Executive Director Update September 23, 2021 - Utah.gov

Executive Director Update

                                     September 23, 2021

SCHOOL WIDE - Mrs. Herring
With the first six weeks completed, Freedom Prep’s four campuses are off to another strong
start again this year. We welcomed the St. George K-5 campus with a ribbon cutting on August
7 and opened the doors to students on August. 12. Utah Valley campuses began on August 17.
Some of our greatest challenges in the early weeks have been acquiring the curriculum and
technology for this year due to back orders, delays in furniture deliveries in St. George, and
finding qualified substitute teachers. All issues were resolved quickly, which allows beginning of
the year assessments to take place and classrooms to be fully functioning.
We continue to have opportunities for grant monies which are utilized to enhance student
learning and achievement, support teacher growth and address ongoing COVID-19 safety
concerns. As our organization grows, a few additional personnel are needed to keep the
organization healthy and adept at meeting reporting deadlines and demands in all departments.
Highly qualified individuals are being sought.
The bus barn construction at the secondary campus will be underway by October. This long-
awaited project will house our buses and free up valuable parking space.
We continue our membership in the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools (UAPCS). Mrs.
Herring is currently completing her second term on that Board of Directors and will be running
again as an incumbent in this fall’s election. This state organization hosts a stellar summer
conference and provides training opportunities for governing boards, administrators and
teachers.
Through the last year, we have all made the transition to greater use of technology with a
variety of programs such as ZOOM. It continues to be a major part of our daily work habits.
Having added an additional campus several hundred miles away, we have realized that having
one of our Executive Leadership team members in southern Utah to support our new campus
and principal is wise. Mr. Helvey is currently in the process of relocating to that area. He is
continually in communication within the organization and is frequently in Utah Valley. Our goal
is to have a seamless daily work environment with all stakeholders which meets the needs of
the Freedom Prep organization.

                               PROVO ELEMENTARY CAMPUS
                                           Mrs. Wolf

Despite some hiccups with delayed carpet and Covid-19 illness, we are back on track and doing
very well at FPA1. Our team is very strong this year and we are looking forward to great growth
and student success!
Upcoming Events
® Parent/Teacher conferences are coming up at the end of the month. We are launching our
  new Student Success Plans and teachers are working to input all BOY data. There is also a
  goal setting piece within the plans that will be completed in the conference with the teacher,
  student, and parent. Setting goals together will help everyone involved more invested and
  take ownership of the student’s learning and growth. These success plans will follow the
  students each year through Canvas enabling the teacher the following year to look back and
  get to know the student’s strengths and weaknesses as they start a new year.
® We are also looking forward to our annual Walk-A-Thon on October 5th. We have moved this
  event to the fall for the last two years and have found it to be a better time of year. Last year
  we raised $18,000 and we are hoping to match that again this year.
Student Achievement
® This year the state has mandated Acadience testing for both math and reading. We have
  historically tested for reading in grades K-5, but this year we have added math for grades
  1st-3rd. We were incredibly fortunate to hire an expert in Acadience math and she has been a
  great asset in this process. Sarah was already familiar with this testing, and she has trained,
  tested, graded, and monitored this whole process. We are evaluating the data and then she
  will begin pulling students and tutoring one-on-one and in small groups to address the math
  skills those students need. We are hopeful that this test will provide another data point so
  we can best track our student’s math progress through these early grades. The goal is to
  have all students proficient in foundational math skills before completing 3rd grade and this
  tool will allow us to track and support.
® Students and teachers are getting into our new literacy program “Wonders.” We are again
  very grateful to have our literacy coach, Debby Moon, as she has been instrumental to the
  success of getting this program launched. She shares her time between Provo and Vineyard
  and stays plugged in via Zoom with St. George. We are looking forward to great literacy
  growth with this new program.
Teacher Training
® We completed our first professional development day of the year on September 3rd. Debby
  Moon did a wonderful job providing additional Wonders training. Since the teachers had a
  couple weeks of teaching under their belts, questions had come up and it was a great time
  to answer those questions and provide additional support. We also took the time to explore
  our new observation software called “ObserverTab.” This online observation system allows
  administrators to complete walkthrough and formal observations in an online platform and
  then send feedback directly to the teachers.
® We have reinstated our late start Tuesday this year allowing for additional teacher trainings,
  meetings, and data time for teachers. We enjoy having this time to work with teachers when
  they are fresh in the morning rather than scheduling meetings and trainings in the
  afternoons. We just completed a school safety training last week and our teachers worked in
  their first data meeting this past Tuesday.

