TCA Newsletter December 22, 2020 Upcoming Important Dates THANK December 23 - No School, Winter Break Begins YOU! January 4 - School Resumes January 27 - Band and Orchestra Concert ​Lueth Letter Dear TCA families, With Winter Break beginning tomorrow, I just want to say how grateful I am for all of you! As we all know this has been a very challenging time for all of us, and for some more than others. Your continued commitment to your child's (children's) education and support of TCA teachers and staff Twin Cities Academy had another successful Holiday Giving is truly amazing with all that is going on in the world. We are Drive for our families in need. Thank you to all of our donors beginning to see signs of hope that one day, yet this year, we and sponsors that made this possible. We are truly grateful to will all be together again in person! have such a giving and generous community and we look forward to growing our outreach. As we begin the New Year, we will still be instructing our ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- students through distance learning. Our team of A special thanks goes out to Studiiyo 23: administrators, parents, teachers and health professionals (Incidence Response Team) will be meeting virtually on December 31st and again on January 4th to monitor the situation with the hope of bringing our students back as soon as it is safe to do so. As we begin to think of 2021, all of us at TCA are wishing you and your family happiness and health. We will have more updates for you in the first week of January. Until then know that we are extremely grateful to have all of you a part of our TCA family, and we wish you moments of relaxation and peace during the break. A small shop in Minneapolis with a fusion of ideas and a With sincere gratitude, community space where traditional boundaries are redefined: Betsy Fashion, Art, Music, Sneakers, and Culture. Moh (owner) and his team at Studiiyo 23 donated a very generous amount of Nike and Champion clothing and shoes to our TCA families. Thank you, for making such a great impact on our families this High School Student Unemployment Relief holiday season! If you know a student who lost a job due to COVID, tell them to go and apply for wages lost since March: https://www1.uimn.org/ui_applicant/applicant/login.do PSAT/NMSQT at TCA! PLEASE FILL OUT A FREE AND REDUCED What: PSAT/NMSQT ​ PRICE LUNCH FORM ASAP! Who: 10th and 11th grade students - Up to 75 students ​ Twin Cities Academy relies on families filling out When: Tuesday January 27, 2021 at 9am ​ Free and Reduced Priced Lunch forms each year for federal Where: TCA, following all social distancing and safety protocols and state funding. PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORM WHETHER ​ ​ Cost: $20 (only for non-TCA students) YOU THINK YOU QUALIFY OR NOT, and get it in before ​ ​ January 3rd. You can fill it out online through the Parent What is the PSAT/NMSQT? ​ The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test Portal on Infinite Campus. Log on to the portal, go to (PSAT/NMSQT) is a program co-sponsored by the College “More”, then “Applications.” If you have any questions, or Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). It is need any help please do not hesitate to call us a standardized test that provides first hand practice for the SAT (651-205-4797) or email Terri Ausen [email protected] ®. Information/helpful links If you qualify, you receive other benefits such as reduced For more information, please click here sports and extracurricular fees, and it may help you qualify ​ Take a look inside the test and access sample questions for other government programs. ​ ​ Practice, practice, practice! ​ Students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals may Some students may qualify for scholarships and recognition be eligible for Pandemic-Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) ​ If you would like to register, please click here. to purchase food for days they are not in the school ​ ​ For information about test administration, please email building. To be considered, households must submit an [email protected] application for free or reduced-price meals for the 2020-21 Register by January 8, 2021. Space is limited. school year or be approved for Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Families who received Need A Stress Reliever? P-EBT benefits last summer are not automatically eligible; ​ ​ Try Some Quick Mindfulness Tips from Drew - eligibility is based on the current school year. Benefits may TCA's Mindfulness Consultant be retroactive to September 2020, depending on when eligibility for free or reduced-price meals is determined. To ● Posture ensure you qualify for the most benefits, please submit ● Settling In your application as soon as possible. ● Being Present ● Long Breath, Pt 