Hi Founding Phoenix Team!

I have so much I want to share and information I want to gather from you,
but I shall address the pressing issue of contracts and the 2008-09 calendar
at this time. Sylvia has set-up a Founding Phoenix blog for our team and I
will coordinate the next team e-mail with her.

We have our first one hundred students enrolled! Thank you Jason and Nathan
for your help on April 16 and 17th with enrollment and recruitment. Please
mark your calendars for the next enrollment event May 6 (10:00AM - 1:00PM)
and May (4:00 - 7:00PM). Since the majority of the students enrolling are
secondary, we want to have a strong secondary team presence on the evening
of May 8. Please confirm your availability by May 2.

The official IDEA Public Schools Calendar for 2008 - 2009 is attached.
Please alert me to any conflicts you have by May 2. Another detailed IDEA
Mission professional development calendar will follow.

Please send me a detailed classroom instructional resource list if you
haven't already. Highlight those things you feel you MUST have to teach the
first six weeks (with estimated item cost) by May 2 so I can include it in
my final start-up budget.

Mrs. Solis and I would like to host you all for a Commitment to Excellence
and contract signing dinner and IDEA Mission team welcome this month. We
will send details next week.

I can be more responsive to you via phone, so please call me at 956 373 8366
with questions and requests. Any student and teacher applicants should be
referred to our office number (956 583-8315) from here throughout the summer
since we have staff at our administrative office Monday through Friday
between 8:30AM and 5:30PM who can address their questions while I
concentrate on preparing our school for you and our students.

Phoenix rising!

Natalie

NEWLY HIRED STAFF

Sylvia Hinojosa - Technology and Culture Leader
Nate Henderson - PE and Athletics and Enrichment
Peter Schu - 6th grade science and Teaching Coach
Tricia Herring - 6th grade ELA
Irene Avalos - 6th grade math
Abby Lopez - 7th/8th grade Spanish
Julissa Sanchez - 7th/8th grade ELA
Gary Ristaino - Administrative Assistant
Alberto Gulino- Spanish

Wendy Gilbert- Art

Vacancies -

6th and 7th/8th grade social studies
7th/8th grade science
Part-time science
1 SPED teacher
1 6th grade Spanish
School Operations Manager
PIEMS Clerk
4 bus drivers
3 food service workers
3 Custodians
1 LVN
2 regular substitutes

IDEA ACADEMY & COLLEGE PREPARATORY MISSION

College For All Children – No Excuses!

Our Vision
What do we see our students becoming?
We are lifelong leaders and servant-leaders empowered by education to transform our local and global communities.

Our Mission
How will we get there?
IDEA Public Schools prepares students from underserved communities for success in college and citizenship.

Our Big Goal
What’s our bottom line?
100% of our students will matriculate and succeed in the university of their choice.

Progress
How are we doing so far?
100% of last year’s first graduating class of seniors (from our Donna campus) are currently attending university. All but one is a first generation college student. We continue to deliver some of the highest results in the Rio Grande Valley; our economically disadvantaged students are excelling in all subject areas, leading the pack in math and science, as this graph shows:


ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS: 2007 TAKS




Barriers to College
What are our students up against?

Living in poverty is an everyday reality for all too many children in the Rio Grande Valley. About 8 in 10 children in the Rio Grande Valley come from economically disadvantaged families, and approximately 30% of Hidalgo County residents live below the poverty level, compared to only 13% of people nationally. In 2005, Hidalgo County was ranked as the poorest county in the nation (of counties with a population of 250,000 or more).

What does this have to do with education? Statistics show that children growing up in low-income areas—in South Texas and across the country—are performing at much lower levels of achievement than their wealthier counterparts. Nine-year-olds growing up in low-income communities are already three grade levels behind their peers in high-income communities. As they continue through middle and high school, the achievement gap widens even further: only about half of all economically disadvantaged children graduate from high school, and those that do graduate will perform, on average, at an eighth grade level in both reading and math. These disparities severely limit the life prospects of the 13 million children growing up in poverty today—including many living here in the Rio Grande Valley.

However, our results prove that socioeconomic background should not and will not limit our students. IDEA Public Schools are dedicated to preparing children from traditionally underserved communities to defy the odds and break the cycle of poverty by getting a college education. We also hope that many of IDEA Mission’s graduates will eventually “come back home” and, empowered by their primary, secondary, and college education, lead and serve in their own Rio Grande Valley community.