Message to the Community We Serve
As we have shared, we made the difficult decision in January to close our middle school at the end of the current school year. Our plan was to partner with Friendship Public Charter School (FPCS) to sublease our middle school building to them for a year while they finished construction of their own campus in Southeast. The plan we laid out would have allowed current and rising Achievement Prep middle school scholars to be enrolled in the temporary FCPS campus at Wahler Place, trying to minimize as much disruption as possible for our scholars and their families and keeping an active middle school in our community.
Unfortunately, while the plan was approved by the DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB) last month, the Deputy Mayor of Education issued a letter to FPCS this week that states that any enrollment at this point by FPCS at the Wahler Place campus outside of the District’s Common Lottery (My School DC) would be deemed improper enrollments and potentially violate the principles of open enrollment as set forth in DC Official Code § DC Official Code §38-1802.06, which requires that all District students have the opportunity to be randomly selected for the new charter school option to ensure a fair process for everyone. The letter further stated that a paper application by FPCS would violate the rights of other District families and the My School DC Common Lottery process, as almost 1,000 families have indicated interest in either Achievement Prep MS or FPCS campuses serving grades 4-8.
While we truly believe that our plan was what was best for our scholars, and for the students at FPCS, we have to follow the law. Since there is no clear path forward for all, if not the majority, of our Achievement Prep scholars to attend the Wahler Place campus, we will not be partnering with FPCS to operate at Wahler Place MS. There will NOT be a MS at Achievement Prep next school year. Families are being notified today and we will hold meetings all of next week to walk families through this complicated matter.
We know that the majority of Achievement Prep’s current third through seventh grade families applied in the initial lottery round of My School DC by the March 2nd deadline and will know their lottery seats for the 2020-21 school year in a few weeks. For those families who did not meet the March 2nd deadline, they can now enter the post lottery to be placed on a waitlist for the schools they select. We, along with the Family Enrollment Specialists from the PCSB, will work to support these families in understanding the post-lottery process and their school options moving forward.
This is not the result we’d hoped for our scholars and their families, but the law is the law. We respect the processes put in place by the District to ensure equal access for all children and would never want to be part of setting precedent that in any way jeopardizes this. We teach our scholars to be good citizens and so supporting a plan that does not fully follow the law is not something we can do.
We are truly sorry for any inconvenience this causes our scholars and regret that this decision has come after the first lottery deadline. We were working hard with FPCS, the PCSB and the Deputy Mayor of Education to make this plan work. Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen and we are not willing to short-change scholars and keep them in limbo about their education.
This does not change anything happening to or with the elementary school. We will also continue to move forward with our plan to redesign the Achievement Prep Network to serve middle school grades again in the future.
I sincerely thank each and every one of you for your service and your commitment to end this school year strong for scholars and your colleagues.
Please do not hesitate to reach out at info@aprepacademy.org if you have any questions or call us at (202) 562-1307 ext.105
Sincerely,
Jason Andrean
Board Chair
Shantelle Wright
Founder and CEO
Platinum Parent Resources
As an Achievement Prep Platinum Parent, we want you to be a fully informed member of the Wahler Place Middle Campus. We are committed to providing important and timely information to our families. If you need help understanding this information, have further questions, or wish to share suggestions about topics of interest, please contact our please contact our Operations Coordinator, Stephone Harris, at sharris@achievementprep.org.
Calendars
Achievement Prep has events for scholars and families throughout the year, and we hope you will be informed and involved! To review the schedule for these events, and for student testing, holidays, and other programs, please see our calendars by visiting our Calendar page.
Powerschool Parent Portal
PowerSchool Parent Portal gives parents and scholars access to online information including attendance, grades, detailed assignment descriptions, and school bulletins. Everyone stays connected: scholars stay on top of assignments, parents are able to participate more fully in their scholar’s progress, and the school can share information with parents and scholars. To access PowerSchool, visit aprep-dc.powerschool.com/public. If you do not already have a PowerSchool Parent Account, select the Create Account tab, enter your information and the access ID and password provided to you at Back to School Night. Then, click the blue “enter” button to finish creating your account. If you do not know your PowerSchool access ID or password or have any questions, please contact our Operations Coordinator, Stephone Harris, at sharris@achievementprep.org.
KickBoard Parent Portal
Do you want to know where your scholar’s paycheck stands before Wednesday? Do you want to know how many DREAM Dollars your scholar earned today? Are you curious if your scholar is missing a homework assignment? You can do all of this on KickBoard, the online portal Achievement Prep uses to track scholar behavior. To access KickBoard, visit www.kickboardforteachers.com/home/signin. If you do not already have a PowerSchool Parent Account, select Create New Account and enter your scholar’s birthday and the access code provided to you at Back to School Night. If you do know your KickBoard access code or have any questions, please contact our Operations Coordinator, Stephone Harris, at sharris@achievementprep.org.
