FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are answers to some of the questions FIT Academy gets most frequently. If we don’t answer your question below or you need more information, please contact us.

Charter schools are a lot more like traditional public schools than they are different. Charter schools are free and must adhere to all federal and state laws and department of education rules regulating public education. As with traditional public schools, charter schools are governed by an elected school board. In addition, charter schools also report to the authority of an independent oversight organization commonly referred to as an authorizer. The authorizer for FIT Academy is Volunteers of America. One significant difference with traditional public schools is that charter schools tend to be much smaller which allows for a more flexible, close knit and interpersonal experience. Whereas traditional public schools typically enroll most students within their geographical boundary, charter schools do not have geographical boundaries. Instead, students and families often choose a charter school based on the school’s theme.

FIT Academy believes that children need a foundation of health and fitness in order to succeed academically! Our theme is to Integrate Fitness, Intellect, and Teamwork throughout the educational experience. This begins with instilling a mindest in our school community that recognizes the value of health and fitness in preparing students for life. Academically, we strive to integrate literacy across content areas while providing students with a strong foundation of knowledge that will prepare them for life.

As a public school, FIT Academy must accept an enrollment application from any student who applies, regardless of their background or where they live. The school board may set enrollment limits for the school and the school must follow a state required process for managing enrollment applications in the case that there are more applicants than seats at any grade level. This process is called the Enrollment Lottery. Our lottery takes place in early February and the lottery only takes place if we have more applicants than seats, otherwise, all students are enrolled. You will find much more information on this topic under Student Application on our website.

As required by state law, all public school teachers (including charter schools) must be state licensed. We are also required to follow all state requirements including adhering to state academic standards and participating in required assessments. One major difference with a traditional public school is that we have a much smaller school community which allows teachers more flexibility in adapting to student needs in their teaching. This small and focused community also allows us to integrate our theme of health, fitness, and teamwork throughout the school.

Our focus is to increase the areas of health, fitness, and physical education to levels that are more representative of what is recommended by the United States Department of Health. Their recommendation is that children engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day but unfortunately, most schools fall way short of that. We will add 30 minutes to our school day to ensure that we can have at least 30 minutes of dedicated health, fitness, and physical activity time every day without reducing time for other academic areas. Numerous researches show that physical activity enhances learning so we believe that this increase in physical activity will actually have a positive impact on other academic areas.

We integrate health, fitness and physical education in many ways that will not disrupt but rather strengthen academic development.  We provide a comprehensive health and physical education program as well as a weekly field-trip to a sports facility for one hour of extended activity. Our classroom teachers implement simple but effective techniques to reinforce physical activity throughout the day such as brain breaks which research proves increases brain activation and learning.

No, our focus is on valuing health, fitness, and physical activity and athletic skill has no bearing on the experience that a student will have. Students will be expected to participate in daily physical activity and regardless of their ability level, as long as they are willing to participate, they will benefit from the program.

Yes, FIT Academy will require that students dress in a uniform that meets the school requirements. The school will work with uniform providers to provide parents with simple and inexpensive options for purchasing uniforms.

School Calendar & Daily Schedule

Our calendar is based on the District 196 calendar with a few modifications:
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Daily Schedule for 2022-23 for all grades
Start Time: 7:45am
End Time: 2:45pm

After School Care
After school care from 2:45pm to 5:00pm everyday for students in grades K-6. Information on rates and reduced rates will be available at the beginning of the school year based on demand.

For more information on our daily academic schedule please visit our academic page

We will serve a hot catered school lunch. Catered school lunches meet all state and federal guidelines and can be very good and offer a lot of variety. We will also offer the federal free and reduced lunch program for families who qualify. For families that do not qualify, we will ask families to pay into the student’s lunch account. Families may also choose to send students to school with a lunch prepared at home.

FIT Academy provides bus transportation to students who reside throughout the district 196 boundaries as well as the city of Burnsville (new in 2018-19). Students who live beyond district 196 boundaries are allowed to catch their nearest bus on the edge of the district’s boundaries. Parents may also arrange for the bus pick-up or dropoff to occur at their daycare within district 196.
Despite the anxiety parents sometimes feel with putting their children on a school bus, several reports including a report by the NTSB indicate that busing is by far the safest mode of school transportation. In fact, statistically, it is shown to be several times safer than transportation in a family vehicle.
FIT students within district 196 catch a district bus to their nearest middle school and will then take a transfer bus routed directly to FIT Academy. Under this transportation plan, families and students must abide by the district 196 transportation rules including the walking requirements. For those who live within walking distance of their nearest middle school, there is an option of paying a $275 fee to the district to arrange for bus transportation to the middle school.
Our new bus route to Burnsville for 2018-19 will be operated through an independent provider. Additional information will be available in July by contacting the school.