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Letter from the Board Chair

Hola Community -

For those of you who were able to attend the State of the School Address on November 10th, you heard us talk about how we are in a rebuilding phase with regard to our budget.  As we move into our beautiful new building we will not be at full capacity for a few years – which we knew would result in a lean budget during these transition years.  However, additional budget strain has resulted due to building renovation costs coming in higher than expected, transportation (bussing) costs being higher than expected, and enrollment being lower than anticipated.   As a result, we are engaging in activities to reduce school costs and increase our revenue in order to ensure our long-term sustainability.

During this time, community involvement in both volunteering and fundraising will be critical to the continued success of our wonderful school.  As I mentioned during our State of the School, we will be asking each of our community members to consider where they might be able to give back to this unique learning environment for the children - be it a donation of your time, talents, or treasures.

We thank everyone that participated in Give to the Max to support our PTO.  As you heard the PTO discuss, they support many programs that are critical to our school, including our fabulous Language Ambassadors.

As we move into the winter, ISLA, the school, will be hosting our second annual Obsta-jog in order to raise funds for our new Math curriculum.  This new curriculum will better enable our students to meet our goals for math education and we are thrilled to be able to offer it; however, it comes at the cost $70,000.  You will be hearing more about the plans for the Obsta-jog shortly and we ask that you consider supporting the school as we raise funds for this important project.

Given the lean nature of our budget this year, we will also be engaging in additional fundraising efforts this year.  If you would like to participate in these efforts, please contact any of the school board members! If a financial donation to the school is not in your plans for this year, we'd like to ask you to consider volunteering for one of our committees, in the lunch room, as chaperones, or as other needs arise.  It is through the help of our fantastic volunteers that we are able to lower the costs of running our school - which is equally as important as increasing available funds.  In addition, it is also a wonderful way to meet other community members!

Finally, talking about ISLA with friends and family is another great way to support our financial stability.  Increasing enrollment in both the school and the El Nido program provides additional operational funds.  If you know of folks who might be interested in the outstanding educational opportunity that ISLA provides, please let them know.  We are still accepting applications for this year and the lottery for next year has already opened.

We thank you for your dedication to our wonderful community.  Without our families, the amazing opportunities available at ISLA would not exist.

Atentamente -

Lida Etemad
ISLA Board of Directors Chair

Important Links

State of the School: ISLA (in the Noticias)
Donate to Isla: Donate (isla.school)
‍Board Contacts for volunteering for committee or fundraising: Board (isla.school)
‍Volunteering for lunchroom: Lunch Volunteers 2022-2023: Lunch Volunteering (signupgenius.com)
‍ISLA Applications: International Spanish Language Academy (isla.school)

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Calendar of Events

• November 23-25 - Thanksgiving Holiday, no school
• December 2, Grading Day, no school
• December 10, Barnes and Noble Book Fair

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Spirit Store Open!

The Spirit Store is now open through Sunday, November 26. Delivery will be to the student’s classroom before the winter break. Please indicate the student name and teacher in the order comments for expedited delivery! If you have multiple students at the school, put the oldest child’s name.

We are excited to announce that Black Pullover hoodies are now available!

Please note, due to limited inventory in some colors/sizes, the store is updated to reflect what is currently available. Please note there is a new long sleeve blue color option due to a supplier change.

Click to order. https://isla-pto.square.site/

Did you know that the Spirit Store is a fundraiser for the PTO? Your purchase of uniform-approved shirts and sweatshirts will help support PTO sponsored events such as the back to school picnic, provide funds for classroom supplies and extra-curricular scholarships, and also supports the LA program.

Questions? Contact Sarah at spiritstore@isla.school.

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Lunch Substitution

Due to Trio's ovens being down, they will be substituting the baked beans on Monday, November 21 with carrots.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

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Hola!

We did it! This Give to the Max we've raised $27,176 and achieved a 54% rate of participation across the school!  This is truly AMAZING!  ISLA community, THANK YOU so much! We are incredibly humbled by your generosity.  ISLA is truly special and amazing!  

We want to encourage the highest participation rate possible amongst the school in order to make this a true community building event.  Last year we had a participation rate of 58% for the school.  

We have decided to offer a last chance towards the classroom participation contest and are offering an extra incentive - If we beat last year's participation rate of 58% we will offer a non-uniform day for the entire school! Therefore will be extending the deadline through the weekend to Monday.   Remember, any amount of donation counts towards the classroom participation.  

Here are the latest classroom standings:

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State of the School

For those of you who participated in last week's virtual state of the school address, thank you so much for participating. We hope that you found this information useful. For those who did not have an opportunity to attend this virtual event, it has been recorded.  State of the school 2022-2023

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Aventuras Closed for Thanksgiving Holiday

Aventuras will be closed from Wednesday, November 23rd - Friday, November 25th in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Aventuras staff will be with their friends and family. They will re-open on Monday, November 28th.

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LA Host Families

We are looking for new host families for our 9 amazing LA’s for the spring semester (mid January to mid June). The LA would need their own bedroom, but often share bathrooms with the family. Hosting is a wonderful opportunity to learn about a new culture and hear more Spanish in your home! The ISLA community supports each host family with designated aunt and uncle families, and rideshare options are available as well. Please email islaLAprogram@gmail.com if you feel your family would be a good fit in hosting one of our Language Ambassadors!

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