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VINEYARD ELEMENTARY CAMPUS
                                          Mrs. Banfield
Recent Events We welcomed students and FPA families back with a family fun Meet the
Teacher night on August 12th. It was well attended, and students were so happy to be back at
school to meet their new teachers. We also offered some fun back-to-school activities
throughout the school. We had a book raffle in the library, an obstacle course in the gym, a flag
painting activity in the STEAM room, and a school song sing-along in the music room.
We changed the format for curriculum night this year to see if we could bolster attendance and
make it more engaging and informing for parents. Curriculum Night was held only one evening
for all grade levels and the teachers at each grade level presented together as a team in three
separate sessions. Combining the days and offering a team approach with one extra session
was effective. We had a great attendance and parent feedback was positive.
In the beginning of September, we had several staff members, and several fifth-grade students
test positive for Covid which resulted in a voluntary quarantine of one fifth grade class. We took
precautions to make sure the building and classrooms were sanitized each day and many more
students and staff began to wear masks. We provided online instruction via Canvas for those
students who chose to learn from home during this time.
As we looked at the student numbers and class sizes in fourth grade, it was determined by the
executive administration that we should consolidate one class and go back to having three 4th
grade classes. With this change each class would have approximately 23-24 students which still
ensures we are able to deliver on our ‘small class size promise’ to FPA families. The extra 4th
grade teacher has been reassigned to be a 5th grade teacher, to take the place of Mrs. Dyer
who recently resigned.
Upcoming Events Next week we will have our first lock down drill of the year along with parent
teacher conferences the following week. The parent council will also host a book fair in the
coming weeks. Next month the student lighthouse team will organize activities that center
around being drug free for red ribbon week.
Student Achievement Teachers and paraprofessionals have been actively assessing all
students for beginning of year benchmark levels in both reading and math. This will continue
throughout the month during the testing window. Once the Acadience results are evaluated
students who score below benchmark and well below benchmark will be identified for
intervention. We have hired seven academic intervention paraprofessionals to head up this
tutoring effort. We also have the assistance of an AmeriCorps tutor who will work one-on-one
with some of our lowest scoring students. It is a schoolwide goal to reach at least 85%
proficiency in both reading and math. RISE benchmark testing will take place October 4-8 for
grades 3-5. This will provide valuable baseline data to inform teaching and identify student
academic needs. Students have also taken beginning of the year Eureka math placement tests
and AR STAR reading placement tests. We hope to see great gains in student achievement
with the full implementation of our newly Eureka Math curriculum and Wonders pilot.
Teacher Training Teachers participated in a Eureka Math and Wonders ELA professional
development at the beginning of the year. September 3rd was our first professional
development day where teachers were instructed by our literacy coach Debby Moon, and Mr.

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Shephard came from Observer Tab to help teachers get acquainted with our new evaluation
software. Grayson Wolf and I rolled out our ‘Build It’ plan with the four pillars of dream big, go
slow, start small, believe the best. We ended the day with an obstacle course and prizes in the
gym.

               PROVO SECONDARY CAMPUS/Middle School and High School
                                           Mr. Fullmer

Recent Events
● 8.20.21 - Welcome Back Assembly run by student leadership
● 9.10.21 - Homecoming/Fall Pep Virtual Assembly - student led
● 9.13.21-9.17.21 - Success Week and Eagle Time
● 9.17.21 - Back to School Bash - Middle School only
● 9.19.21 Homecoming Dance/ Robotics kickoff event
● There are currently 10 sport teams participating right now in the Fall.
    ○ High School: XC (boys and girls), Volleyball (boys and girls)
    ○ Middle School: XC (boys and girls), Volleyball (girls), Soccer (boys)
    ○ Ultimate Frisbee (Coed)
    ○ Cheer (coed) starts this week and will carry over into Winter and possibly Spring
    sport seasons.
● There are many other activities after school for our students to be involved in at this
  time:

