-- THE EXPLORER --

Hello & Welcome Back CLA Families!

My name is Elizabeth Bilden and I have the honor of leading your Explorers for the 2023-2024 school year! I come to you from the Medford School District where I served as an Elementary Principal for the last couple years. I am so excited to have joined the CLA team and cannot wait to see where this path takes us! As someone who was raised in the country, I truly enjoy the industrial-country feel that our campus provides, along with the opportunities to engage with nature.

This last summer a large group of CLA staff were trained in the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) system and are ready to kick off the school year with energy and excitement. The AVID system provides a common language for instructional strategies, high levels of engagement, and background in College and Career Readiness. We encourage families to have conversations with your Explorers about what their future might hold and what career they may be interested in someday!

As we begin the 2023-2024 school year we are hopeful to provide several opportunities for families to come visit and engage in evening events. Each month we will provide families with upcoming information and strive to provide advanced notice for proper planning. Please take a look at the events calendar below and let us know if you have any questions!

Respectfully,

- Elizabeth

AUGUST

Week 3

• 8/17/23 CLA Spirit Gear Store Opens

Week 4

• 8/28/23 Back to School Meetings | Sign Up Links below
• 8/29/23 Back to School Meetings | Sign Up Links below
• 8/30/23 Back to School Meetings | Sign Up Links below
• 8/31/23 CLA Spirit Gear Store Closes

SEPETEMBER

Week 2

• 9/4/23 Labor Day - No School
• 9/5/23 First Day of School K-8
• 9/7/23 College & Career Gear Day
• 9/7/23 CLA Career Chat #1

Week 3

• 9/14/23 CLA Spirit Gear Day- Wear Green, Blue or CLA Gear

Week 4

• 9/19/23 Lifetouch Picture Day
• 9/21/23 CLA Spirit Gear Day- Wear Green, Blue or CLA Gear

Week 5

• 9/28/23 CLA Spirit Gear Day- Wear Green, Blue or CLA Gear

CAST YOUR VOTE: Crater Lake Academy was nominated as one of the Top 5 Public Schools in the Rogue Valley according to Rogue Valley Times, Best of the Rogue Valley. Voting has started for placement in the Top 5. Vote now! Voting closes on August 30th. We LOVE CLA!

Our staff have spoken!

Crater Lake Academy has been voted one of the 100 Best Nonprofits to work for in Oregon for 2023. This is the fifth year CLA has received this award.

Many thanks to our wonderful staff for taking the time to cast their votes!

We will be hosting our Back to School Meetings on Monday, August 28th through Wednesday, August 30th.

We highly encourage all of our students and their families to attend. These meetings will provide the ideal time for all of us to team together to go over what school will look like, complete yearly paperwork, take key actions needed for success, and time to create a plan for the year.

Click on the Grade/Teacher name below to schedule a meeting:

• Kindergarten | Breiholz
• 1st Grade | Shelton
• 2nd Grade | Nelson
• 3rd Grade | Groom
• 4th Grade | Bilden
• 5th Grade | Newberg
  
• 6th Grade Advisor | Schnur (All 6th Graders)
• 7th Grade Advisor | Williams (All 7th Graders)
• 8th Grade Advisor | Trautman (All 8th Graders)

Due to feedback from families, we are looking to find ways to alleviate the congestion in the afternoon pick up times. One of the adjustments we have made is to the end of day release times.

• Start Time: (Monday-Thursday)
• 9:00am Instruction Begins
  
• 8:30am Doors Open & Breakfast Available

• Dismissal Time: (Monday-Thursday)
• 3:00pm Kindergarten & 1st grade
• 3:05pm 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th grade
• 3:10pm Middle School Classes

Younger students will be released first and if they have older siblings, they will wait for them to be released before heading to the pick up zones.

The protocol for picking up students early is as follows:

• Emergency Notifications- Please contact the office no later than 1:30pm to provide adequate time for the office to contact the classroom
  
• Please let your student know the after school plans or how they are being picked up early before they come to school to limit interruptions in the classroom throughout the day

With instruction being important, we are asking that families refrain from pulling scholars out of class early (prior to their release time) so they may interact with content as much as possible. Thank you so much for partnering with us to ensure our Explorers receive the most out of their learning time!!!

Picture Packets will be available for families to select the school photos they’d like to order.

If you have any questions, please contact the front office at 541-879-3620

Information is linked here for ordering Lifetouch Photos online

CLA will be focusing on providing experiences for our scholars by exposing them to different careers. We will have community speakers visit throughout the year and share the path they used to get to their career, whether it was through attending college/university, trade school, or through a different path our scholars will get to engage and ask questions!

With that, on the first Thursday of each month, our Explorers and staff will wear College/University gear (logo t-shirts, lanyards, hats, etc) or wear/dress in the Career they hope to be or would like to highlight. Example: if a scholar is hoping to be a firefighter in the future and they have an outfit, they are encouraged to wear it on this day!

Our hope is that we begin encouraging our Explorers think about their future!

We are excited to announce that we will have our CLA Apparel Store available for families to purchase items again for the school year! With that, we will open the store for a couple weeks here at the beginning of the school year and then it will close so the company can fulfill orders.

Please check out the CLA Spirit Gear Store Link that will be open August 17th through August 31st.

Every Student Graduates+

Email: bildene@craterlakeacademy.org
Website: https://www.craterlakecharter.org
Location: 585 Nick Young Road, Eagle Point, OR, USA
Phone: 541-879-3620
Facebook: facebook.com/CraterLakeAcademy