Greetings IFAA Community:

We will See You at Fall Registration/Device Distribution on Wednesday, August 17 between 8 am -12 pm:

Please bring your current assigned laptop and charger to registration and exchange them for new ones. Students will not be issued a new Lenovo Laptop until the old one is turned in to the school
Before Registration, pay school fees online (optional) and save time at registration. Navigate to the following: Idaho Fine Arts Academy | West Ada School District (revtrak.net) Choose the middle or high school webstore and choose the items you wish to purchase. At Registration, we can only accept cash or check this year
Parents and students who are unable to attend on August 17 and pick up their school laptop may stop by IFAA on Monday, August 22, between 8 and 11 am to get their laptop and materials then.

New Staff at IFAA this year! IFAA has grown by almost 50% this summer and will have just under three hundred students to begin the year. With growth comes additional instructors. Congratulations to these quality professionals who have joined our team this year. These are amazing hires!

Jason De Bie will teach social studies and physical education this year. Jason is also certified in business education and comes to us with several years of teaching experience! Jason holds a master’s degree from Azusa Pacific University.
Kirsten Evans: Kirsten will teach middle school science, health, and social studies. Kirsten also has several years of experience teaching science at the middle level and online instruction. She attended UC Davis and holds a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from Cal State San Marcos.
Codi Hansen: Codi is our new Guidance Counselor at IFAA. She holds a bachelor’s in health science and a master’s degree in Counseling from Boise State. Codi also trained and worked with us at IFAA last semester and is quickly learning our students, staff, and systems.
Garrett Schmelzenbach: Garrett is the new theatre major teacher at IFAA and will also teach speech classes. He comes to us from via Star Middle and Eagle Middle schools with 20 years of teaching experience in drama and theatre. Garrett holds a bachelor’s degree from Northwest Nazarene University and a master's degree in education from Boise State University.
Brooke Staszkow: Brooke will teach Spanish I and II at IFAA this year. She is a recent honors college graduate of Boise State and holds a degree in Spanish Education with an endorsement in English Education.
Richelle Wilkinson: Richelle will teach middle and high school math at IFAA this year! She is also certified to teach physics. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington in math and physics and a master’s in education from UW. Richelle has several years of teaching experience in Washington state.

West Ada Transportation Update: District bussing and transportation will operate differently this year as noted in the spring. Please follow the attached instructions and indicate in your PowerSchool parent account if your student(s) will use district transportation by Friday, August 12. West Ada Transportation will stop at all West Ada Schools and some community locations. Maps and times will be available on the transportation page at this link: Transportation | West Ada School District

Part-Time Custodian Needed at IFAA: We desperately need a part-time custodian again this year. Our head custodian, Tina Russell is amazing, but our new building is much bigger than the last one. This position is 4 hours per day starting at 15 per hour and up to sixteen per hour. Please, put the word out to our community. We are flexible with the hours and the work is light duty cleaning in a great environment! Please contact me at housel.christian@westada.org or Tina Russell at russell.tina@westada.org if you are interested or know someone who is.

Student Class Schedules Available for Student Review in Class Choice through their PowerSchool account. Students should login, navigate to the left side of the page and click on the “Class Choice” icon. Please contact Codi Hansen, IFAA school counselor, with questions about your schedule at hansen.codi@westada.org And please remember, as a small, specialized arts-focused school, schedule changes are limited. You will not see your advisory class in the schedule yet. All students will receive a hard copy at registration.

Parents, Please Update PowerSchool Student Information for 2022-2023: Students will not be able to access their schedules online until this is complete. If you have not already, please complete this process online before school begins. This can be accomplished through your parent PowerSchool account online. Please login to your parent PowerSchool account at https://ps.westada.org/public/home.html and navigate to the “Update Student Information” icon to update your student’s demographic, contact, and medical information. For returning students, the process takes about 5-10 minutes. Please contact Cynthia Anderson, our administrative assistant, or Amanda Watson, our guidance counselor, with questions about updating your PowerSchool account.

