Letter from Candace

Freedom Prep Secondary Families:

I wanted to share a few things with you so that you are getting it straight from me and understand what your kids may be telling you…. or not telling you.  At Freedom Prep we work very hard to make sure that every student is in the class that is right for them in every subject.  We accommodate every student as much as we possibly can by offering them additional help if they need it, the opportunity to correct work in every class to improve their grade, extensive notes in classes that need it, an agenda to help keep their assignments organized, open note tests in many classes, lots of practice problems and if needed a change in class placement if the current placement is not working.  Because of the extensive amount of resources we give students, we have set a standard of excellence that we feel will help prepare our students for life.  All students must achieve at least a C in every class in order to receive a passing grade. 

 If a student is falling below a C average in a class either the work is too difficult for them, or they are not taking advantage of the resources available to them to help improve their grade and therefore we feel this standard is logical.  This means that our high school students must maintain a C in order to receive credit for their classes.  If they do not do so they will have to re-take the class in order to earn the credit.  That being said, grades for transcripts are recorded by semester, so, if a student has a C during the first session, a D the second session and an A the third session, their semester grade would likely be above a C and therefore is passing.  I tell you this so that you understand if your child has a grade lower than a C on their report card this term, they have one more 6-week session to bring that grade up to a C.  However, any student with a grade lower than a C in a session will not be honor roll eligible for that session.  This is an effort to encourage students to give their best in all classes.  As a reminder Bible is a required course here every year and they must have a passing grade of C or better to receive credit.

Should a high school student need to make up a class due to a non-passing grade they will have the length of the class to make up that credit.  In other words, if a student fails one semester of a class, they will re-take that semester and will have ONE semester to do so.  Students needing to make up an entire year of a class will have a year to do so.  Middle School students who do not pass a class will need to re-take that course the following semester/year as well.  We do not want to simply move students along without mastery of the subject.  This is why we take this approach.  It is not a punishment to the student but rather our effort to make sure students truly understand the material before moving to more difficult work.  This is how we ensure that all of our students are learning and not just moving through curriculum.

Communication:  This is the most discussed topic we have.  I just want to share again our primary modes of communication at the secondary building.  Facebook – Love it or hate it, it has become a necessary tool because it is so easy to use quickly.  I understand that things get bogged down and lost and that is a problem we are trying to figure out.  Please try not to use our private facebook page for personal issues or things that do not pertain to the group as a whole.  If we can limit all the extra things then the important things won’t get lost as easily.  Don’t forget to check the files at the top of the page for important things!!  Facebook is our quick method that gets to everyone quickly.  This is why we use it.  If it is not your preferred method I understand but it is effective in reaches the most people.

Email – This is used for more specific messages to a select group typically.  It is also used for our monthly newsletter as well as your students grade card every 6-weeks.  We verified everyone’s emails during enrollment so if something isn’t getting to you, you may need to check your spam files or your settings to make sure we are not blocked.

ThinkWave- This is your resource to monitor students grades and missing assignments.  You can check this often to see how your student is doing.  It can also be used to communicate directly with a teacher through their messaging system.

Weekly Announcements – Every Monday your students are seeing video announcements about things going on in our building.  Things like the Barn Dance this past weekend and no school this week.  They should be coming home and sharing this information with you which can then be verified through Facebook or email.

Parent Portal – We are in the process of adding a parent portal to our website.  This will be a password protected area within our webpage for you to go check out any announcements, the newsletter and eventually your account information.  We are working on perfecting this and hope to have it ready to launch by January.

Honor Roll – Students achieving honor roll status which is a student with a 3.0 or higher, without any D’s or F’s will receive a certificate to commemorate their achievement.  We will hand these out in a ceremony on Wednesday morning at 9:05 a.m.  Parents are welcome to come but it will likely be standing room only.  In addition, each teacher chooses a student for an award of their choosing and those will be presented at this time as well.

Believe me when I say we are doing our best to use methods of communication that are most effective for the largest majority.  We know it doesn’t suit everyone’s preferences, but we are doing what we can to accommodate the most people in a timely manner.  If we had the capability to have a calling system to call every household, we would but that just isn’t a financially feasible option for us right now.  If you have concerns regarding this or anything else, please reach out to Candace for clarification.

Thank you,

Candace Fish