Dear Parents,

I would like to take this time to thank you for all that you did to make the 2010 - 2011 school year a success for our children.  As we continue to grow as a school, our students continue to improve and succeed academically in the classroom and on the state mandated FCAT Tests. 

At the end of this letter you will find FCAT data regarding our school in comparison with state and local information. FCAT information was mailed to families on June 17^th.

If your family has an outstanding balance for food service, preschool tuition or Eagles Nest, your final statement and invoice was mailed out on June 17^th..  The INVOICE shows only services rendered from June 1 - 9.  The STATEMENT shows the total amount owed to BPA.  Due to regulations with our auditor, we ask that you please send the amount owed on the statement before June 25th.  We must close our books on June 30th and prepare for our annual audit, at which time unpaid bills will be considered delinquent on our audit report.

Students who continue to read throughout the summer are encouraged to come by the school on any Wednesday afternoon, between the hours of 12 noon and 3:00 pm to take Accelerated Reader (AR) tests.  Computers are set up in the VPK classroom for student use.  This is an excellent opportunity for students to earn points throughout the summer - and to improve reading skills at the same time. 

Now that the 2010 - 2011 school year has come to an end, we are in full swing planning for the 2011 - 2012 school.  It promises to be an exciting school year with the addition of 7th grade, new staff for both sixth and seventh grade, Ms. Oropeza moving to second grade, two first grade classes (Mrs. Sury and Mrs. Strama), Mrs. Mary Kent McDaniel teaching two sessions of VPK, and new teachers for both the PreK 3 year old classroom and the Eagles Nest Club.  We hope to have our staffing completed within the next several weeks.  A mass email and mailing will be distributed in early August with all of the info parents need to be ready to begin school on our first day, August 22nd.  Many Monroe County Schools are changing the starting and ending times of the school year for the 2011 - 2012 school year.  Our day here at Big Pine Academy will begin at 8:00 - students will be considered tardy if they arrive after 8:00 am.  Our school day will end at 2:45 pm, with buses departing between 3:00 and 3:30.

Until then, have a wonderful and enjoyable summer vacation with family and friends. I look forward to seeing you all in August!

Sincerely,

Cathy Hoffman

2010 – 2011 School Year FCAT Information for BPA

Grade 3 - Reading

	FCAT Scaled Score	% at or above Grade Level
BPA	346	100
MCSD	320	78
State	314	72

Grade 3 - Math

	FCAT Scaled Score	% at or above Grade Level
BPA	377	100
MCSD	340	81
State	337	78

Grade 4 - Writing

	FCAT Prompt Score	% at or above Grade Level
BPA	4.4	93
MCSD	3.9	78
State	4.0	81

Grade 4 - Reading

	FCAT Scaled Score	% at or above Grade Level
BPA	326	71
MCSD	323	73
State	323	71

Grade 4 - Math

	FCAT Scaled Score	% at or above Grade Level
BPA	387	93
MCSD	343	80
State	331	74

Grade 5 - Reading

	FCAT Scaled Score	% at or above Grade Level
BPA	327	79
MCSD	318	78
State	310	69

Grade 5 - Math

	FCAT Scaled Score	% at or above Grade Level
BPA	373	93
MCSD	339	70
State	336	63

Grade 5 - Science

	FCAT Scaled Score	% at or above Grade Level
BPA	375	86
MCSD	332	59
State	322	51

Grade 6 - Reading

	FCAT Scaled Score	% at or above Grade Level
BPA	333	80
MCSD	325	76
State	315	67

Grade 6 - Math

	FCAT Scaled Score	% at or above Grade Level
BPA	349	73
MCSD	331	68
State	319	57

School House News

September 1, 2010

Dear Parents,

Welcome to the 2010 – 2011 school year! We are off to a great start. Thanks to all of you for working to be sure that your children are here on time and ready to learn every day! We have grown and now welcome just over 150 children to our campus on a daily basis. Thanks also for adapting to the changes and modifications to the school dress code policy. The staff and administration are unified in their commitment to provide a positive learning environment for all students. Student dress and grooming play an important part in creating that learning environment. Research across the country has demonstrated that a simple, inexpensive unified dress code increases classroom achievement and school spirit, while at the same time decreases behavioral problems and absenteeism. Our unified dress code is mandatory across all grades, (Pre School 3 through 6th grade, Monday through Friday. Our first no uniform day is Friday, September 3^rd . Everyone is asked to wear favorite college colors that day. Show your college school spirit this Friday!

