The Exploris School Newsletter
May 31, 2019

Message From the Executive Director

May 31, 2019

Dear Exploris Community,

Wow, it’s hard to imagine that it’s June already! We’ve shared an amazing and enriching educational journey this year with your children.  As the year comes to a close all grade levels are completing their culminating events, portfolio conferences, and all end of year state testing.  Please read the weekly teacher newsletters for all updates and end of year crew activities so you don’t miss any of the excitement. An Exploris education culminates with a capstone passage portfolio. Our 8th graders this year have demonstrated the growth of their learning throughout their Exploris experiences.  What an amazing presentation of their growth and accomplishments. A true testament to the incredible partnership between the Exploris families and our educators.  I am so grateful to be part of such an incredible community.

New Building Update: 

Robbie Farris from SFL&A Architecture (our developer) shared an update on the new building at the Board meeting on May 28th.   They have been working on securing the $100 Million of financing needed for construction of our new facility.  To date, they have secured commitments for 85% of the needed finances. They are continuing to meet with potential investors to share our story and commitment.  One of the challenges has been that many investors are uncertain about the mixed use office/school space so the process has taken longer than expected. The new building is located in an Opportunity Zone which provides investors with many tax benefits. The developers are also pursing financing through a recently approved New Market Tax Credit allocation recently approved by Congress. Our developers remain 200% committed to our partnership and school project and are anticipating a 45 - 60 day timeline to obtain the remaining 15% of funds needed to begin construction.  Once the final investors are identified the ground-breaking date will be set along with the filing of the final permit to begin construction. Thank you for your continued support and patience as we navigate through unchartered waters for our new Exploris home. We are all anxiously awaiting the announcement from our developers that they are ready to proceed with construction. I will share the news as I get updates.

Capital Campaign:

Thank You

Thank you to all parent, community, and PTO volunteers for all you did this year to support the educational experiences at Exploris.  The PTO online auction was a tremendous success and we are grateful to have such a wonderful partnership supporting our school goals. Our entire team would also like to thank families for all the generous treats and gifts received during teacher appreciation week that made each of our staff members feel special.  It is an honor and privilege for all of us to support your children and our Exploris family.

Summer Updates

We will also be hosting the following summer programs:

New Family Orientation -  June 13 – 1pm @ ES and 6 pm @MS

Kindergarten screening and orientation - Date to be announced soon

6th grade orientation – Date to be announced soon

Welcome Back Meet the Teacher – August 19th

I hope you all have a wonderful summer relaxing and reconnecting with friends and family.  Enjoy reading some great books at the beach and we look forward to seeing you all at the start of the 2019 – 2020 school year.  

All the best,

Ellie

Fifth grade continues to explore the natural world through our second Citizen Science Project of the year. Our first project, Shad in the Classroom, was a huge success. Our American Shad are working their way to the North Carolina coast, and we hope they thrive and live for many years to come. Our newest project has us working in the school garden, caring for various species of pumpkins and squash as well as managing the pollinator garden.  

Hello Exploris family,

Summer is finally here! It’s hard to believe that it’s time for school to come to an end and for bonfires, fireworks, and swimming to begin. In previous counselor corners, we talked about how to keep our children safe online. For this newsletter I wanted to branch out to all media use. Summer break gives children a lot of free time and what they do during that time can be important. Non-age appropriate things they view on TV, videogames, the internet, smartphones, tablets etc.… could potentially pose risk to how they view and process the world. Depending on the subject matter viewed, it could impact behaviors, feelings, impulse control, and even their problem-solving skills. Obviously, you know your child best and what they can and cannot handle, but if you are looking for ways to help limit media use, here are some helpful tips and articles:

https://www.realsimple.com/work-life/entertainment/summer-activities

We here at Exploris hope you have a fantastic and safe Summer!

The Exploris School is a learning community that engages students in a rigorous, relevant, relationship-based education. This is done through experiential, project-based learning that empowers students to build a connected, just, and sustainable world.