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○ Writer’s Guild, Robotics (high school and middle school), Choir, Orchestra/Band,
    Theatre, Ballroom
Upcoming Events (launch of the year, sports, extracurricular, COVID,
etc.)
● 9.26.21 - Latinos In Action (LIA) student association yard sale at the secondary
  building. Please come spend some money. Money earned will be used for service
  projects.
● 10.01.21 - Culture Night from 6-7:30pm
● 10.08.21 - Fall Showcase (Band/Orchestra/Choir/Theatre) in Auditorium @ 7:00pm
  & 10.09.21 @ 2pm
● 10.13.21 - End of Term 1
● 10.19.21 to 10.21.21 - Data Days with Math, Language Arts, and Science teams
● 10.22.21 - Honor Roll Breakfast for Term 1
● 10.25.21 - Red Ribbon week
● 10.29.21 - Red Ribbon Assembly
● 10.29.21 - LIA Day of the Dead Dance
● 11.1.21 - College Awareness Month
● 11.4.21 to 11.6.21 - Theatre Musical
● 11.10.21 - Science Fair
● 11.11.21 - Veterans Day Assembly
● 11.13.21 - Robotics Build Day at FPA2
● 11.15.21 - Success Week/Eagle Time/Mid-term Q2
● 11.15.21to 11.19.21 - College Visits this week
● 11.20.21 - Sadie Hawkins Dance
● 11.23.21 - Winter Pep Assembly
● 12.4.21 - Saturday with Santa
● 12.6.21 - LIA Toy Drive
● 12.7.21 to 12.9.21 - Data Days with Math, Language Arts, and Science teams
● 12.11.21 - Robotics State Qualifier Competition hosted by FPA2
● 12.11.21 - Winter Ballroom Concert from 2-8pm in Auditorium
● 12.13.21 - Spirit Week and Holiday Choir Concert

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● 12.15.21 - Winter Band/Orchestra Concert @ 5:30, 6:45, 7:30
● 12.17.21 - End of Term 2
Student Achievement (or beginning of the year assessments)
● Success Week and Eagle Time: Mid-term is always a good time to celebrate with
  students who are passing all of their classes and provide extra support to students
  who may be failing one or more of their classes. Success Week was the week of
  mid-term. Grade level teams strategically reached out to and provided extra support
  to their students last week. Many students who were failing one or more classes
  were able to bring their grade(s) up and qualify for Eagle Time (fun activities for
  students who are passing all of their classes on Friday of mid-term). Students who
  did not qualify for Eagle Time were put into study halls at the end of the day on
  Friday to receive the extra support they needed to bring their grades up. We had 505
  students who qualified for Eagle Time for Qtr 1.
● Early College Opportunities: In fulling our vision of being a preparatory school and
  with the assistance of a grant we won last spring we have been working diligently to
  expand our concurrent enrollment classes that allow students to earn UVU college
  credit while in high school. Currently, Freedom Prep offers seven classes that
  students can take through UVU. There are 124 students enrolled in these classes.
  Some students taking more than 1 class. In addition, students can take AP classes
  in world history, physics, and calculus.
● Summer Math: In an effort to close the gap of learning lost with COVID two of our
  middle school teachers with the assistance of Amirecore tutors ran a summer math
  program that served over forty students. Hundreds of lessons were completed by
  middle school students.
● RISE Interim (Fall): We will be testing our students using the RISE Interim test the
  week of Oct. 4th to get a baseline score in reading and math. We hope to use this
  data to inform our teaching as content level teams throughout the year.
● Math Lab: To help support our SPED middle school students with their math, we
  have a designated math lab throughout the day where students are provided one-
  on-one instructions as needed.
● Americorp Tutors: To better support our middle school students with math and
  literacy, there are two Americorp tutors on-site part time to provide more one-on-one
  target instruction. They will use last year’s RISE scores, the Fall Interim scores, and
  teacher referrals to know which students to work with.
● Success Team: Starting Aug. 31st until the end of the year, Clair Miranda is running
  “Success Team” every Mon-Thur from 2:45-3:30pm after school for students.
  Success Team is a palace where students can go after school to receive tutoring.

