Mounds Park Academy

August 27, 2020

The Parents Association invites parents and guardians to get together Wednesday mornings after drop off. We’ll plan something for every Wednesday as long as weather allows and there is interest.

Wednesday, September 2: We will take a 20-30 minute stroll with Michelle Mick, mom to Isaac and Freya (4th grade and kindergarten). We’ll meet in the Lower School parking lot and head to the Furness Trail, just south of Larpenteur across from Beebe Road. It will be lovely to meet new faces and exchange information about this first week of school.

Wednesday, September 9: Let’s meet at the Farmer’s Market at Aldrich Arena at 8:15 AM. Feel free to send your favorite Farmer’s Market recipes to Kim Jakway at thejakways@gmail.com beforehand. She’ll bring copies for everyone. The market is mostly cash, although some stalls take credit cards.

Remember to bring a mask to all events! Hope to see you there! No RSVP is needed.

If you have any questions, contact Kim Jakway or Barry Madore.

Welcome Back To School From The MPA Parents Association

August 20, 2020

We’ve enjoyed meeting with some of you while our Middle and Upper Schoolers have been making their way back to MPA. And we look forward to getting together with Lower School parents in grades 1-4 next week during your Back To School Days. Click here for the invitation from the PA.

Grades 1-4 Student Back To School Days
Monday, August 24, 2020
Grade 1: 9-10:30 AM
Grade 2: 10:30 AM-12 PM
Grade 3: 1-2:30 PM
Grade 4: 2:30-4 PM

As we begin this unusual year, we are continuing to brainstorm safe and creative ways we can join together and celebrate our community. Fortunately, the warmer days we’re enjoying right now allow us to meet outside at a safe distance, like at our First Day of School Parking Lot Social. So, be sure to check out Panther Post and your division communications for upcoming MPA PA sponsored event announcements.

If you have any questions, contact Kim Jakway or Barry Madore.

We Are Family

August 20, 2020

by Dr. Bill Hudson, Head of School

There is little more joyous than a wedding or the birth or adoption of a child. Welcoming new members to our family and the growth of our extended family are certainly worth celebrating. With each new addition, our family is redefined and our sense of self is enhanced. Collectively, our values and perspectives are both affirmed and enriched. Many people think of MPA as a family and each year we have the joy of welcoming new members to this exceptional community.

I had the pleasure of welcoming our new families and students to MPA during Tuesday’s New Family Orientation and our MPA family has grown to include 108 new students and their families. As I looked at the families on each of the tiles on Zoom, I was struck by how the mission of MPA was reflected in the faces of our new families. Here are a few fun facts about our new family members:

41 new students will join the Lower School;
38 new students will join the Middle School;
29 new students will join the Upper School;
New students come from 45 different zip codes;
In addition to English, these students speak 13 different languages at home including Swahili, Somali, Armenian, Spanish, Korean, Hmong, Urdu, Chinese, Swedish, French, Portuguese, Nepali, and Mandarin;
40 of them enrolled without ever having stepped foot on campus;
5 are children of alumni; and
8 children of faculty or staff.

Arrival And Dismissal Procedures

August 20, 2020

All MPA families should have received an email from Safetyapp@auxs.org with information about how to install the Safety App Powered by AUXS. Completing twice-daily screenings through this app will enable MPA to effectively monitor and track screening as a preventative measure and will have the ease families need for this step to be quick and easy.

Here are some important notes about the arrival and dismissal process this year:

Arrival

If your family didn’t select an arrival time, one will be assigned to you.
Students will not be allowed in the building prior to 7:15 AM in order for staff members to arrive on campus and be prepared to begin the screening process.
Please have the green badge that is emailed to you by The Safety App Powered By Aux out and ready to show upon arrival. While the information you submitted is being sent to the school, the most efficient way for MPA to run the arrival process for now is for families to have their green badge out and ready.
If your child is driving themselves to school, please forward the Safety App email to them or take a screenshot and text it to them. The same applies for carpools and bus riders who already have cell phones. Please do not purchase a cell phone for your child just for this purpose. For any student riding the bus who does not have a cell phone, MPA will have the information you transmitted via the app available to reference. If you have forgotten to do the screening, staff will ask your child the screening questions. All students must be screened prior to entering the building.
Each student will enter at their pre-assigned door, including bus riders. The doors will be marked with flags and balloons for easy locating. Note that parents will need to drive through the lot and stop at each applicable door and bus riders will need to walk from the bus to their door.

Arrival & Dismissal Doors
Door 1: PreK, K, 1
Door 2: Grades 2, 3, 4
Note: Doors 1 & 2 will drop off in a single Lower School drive thru lane
Door 4: Grades 5, 7, 6, 8
Note: Doors 4 will drop off in a single Middle School drive thru lane
Door 7 West: Grades 9, 10
Door 7 East: Grades 11, 12
Note: Door 7 will drop off in a single Upper School drive thru lane

When lining up to enter the building, students should be wearing masks and staying physically distant.
Parents are encouraged to allow their student to make the last part of the journey into school independently unless delivering a reluctant student. All new families with Lower School students will be welcomed to accompany their child through screening and to their locker or classroom door for the first week of school.
A staff member will be available to walk Lower School students to Panther Club, if applicable, or to their classroom if arriving after 7:30 AM.