Promoting a Safe Environment
Achievement Prep is dedicated to maintaining a safe, healthy learning environment for all scholars. In order to do so, we strictly adhere to a bully prevention and intervention policy. If you have any questions about the policy, please contact the Principal, Crykle Lomax at clomax@achievementprep.org.
Culture Team, Wahler Place Middle School Campus
Tanya Tilghman
ttilghman@achievementprep.org
Phone: (202) 562-1214
Additional Parental Resources:
Achievement Prep’s Mental Health Clinicians have compiled a list of resources for parents to support their scholar(s) from home:
Annual Reports
Because we believe our Platinum Parents are our greatest resources, we want every parent to be informed about the state of our schools. Please see the 2017-18 and 2018-19 Annual Reports for information about Achievement Prep policies, staff, and success. Please see the 2018 Elementary and 2018 Middle School Performance Report from the Public Charter School Board for information about school characteristics and scholar performance.
Non-Discrimination Policy
In accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”), Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”), Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”), the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (“The Age Act”), and the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act, applicants for admission and employment, students, parents, employees, sources of referral of applicants for admission and employment, and all unions or professional organizations holding collective bargaining or professional agreements with Achievement Prep are hereby notified that Achievement Prep does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in, its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups.
For more information on how these policies apply to all DC students, see OSSE Procedural Safeguards.
Students, parents and/or guardians having inquiries concerning Achievement Prep’s compliance with Section 504 or the ADA as it applies to students or who wish to file a complaint regarding such compliance should contact the individual below who has been designated by Achievement Prep to coordinate its efforts to comply with the regulations implementing Section 504 and ADA:
Section 504 & ADA Coordinator:
Steaven Hamlin
shamlin@achievementprep.org
(202) 562-1307
For inquiries regarding Achievement Prep’s nondiscrimination policies or to file a complaint regarding Achievement Prep’s compliance with ADA, Section 504 as it relates to employees or third parties, and compliance with Title VI, Title IX, the Age Act, and the Boy Scouts Act as it relates to students, employees and third parties contact:
Greg Gaines
ggaines@achievementprep.org
(202) 562-1307
For further information on notice of nondiscrimination, visit http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/OCR/contactus.cfm or call 1-800-421-3481 for the address and phone number of the office that serves your area.
For information about Achievement Prep’s grievance procedures, please click here. For a Formal Grievance Form, please click here.
ChildFind
Pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Achievement Preparatory Public Charter School has a duty to identify, refer, evaluate and if eligible, provide a free, appropriate public education to disabled students. For additional information about the rights of parents of eligible children, or for answers to any questions you might have about identification, evaluation and placement into special education or Section 504 programs, please contact our Director of Scholar Support Services at shamlin@achievementprep.org or (202) 562-1307.
McKinney-Vento Homeless Program
Scholars who are deemed McKinney-Vento are provided resources from the school to support scholar’s educational needs. Communication to parents are sent out twice a year to ensure we do not miss any scholars in need. For more information on APA’s McKinney-Vento program, please contact our LEA liaison, Saymah Nah, Director of Family and Community Engagement at snah@achievementprep.org.
FERPA Policy
Achievement Prep complies with all D.C. and federal laws regarding student privacy.
NOTIFICATION OF RIGHTS UNDER FERPA
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) provides parents and students over 18 years of age (“eligible students”) certain rights with respect to the student’s education records.
These rights are:
- The right to inspect and review the student’s education records within 45 days of the day Achievement Prep receives a request for access. Parents or eligible students should submit to the School principal a written request that identifies the record(s) they wish to inspect. The School principal will make arrangements for access and notify the parent or eligible student of the time and place where the records may be inspected.
- The right to request the amendment of the student’s education records that the parent or eligible student believes are inaccurate. Parents or eligible students may ask Achievement Prep to amend a record that they believe is inaccurate. They should write the School principal, clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it is inaccurate. If Achievement Prep decides not to amend the record as requested by the parent or eligible student, Achievement Prep will notify the parent or eligible student of the decision and advise them of their right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the parent or eligible student when notified of the right to a hearing.
- The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):
- School officials with legitimate educational interest;
- Other schools to which a student is transferring;
- Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
- Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;
- Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;
- Accrediting organizations;
- To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;
- Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and
- State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law
- The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the School District to comply with the requirements of FERPA.
Achievement Prep reserves the right to disclose, without consent, “directory” information such as a student’s name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. Parents and eligible students who do not want the school to disclose directory information must request in writing to the school principal.
The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA are:
Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202-5901
Medication
If your scholar needs medication during the day, you must complete a medical authorization form and return it to the main office.
Additional Resources:
MS School Supply List (SY 19-20)
Out of School Program Partners