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● Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test for Juniors and
  Seniors on Sept. 29th.
● LIA Quarterly Report: “At the beginning of every week Latinos in Action goes and
  helps the Provo elementary students succeed academically and emotionally. We
  have been helping serve lunch and clean tables during every B and C lunch. Latinos
  in Action has been helping students learn the English language in our after school
  Success Team program. Our new students consist of Japanese and Spanish
  speakers. LIA also worked alongside NHS and Student Council for our after school
  Success Team program to help students with homework. We have received clothing
  items from a company named The Shirt Stop. These clothing items will go towards
  an upcoming yard-sale and a fundraiser for our school. Our LIA class has also been
  strategizing on the yard sale that will help fundraise money to make blankets for the
  homeless and also help out committees for further projects. LIA has received a
  sponsor which donated kitchen items for the school carnival. We have also been
  supporting our school teams at their home games. Our President has been
  collaborating with student council and NHS to ensure a working relationship to make
  our school and community successful. The education committee has been working
  on Parent Night to inform our parents with what Latinos In Action has been
  accomplishing and what it will accomplish, this committee has also brought in Mrs
  Sumner to inform the class about scholarships. Social committee planned our first
  social event to strengthen our team work and chemistry.”
Teacher Training
● Summer/Aug. Teacher Training
    ○ PCBL Boot Camp: A group of admin and teachers from all 4 campuses received
    two days of training to better prepare for implementing personalized competency
    based learning in June.
    ○ Middle School math teachers were trained in the Dream Box program. This is
    adaptive learning software that helps students practice and learn math basics.

● Sept. PD Day:
    ○ CPR/1st Aid: All teachers had the opportunity to be trained and certified in CPR
    and First Aid.
    ○ Ellevation Software Training: This is a program that provides data regarding
    second language learners in reading, speaking, listening, and writing. It also
    connects teachers with strategies and activities that integrate language and content
    instruction into a mainstream classroom.
    ○ Educator Effectiveness Evaluation: Per state rule, teachers were trained on
    the Freedom Prep Evaluation Procedures. Teachers were also trained to use the

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ObserverTab program. ObserverTab is used to measure teacher effectiveness and
    to support teachers in their professional growth goals.
Teacher Academy: As part of a continued focus for building teacher capacity, this year
we are holding Teacher Academy Wednesdays after school. The first month has been
targeted towards helping new teachers and mentors. For this past month, the class has
focused on training teachers on foundational best practices for effective teachers.
Joseph Ponczoch and Alvin Echeverria are the teachers leading our Teacher Academy.
                                      FPVA CAMPUS
                                   Mrs. Flewallen/Mr. Ivie
Year two of our Freedom Prep Virtual School has been another successful endeavor
even though we have scaled back considerably (From 300 to 100 students). We love
being a school of choice, as Freedom Academy has long been. Having a virtual option
only enhances that. Below are some of the important information and updates for FPVA
this year. We have gathered this information from our current teachers and staff from
their individual perspectives.
    •   We currently have two elementary, two secondary, and four support positions
        (Admin, Secretary, Intervention Specialist, and a Virtual AmeriCorp Tutor).
           • Two of our elementary teachers wear multiple hats at Freedom and are
              coordinating our social media marketing campaign at all campuses and
              coordinating Edgenuity Administrative and other virtual communication
              considerations.
    •   From Alisha Walters: (Upper elementary and Edgenuity/Virtual Communication
        Specialist)
           • Virtual School has provided the opportunity for students to continue with
              their education in a flexible way. I had a new student enrolled this past
              week who transferred into the virtual program for health reasons and was
              excited to be able to continue with their education while still a student of
              Freedom Academy in a way that meets their health needs.

           •   Online teaching Improvements: This year we started with student
               orientation instead of modules on day one. This was such a great time to
               meet with each of our virtual students, one-on-one, as a team. We were
               able to meet with the teacher, students and learning coach(es), right
               away! We spent this time reviewing expectations, student and learning
               coach agreement, making sure login information was working and setting
               academic goals. I know this really helped set the first of the year up very
               smoothly and helped to identify students' needs quickly.

           •   School Wide Community Events: As virtual teachers we have been
               collaborating already about hosting monthly events again to bring our

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students together. Coming up in September Kristi Killpack is organizing an
               art teacher to come and teach an art lesson to our virtual students. In
               October we are looking forward to a cultural event and we have a rough
               outline for the rest of the year as well. I know our students are looking
               forward to these events and virtual field trips together again!

