December 19, 2023 Dear Gravois Park Scholars, Families, and Team Members –We know everyone is excited for the upcoming winter break as it will be muchneeded for us all. Our Gravois Park community has lived in our Core Values,dived into our academic priorities, and worked really hard to support oneanother through some challenging days. As we continue to work towardssolutions for many of the concerns you have surfaced, we want to share animportant announcement. We want Gravois Park to be a place where we all desire our children to attendand to ensure our scholars are literate, joyful, and well. For the 2024-2025school year, Gravois Park will transition from a school for kindergarten through8th grade to a school for kindergarten through 5th grade. That is to say, forthe 2024-2025 school year, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade scholars will be provided aplace at one of our other campuses. Kindergarten through 5th gradescholars will remain at Gravois Park for the 2024-2025 school year. There willbe no changes during the current school year. This change to a K-5 school will bring with it many questions from our GravoisPark community. Accordingly, and in alignment with our MomentumAcademy Guiding Principles, we held meetings for the community on Mondayand Tuesday of this week to share this announcement. At these meetings, wediscussed the changes in more detail; listened to community feedback; andidentified next steps. If needed, we will hold more meetings after winter break. An initial reaction for our Gravois Park community will be to ask “why?”. Quitesimply, this change allows us to better focus on the unique needs of our K-5scholars. Likewise, providing 6th, 7th, and 8th grade scholars a place in ourcompanion school communities will allow us to also better focus on theirunique needs. For example, having fewer grades will allow us to create amore customized and individual focused environment for our K-5 scholars –a timeframe in our scholars’ lives which is critical to ensuring future academicsuccess. An example for our 6-8 scholars is they will be taught by teachersthat provide instruction in one subject area only. Currently, Gravois Parkscholars in grades 6 through 8 are taught by teachers that provide instructionin one or more subject areas. Having teachers that focus on one subject areawill provide a better educational experience for our 6th through 8th gradescholars and help set them up for success in high school. To support our affected scholars and families in choosing from among FoxPark, Tower Grove East, or Tower Grove South, for their middle schooleducation, we plan field trips to our other campuses. During these trips,scholars will be able to experience firsthand the culture and energy of eachschool. For scholars that wish for a more personal visit to each school, we willcreate opportunities for Gravois Park scholars to “shadow” individual scholarsat our other campuses. Transportation to Fox Park, Tower Grove East, or Tower Grove South, is an issueon which we will need input from our Gravois Park community. Each family’scircumstance is different and how they respond to this announcement will bedifferent. Thus, we did not want to settle on a “one size fits all” solution untilwe heard from our families. Transportation is a cost that MomentumAcademy has not traditionally incurred, and we must be responsible stewardsof the public dollars entrusted to us. However, we are committed to hearingfrom our families and exploring options to address any challenges toattending one of our companion schools. Today’s announcement is the beginning of a several month conversationamongst members of our Gravois Park community. We know that each of usmay experience a range of emotions, concerns, and hopes as we each takepart in this conversation. Each community member should feel free torespectfully express these sentiments. Most importantly, we remind allGravois Park community members that they should feel free to reach out ifthey have questions, if they need support, or just want to talk – we are here foreach other, and focused on the needs of our scholars and our families. Sincerely,Miranda Ming, PhDEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Kayla Case, EdSPRINCIPAL, MOMENTUM GRAVOIS PARK The Momentum admissions team is committed to supporting families through this transition, and learning more about the enrollment options available to them at our Fox Park, Tower Grove East and Tower Grove South campuses. Click Here to explore what makes each of our communities unique Click Here to schedule a tour at Fox Park, Tower Grove East and Tower Grove South Click Here to re-commit for the 24/25 school year to rank your placement preference, and reserve your child’s 6-8th grade seat at one of the three campuses serving 6th-8th grade.