Director's Letter April 18, 2025
- Shelly Smith
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Dear ACA Community,
Three cheers for beautiful weather this week and all the happiness that goes along with sunshine! ACA’s Outdoor Science campers will be at the Oregon coast and the long range forecast is looking promising. Of course, the trip will be awesome rain or shine! I’ll be there to wave goodbye to the bus as it pulls away on Tuesday. Have fun ACA Campers!
Drumroll please…the 2025-26 Class Schedule and Course Catalogs are coming out next week. Watch Parent Square on Monday! The schedule is bigger and better than ever with more hours, more options, and more joy! But first, remember that families are required to re-register in ParentVue each year. Education Specialists are available to assist with this process as needed. Students must be registered before their schedules can be completed. Here is a LINK to steps for registering.
Just a friendly reminder that all curriculum, Chromebooks, instruments, and other school materials need to be returned by the end of the school year so we can complete our inventory and take care of any necessary repairs. To help keep things running smoothly, we ask that all ACA-owned items be returned by May 29th. ACA will send out invoices for missing items. Unpaid invoices may result in a freeze on student allotments and a pause on the family’s onsite schedule. Please note that in these cases, students on the waitlist may be given priority for certain classes, and your student could be moved to the waitlist. We truly appreciate your help in keeping an accurate inventory of our shared resources—thank you for your continued support.
Next week is Administrative Professionals Appreciation Week! We are fortunate to have wonderful staff supporting all the things that we do. Be sure to stop in the hallway next week to sign Thank You cards for those who support ACA in many different ways. ACA staff is second to NONE!
On Wednesday afternoon, ACA’s Drama Club Jr. students, led by their parents, put on an amazing production of their play, ‘Distractions’. Students built and painted their own set. Everyone had a great time watching the talented young actors! Special thanks to parent Jennifer Grattan for planning and organizing this experience for ACA. It was an experience to remember!
Special thanks to parent Jarod Kendrick for showing up with a rototiller and working up new beds in the community garden! This was a wonderful service which makes more space for the Garden Collective group to plan new garden spaces. Talk a walk down to the garden and admire all the improvements! An enthusiastic group of parents known as ‘The ACA Garden Collective’ have hit the ground running. Use this SIGN UP to get involved!
If you haven’t signed up yet, there are still spaces available in Mrs. Filippello’s 3rd - 5th grade field trip to visit Champoeg State Park on Friday, April 25th. There will be a ranger led tour of the Visitor’s Museum and a wheat threshing activity. After the tour enjoy Disc Golf, the Nature Playground, or a visit to the Butteville General Store. The event is limited to 30 guests so please stop by the office to sign up. The guided tour is free but parking at Champoeg is $10 per day.
And good news…the deadline for purchasing discount Zoo Field Trip tickets has been extended to April 24! Our group tickets are a great value! Details are in the flyer below.
Save the dates of May 9th and 10th to come enjoy ACA’s Drama Class as they present Communism, Investigation, & Allegations. Check out the details in the beautiful flyer below designed by Haven Crum!
Also, Juniors and Seniors, save the date of May 2 for the 24-25 ACA Prom “Stellar Night”. Prom will be held at Lakeside Hall on the Clackamas Community College campus. The dance is for Juniors and Seniors, Sophomores by invite only. Food and beverages provided! Presale tickets are $10 and will go on sale April 9th. Tickets are $15 at the door.
These Spring Surveys have been administered every year since ACA opened and provide very valuable longitudinal data about our school and how we are serving students and families. Please take time to select and fill out the survey that applies to you and help our students get connected with the appropriate survey as well. We want to hear from everyone!
Students Grade K-2 LINK
Students Grade 3-5 LINK
Students Grade 6-8 LINK
Students High School LINK
Parents/Families of ACA Students LINK
ES/Teacher Survey LINK
Support Staff Survey LINK
This week we have an exciting collaboration with Oregon City Together and Children’s Center of West Linn to show the documentary film Angst. This is open to the public and geared for our students and parents. Youth are welcome to attend with their families, and childcare is offered for younger children. Some food will be served, so please register to let us know you’re coming. There’s additional information in our SEL newsletter for this month. Click here
A very important way to serve ACA is by joining our School Board. Please consider applying for a two year term. Here is the link to the APPLICATION. The deadline to apply is May 14th.
Gentle Rule Reminder: We can do a little better at cleaning up our areas after lunch. Please make sure your trash is picked up. With a little effort we can have a tidier school!
And from the World’s Greatest PTO:
4/15-4/26 Spring BottleDrop Gives Drive
We receive an 20% extra match during this time. Here’s how you can help:
• pick up a blue bag at school, fill with cans and bottles, drop off at a BottleDrop site
• take some of our blue bags to a business or your workplace to fill
• visit our donation site to transfer from your own account or donate directly
Next week is National Volunteer Appreciation Week! It really is amazing to reflect on how much we have done over the school year, and none of it would be possible without our amazing group of parents who show up in so many different ways. Thank you for showing up for our students and ACA community!! Remember to log your Volunteer hours here Volunteer Time Log
5/5-5/8 Teacher Appreciation
Help us celebrate the best teachers in the world! Here is the first look at our Signup and plan for the week.
Pizza Pre-Orders
It’s been fun watching so many students redeem their pizza tickets from the Read-A-Thon lately! We want to make sure we have enough pizza for everyone who wants some. You can order on our online form or any time at the PTO desk. Cutoff is the Tuesday before each pizza Thursday.
Remember to check the calendar on our website often, AllianceCharterAcademy.org and don’t forget to log your Volunteer hours here Volunteer Time Log.
There are a lot of great flyers below, so keep scrolling for some nice events and opportunities!
Have a wonderful weekend, and thank you for being part of the ACA family!
Go Eagles,
Shelly Smith
24-25 Executive Director
“Our mission is to nurture the innate curiosity of our students, ignite their passion for learning, and prepare them for lifelong success through personalized learning and collaboration of school, family, and community.”
Volunteer Opportunities:
Spring Dance Grades 6-12
Friday, April 18
ACA Gym
6:00-8:30pm
Administrative Professionals Week
April 21 - 25
Governing Board Work Session
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Virtual
6:00pm
Movie Screening - Angst
Thursday, April 24, 2025
ACA Gym
5:00-7:30
Champoeg Pioneer History
Friday, April 25, 2025
Meet at Champoeg
10:50am
Prom - A Stellar Night
Friday, May 2, 2025
Lakeside Hall, Clackamas Community College
6:00-8:30pm
Teacher Appreciation Week
May 5 - May 8
Graduates Meeting
Monday, May 5, 2025
ACA Cafeteria
3:45pm
ACA Enrollment Meeting
Monday, May 5, 2025
ACA Gym
6:00pm
Zoo Field Trip
Friday, May 9, 2025
Reunification Drill
Friday, May 9, 2025
ACA
9:00am
Drama Performances
C. I. A. Communism Investigation Allegations
Friday, May 9 at 6:00pm
Saturday, May 10 at 3:00pm and 6:00pm
ACA Gym
Governing Board Meeting
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Virtual
6:00pm
