The Current

Photo of the Week: Week 5 of Summer Camp - Budding scientists!

Students in Ms. Sydney's Power of Pressure camp test the atmospheric pressure of a can and observe the implosion!

Dear Acera Community, 

I hope we get to see you at the Acera Parent Wine & Cheese on July 24th. Our incoming Associate Head of School, Heather Pinedo-Burns, will be there! She and her family have moved to Massachusetts, and her two kids are looking forward to joining our community in the fall. We are so grateful to Christine Genaitis and Scott Fink for offering to open their home for this event next week!  

Summer Camp is vibrant and the school is busy with kids of all ages! Their presence and enthusiasm makes it so much better to be here working on these hot days; we get to hear laughter and see kids making Rube Goldberg machines out of found objects and old technology, building drones, and connecting while inventing novel tabletop games from a blank page! Invite a friend to try out Acera Summer Camp – it is not too late!    

What kinds of things are we doing this summer, for those of us who are year-round?  

Things like… 

• Reviewing end-of-year surveys from students, parents and teachers, and reflecting on ways we can improve the school. Matching that feedback up with our school-year goals and priorities and giving ourselves rigorous assessment to define new goals for next year.  
• Holding a summer Instructional Leadership Team workshop (2 full days) to plan approaches and upgrades next year regarding professional development for faculty, documentation of student learning, curriculum mapping, math, creativity program upgrades, and more 
• 5 year forecasting and planning for enrichment program growth with conservative, moderate and aggressive growth scenarios which can tap into (eventually) 1 Lowell Avenue
• Admissions is on-going for open slots, with summer Info Sessions, student visits, and parent interviews 
• Student Support Plan meetings with counseling team staff 
• Facilities updates and maintenance (we are adding additional acoustics proofing in Room 5, we will wax VTC tiles in Commons, steam clean of acoustics panels, regular carpet cleaning and paint re-touching maintenance, modifications to classrooms as requested by teachers at close of last school year, etc.)  
• Reviewing and updating policies and guides based on needs and learning from prior year 
• Kevin is getting ready to start (at last!) weaving the Willow Dome and progress towards making that a “real” cool cove for shade and gathering

July 1st also marks our new fiscal year. Each year, staffing transitions happen due to life changes and needs of myriad kinds. Some of these changes, as well as the “Boomerang” Back of core teachers who left Acera and are now returning, in a blog shared in the spring, which you can read here. There have also been some additional shifts:

Kerry, who served as our Marketing Manager for 6 years, will seek new employment at another non-profit. After years filled with her flexibility, optimism, and responsiveness, we will miss working with her very much! From contributions like her annual fund videos, her rapid turn-around to post the Filmmaking Club’s year-end video for our last week of school newsletter, and her perpetual eye towards looking out for what is best for Acera, we wish her well!

In ways that align with our Strategic Plan goals, Acera is hiring a marketing and PR firm to help us with our next phase of evolution. We seek to be known nationally as a school for gifted students, and as a hub of innovative learning which, through our public school outreach program, models and catalyzes change beyond our walls. We want teachers to know that we are a great place to teach, grow, and invent, and we want to be known as a community of intellectual curiosity where you can grow your problem solving and creativity skills, amid freedom to become your best self.  

George, Director of Upper School since March 2022, plans to bring his knowledge about and commitment to innovative, project-based and inquiry-rich learning back to public schools. The kids who had him for his engineering and science classes this year will especially miss him, with his many talents and thoughtful approach to all he taught. We wish him well in his next chapter, and hope to collaborate with him in the future!  

Tory, who served as a science specialist teacher for the 2023-2024 school year will be moving on from Acera next year. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors!