August 20, 2020

In order to offer the safest environment possible with space to physically distance, MPA will transition to a sign-up process for after school care in Panther Club (PreK-4), after school care in Panther Den (5-8), and Middle School Study Hall (5-8). These programs will no longer be offered on a drop-in basis until physical distancing is not required. Please complete your initial after school care sign-up no later than Friday, August 21. For those wishing to pick only certain days, future sign-up dates will be released on a rolling basis. MPA employees who also use Panther Club/Den should also use this sign-up to reserve space for their children. No sign up is needed for morning care based on our staggered arrival procedures.

Due to limited capacity, please sign up only for the individual days you will need for your student. If you need after school care every day, please choose our yearly or monthly options. If you have multiple students, you can select one sign up and adjust your quantity on the next page. Please include their names and grades in the submission form. The sign-up deadline is Friday, August 21.

After School Care Pricing:

PreK: Included in tuition
Grade K-4: $13
Grade 5-8: $12
Study Hall (only available until 4 pm): Free

Please contact Russ Purdy at rpurdy@moundsparkacademy.org with any questions. Thank you!

The Show Must Go On In MPA Theatre!

August 20, 2020

Even in an upside-down world, the show must go on! Join the MPA Theatre Department for a virtual info meeting on Thursday, September 3 at 4 PM. Learn how to get involved, more about show information, audition dates, and what this year will hold for MPA actors and technicians!

Join via Zoom >

Theatre at MPA develops students’ fundamental skills in self-expression, communication, creative problem-solving, and critical thinking. Creative dramatics begin in the Lower School where students form fundamental foundations through activities and guided play. Older students grow in their sense of self and character by connecting to multiple perspectives and the larger world around them. Students learn to understand the practical aspects of theatre production through hands-on experiences within the classroom as well as through co-curricular productions throughout the school year. Productions and classrooms are student-centered in order to empower students both onstage and off to create, problem-solve, and grow as artists.

Picture Days At MPA

August 20, 2020

This year, Picture Day will look a little different due to our hybrid schedule. Instead, we will have Picture Days at MPA! We are using a new picture vendor this year, Jostens, and you should have received a flyer at home and via email with information about how to order your pictures online. Please note that due to the shift to an entirely online ordering process from Jostens, your email address will be shared with Jostens in order to facilitate the ordering process.

Picture Days At MPA dates will be:

Wednesday, September 9: PreK-4, Grades 7 and 8, and the Upper School Panther Pride cohort. Students who are doing full virtual school can come in for pictures from 3-4 PM.
Monday, September 14: Grades 5 and 6 and the Upper School Panther Spirit cohort.
Monday, October 5: Retake Day for PreK-4, Grades 7 and 8, and the Upper School Panther Pride cohort.
Monday, October 12: Retake Day for grades 5, 6, and the Upper School MPA Spirit cohort.

What should my child wear?
All students should be in school uniform or dress code. Jostens asks that your child avoids wearing the color green!

Jostens, knows customers care deeply about privacy and data security. Customer trust is their top priority and maintaining this trust is an ongoing commitment. They strive to protect the privacy of customer data by the security policies, practices and technologies put in place. Jostens does not sell or rent directory information to third parties for any reason. Jostens does not use email addresses to market any other products or services. Read More

Looking To Do Right In The World

August 19, 2020

by Dhruv Muppidi, MPA senior

Dhruv spent his summer involved with Breakthrough Twin Cities (BTC), a local organization closely partnered with MPA. Breakthrough is a challenging academic enrichment program for highly motivated, under-resourced students, where all the teachers are high school and college students.

MPA’s close relationship with Breakthrough definitely played a large role in sparking my interest for the program. BTC’s headquarters are located on the MPA Campus, so I have had numerous encounters with the staff and faculty of the program while roaming the halls. I was first exposed to Breakthrough when my neighbor was employed by the organization, working at the BTC’s MPA offices for the entirety of my fifth-grade year. While it was terrifying to have an adult in my close vicinity who would never refrain from spilling my deepest childhood secrets to my peers, I distinctly remember–even six years later–her descriptions of how transformative the teaching fellow experience was for students in high school and undergraduates in college alike. Read More

Meet Spanish Teacher Mariajose Johnson

August 18, 2020

How many years have you been at MPA?
The 2020-2021 school year is my third year at MPA.

What do you love about MPA?
I love the environment of student focused, high energy teachers all over the building! I love the fact that students have the opportunity to learn a second language starting in Kindergarten, as well as having physical education, arts, music, technology, library, drama and the Makerspace! I love being a teacher at MPA and bringing the love of teaching/love of students kind of energy every day. It is energizing and motivating!

How does MPA inspire students who dream big and do right?
I believe that MPA inspires students who dream big and do right by promoting flexibility and creativity in the curriculum, and really encouraging extracurricular activities with the no-cut policy. Read More

Meet Alumni Board Member Kethan Dahlberg ’14

August 18, 2020

During his time at MPA, Kethan Dahlberg found his home-away-from-home. From early morning jazz band rehearsals and Nordic ski practices to late night track meets and study sessions for group projects, MPA taught him the importance of teamwork, perseverance, grit, and, importantly, the value and benefit of being an active and engaged member of the community. “Now, reflecting as an alumnus, and especially given the past few months of lock-down orders and quarantines, I feel it’s important for me to become further involved with my fellow alumni and the school to make sure the same strong sense of family and opportunities that I had during my time on campus remain in place for current students,” he said.

After MPA, he attended Harvard and graduated in 2018 with a concentration in government, secondary in music and citation in Spanish. He also pursued a variety of internship opportunities in various levels and branches of government. While he ultimately hopes to end up back in public service someday, he applied for his job with a private law firm before law school to see the other side of the coin and gain some insight into how businesses operate from a legal perspective. Read More