In this issue:

Parent Survey

Volleyball

Chili Feed

Lottery

Driver's Ed

Carnival

Carnival Donations

Character Trait: Responsiblity

Dates to Know

2015-2016 SCHOOL CALENDAR:

The approved 2015-2016 calendar is now available at visioncharter.net. When looking at the calendar, please notice the first day of school is August 19th. Meet the Teacher Night is August 18th. The last day of school is May 27th (before Memorial Day). Please note that we will not have early release on Wednesdays next school year. This schedule has every other Friday off. Additionally, the school day does not increase in length. The first bell for high school and elementary will ring at 8:05 which is exactly the same as this year. Middle School's first bell will ring at 8:11 (4 minutes earlier). K-3rd grade will continue to release at 3:05. 4th-6th will release at 3:10. 7th-8th will release at 3:13 and 9th -12th will release at 3:16. (This is one minute later than this current school year.) The buses will continue to leave the school at 3:20.

Student instructional days are two days less than the current school year; however, we will actually have more instructional hours than this current school year due to not having early release days.

Although it feels like we have more days off due to the every other Friday off concept, we actually have the same instructional days (minus two) and all of the same breaks that we currently have this year. We still have the October Break, Thanksgiving Break, two weeks at Christmas, and Spring Break.

Our hope is that the new schedule will allow families and staff to schedule appointments on Fridays to decrease absences and increase instructional time. It will also allow staff to collaborate, receive in depth staff development, and time to do intensive planning, grading, and prepping to ensure class time is maximized.

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY STEM RACING:

Thank you to Brenda Willson for coaching the Elementary STEM RACING club! Thank you to Brad Hunt for coaching the Secondary STEM RACING club! Thank you to Central Self Storage for donating a place for the secondary students to work on the car after school on Thursdays! This has been such a wonderful opportunity to integrate real world Science Technology Engineering and Math!

PARENT SURVEY:

If you are a parent at Vision Charter School, please take the following survey prior to March 20, 2015 at midnight. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/53BW7WJ

This survey is completely anonymous. The only restriction is that it only accepts one survey per IP address. Your constructive feedback is genuinely appreciated and used to help set school-wide goals and professional goals.

Sincerely,

Mrs. OldenKamp

CO-ED INTRAMURAL VOLLEYBALL

VCS is offering a four week Intramural Volleyball League!!

When: March 16 - April 17 Time: 3:15 - 4:30pm, Mon.-Thu. Who: 7th - 12th grade

Fee: $10 (includes a game t-shirt). Teams will be formed during the first week. Practices and Games run Monday through Thursday. There will not be any practices or games during Spring Break, March 23 - 27. We will conclude the season with a Jamboree.

If you are interested you may pick up your permission/waiver form from the office. On March 16, bring your fee and signed form/s to practice. You will not be able to participate until those are turned in.

CHILI FEED: The Senior Class is having a Chili Feed and Silent Auction on March 19, 2015 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the Vision Charter School Gym. The pre -order price is $16 per family of 4 or $4 per person. The price at the door is $18 for a family of 4 or $5 a person. Pre-order forms went out with students this week. The pre-order deadline has been extended to March 10th.

LOTTERY:

Vision Charter School is no longer accepting applications for the lottery. Applications received after March 13 at 4:00 p.m. will be placed into the pool for the following year and at the bottom of the wait list for each grade level.

The lottery will begin at 9 a.m. on March 20th and likely will last through late afternoon. We have over 1,000 applications that must be drawn in the lottery. Parents are allowed to come observe; however, no information is provided regarding the results of the lottery.

Parents will be notified in writing within seven business days of the lottery if their child receives a spot at Vision Charter for the 2015-2016 school year or where their child is located on the wait list. Updates will not be provided in any other matter.

DRIVER'S ED:

In partnership with the Caldwell School District, we are pleased to offer a summer Driver Education course. Registration for this class will be held Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 5:00pm in the Caldwell High School food court area. This course will be held June 1, 2015 through June 30, 2015. The first class will be held June 1st. This class will be held at THOMAS JEFFERSON CHARTER SCHOOL Monday through Friday, from 8:00am-9:30am. Students will receive 30 hours of classroom instruction plus 30 hours of driving instruction. Each student will be contacted by a driving instructor to schedule the driving portion of this course. The cost for the course is $180.00, with a $60 deposit due at the time of registration. In addition to the deposit, students MUST have their driver's permit receipt, issued by the DMV, in order to register for the course. Students must be 14 ½ years old on or before the day they purchase the driver's permit. A flyer with complete details about this course is available in the VCS Secondary office. Students who registered for the winter course but were not able to get a spot will be given registration priority for the summer course. For more information please see Ms. Brockert, or call 455-9220 ext. 2.

CARNIVAL COMING!!!!!!

May 1st from 4-7:30 p.m. at Vision Charter School! Please contact Stacy Nelson at stacynelson0529@gmail.com if you would like to help work on the food, decorations, carnival games, or auction.

Parents and students will be able to stop in the classrooms to see the science fair projects from 4-6 p.m. and the carnival activities and food will be going from 4-7:30 p.m. continuously. I hope you will all plan on coming to this wonderful whole family evening.

CARNIVAL DONATIONS:

If you are interested in donating items of value for the PFA Auction to help the school raise money for a TRACK, please email PFA President, Stacy Nelson at stacynelson0529@gmail.com. We would LOVE to have a new or gently used four wheeler, business donations, services, etc. If you drop donations off at the office, please leave your business card on the item so that we can thank you in the newsletter!

Character Trait for March: Responsibility
Do what you are supposed to do * Plan ahead * Persevere: keep on trying! * Always do your best * Use self-control * Be self-disciplined * Think before you act - consider the consequences * Be accountable for your words, actions, and attitudes * Set a good example for others

DATES TO KNOW:

March 20: NO SCHOOL- LOTTERY starts at 9 a.m.

March 20-27: Spring Break

April 7: HS Festival Concert 7 p.m. on the VCS stage

April 15: Juniors take the SAT at VCS

April 24-25: HS spring musical

April 30: MS Festival concert 7 p.m. on the VCS stage

May 1: K-12th grade Science Expo 4-6, All school Carnival, food, & auction 4-7:30

May 12: HS Pops concert and music awards 7 p.m. on the VCS stage

May 18: RAD 7 p.m. on the VCS Stage

May 19: 6th grade spring concert and music awards at 7 p.m. on the VCS stage.

May 23: Graduation practice at 10 a.m. and the ceremony will start at 7 p.m. in the Nampa Civic Center auditorium.