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Dear Amana Community,
You're probably now aware of a shooting that occurred yesterday at a DeKalb County elementary school. We are all relieved that the perpetrator was apprehended without any loss of life. This incident is a reminder to all of us that student and adult safety must be of paramount importance at Amana Academy. Following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut last year, we took additional measures to enhance safety. Here are a few things you should know about our safety protocols and actions you can take to help overall safety at our school.
- Amana Academy submits the same Safety Plan to Fulton County Schools as other schools in the system.
- According to our Homeland Security audit conducted two years ago, Amana Academy safety actually benefits from being in a commercial center. The surrounding traffic and retail activity provide for many witnesses, which serves as a deterrent to would-be assailants wanting to do harm.
- First responders from Alpharetta, Milton, and Roswell would respond to an emergency situation in force in a matter of 1-2 minutes; and they are trained to go straight into the building in case of an emergency. We are very fortunate to have such well-trained and capable first responders in our area in general, and for the close relationship we have with the Alpharetta agencies in particular.
- Our school also extends into Wills Park for recess, PE, and EEOB classes. You should know that the park is safe for our children. Teachers take walkie-talkies and emergency back-packs with them when using the park. The park is also patrolled by Alpharetta Park Rangers and Police, and our own police officers when they are on campus.
- We conduct regular drills to practice for emergency scenarios. We do drills for fire, severe weather, intruder, and evacuation scenarios. If we ever have to do an evacuation, our designated location will be the Alpharetta Community Center building (via Wills Park) just a block down Roswell Street.
- We have installed cameras in the rear of the building to monitor activities in those areas.
- Entry doors from the lobby to the main hall and to the cafeteria feature magnetic door locks and require a person to be "buzzed in" before entry.
- During Friday dismissal our police officers check carpool tags before parents enter the lobby. If parents do not have their carpool tag, they are asked to go back to their car to get it or wait until 1:30 for late pick-up.
- Exit doors feature alarm push-bars on specific doors leading to the outside.
All of us should be more vigilant of our surroundings. We should make it a point to greet strangers and casually ask about their business at the school without coming across as insulting. If we see children unattended by their parents, we should feel comfortable approaching the parents or a staff member.
We should not open the front entry-doors to allow others into the school during school hours, as this responsibility should only be done by the receptionist using the buzzer. The perpetrator in the DeKalb shooting incident snuck in behind someone else entering the building!
Adults volunteering in the school must enter and exit the building through the front lobby doors, not other exits. They must sign in when they enter the building and sign out during their exit.
While there is no 100% guarantee regarding safety, the enhancements we made last January and continue to implement are definitely a step in the right direction. If you have ideas for improving safety, please feel free to contact Mr. Jaleel, Ms. Hopkins-McClure, Dr. Arpante or any other member of our staff.
Together, we can foster a culture of safety for our children and our community that becomes second nature.
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| TRAVEL OPPORTUNITY - MOROCCO! |
Dear Parents of Middle School Students and Amana Graduates,
It is Amana Academy's unique privilege to offer our students Arabic world language instruction, and we are happy to announce that we plan on partnering up with a reputable tour agency to offer a safe overseas cultural experience of a lifetime for our middle school students and alumni. Our destination for this year will be the Kingdom of Morocco during Spring break.
This will be a cultural trip and will not feature formal Arabic language classroom instruction, which is usually intended for high school or college student programs that span a longer stay. Students will benefit from reinforcing their language skills in real-life situations while forging lifelong friendships and memories. Students will spend their days with adult chaperons and a professional local tour guide. They will sight-see and use their language skills at market places and with locals. Our intent is to offer a different Arabic speaking country each year or every two years, so if students have an opportunity to go more than once they can experience the diversity of peoples and cultures.
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Join us on August 23 from Noon until 1:30 for a Clubs Expo. There will be information about after-school clubs, including MD Jr. , Robotics Club, Spanish Club, the School Garden, TEDx Amana Academy, Chess Club, NEHS/NJHS and many more. These are wonderful enrichment activities for your children - we hope to see you there!
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| USED UNIFORM SALE - AUGUST 23 |
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PIE is hosting a used uniform sale on August 23 from Noon until 1:30. If you have gently used uniform items that your child has outgrown, please consider donating them to PIE for use in the sale - all proceeds benefit the Partners in Education program and the enrichment activities in which they engage.
When shopping the used uniform sale, please keep in mind that it is CASH ONLY this year, and payment will only be accepted the day of the sale. No IOUs will be issued. All items are $5.
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| GOVERNING BOARD TOWN HALL MEETING - AUGUST 24 |
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Amana Academy's Board hosts its monthly meeting on Saturday August 24th from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM. The meeting will be held in the cafeteria. All meetings of the Amana Board are posted to our website calendar and open to the public unless designated as "executive session" where, by law, the Board must convene in private to discuss land, legal or personnel items. Any vote resulting from executive session discussion, however, will occur in an open public setting.
