During professional development, teachers engaged in planning to build community in a remote setting.

Dear Families, We have some updates and announcements for you. We are looking forward to our first day of school one week from today! Please read below and reach out to your child’s teacher or call us at 816.444.1720 with questions.

Thank you

First of all, thank you for your patience and flexibility throughout this time. Teachers and staff members have been busy engaging in virtual professional development and many staff members have been in the building getting technology ready for distribution. We know this year will not be ordinary and we look forward to working together through this challenging time.

Calendar Change

During an ordinary school year, we have early dismissal every Wednesday for professional development. However, when we are able to return to the building for in-person learning, it will be difficult to follow this schedule due to the unique conditions of this school year. Thus, this year we will not have early dismissal on Wednesdays. Instead, we have programmed in additional professional development days. We will use this time to plan, collaborate, analyze data, meet with families, engage in reflection and use the reflections to inform our work.  The first two Fridays of the school year will be professional development days (August 28th and September 4th). See the calendar for further updates.

Meet the Teacher Meetings

Teachers are excited to meet with each family and child individually this week for meet the teacher meetings. These meetings replace the typical Open House event that we would normally have. These meetings are an opportunity to develop the family-teacher relationship and orient families and students to some aspects of our remote learning programming. Teachers have called all families to set up these meetings. If you have not set up your meeting yet, please reach out to your child’s teacher or call the school at 816.444.1720.

Tech Distribution – Updated Schedule as of Aug. 18th

Tech distribution will begin tomorrow for grades 1st – 6th grade (Tuesday, August 18, 2020). We will contact PK/Kinder families when their devices are ready for pick-up. If you shared a need for wi-fi, somebody from AFIA will contact you soon about this. 

Grades 1st – 6th grade can pick up devices this week during the following times:
  • Tuesday between 10 AM and 2 PM
  • Wednesday between 10 AM and 1 PM
  • Friday between 10AM and 2 PM
  • Saturday between 10AM and 2 PM
Technology pick-up will happen outside and we will run a minimal contact pick-up line. When you pick up the technology, you will need to sign the Technology Acceptable Home Use Agreement. This form references our Technology Acceptable Use Agreement.
Please watch for text blasts with updates regarding additional pick up dates and times for PK/Kinder families to pick up iPads. We anticipate that PK/Kinder students will be able to pick up iPads on Friday and Saturday. 
Food Distribution
Beginning August 26th, we can only distribute food boxes to AFIA families. To help us plan and ensure we order enough food for all AFIA families, please fill out this survey  if you would like to pick up food from AFIA on Wednesdays. We also have the ability to deliver food if you have this need.  Please complete the survey, because it is important that we have an accurate count of the amount of food needed to ensure that everyone that needs food receives it. We will continue to distribute and deliver food on Wednesdays of each week. You will receive 5 breakfasts and 5 lunches in each box.  However, we can only distribute food to AFIA families and only 1 box per child who attends AFIA.
Contributing, Capable, Connected
At AFIA, we believe that an important aspect of building a safe, productive and positive classroom is ensuring that all children know they are capable, feel connected and are able to make a contribution to the community. We know it is our responsibility to facilitate this type of classroom community. At AFIA, we utilize a number of resources in our approach to social emotional learning and building community. Some of the resources that we draw from include Conscious Discipline and Responsive Classroom. We plan to have a virtual family night about our approach to social emotional learning in the coming weeks and will share more details soon.