company and Academy Dance Company Trainees in their 2 major productions per school year.

We are diligently working on becoming a 1 to 1 device school for students in grades 7-12; however, we are not there yet. Our goal for the 2021-2022 school is to be a "Bring Your Own Device" campus in grades 7 to 12. The grade levels that we will be a 1 to 1 device will be 7-12. We will have Chromebook stations in each of the elementary academic classrooms.

Being a 1 to 1 device school means that students may either bring a laptop/Chromebook/iPad to school each day to work on technology integrated assignments and Google Classroom or check out a device from the school. We need to ensure that we have enough devices for checkout for those students who may need one. If you are in grades 7-12, please complete this short Technology Needs Assessment Survey to help with our planning purposes.

Our PTSO (Parent Teacher Student Organization) is an amazing supporter of our school! Membership fees and parent involvement benefits our staff and students. Through the PTSO’s hard work and dedication last year, they purchased 60 Chromebooks, a piano for the lobby, a new water fountain, upgraded the wifi throughout the school building, provided grants to teachers to purchase supplies for their classrooms, hosted monthly staff appreciation breakfasts, provided two $1,000 senior scholarships, and each year they organize our Family Ambassador program. Please click here Join PTSO to join!

In lieu of planners for grades 6-12 and because we are using Google Classroom, FWAFA Thespians are excited to bring you a digital event calendar for all of FWAFA holidays, testing dates, and performance events.

For just $3.00, you can import the calendar into your Google Suite!

OR - We will have a PDF version if you prefer a paper version (which you will be able to print out).

You can pay online here:
www.artsacademics.org/21-22-plannerspayment/

There will be a $1.00 convenience fee included in the cost of the calendar.

Due to the amount of interest we have had in the Clayton After School Program, we are going to once again this year use the Texas School of the Arts to house the afterschool program. To reserve your place in the program, please go to www.claytonyouth.org and register for after school programming at TeSA. We will transport FWAFA students to TeSA after school and parents will pick up students from TeSA in the afternoons.

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER III) will provide approximately $316,349 to the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts over the next three years. In order to access the funds, FWAFA must submit a plan for use of the funds to the Texas Education Agency with our grant application.

The Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts is seeking input from stakeholders as we develop our plan. Your feedback and input are incredibly valuable and will help inform our plan.

Responses to this survey will be reviewed for inclusion into FWAFA’s ESSER III plan.

FWAFA’s annual Student Choreography Concert will be performed and filmed onstage in the FWAFA auditorium in September of 2021.

Student Directors and Faculty Sponsors will film and edit these student-choreographed works for a world premiere online release on Friday, September 24!

This concert will be available to view online by donation/pay-what-you-can for a limited time.

We are so excited to share this student-produced concert with friends, family, and audience members watching from anywhere through this online format.

Dancers and Choreographers that would like to take part in this concert will need to audition their works.

Please see audition details at the link below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vn6gwkSkw294ajpkyUGdJMG4sdd6GdJVSm87NLFpYG8/edit?usp=sharing

Help raise funds for our school. When a shopper makes purchases at smile.amazon.com with Texas Center for Arts+ Academics selected as their chosen charity, we raise money for our students.

If you are in grades 7-12 and would like to request a locker, please complete this form.

Public Notice of Intent to Apply

Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts intends to apply for federal grant funding for the 2021-2022 school year for the following grant programs:

● Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
● Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA)
● 2020-2023 ARP ESSER III Federal Grant Application
● 2020-2022 CRRSA ESSER II Federal Grant Application

FWAFA may apply for additional federal funding opportunities as they become available. If you have questions regarding this Public Notice of Intent to Apply please contact Anika Perkins at anika.perkins@artsacademics.org

We are less than two weeks away from the start date for after-school conservatory classes - don't wait until the last minute to sign up! Registration is open for all Texas Center for Arts + Academics Conservatories.

Our after-school program offerings include Choir Ensembles, Dance, Private Piano Lessons, Private Voice Lessons, and Visual Art. TCA+A conservatories are open to the public, so feel free to invite friends from other schools to attend with your child! Click HERE for more information.

Ascender Parent Portal

Need to submit an attendance note?

attendance@fwafa.org

TCA+A Covid-19 Information Center

Thursday, August 19 - Senior Thespian New Member Interest Meeting; Junior Company Auditions

Friday, August 20 - Company II Auditions

Monday, August 23 - Howdy Week Starts

Wednesday, August 25 - Student Choreography Concert & Senior Solo Exhibition Auditions

Thursday, August 26 - Meet the Teacher Night (more details coming soon)

Friday, August 27 - Elementary Howdy Doo-Dah from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Cafeteria. More details coming soon! ; Secondary Howdy Dance from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in the Auditorium

Monday, August 30 - Virtual SGT Parent Club Meeting, MAPS (Grades 3-10) and Brightfish (Grades 3-5) Diagnostic Testing Window Opens Until September 10; Conservatory Classes Start

Wednesday, September 1 - Prospective Family Campus Tour at 9 a.m.

Monday, September 6 - Labor Day - School Holiday

Tuesday, September 7 - TBC Parent Club Meeting at 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, September 8 - Progress Reports Distributed during 8th Period

August 14

August 9

August 2

July 16