A Message from the Director

CSA Is Lifting Off Soon!

We are now just one week away from CSA Liftoff! On August 17, our facilitators will have the opportunity to meet and greet their new learners and their families at our CSA Liftoff. We are equipping each learner with his/her Chromebook to take home in preparation for our initial three weeks of online learning. Please know that CSA does online learning in a very effective way — we take attendance, facilitators are WITH learners all the time, and all learning is meaningful.  Learners, be sure you are totally tuned in when we go online. You will be building the academic components you need to take on your grade-level projects and need this learning to be able to do the hands-on components when we are in our new building. So be ready to learn!

I am so grateful to our builder, JHL, and our Project Superintendent, Dan Norris, because we are still on schedule to open sometime during Labor Day week. Although JHL has not committed yet to an exact day, and understandably so, we are on schedule. This is almost unheard of in respect to the uncertainties we have all been dealing with of late. JHL and Dan realize how important this school is to you, our CSA community, and are moving mountains to get it done on time. Please drive by the site and see for yourself!  

Soon we will have a video to share with you what we will do on a daily basis to keep our learning environments safe and healthy for learning while also embracing what we need to do — project-based learning. Words cannot express how excited our facilitators and I are to be able to be around learners once again. And in the same vein, I cannot express how much responsibility I feel in keeping every learner and staff member healthy and safe. It will take all of us, the entire CSA community, to ensure that we all remain healthy and safe each and every day. Together we can do it — making sure we are all able to be learning, creating, and exploring new ideas each and every day!  

We still are receiving lots of questions about our first day of school, Monday, August 17. It is important that  we equip every learners with their technology (Chromebooks) so they are ready to do online learning the next day.  

The schedule for August 17 is as follows:

Monday, August 17 – CSA 2020-21 School Year Liftoff!

Grade 6      

  • A-L  8:00 – 9:00 a.m.
  • M-Z 9:00 – 10:00 a.m.          

Grade 7      

  • A-L  10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.           
  • M-Z 11:30 – 12:30 p.m.           

Grade 8      

  • A-Z  1:30 – 2:30 p.m.   

Please contact the Main Office to schedule an alternate time if you cannot come during your   designated time.         

Answers to some questions about August 17 are outlined below:

  • Learners will get their schedules, online and in-building, on August 17. The online schedule is the same as the in-building schedule, just with 45-minute blocks rather than 90-minute blocks. And electives will be put in place once we are in-building.
  • Every learner will receive both schedules. Learners will meet their advisory facilitator (and hopefully more of their facilitators) on August 17. They will get the Zoom links to the classes for their advisory group so they can easily connect to each class beginning on Tuesday, August 18.
  • Learners will receive their CSA log-in information and practice logging in so that if there are any glitches, we take care of them right away while learners are with us.
  • School pictures will be taken in preparation for student IDs, which will be worn when we are in our permanent building.  If a learner is unable to attend on the August 17, picture retakes are scheduled for September 29.

Once the building is finished and all classrooms are ready for our learners, Colorado SKIES Academy will facilitate learning five days per week. Learning, creating, exploring, and growing young minds is our business. We embrace the responsibility of ensuring every aspect of the safety of our learners — physically, emotionally and mentally — and it is imperative that we give them consistent, daily opportunities to grow and to learn in every aspect of their lives. See you on August 17 (masked, of course)!

Warm regards, 

Suzanne Acheson
School Director

Colorado SKIES Academy

Colorado SKIES Academy
Colorado SKIES Academy is a free public charter school authorized by the Cherry Creek School District, open to students throughout the Arapahoe County and Douglas County areas. This STEAM middle school serving grades 6-8 is located at Centennial Airport next to Wings Over the Rockies Exploration of Flight.
Colorado SKIES Academy

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