All of our families are required to participate in the BPA Parent Volunteer Program. This program is typically found in most Charter Schools across the nation. Our program expects parents to volunteer 20 hours for one child and 30 hours for two or more children. Each family must volunteer 10 hours (15 hours for two or more children) before the end of the first semester and again for the second semester. If a family does not complete this requirement they will be billed $10 for every hour not completed. A family may pay a buy-out fee of $200 ($300 for two or more children) at the beginning of the school year instead of completing the required volunteer hours. The PTO will monitor and track the volunteer commitment. Ways to earn volunteer hours include, but are not limited to the following: Attending PTO meetings; participating in PTO committees; assisting at school functions such as Winter Bazaar, Boondocks Fundraiser, Bake Sales, Picture Day, Scholastic Book Fair, Glee Fair, etc. Other suggestions include: Attending classroom celebrations, attending field trips or providing field trip supplies and/or transportation, volunteering in classrooms (limited opportunities at teacher’s discretion), decorating and/or setting up materials for school functions. Please check with your child’s classroom teacher for ways to help fulfill your volunteer requirement.

Please join us on Monday, September 20^th for our annual Open House and kick off of our PTO sponsored Big Pine Academy Book Fair. This year’s theme is Here’s to our Heros.. It promises to be a fun family night for all with a Hero Sandwich Dinner provided by the PTO. The Book Fair will run from 5:30 – 7:30, and classrooms will be open between the hours of 6:00 and 7:00 for parents to meet with teachers and see the classrooms. The book fair will remain open all week for student purchases, closing at lunch on Friday. The United Nations has declared Tuesday, September 21^st as the “International Day of Peace”. BPA students will once again create Pinwheels for Peace, an art and literacy project, during the week before and then we will be “planting” the pinwheels on the chain link fence in front of our school. Artists from the Gallery in the Winn Dixie Plaza will be participating with our students. All of the pinwheels will be on display for you to see while you are here for our Open House and Book Fair.

New to BPA this year is a History Class. Mr. Michael Gieda is teaching History for the first nine week grading period. Mr. Gieda will be working with our children to broaden and enhance their understanding of History, while working with them to develop a project of interest to be completed by the end of the first grading period. He is also teaching Physical Ed class at BPA this year. Welcome Mr. Gieda.

We are pleased to announce that we now have our own after school program on our campus, The Eagles Nest Club. Mrs. Anita Demarest is in charge of the program, and we are open until 6:00 pm each day. Student activities from 2:30 – 6:00 will include homework and tutoring, Chess Club, Yoga, Jewelry Making, Art, and Music, just to name a few. For more information please do not hesitate to contact Mrs. Anita or me for information and suggestions. We are in need of donations of good used games, specifically a few Chess Sets.

Specials Schedule for the First Nine Weeks

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – History

Thursday – Visual Art Education

Friday – PE/Health

Mrs. Hazel Hartman will continue with the responsibility of invoicing and collecting payments for food service, preschool tuition, class fees and The Eagles Nest Club. We ask that you please keep your account current within two weeks. Bills will go home mid month and at the end of each month. All of our bills and payments are tracked through Quick Books. Big Pine Academy may withhold fee-based services and goods in the event that your account becomes significantly delinquent.

Mrs. Danielle VanHoven is new to our food service department. She serves both breakfast and lunch to our students every day. Welcome Mrs. Van Hoven. Our food continues to be cooked in Sugarloaf and brought to BPA for serving.

In closing, I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to recognize the outstanding achievement levels of our third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade students who took the FCAT last school year. Our scores were among the highest in the county. I am also honored to say that Florida Department of Education has given Big Pine Academy its first A ranking. The hard work put forth by our students and our staff continues to make our school the “school of choice’ for parents in the communities of Big Pine, Little Torch, Ramrod, Summerland, Cudjoe and Sugarloaf. We all look forward to an exciting and educationally challenging school year. Thanks to all of you for your support of Big Pine Academy!

Sincerely,

Cathy Hoffman

Big Pine Academy 2010- 2011 School Year Staff

PK 3 - Mrs. Angie Martinez VPK - Mrs. Nicole Strama

Kindergarten - Mrs. Kelli Berger and Mrs. Mary Kent McDaniel

1^st Grade - Mrs. Felicia Sury 2^nd Grade - Mrs. Melissa (Penquite) Wallace

3^rd Grade - Mrs. Tracy McDaniel 4^th Grade - Tina Sizing

5^th Grade - Mrs. Kim Thompson 6^th Grade - Ms. Megan Oropeza

Special Services - Mrs. Merlou Robinson and Mrs. Del Gerard

Guidance - Mrs. Del Gerard Speech//Reading - Mrs. Janet Ballard

History - Mr. Michael Gieda Visual Art - Mrs. Connie Hauk

PE/Health Mr. Michael Gieda Vocal Music – Mrs. Connie Hauk

Percussion – Mrs. Hazel Hartman Technology – Mr. Ken Lentz

Occupational Therapy – Mrs. Phyllis Bailin Physical Therapy – Mrs. Stacy Aspinwall

Para Pros - Mrs. Olaydis Hernandez and Mrs. Amanda Pinkley

Food Service - Mrs. Danielle Van Hoven Housekeeping – Mrs. Olaydis Hernandez

Eagles Nest Club – Mrs. Anita Demarest Budget Director - Hazel Hartman

Executive Director – Mrs. Cathy Hoffman

Mark Your Calendar…….