New Advisory “Muse Time” in the daily bell schedule: Beginning 2022-23 school year, high school bell schedules (at IFAA middle school too) will include a 25-minute advisory block intended to be used as intervention/enrichment for all students. The purpose of the second period extended mentor (intervention/enrichment) timeframe is to create opportunities for targeted, evidence-based, and intentional daily student supports and extended enrichment opportunities in the arts.

How is my child placed in intervention, enrichment, or extended lunch?

Students will be placed into intervention/enrichment classes OR earn extended lunch on a quarterly basis
First quarter: All students will be placed into an intervention/enrichment class by grade
Second through Fourth Quarters: At IFAA, all students grade 6-9 with a GPA of 3.75 or higher (fourth quarter only), all sophomores, juniors, seniors without a D/F will earn an extended lunch period

What will this look like in PowerSchool?

The intervention/enrichment period will be an identified as an advisory class in PowerSchool. The advisory class will appear on a student’s schedule as Period 1 – Period 2 – ADV – Period 3 – Period 4.

I am a student...What should I expect during intervention/enrichment class?

Attendance will be taken
Advisory class is not graded and not transcripted
Twenty-five total instructional minutes will be provided for intervention/enrichment with 5-minute passing period at the beginning of the block (10:37-10:42am)

I am a student...What if I want assistance from a teacher outside of my advisory teacher?

Students will attend the same intervention class throughout the quarter unless students receive signatures/permissions from both the requesting and releasing teacher at least one day before by using the common Advisory Pass

Building Access Badges and Photo ID: Current students will continue to use their current building access badges. New students will receive a building access badge at registration on the 17th. Students who lost or misplaced their building access badge over the summer will need to purchase a new one for $8 at registration. Students will use their current ID badge until school pictures are taken on Thursday, September 1 during the school day with Dorian Studios. New students will be issued a temporary badge until September 1.

IFAA Spirit Wear is available to purchase online and in person at registration: The online store will be available through GameFace Athletics shortly and only limited items will be available at registration on August 17. If there are items you would like to see, please let us know and we will do our best to get those added to the online store.

School Supplies: The purchase of school supplies is only a suggestion and no longer a requirement. The IFAA middle school supply list is attached. There is no recommended high school supply list for IFAA. All students are expected to provide their own consumable supplies such as paper, pencils, pens, etc.

Back Packs, Cell Phones, Dress Code, IFAA Expectations & Safety: Earlier this summer, I sent a “Back to Class” letter to our community. Please take time to review it again and discuss with your student. I want to emphasize the following:

Backpacks will not be allowed in classrooms this year though students may bring them to and from school and store them in their lockers during the day
Cellphone use will be more closely monitored and limited
Interior classroom doors will be locked during instruction
With 5-minute passing periods and extended lunch, students will only leave classes for emergencies
IFAA enforces the WASD dress code policy

We are looking forward to a wonderful year!

Christian Housel

Idaho Fine Arts Academy

IFAA Updates

03/08/2024: IFAA Musings Newsletter

02/15/2024: IFAA Musings Newsletter

01/12/2024: IFAA Musings Newsletter

12/18/2023: IFAA Musings Newsletter

12/07/2023: IFAA Musings Newsletter

12/01/2023: Inclement Weather Reminders . . .

11/29/2023: IFAA November/December Updates

11/01/2023: IFAA Online Gear Store Open Until November 12th & School Performance Reminders

10/06/2023: IFAA Performances, Celebrations, Upcoming Events & Reminders

10/03/2023: IFAA Fall Lock Down Drill Wednesday, October 4 at 9 am

09/19/2023: Oct Performances and Parent-Teacher Conferences

08/31/2023: Beginning of the year updates

08/26/2023: Dorian photography

08/16/2023: Traffic flow around IFAA, Friday's "Retreat", and back to school night

2022-2023 Newsletters

4/03/2023: Quarter 4 Updates from IFAA

3/09/2023: IFAA Ranking and Events!

2/24/2023: Technology, MS Dance, and Reminders

1/10/2023: Finals Week & End of Semester Update from IFAA

12/06/2022: December updates from IFAA! No School on Wednesday, December 7th, Action Required

11/04/2022: Celebrations and Reminders for Tonight's Dance at IFAA

9/12/2022: Updated Transportation Information

8/10/2022: Fall Registration and other IFAA Updates