1 The federal government and the City of St. Paul will also be ● Long Breath, Pt 2 offering additional benefits for rent and mortgage ● Eating assistance in the coming year. Signing up for the lunch ● Gratitude program at TCA will help you access these benefits. COVID Updates December Band Concert RESCHEDULED (and TCA Community, I need to further clarify the reimagined!) ​ state policy for the 10 day quarantine. Although Due to the complexities of online music learning, the CDC allows for no testing, the State of MN the Band and Orchestra Concert scheduled for requires testing on day 5 and remaining in December 17th has been RESCHEDULED to Wednesday, January 27th starting at 6pm. This will allow more time for quarantine until test is in hand. So it looks more like this. students to prepare collaborative projects using some of the 10 Day Quarantine Day 1: Notification of Close Contact in one time situation new software we have been playing with this year! We will ​ (Brief exposure at work, sports, through extended family think of this night as more of a "Semester Showcase" than a member in a different household). No one else in the family traditional concert. So, SAVE THE DATE: Wednesday, January ​ has been a close contact or has received a positive test 27th, at 6pm! All are welcome. A zoom link will be provided ​ result in the previous 14 days. Individual goes into the week of the Showcase. Come have some fun! quarantine. Feel free to reach out to Ms. Choquette with any questions: Day 5: You go in for a PCR test. [email protected] ​ Day 10: Test results are negative, individual has not ​ developed any symptoms, other members of the household remain symptom free. Day 11: You may return to work with additional care in we are prepared to assist them as necessary should the ​ masking (wearing 2 has been proven to reduce need arise. transmission), social distancing, hand hygiene. You remain vigilant in self checking for symptoms for days 11 through Middle School Yearbook Update! 14, and quarantine immediately with any congestion, ​ ​ ​ ​ wheezing, coughing, fever, etc, or if any of these symptoms Purchase your Middle School Yearbooks Today!! They cost $35 occur in a family member, and individual should be retested ​ at this time as symptoms are present. https://www.balfour.com/minnesota/saint-paul/twin-cities-a Other items to consider, if you have a student in your family cademy-middle-school who has had a positive Covid test result, when the illness Now accepting 6th, 7th, & 8th grade photos: Silly (optional), has passed, please consider taking your student in for a ​ check up, as for some people, there are long term Professionally Dressed (required), Uniform attire (optional) consequences to heart health, kidney function, respiratory https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSflI_ZcMZaJkTdjsuaW functioning and other health conditions that may result in uT4r2UOTfOcUEjyMkbhWgVbcqM1i8w/viewform?usp=sf_link diminished athletic capacity and may increase their risk for serious illness. I would encourage taking them in even if your student was asymptomatic throughout. The yearbook staff needs your photos! As the Holidays are pretty much here(!) the MDH has Students, please send in all your great photos from updated their guidelines for celebrations to reflect the the summer and the school year. Since we are not in current Covid status of the country. Suggestions for safe the building and yearbook staff cannot go out to take photos, celebrations can be found here Safer Holidays. WE NEED YOUR HELP if you want to have a yearbook this ​ ​ year! Visit tcayearbook.com and click on "Submit Your Photo" For mental health needs, and we KNOW the Holiday Season or e-mail it directly to Mrs. Neilson at can create greater need, Mental Well Being MDH. [email protected] ​ ​ For a variety of resources that families may be needing, housing, food, legal or other assistance, the Covid ​ The Librarian is in! Community Coordinator Hotline is available to help. If a student would like to check out a book, search the TCA Library ​ ​ electronic catalog Students may email [email protected] to request a Attendance Reminder ​ ​ If your student needs to be absent from a class, for book. an appointment, vacation, ANYTHING, please call Students can come pick up the library book from school and the (651-205-4797) or email librarian will bring the book ([email protected]) so it can be excused. out to your car at an arranged time. ​ ​ Students can use their Library Go virtual library card to access the St. ​ Paul Public Library From TCA’s Health Office: Questions or concerns? Please contact the librarian Ms. Lynn As we continue to progress to a place where it will Delesha at [email protected] be possible for some of our students to return to ​ school, it is time to start thinking about if vaccines are up to date.