Alyssa reached out to me yesterday, letting me know she got a new job at a project-based learning school in North Carolina, where she moved with her partner for his new faculty position at UNC Chapel Hill. Her prowess to invent simulations of all kinds, and weave together philosophy, history and essential writing skills in joyful, hard-working ways, as well as her skill in fostering community and growth on all domains, are treasured by all. Alyssa gave me the OK to pass on some reflections about Acera – 

“...as I’ve been looking at other schools I’m realizing how rare the amount of autonomy and creativity I had was. That was a really beautiful gift that you gave me for the last 6 years! I just wanted to say that I really loved the school you created … I knew it was a special place for kids… but I’m also really reflecting on what a special place it was for teachers. . . .the gift of being able to be fully responsive to my kids… I never had to fight to do what I thought was best for a kid and that’s amazing. I just got to do it. . . I straight up told them in my interview when they asked why I was looking for a new position that I loved my old school and would have worked there forever if we didn’t have to move for (my partner’s) job, and was slightly heartbroken over leaving Acera… “   

Finding the right balance of best practice, on-going PD, and now also enriched with our own Curriculum Mapping work, while concurrently offering trust and creative license to teachers to design curriculum and do what is best for kids … that is a foundational part of Acera! This enables great, intellectual, creative teachers to want to be here, to be at their best, to be energized to keep learning and growing themselves as student’s needs stretch their thinking. This “secret sauce” enables each child to have an unlimited runway - with support – amid an environment of belonging and joy!  

While we love summer camp and all the new kids and families we get to meet, we also are excited about the year ahead to welcome everyone back to school in September! 

All the best, 

Courtney 

I Lowell Building Project Update

We're writing to provide an update on the exciting new building project at Acera. As you know, we were thrilled to receive the building permit earlier this year. However, there's been a recent development that requires us to adjust our plans.

After granting us an unconditional building permit earlier in the year, the new Winchester building commissioner became aware of a FEMA regulation that requires any construction project that occurs within a floodplain zone and has a contract value that exceeds 50% of the building's fair market value, is considered new construction and therefore has to conform to all current FEMA regulations. As a result of his new understanding, the building commissioner rescinded the building permit and asked us to conform to the FEMA regulations. 

Although the FEMA requirements make sense for new ground-up construction, they are cost prohibitive for the interior renovation project that we are planning, and it could be argued that the requirements would offer no positive impact on the storm water run-off, especially given the fact that our plans do not include parking lot renovations, landscaping, or any other exterior upgrades that would have any effect on the floodplain. 

As many are aware, Acera is dedicated to good stewardship of the environment, and this was a driving factor in last year's playground project where we removed a significant quantity of asphalt pavement and replaced it with porous natural materials, including water-absorbing willows and red maple trees. These improvements have had a significant and obvious improvement on the storm water runoff. 

With all of this in mind, we have determined that the best path forward is to reduce the scope of work and therefore the contract value to be less than 50% of the building value, and focus on a new Phase 1 of our 1 Lowell Ave project: to have an operational woodshop and bathrooms in the 1 Lowell building right after winter break. In our on-going discussions with the building commissioner throughout this project, he is at this point on board with this approach. We expect to submit revised plans and affidavits later this week or early next week and hopefully resume construction shortly thereafter.

Once the woodshop is relocated from its current space to its new space at 1 Lowell Avenue, we will launch Phase 2 which will transform the current innovation lab space into a multi-purpose space that can be used for theater productions, gross motor movement, and hands-on learning. Phase 3 will be the completion of the renovation of 1 Lowell Avenue which will add two science labs and two multipurpose rooms focused on visual and fibre arts and VR, music, green screen and recording space. 

While we're disappointed that the building won't be open this fall as initially anticipated, we remain steadfast in our commitment to this project. The additional space this renovation will provide will significantly enhance the learning experience for our students, and we're excited to move forward as quickly as possible.

Courtney, Kevin & Trent

Acera's popular

Wine & Cheese event is back!

Join us for camaraderie and conversation this coming Wednesday with fellow Acera parents and staff.

Please RSVP: Alice@aceraschool.org

We hope to see you there!

Looking for more? Visit Acera's Parent Portal!

At the online portal for the Acera community, you'll find up-to-date resources, like Acera's Program Overview, Family Directory, Tuition & Insurance information, required school forms, links to teacher blogs, and more.