           •  Overall, my students who are returning from last year are excited to be
              back, and my new students who have joined us this year have been loving
              our daily morning meetings. In our morning meetings we all meet as a
              grade level, and we share our good news, schoolwork, and review lesson
              material together daily.
    •   From Hilary Cramer: (Lower Elementary and Social Media Marketing Specialist)
           • My classroom:
                  • Accepted 4 new students within the past week!
                  • All students have been given their Acadience Math assessment
                      (except those who just joined).
                  • Students are finding great reading success and gains within the
                      Edgenuity program.
                  • 100% attendance to morning meetings thus far!
           • Social Media:
                  • FPVA Instagram and Facebook account have gone from a 26-
                      person engagement to a 406-person engagement since May! We
                      have achieved an overall reach of 820 people. This is a high reach
                      considering our 166 total follows. We are receiving a 100%+ reach
                      on most posts, sometimes doubling or tripling our reach with our
                      posts!
                  • FPA Facebook has achieved an overall reach of 10,088. This
                      graphic below shows just how much growth we have been seeing
                      recently!
                  •
    •   From Shirley Larsen: (Middle School FPVA Teacher)
           • Implementing the daily meetings with the students to help students focus
              on their various subjects has been very helpful
           • Orientation week was a huge success. It really helped start the year off
              easier and gave students time to get their technical issues resolved and
              able to start classes on the right foot.
           • Scott Dahneke has been an amazing help with our virtual IEP students.
              Virtual Sped. Students are getting the help they need quicker and in a
              more organized way.
    •   From Kristi Killpack: (High School FPVA Teacher)

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•   50% of the students, 9th-12th grade, are regularly attending daily Zoom
                meetings, 25% of students are not regularly attending but have the
                resources via Canvas and are caught up or ahead in their classes.
            • 20% of students attending FPVA are struggling with things that make it
                difficult to participate fully in an on-site classroom. (I.E., health concerns,
                anxiety, ADHD, etc.) FPVA is doing well at reaching an at-risk population.
            • 90% of students and/or parents are responsive to teachers reaching out
                within 24 hours.
            • We've had strong collaboration between the MS and HS teacher and Ms.
                Miranda, Mr. Powers, and our Americorp tutor, Mrs. Gustafson.
     •   FPVA teacher professional development has included training on Edgenuity,
         State Testing and Ethics, GoalTab, and those who could make it did First Aid and
         CPR training at the high school.

                                  ST. GEORGE CAMPUS
                                           Mr. Winn
It has been an exciting couple of months for FPA4. Our student desks have arrived and have
replaced our temporary tables in the classrooms! A major feature of a brand-new school.
Student Achievement
® Throughout the month, our students participate in beginning of the year testing for programs
  such as Star Reading and Acadience. Data points in these areas help teachers and
  administration identify foundational skill-levels for students and where to focus as we begin
  the school year. Assessments should be complete by the end of the month.
® Data collected from beginning of year assessments are being used to create a schedule for
  intervention for students performing below beginning of year expectations within their grade-
  level. Our paraprofessional will be working with these students in small groups or individually
  until they are proficient in skills that were below grade-level.
® STEM lessons and projects are under way. Teachers are supporting their daily instruction
  with STEM, but that doesn’t always mean there is STEM project or activity that comes with
  it. I have set a goal with teachers to help them with the STEM implementation process. Their
  goal is to organize and complete one STEM project or activity in the 1st quarter of the school
  year. Several grade-levels have already completed their activity/project and are looking to
  organize and complete many more.
Teacher Training
® We typically provide teachers with STEM training once a month during faculty meeting
  trainings. Josie Tompson and Cassey Flinders (FPA4 STEM teachers) provided a STEM
  training on the 5E’s of a STEM lesson for our teachers. They also provided a lesson plan
  template and lesson examples for teachers. John Teuscher (STEM Director) spends a few
  days every month down at FPA4 to help teachers and grade-level teams plan and
  implement STEM in the classroom.

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® My teachers have also received some greatly appreciated Wonders (language arts) training
  this from Debby Moon (Literacy Director). She was able to Zoom in for a very informative
  Q&A session for teachers. Next month we will have additional training from a Wonders
  Representative.
® On our professional development day, we had our Leader In Me representative provide a
  full-day training for all teachers on how to implement the Leader In Me program in the
  classroom.
® I have been working with two teachers (Britni Armstrong and Brianna Pahl) to help get our
   skill-based grading system established properly on Aspire. I believe we finally have it
   working how we want. The two teachers helping me with that were able to train the rest of
   the teachers on how it works in Aspire this Friday during our PD Day.
Please enjoy the images from a few of the STEM projects/activities that have been completed
so far.

1st Grade – Social Studies - Antarctica Igloo Build

4th Grade – ELA – Hurricane Challenge

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STEM (specialty) – Lego Tower & Bridge Challenge

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