The following message is from Philip Schuyler Achievement Academy Principal Kendra Chaires-Francis. The information also is included in this letter that was mailed to each student's home.
Dear Families,
Welcome back! In just a week, we will officially begin our 2021-22 school year on Sept. 2. As always, the faculty and staff at Schuyler Achievement Academy are eager to embark on another educational journey with our students and families.
This school year is particularly special because it will be our first opportunity to have all of our students on-site since our school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 13, 2020. I want to assure you that our team has worked hard to prepare a safe and successful opening that aligns with guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the New York State Education Department and the Albany County Department of Health.
Our instructional staff has also worked very hard to create quality academic and social-emotional programming for our scholars. Together at last!
Our vision at SAA is to equip all of our scholars with academic and social-emotional knowledge and awareness needed to make good choices, advocate for themselves and their community, and transform the world. To that end, we set improvement goals each year to ensure we effectively leverage our families and community partners and provide quality programming that is rigorous and culturally responsive.
Our 2021-22 school improvement goals are as follows:
- Support teachers with instructional planning and delivering learning experiences aligned to the NYS Learning Standards.
- Implement restorative and trauma-informed Social Emotional Learning (SEL) practices to respond to student conduct with a focus on amplifying student voice.
- Create robust opportunities for parent/caregiver involvement that supports regular school attendance and overall school success.
- Collaborate with community partners in our Capital Region to provide in-school and extended-day enrichment offerings for students that compliment academic and SEL programming and promote a general connection to school.
These goals may sound familiar to some, as they have been our focus since we adopted our community school model. Each year, we use these goals to inform all aspects of our programming at SAA.
For those of you who are returning this school year, you will notice some new faces, as several SAA staff have transitioned to new roles within and outside the district. While we will certainly miss the faculty and staff who we bid farewell to, we are very excited about the new additions to our team.
Families will have the opportunity to meet the entire faculty and staff at our Back to School Nights in September.
As I mentioned above, we are committed to a safe opening of schools and a successful transition from a hybrid instructional model to a fully in-person model for all of our scholars. To that end, we will be providing student orientations for our scholars during the first two days of school (see schedule below).
Orientation days for grades 1-5 will run from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Students in prekindergarten and kindergarten will be assigned a time and must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. We will resume our normal bell schedule (9 a.m.3:30 p.m.) for all students, prekindergarten-grade 5 on Wednesday, Sept. 8.
- Thursday, Sept. 2- Prekindergarten, kindergarten (a.m. only), grades 1-2 and Andrews
- Friday, Sept. 3 - Kindergarten (a.m. only), Grades 3-5 and Woodson
In the weeks to come, please be on the lookout for updates related to our opening days via mail, our district website, SchoolMessenger, and our district and school Facebook pages.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact the school office at (518) 475-6700.
Enjoy your remaining days of summer!
