The FAST Flyer

I am not going to lie and say that this year has been smooth sailing. But as it says on the post-it on my office wall, “smooth seas don’t make skillful sailors.” We have had some turbulent seas so far this year, but for the last week or so it seems that the storm may be subsiding. As I am sure you all are, I most certainly have been hoping for some smooth sailing after such a rough ride.

Even when the seas are rough I believe it’s best to focus on the good. Sometimes that can be difficult when the skies are dark and sleet and rain are hammering down on you. But without finding something good, I believe you’ll never make it to the other side. When my house flooded and I lost most of my memories, furniture, and my home it was hard, really really hard, to see the positive. As I sat in the hotel room the only positive thing I could think of was, “at least I still have my dogs.” But the little twinkle of light was there, and as time passed I was able to add to the light until it outshone the dark of the storm.

Here at FAST our light is getting brighter as I see more and more positives each day. I wanted to share some of those positives with our community so that you can help me to focus on the good. Yesterday, as I walked to campus I saw smiles on the faces of students and staff. I saw middle school teachers chatting with elementary teachers, and I saw students playing together. Inside I saw students working together in small groups, I saw student work posted, I saw students walking with purpose to class, I saw students learning, and I saw teachers teaching their hearts out.

I want to thank all of our FAST families who have hung on for dear life and weather the storm with me. Now I ask you to help me see the good in our very special school, and when you do see it, please shout it from the rooftops. Let your teachers know that they are doing a good job, because they are, and by seeing the good together we can outshine any darkness and weather any storm together.

Sincerely,

Mary Miller

Interim Principal

Fulton Academy of Science & Technology

Do you know someone interested in FAST? School tours for the 2023-24 admission season have been scheduled for most Wednesdays beginning November 9. Anyone interested in finding out more about our school and touring the campus, can sign up for a tour on our website. We will also be looking for parent volunteers to help lead tours. If you are available on Wednesday mornings, please consider volunteering to help lead a tour.

We are so excited to be bringing back the No Place for Hate Committee this year. Meetings will be held on Tuesday at 7:10am in the Innovation Hall for students who want to participate. If your student is a member of the committee, please try to have them to school on time for meetings. For those of you who are not familiar with it, NPFH is a student-led club that aims to proactively address bias and bullying. With the diverse demographics at FAST, this program is very impactful and meaningful for our students.

The annual Scholastic Book Fair is coming! Mark your calendar for the week of October 31-November 4. Students will have an opportunity to shop during school and we are thrilled to bring back Family Night! Parents are invited to join their students from 5pm-7pm on Thursday Nov. 3 to shop the book fair in person. The current schedule for the week can be found HERE

We strongly encourage you to set up an eWallet for your student to shop. Scholastic eWallets are easy to set up and allow students to shop the fair during the school day without having to carry cash (set up the eWallet now and you won't have to remember to send money on their shopping day!) You can set up an eWallet any time until the book fair on the FAST Scholastic web page at: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/FAST

If you have some time to help, we will need lots of volunteers to help with the fair. Please note that if we do not have enough interest or volunteers for Family Night we may cancel it.

Parents are invited to come to school for our annual costume parade on Monday, October 31 at 10am. The parade will feature students in grades K-5 and will also be livestreamed on Facebook.

Students in all grades are encouraged to dress in a STEM related costume or as their favorite book character to celebrate the kick off of the book fair. Let’s see how creative our kids can get.

Please remember: NO masks, NO weapons, and NO scary costumes.

Prizes will be awarded for Best Overall, Best STEM Costume, Best Book Costume, Most Creative, Best Homemade Costume, and Funniest.

The Student Council is hosting its annual canned food drive beginning Monday, October 31. Students are encouraged to bring in non-perishable food items throughout the week of 10/31-11/4 to help the less fortunate in our community. This has been an incredibly successful event in past years and we expect this year to be no different. Last year FAST contributed more to NFCC Food Bank than any other school!

