Site Council Purpose
KUA families are invited to attend Site Council meetings, held monthly in person or on Zoom (except in December). Dinner is provided at in-person meetings in the Kimmel Family Resource Center by our Food Program, and each time they attend a meeting, families fulfill one volunteer hour of their required KUA hours for the year.
A school can only call itself successful when leaders, families and stakeholders all sit at the same table. At KUA Site Council, parents can share their concerns, listen to what is happening behind the scenes and, with everyone’s input, help us all keep on the same page. Meetings do not address budgetary decisions. Rather, we build bridges of understanding and trust so when challenges arise, our students know we all worked together to come up with solutions. KUA was built on this trust between our community, our donors, our staff and our families.
At our Site Council meetings, we show respect, but we also aren’t afraid to show our hearts. Together we make great things happen!
Upcoming Meetings
Oct. 10 — 5 p.m. — in person
Nov. 14 — 5 p.m. — on Zoom
Jan. 9 — 5 p.m. — in person
Feb. 13 — 5 p.m. — on Zoom
March 13 — 5 p.m. — in person
April 10 — 5 p.m. — on Zoom
May 8 — 5 p.m. — in person
June 5 — 5 p.m. — on Zoom
Recent Meeting Notes
Site Council members attending:
TEACHERS/STAFF: Lupita Vargas, Emmanuel Balan, Mimi Davis, Cheryl Graham, Tyrone McDonald, Sarah Lemon, Monique Kruse
PARENTS: Allison Merrill, Myah Florez, Brittney Hettman, Mayra Duran, Maria de Jesus Perez, Joao Vigil, Jonah Baker, Julian, Minerva
PRINCIPAL: Lindsay Ochs
Sept. 12, 2024
Time: 5-5:45 p.m.
Location: Online
Attendance at Kids Unlimited Academy’s first Site Council hosted on Zoom since the coronavirus pandemic boasted about five times the number of typical in-person meetings.
Principal Lindsay Ochs said she believes it’s important to start the school year with transparency. Parents participating in the meeting online heard updates about KUA morning enrichment, bussing, curricula and the results of a survey about the new school day schedule.
“We can make changes based on feedback,” said Principal Ochs. “It’s one of our most powerful tools.”
About 65% of the 114 people surveyed indicated the school start time of 9 a.m. and end time of 4 p.m. worked for their family. She encouraged parents who have not completed the survey to fill it out through the school communication platform ParentSquare.
Tardiness has decreased some under the new schedule, and families are saying it’s easier to get to school, said Principal Ochs. Yet administrators also acknowledge it’s a really long day, particularly for the youngest students.
“We recognize it’s hard,” said Principal Ochs. “We do lots of breaks throughout the day.”
The morning enrichment period from 7:30 to 9 a.m. has received a lot of positive feedback, and it feels less “chaotic” than afterschool enrichment, said Principal Ochs. The elimination of afterschool enrichment does impact parents who work until 5 p.m., she said. Administration will look at making any changes most likely next year, she added.
Changes to morning enrichment activities take place based on student surveys, said Lupita Vargas, KU Director of Educational Services. STEAM, Spanish, science, garden, movement with Gemineye and cutting- and pasting-type crafts are some of the options. And students don’t always stay with the same staff member but rather rotate through the week, said Vargas, displaying a sample schedule. That means parents who want to walk their kids to class in the morning need to verify the correct location with the front office.
Contracted staff, such as taekwondo instructors who currently work with first grade, are paid through families’ enrichment fees, said Vargas. Enrichment costs $50 per month, and scholarships are available. Parents who drop off their kids between 7:30 and 8:45 a.m. need to sign up for enrichment, she said. The director of KU’s Afterschool Programs at Medford elementary schools helps to manage KUA’s enrichment period.
Medford school district oversees KUA’s Medford buses. Its contractor, First Student, is the point of contact for questions about bussing, over which KUA has zero control, said Principal Ochs. If Medford school district is not running buses, KUA students in Medford have no bus service. KUA students who live in White City always have bussing, provided by KU, when the charter school is in session.
Meeting all the state requirements for English language arts instruction, KUA’s Amplify curriculum is based on the “science of reading” and direct phonics instruction, said Principal Ochs. A lot of states are requiring this type of curriculum, supported by “brain research,” she said, explaining that online instruction during the pandemic was very illuminating for teachers trying to instruct students and parents who were listening.
Letter sounds, letters in combination and other foundational skills are the focus of grades K-2, said Principal Ochs. By Grade 3, the curriculum gets more robust with lessons in fiction, nonfiction, science, social students and responding with writing, she said. In addition to reading and writing, students are learning listening and speaking skills, she said.
“It spirals … We teach it again, and we teach it again and we teach it again.”
Amplify also directly connects to the new assessment tool DIBELS. Since the beginning of the school year, a lot of students have been assessed with DIBELS.
Reading is surprisingly integrated into mathematics instruction, said Cheryl Graham, KUA’s math instructional coach. The school uses two math curricula: i-Ready for grades K-2 and Open Up for grades 3-5.
“Third grade is really a pivotal year,” said Graham. Data verifies that students who use Open Up were very successful on the state’s standardized math tests, she said. It’s a free curriculum available online that uses slides and manipulatives to help students grasp more conceptual skills.
Each student receives a workbook with i-Ready, said Graham, adding that parents should start seeing more materials coming home. There is a lot of emphasis in grades K-2 on structure and systems, such as their current work on 10 frames.
“You better all love math because your kids are gonna be lovin’ it no matter what,” said Graham.
The one flaw with i-Ready, said Graham, is that it’s a little “reader heavy” with the assumption that students are further along in reading than they actually are. “We adjust different tests, and we reduce the amount of reading, or teachers read aloud to them,” she said.
Staff in attendance introduced themselves to participants. And Principal Ochs previewed the next month of school events, including family movie night, Spirit Week, the Jog-a-thon fundraiser, Spirit Assembly, fall break, fall camp, Harvest Festival and Trunk-or-Treat. All events are communicated on KUA’s online calendar and ParentSquare, which has replaced the old communication system Remind, Principal Ochs clarified.
The Principal also voiced appreciation for parent donations of snacks for KUA classrooms, which count toward families’ required monthly volunteer hours. In response to a question from parent Mayra Duran, Principal Ochs said there is no refrigeration available for “less processed” snacks.
Archived Meeting Notes