Quail Call

May 3, 2022

Dear Families-Read on for the News

State Assessments are Upon Us!

Students in grades K-3 will be taking the Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) starting May 10th as required by the Idaho State Department of Education. The IRI will be assessing students' early literacy skills.

Students in grades 3rd-8th will be taking the ELA and Math Idaho Standards Achievement Tests (ISATs) starting April 26th. These are state-wide tests in reading, language usage, and mathematics. Students in grades 5th and 8th have taken the Science ISAT. The school will not receive any data from the Science ISAT because it is a new assessment and the results will be used as baseline data for the state.

The results of the data are one piece of data collected at one point in time. As an educational organization, it is important that we gather other pieces of summative assessment data that tell the whole story of a child’s achievement. I point this out because I don’t believe that teachers, parents or students should make any changes to their usual routines to “prepare” for the tests. We believe that deep learning of content and authentic skills will naturally transfer to higher test performance and, thus, lead to greater academic achievement.

With that being said, we know we have experienced a few abnormal years and I want to take a second to talk a little bit about what these tests mean for our school moving forward. The tests results will be a part of our overall Idaho School Report Card, which can be found here. Alongside our EL Education School Designer, our staff will use the results to identify grade level standards that need to be addressed in the 2022-2023 school year curriculum and potentially other interventions that may be required on a student by student basis.

I hope that this gives you a better understanding of the purpose of the state-wide assessments. You can learn more about these assessments at the Idaho’s State Department of Education’s website.

There IS School May 4th - It's Bike to School Day!

There was an error on the school calendar. There will be school on Wednesday, May 4. Please see the flyer below for information on Bike to School Day.

Teacher Appreciation Week

National Teacher Appreciation Week is May 2 to May 6. The Parent CREW would like to celebrate the wonderful, hard working, caring teachers at PPCS by having a catered meal for our staff on May 4th. If we are able to collect enough donations, we would also like to send our staff on a summer adventure. Last year the Parent CREW was able to pay for our teaching staff to go white water rafting. Any contributions towards our effort would be greatly appreciated. Cash and checks (made to Mailina) can be dropped of at the PPCS office in an envelope labeled "Parent CREW'. If it is more convenient you can also send your donation directly to Amy Ball via Venmo.(@ballamye).

PPCS Board Election

School Board Election 2022

The Palouse Prairie Charter School Board of Directors is recruiting candidates to fill 2 open Board seats with terms running July 2022 – June 2025. The PPCS Board of Directors plays a critical leadership role in maintaining the foundation of the EL model through the educational program as well as the long-term sustainability of the school. The board is also responsible for ensuring that the school has strong leadership, sound finances, effective fundraising, and high academic achievement.

Serving on the PPCS Board of Directors is a compelling and rewarding commitment. It might be right for you if:

You are able to consider decisions in light of what will best serve the whole school community, including students, teachers, and families.
You would like to share your experience in fields like finance, operations, education, law, human resources, marketing, fundraising, construction, landscaping;
You have 8 to 10 hours a month, year-round, to devote to board service and commit to attending board meetings (typically once a month);
You welcome the opportunity to serve as an active ambassador for the school, telling your friends and colleagues about the school and its mission;
You are willing to help PPCS raise money by connecting the school to people in your network, making a personal donation and asking others to donate, and participating in fundraising events;
You are able to hold information in confidence and speak with professional discretion in matters concerning our school.

Please consider serving on the Palouse Prairie Charter School Board of Directors.

Interested candidates should submit responses to the following questions to Jeff Lonneker at jlonneker@palouseprairieschool.org by May 25th. These snapshots will be available on the schools website for 1 week prior to the vote. Please keep your total submission to one page.

Provide a short bio (~ one paragraph) that helps us get to know you.
Why do you want to serve as a Palouse Prairie Charter School board member?
What skills, experience, attributes, etc will you bring to the Board?
What is your vision for the school?

Request for Garden Tools!

PPCS would appreciate donations of a few good quality garden implements for our weeding volunteers. We could us trowels, hand rakes, and soil or hori hori knives. You can drop them off at the PPCS office. Thank you!

PPCS Development Committee Needs Help

Our school board’s Development Committee has been hard at work fundraising for our school, and are working on launching our annual appeal as the year draws to a close. We are very excited about the opportunity that this year’s annual appeal provides, but to get it off the ground we need someone with videography and editing skills and equipment to volunteer their time, work with some amazing kiddos, and contribute to the success of our fine school. Specifically we need help with filming and editing some student interviews. If you have the equipment and skills, and some free time in the next month, please reach out to our development committee at development@palouseprairieschool.org