KUA News
August 2024 Newsletter
Empowerment Through Opportunity
Our mission: to break down barriers for students by providing more instructional time, enriching programs and a high-expectations, no-excuses environment to ensure high school graduation, college success and career readiness are reasonable goals for all students regardless of race, language, ethnicity, gender, economic status or zip code.
Administrators’ Message
Welcome, all our new and returning families, to Kids Unlimited Academy! Thank you for choosing our school, where teachers, support staff and the administration team look forward to a new year of learning, growing and exploring together.
Here at KUA, we believe every student belongs, and we strive to ensure students and families feel safe, valued and accepted. We are committed to meeting the unique learning needs of your child from rigorous and engaging instruction to socio-emotional development.
Our mission is to empower students through opportunity, and our goal is to help children and families overcome the barriers they face, preparing them to thrive socially, emotionally and academically. Together, we are better and can accomplish our mission.
By choosing KUA, you recognize the importance of active family engagement and understand the responsibility of fulfilling your parent compact hours. We look forward to seeing you participate at our school events, volunteer for field trips, classroom and schoolwide activities and engage in our parent information platform online.
KUA continues to evolve in various capacities toward the needs of our school. Along with returning teachers and staff, we have a number of new faces who prepared classrooms throughout the summer for this school year. I would like to recognize our amazing custodial, kitchen and front office staff for all their hard work during the summer to get our school in tip-top shape.
For the 2024-25 school year, KUA will launch three new models. The first is our consolidated campus that brings students from KUA’s former White City charter school into our state-of-the-art Medford facility. The White City campus now is home to KU’s enhanced early learning center for preschoolers.
We also changed the school start time to 9 a.m. and end time to 4 p.m. KUA’s enrichments will shift to our morning block from 7:30-8:55 a.m., when we also will focus on mindfulness and preparing our students for academic and behavioral success. Lastly, given the new ending time for school, pickup is no later than 4:30 p.m.
Thank you for your patience during pickup our first week of school. We are diligently working to make the pickup time flow as smoothly as possible. We have closed the Edwards Street door as a drop-off and pickup zone. This door is exclusively for KUA and Medford school district school bus drop-off only. In addition, the alley zone is a car drop-off and pickup zone only. If you park your car, please go to the front office to pick up your student. Following the guidelines above will support us tremendously with ensuring a safe and faster pickup routine.
Please remember that if you are dropping off any earlier than 8:45 a.m., your student(s) will need to register for morning enrichment and apply for scholarship assistance with the monthly fees. Pick up and return those forms at the front office.
Let’s make this school year the best one yet!
Lupita Vargas — KUA Director of Educational Services, lvargas@kuaoregon.org
Lindsay Ochs — KUA Principal, lindsay.ochs@kuaoregon.org
Emmanuel Balan — KUA Director of School Culture, emmanuel.balan@kuaoregon.org
Mimi Davis — KUA Assistant Principal, mimi.davis@kuaoregon.org
Mendy Hellmann — KU Director of Early Learning, mendy.hellmann@kuaoregon.org
Lindsay Ochs
Principal
From the Principal’s desk
In my second year as Kids Unlimited Academy Principal, I feel confident in the school’s solid team. That team mentality is echoed in this year’s theme: “Everyone belongs.”
Believing we are all one, KUA leadership strives to ensure all students, parents, staff and community stakeholders are seen, heard, valued, included and empowered to make decisions that effect change. Opportunities for involvement — at least three per month — are available at many levels and fulfill requirements of our parent-student compact.
Family nights are fun and educational for parents and kids alike. Monthly Site Council meetings invite two-way communication as we share the latest data on student progress, along with campus and program updates. We recognize that family schedules don’t always align with evening gatherings, so we plan to alternate Site Council each month between in-person and Zoom formats.
Some of our students, families and staff are joining us this year from KUA’s former White City charter school on our newly consolidated K-5 campus in Medford. Rededicating KUA to elementary grades, our faculty is primarily focused on academics and the goals of all students succeeding in core subjects and achieving at grade level. To accomplish this, we redesigned our educational delivery model with multiple tiers of small group support.
This individualized approach aims to identify what every kid needs and how to meet those needs. That commitment lifts up entire families, our whole school and the larger community.
Please take a moment to check out KUA’s 2024-25 staff list in the updated student-parent handbook. KUA welcomed a majority of K-2 teachers from the former White City charter school campus to join our centralized Medford campus. Approximately 10 new teachers and support staff chose KUA this year for the next step in their careers. And several returning KUA teachers elected to lead a different grade cohort this year.
With adjustments to KUA’s daily schedule, we recognize that it’s a long school day. Here are some tips for school success:
Establish a regular bedtime and routine that sets the stage for sleep. Turn off electronic devices at least an hour before bed. This is a good time to read together as a family. At the end of the school day, allow some quiet time for kids to decompress.