As you probably know by now, we are applying to Fulton County and the state of Georgia for charter renewal, and we need your input. We invite you to p lease attend this special Town Hall Board meeting where we will take public comments or questions concerning the proposed Charter Renewal application (click here to find it posted on our website). If you cannot attend the Board meeting and wish to ask questions or comment on something related to the draft charter renewal petition, please use this form to do so between now and Friday, August 23. These comments will be addressed at the board meeting on Saturday, which will be recorded. All comments will then be taken into consideration in compiling the final renewal application. |
| CURRICULUM NIGHTS - AUGUST 27-29 |
Please join your teachers for curriculum nights per the following schedule. The sessions will start with an overview of our Expeditionary Learning approach followed by grade-level presentations that provide more detail about curricular content and classroom routines. You will get a chance to ask questions of your child's teacher; and Administrators and other support staff will be on hand as well.
Time 6:00 - 8:00 PM
August 27 - grades K-3
August 28 - grades 6-8
August 29 - grades 4-5
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| GETTING TO KNOW OUR FAMILIES |
| One of the things that makes Amana so special is the dedication of our families. Parents get involved in so many ways, from helping out in the classroom or library, to being expert visitors, to sponsoring after-school clubs. Please take a minute to fill out the survey linked below and let us know about your unique skills and talents, if you own a business, what company you work for, etc. Click here to take the survey. |
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Dear Parents,
Home Access user names and passwords were given out during open house. If you did not pick one up, please go to the front desk. Please try your log in to ensure it is working correctly. If it is not please email shale@amanaacademy.org ASAP, as a ticket will need to be submitted to Fulton County. Please be patient. The official roll out will be after Labor Day. Too, please read the following carefully:
- You must use Internet Explorer Only . No Mozilla or Google Chrome
- You must put @fcs.org after your user ID
- If you mistype, it will remember the wrong information until you restart our computer
- Please go to the following page for help click here
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| TWO STEWARDSHIP OPPORTUNITIES - SEPTEMBER 28 |
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 Are you looking for fun ways to stay active, have quality family time, and complete volunteer hours? If so, please join us for our first stewardship events of the school year! This year we have two options on the same fabulous day--September 28th ! Double the stewardship double the fun!
Option one is a trail maintenance project for National Public Lands Day, sponsored by REI and the Kennesaw Mountain Trail Club. It will be conducted at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park at Cheatham Hill on the Assault Trail from 8:30 AM - 1:00 PM. The park is being readied for next June's 150th Civil War Battle Commemoration. For more information, and to register, click here: http://www.rei.com/event/52797/session/77482. You may also contact Sara Ead at saraeadamanapie@gmail.com to ask questions regarding Amana's participation in the event.
Option two will be Rivers Alive, a cleanup project at Wills Park. It will take place in the morning, and more details will be coming soon! Contact Samer Bashir at samer.bashir@nscorp.com for more information.
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| PIE STILL NEEDS YOUR ACTIVITY FEES! |
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Amana Academy Partners in Education (PIE) are proud that instead of the traditional, labor-intensive fundraisers like cookie dough, gift wrap, etc. used in other schools, your PIE sponsors a one-time student activity fee campaign at the beginning of the school year that allows us to offer a unique array of community-building events like Grandparents Day, International Festival, Family Fun events, and much, much more. We are reaching out again to those families that were not able to pay this fee at Open House. We still have a great many activities that we plan to provide before the end of the year and we need your help please!
The fees are $20 for each student. You may pay by cash or check at the PIE table at Friday pickup during the month of August, or by check only through the PIE mailbox in the school lobby. Please be sure to write "PIE Student Activity Fee" in the memo and include your child/children's names. Thank you for your support!
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SIGN UP FOR AMANA TEXT ALERTS
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At Amana, we recognize and value the importance of timely information from schools. In an effort to better communicate school news and updates with parents we have signed up with Remind 101. This free service allows Amana to send text "blasts" to all subscribers.
Simply follow the directions below and you will automatically receive any messages sent to the Amana Academy community. This is a closed system. We will not have access to each others' cell phone numbers. You will not be able to text back. Our hope is to use the service to give updates and reminders regarding delayed openings, school schedule changes, report card distribution dates, conference dates and important community events.
It is our sincere desire that this tool will make it easier for you to do all the many things that are demanded of you as a parent and yet still keep you connected and up-to date with Amana. Please email info@amanaacademy.org with any questions or feedback.
To sign up to receive text alerts, simply text @amana to 404.941.8355. This is a voluntary service, and you can opt out at any time.
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 Do you want to keep up with all of the exciting things going on at the school? Did you know that you can sync Amana's web calendar with yours, and you'll get automatic updates anytime we add something to the calendar? Simply click on the word "Calendar" in the right-hand column of the Amana Academy homepage (www.amanaacademy.org) and then click on the ICAL icon at the top of the page. Now you've got access to all of the important goings-on at the school such as Field Studies, Test Dates, Community Circle, school holidays, and more. |
 If you ever have any questions or concerns, please contact your child's teacher directly, or any one of our Administrative team members. If your question was not addressed, then feel free to contact our Governing Board. Amana's main number is (678) 624-0989 and you may also find email contact information for all of our staff by visiting the Amana Staff Directory or by emailing info@amanaacademy.org On behalf of the Governing Board, the Amana faculty and staff, and the school Administration, thank you for entrusting your child's education to us. With your continued support, we will continue to mold the very best and brightest global leaders within our community! |
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