Items needed include canned fruit, veggies, beans, meat, boxes of cereal, pasta, rice, baking supplies including flour and sugar, canned juice, individually wrapped snack foods, and crackers. Items can be dropped at carpool where student council representatives will be on hand to collect items.

Please be sure that your students are bringing their devices to school fully charged every day. We do not have extras for students to use nor do we have outlets near enough to desks for students to plug in during class. It is important students have the necessary device to participate in class activities and keep up with their work.

The team at Yay Lunch is taking your feedback about pricing to heart and have been working with their food partners to offer new, lower prices on our menu. Take a look at a few of the new, lower prices now available on your Lunch Calendar

Orders for YAY Lunch must be placed by noon on Sunday for the following week. Please be sure to add your student's correct grade and homeroom teacher when placing your order to ensure proper distribution.

Makeup picture day is scheduled for November 8. If your child did not get their picture taken on picture day, they can have their picture taken then.

• If you pre-paid for individual pictures and your student did not get their picture taken, please contact Lifetouch directly to have your money refunded/reapplied to makeup day.

• If you pre-paid for individual pictures that you received and are not happy with them, please send them back with your student on make up day (November 8). They will need to give the package to the photographer when they have their new portrait done.

• If you did not order pictures and would like to, please use the access code on the proofs you received to order through Lifetouch.com.

• If you did not order a group class picture and would like to, you will need to mail the order form that was sent home with check or money order to the following address: Lifetouch, 2300 W Fourth St, Ontario, OH 44906.

Did you find this email in your spam folder? Do you think you’re missing information from school? It is important that we be able to contact you. Please be sure we have current/accurate contact information on file. Your contact information must be updated in Infinite Campus. All parents should have access to Infinite Campus as this is the only place you will be able to see student report cards and Milestones results. If our emails are going to your spam folder, please follow the steps below.

If you are a Gmail user, you may want to whitelist FAST to prevent emails from going to your spam folder. Go to gmail in the desktop browser and select "Settings".

Go to the "Filters and Blocked Addresses" tab.

Click "Create a new filter".

In the "From" field, put "@fastk8.org", without the quotes.

Click "Create filter".

Check "Never send it to Spam".

Click "Create filter".

If you are not getting emails from the PTO -- we send a weekly FAST Blast -- please log in to Membership toolkit and confirm your email is up to date!

Our FBI crew is taking over morning carpool on Monday, November 14th and December 12th. Help us give our teachers a little extra time in the classroom to prepare for the day!

It was too dark for carpool photos, but the FBI dads were hard at work Monday, October 17th! Thank you to all the dads that helped out with carpool and putting together these PE items for our FAST students to enjoy!

Let us know if you can help so we can give the teacher's advance notice of their extra planning time! Sign up here: Nov FBI Carpool TakeOver! and Dec FBI Carpool TakeOver!

PTO will hold a Used Uniform sale in conjunction with the Book Fair Family Night on Thursday, Nov. 3 from 5-7pm. Another chance to get those long sleeves!

Did you know that FAST has a volunteer led library? The library will be open a few days a week after next week. Are you interested in shelving books before the library opening? Are you interested in shelving books once a week? Are you interested in leading a book drive in the future? Please email library@fastk8.org for more information.

Oct. 31: Costume parade

Oct. 31- Nov.4: Scholastic Book Fair

Nov. 8: Picture Retake Day

Nov. 18-27: Thanksgiving Break

Dec. 1: Tech Fair at FAST

A printable version of the school calendar can be found HERE

To keep up to date with the most recent information available from our district offices, please click on the image below.

Email: info@fastk8.org
Website: www.fastk8.org
Location: 11365 Crabapple Road, Roswell, GA, USA
Phone: 678-321-1100
Facebook: facebook.com/FASTK8.School/
Twitter: @fastk8charter

The FAST Flyer is the electronic newsletter at FAST. Feedback is always welcome. If you have any questions, please call the school (678-321-1100) or email the FAST Communications Director at marie.emerson@fastk8.org.