September 3 Wear College Colors Day September 20 – 24 – PTO Book Fair all week

September 6 Labor Day - No School October 11 – Columbus Day – No School

September 9 District Early Release – Noon October 26 – End of First Grading Period

September 20 Book Fair / Open House

Connect Ed Phone Messages and Email will be used throughout the year in place of paper copy communications between school and home. Big Pine Academy Is Going Green!

August 4, 2010

Dear Parents.

Welcome to the 2010 – 2011 School Year! The first of August is upon us, bringing traditional back-to-school sales and a variety of school readiness activities. With that in mind, I hope you all have enjoyed the summer and will continue to enjoy your time with family and friends for the next several weeks before school begins. Our staff will return to work on Monday, August 16^th and students will return to school on Monday, August 23^rd. We look forward to another great school year, and I thank you for entrusting the staff of Big Pine Academy with your children.

We will have an open house on Friday, August 20^th from 8: 30 – 11:00 and again from 12:30 – 2:30. I hope that you are able to stop by sometime during the day. This is a great time to stop by the school, visit or meet with your child’s teacher and visit with other children and families at BPA.

I would like to remind you of a few changes that we made to our dress code policy and also remind you that we plan to enforce it beginning with the first day of classes. There is a link to the updated policy on our website. Please keep this in mind as you shop for back to school clothes. Representatives from the PTO will be on hand at the open house to sell our dress code approved Big Pine Academy t-shirts for $8.00 each.

Either at our open house or on the first day of school you will find a number of very important papers that will require your immediate attention. I would ask that you please take the time to go through this information and return all necessary items to your child’s teacher no later than August 27^th. Included will be the Family Contract for volunteer hours, Free and Reduced Lunch forms, Internet Usage Form, and Student Contact Form, to name a few. It is important that we have these papers returned to us so that we can update our files as needed.

A number of families have requested Aftercare on our campus and we are pleased to inform you that Mrs. Anita Demarest will be working our Aftercare program. At this time we will plan to run an Aftercare program from 2:30 until 6:00 pm. It will be used as a time for completion of homework, tutoring and possibly some extracurricular activities such as music, art and dance. If you are interested in involvement in our Aftercare program please email me at cathy.hoffman@keysschools.com or place a call to our office (872-1266) with your intent to use Aftercare, whether it be every day or just several days per week. We anticipate that this program will grow and evolve into an important part of the student day as the school year progresses, and we are pleased to provide this service to our families. Costs will be determined based on the number of families involved, but will not exceed $4.00 per hour, charged on a pay as you use basis.

If you have a lunch credit or still owe monies to BPA please contact Mrs. Hazel at your earliest convenience to make your payment. It is important that outstanding charges are taken care of before school begins. Thank you in advance for your attention to this most important matter.

Mrs. Hazel Hartman has taken over the responsibilities of billing and collecting monies. Invoices will go out approximately every two weeks, informing you of the charges that your child has incurred with regard to Aftercare or food service charges (breakfast, lunch or milk). Invoices show charges only. Statements will be sent home at the end of each month, showing both invoices and payments received. It is important that we keep current with all charges, and families are encouraged to either pay from the invoice that comes home, or pay ahead a week or a month at a time. We can no longer accept small individual payments on a day by day basis. Mrs. Hazel will also issue a receipt for each payment for your information. Food Service prices for have remained the same for the upcoming year – Breakfast is $1.75, Lunch is $2.25 and Milk only is 75 cents. 6^th Grade lunches are $2.50. Children who were free or reduced at the end of last year will continue as free or reduced when school begins. It is important for these families to fill out a new application for their status to continue into September and beyond.

It has been a very busy summer and we have enrolled a number of new students in our school. Our reputation for high performance and a school that focuses on values and high student expectations has created a situation where several of our classes are full, and for the first time we now have students on a waiting list. It has been rewarding to meet with families throughout the summer who are choosing to send their children to Big Pine Academy. I look forward to the opening day of school and encourage you to check our website http://bpc.keysschools.com for current and up to date information regarding the 2010 – 2011 school year.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me via email or telephone. We look forward to a great school year and are in the process of getting the building ready for the return of our most precious commodity – your children!

A few dates to make note of…….

Open House – Friday, August 20^th 8:30 – 11:00 and 12:30 – 2:30

First Day of School – Monday, August 23^rd

PTO Meeting – Tuesday, August 31^st – 1:30

No School – Labor Day – Monday, September 6^th

District wide Early Release – 12 noon – Thursday, September 9th