July 21, 2022

 Dear ATC Students and Families,

 Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year! I hope your summer break has been, and continues to be joyful. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing ATC for your student(s)’ education. We are excited to see all of our students on Wednesday, August 10 for the first day of school.

 Next, I want to share some important items to help you get a great start to your school year:

 Our 22-23 school year calendar is posted on our website here and the bell schedule for classes can be found here

 School supply lists are available on our website here

 Information regarding our summer reading challenge, ATC Reads! Is available on our website here

 Santa Fe Public Schools has not yet released their school bus transportation routes for ATC. We will post those to our website as soon as we receive them so please be on the lookout.

 Seniors! We have scheduled an orientation day for you on Monday, August 8, from 9am-3pm in the Phoenix Center. You will work with our fabulous counseling team to learn about and plan for your path to graduation and college. Please bring a lunch, ATC will provide you with a laptop for the day.

 New 7th Grade Students! We have scheduled a Jumpstart Day for you on Tuesday, August 9, from 10am-3:30pm. During Jumpstart, you will have an opportunity to play games, make friends and build community. You will also complete a math placement assessment, receive your schedule, and have an opportunity to go through your schedule, find your classes, and meet your teachers. Parents, please provide your student with sunscreen, a sack lunch, and a water bottle. Also, the team building games in the morning from 10-12 are facilitated by the Santa Fe Mountain Center. Please complete this consent to participate form and send with your child to Jumpstart. If you are unable to complete the form ahead of time, please come in to the front office during drop off and we will assist you.

 Student Drivers! If you wish to drive to school and park at ATC, you will need to purchase a parking permit and complete a Student Parking Agreement. Please bring your completed agreement, proof of registration and insurance, and $25 payment to receive your parking permit and assigned parking spot. Reminder, as noted in the agreement, ATC is a closed campus and visiting your vehicle during school hours is prohibited without prior permission from the front office.

 COVID Safety. NMPED just released an updated COVID-19 Response Toolkit yesterday. Families are encouraged to review it, and particularly, review closely the guidance on quarantine for close contacts and test to stay programs. Highlights for ATC’s COVID-safe practices include:

·       ATC will be providing a test to stay program for close contact students and staff on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but can also provide rapid antigen testing on other days as needed.

·       Currently, proper use of face coverings/masks is optional for indoor and outdoor settings with the exception that individuals returning from quarantine or isolation must wear masks for 5 days following their return to school

·       All absences, including COVID-related absences should be reported as soon as possible to Andrea Ortiz, our attendance manager. COVID-related absences specifically should be reported to Andrea by BOTH phone, 505-473-4282 option 1, and email, andrea.ortiz@atcschool.org to ensure timely response

·       ATC adheres to all reporting, air filtration, and cleaning/sanitizing guidance provided by NMPED and NMDOH

 Next, I want to share some exciting new developments for the coming year and beyond:

 ATC has developed, in collaboration with teachers, staff, and students, a new Parent-Student Handbook! A QR Code linked to the handbook will be available in students’ planner/agenda provided to them at the start of school. Our handbook intends to be a living/evolving document to provide the most up to date resources and information possible. If you have feedback regarding the handbook, items needing clarification or feel are missing etc., please share your feedback with our Assistant Principal, jeanette.alsabah@atcschool.org.

 ATC is also very excited to announce that we will be offering both lunch AND breakfast through the Santa Fe Public Schools National School Lunch Program. It is very important that all ATC families complete their Free and Reduced Lunch Meal Application and all families can use SFPS’s MySchoolBucks app to pay for meals in advance, which greatly speeds up line service. Please refer to this press release from SFPS earlier this month for more details about the program and contact information for the district’s student nutrition office. To view the lunch menu, visit our Dining page. Our meals are prepared at Capital High School so choose CHS when selecting the menu. Please remind your students that ordering food from delivery services such as doordash, uber eats etc. is not allowed.

 Important Note. Because our school year calendar is different from the district’s, on school days at ATC when the district is NOT in session, ATC will be providing lunches only on our own. Notably, during the first week of school for ATC, Aug. 10-12 and Aug. 15-16, lunch will be provided at a cost of $3 per student and include cookouts with burgers and hotdogs, pizza and salad, etc. Proceeds from these lunches will be deposited as a fundraiser into our student activity and club accounts.

 Beginning this year, ATC will also transition to a true 1:1 24/7 Device Take-Home program. Students at ATC are expected to be respectful, responsible, and ready to learn. Students must bring materials and supplies to school and classrooms daily. Devices, like textbooks, are intended for use at school every day. To meet learning expectations and access information and materials, Chromebooks will be issued to all students as part of the new 24/7 Device Take-Home program. Students will be responsible for their Chromebook 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition, students are responsible for bringing their devices to school daily with a full battery charge.  Devices will be distributed at the beginning of each school year. The parent/caregiver and student must review this document and sign the 24/7 Device Program Acknowledgments form. 

•  Seniors will need to bring the signed form back to Vanessa Maryol on August 8, their Senior Orientation Day, or email the signed form to vanessa.maryol@atcschool.org before August 8.

• 7th graders will need to bring the signed form back to Vanessa Maryol on August 9, their 7th Grade Jumpstart Day, or email the signed form to vanessa.maryol@atcschool.org before August 9.

• Students in grades 8 - 11 will need to bring the signed form back to Vanessa Maryol on the first day of school, August 10, or email the signed form to vanessa.maryol@atcschool.org before August 12. 

 ATC is also getting a small construction project underway! Office space and storage space has long been a challenge (just ask a teacher how their classroom closet looks to learn more ;)). With the addition of a part-time nurse, additional educational assistants and permanent subs our staff are often doubling up in limited spaces. We will be adding a wall in the current art room, room 211, to create additional office space (and still have a large beautiful art room). We will also demolish and remodel the rest rooms on the east end of the building, which have not been used as such in many years, and converting that square footage into storage for books, supplies, and equipment. This project will be completed several weeks into the new school year but scheduled to minimize disruption to teaching and learning. Both of our computer labs are also getting a refresh, brand-new high end desktop computers have already been installed and all new furniture with built in storage is on the way!

 Lastly, speaking of high-end computers, our new digital art, film, and yearbook teacher, Jesse Griffith, is launching our first ever Phoenix E-Sports Team. He has been a highly successful E-Sports coach and the time to sign up is now for many of the fall tournaments. Interested students should email jesse.griffith@atcschool.org to get signed up to participate. E-Sports is an NMAA-sanctioned activity and thus governed by all NMAA participation and eligibility guidelines. Let’s go Phoenix!

 Again, we are tremendously excited for the start of the school year and cannot wait to see all our beautiful students back with us in a few weeks. Thank you again for choosing ATC and have a wonderful rest of your Summer Break!

 Sincerely,

 Jason Morgan

Principal