Arrive to school on time and stay for the full day. Learning loss when students are absent — even for an hour or less — cannot be replaced and can lead to lower test scores and social challenges. Chronic absenteeism may result in being dropped from KUA enrollment.
To fuel kids for the day, KUA provides wholesome, cooked-from-scratch breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. View the month’s food menu here. Students are welcome to bring healthy snacks to school. KUA does not permit sugary treats or beverages or sharing between students. Please do bring a reusable water bottle to school each day.
Attendance matters!
Regular school attendance promotes school success and is required by Oregon Law, which mandates that students miss no more than 15 school days each academic year. Any student absent for 10 or more consecutive days will be dropped from KUA enrollment. Your child may lose his/her spot at KUA.
The loss of learning that takes place when your child is absent cannot be replaced. Chronic absenteeism in kindergarten can predict lower test scores, poor attendance and retention in later grades. If you need help getting your child to school on time, please reach out to us!
Always notify the school, by calling the office at 541-774-3900 between 7:30 a.m. and 9 a.m., when your child is absent or going to be absent for any reason. Please provide the student’s full name, grade and reason for absence. A doctor’s note is required for absences of longer than 3 days.
Attendance matters!
Regular school attendance promotes school success and is required by Oregon Law, which mandates that students miss no more than 15 school days each academic year. Any student absent for 10 or more consecutive days will be dropped from KUA enrollment. Your child may lose his/her spot at KUA.
The loss of learning that takes place when your child is absent cannot be replaced. Chronic absenteeism in kindergarten can predict lower test scores, poor attendance and retention in later grades. If you need help getting your child to school on time, please reach out to us!
Always notify the school, by calling the office at 541-774-3900 between 7:30 a.m. and 9 a.m., when your child is absent or going to be absent for any reason. Please provide the student’s full name, grade and reason for absence. A doctor’s note is required for absences of longer than 3 days.
Why year-round school?
We can’t speak highly enough of our year-round academic calendar, which is overwhelmingly supported by our families. Below are a few key reasons why we decided in 2021 to become Oregon’s first year-round public school.
- Students retain what they learn all year, rather than experience summer learning loss.
- Additional time for authentic hands-on learning opportunities, excursions and field trips.
- Additional school days help to close the achievement gap.
- Increased opportunities for extra help and tutoring.
- Consistent routines lead to better-adjusted students — and teachers
- Easier access for vacations during the school year.
- Decreased teacher and student absences.
What’s cooking?
Our new Food Program puts more variety on students’ plates.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner menus correspond to a theme that rotates each quarter. Beef and veggie Stroganoff and chicken, sausage and veggie jambalaya are new recipes to complement favorites like carnitas tacos and green pozole. Check out the menu at kuaoregon.org/menu
All KUA students are eligible for free breakfast, lunch and dinner — cooked from scratch using fresh ingredients in our on-site kitchen. We are an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Our nationally recognized, award-winning food program is unique in the Medford school district, and we take pride in providing students’ daily nutrition. Build your kids’ healthy habits at home with whole foods instead of processed ones.
August is the prime time for locally grown tomatoes and cucumbers, maybe from your family’s own garden. Showcase their sweetness in this Mediterranean dish from Cooking Matters. High in fiber, tabbouleh’s traditional bulgur wheat is available on natural food and ethnic food aisles in grocery stores. Or substitute 3 cups of another cooked whole grain of your choice, including brown rice, millet, quinoa or wheat berries. Couscous also could be used.
Find more family-friendly, quick-fix, wholesome recipes at cookingmatters.org
Tabbouleh
Ingredients:
- 2 medium lemons
- 1 cup bulgur wheat
- 1 cup fresh parsley, rinsed and chopped
- 3 scallions
- 1 large tomato
- 1 small cucumber
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Pinch ground cayenne pepper or paprika
- 4 ounces feta cheese, diced (optional)
- 1/4 cup mint leaves, rinsed and chopped (optional)
Instructions:
- Rinse and cut the lemons in half. In a medium bowl, squeeze juice. Discard seeds.
- Add the bulgur and 1 1/2 cups boiling water to lemon juice. Cover and let rest until bulgur is soft and chewy, for about 30 minutes.
- Rinse scallions and trim off green root ends. Thinly slice white and green parts.
- Rinse tomato, remove and discard core. Dice tomato.
- Rinse and slice cucumber in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds with a spoon and discard. Dice cucumber.
- In a colander, drain excess liquid from bulgur mixture. Return bulgur to bowl.
- Add chopped parsley, green onions, tomato and cucumber, along with the olive oil, salt and spices to bowl. Mix well to combine.
- If using the feta and mint leaves, add now. Mix gently before serving.
Makes 6 servings.
The Month Ahead
Employment Opportunities
Afterschool Aide: Medford, OR, USA|Part Time|$15.30 – $16.23 per hour
Building Substitute Teacher: Medford, OR, USA|Full Time|$52057.82 – $65861 per year
Apply online at https://kuoregon.isolvedhire.com/jobs/