Alamosa Elementary is a finalist for a $50,000 grant from Clorox to build a greenhouse at the school.

You can help make this a reality by voting here: http://www.tinyurl.com/alamosagarden

There are only 7 more days to vote and you can vote EVERY day. 

We need your help spreading the word! Tell your friends, family, and neighbors! Post it on your facebook page.  This is an easy and free way to help your kids and your community.

Follow this link to view the proposal and vote: http://www.tinyurl.com/alamosagarden

School Board Meeting 11/19/12

APAGE attended the most recent BOE meeting on 11/19/12. The Valley Courier did a very nice write up of the most important aspects of the meeting, free lunch for AES students and the National Clean Diesel Rebate Program. To read the article, click here.

School Board Meeting (Nov 5)

A-PAGE attended the School Board Meeting on Nov. 5th.  Notable parent related items were…

Group of parents of Gifted and Talented students addressed the school board concerning the inadequacies in the GT program from planning to communication to the spending of GT funds.

Community Gardens requested funds to continue to teach K-5 students garden science and nutrition.  The community gardens are also pursuing funding to build a year round greenhouse at the K-5 schools.  Everyone can vote at www.tinyurl.com/AlamosaGarden

District Accountability Committee (Nov 5)

District Accountability met on Nov. 5th.  Topics covered were:

Reviewed the Districts Improvement Plan and made recommendations regarding section 4 - Parent Engagement to include activities for various parent groups (ELL, SpEd, GT) and community partnerships (ASU & TSJC) as well as discussed ways to keep parent engaged through all school levels.

Discussed Parent Teacher conferences and the results of the pre-scheduling at OMS.  Brainstormed on ways to improve the process further including the recommendation that all teachers be available for PT conference along with a discussion on ideas to make this happen.  More discussion on this topic at the next meeting.

Discussion on the use of funds the district received for the sale of Boyd & Evans.  BAC recommended textbook purchases and will continue this discussion at the next meeting as well.

Alamosa Elementary K-5 BAC

The AES K-5 BAC met on October 18th. We discussed budget items from different Activity Fund accounts and made a few recommendations:

1. Use part of Cash Balance in "Music" Account to help alleviate parent financial strain (due to having to come up with money for recorders, school pictures, pies & Moose Nation t-shirts within 10-day period) by purchasing recorders for students.
2. Use a portion of projected $30,000 earned from Pie Fundraiser to help fund annual 4th grade field trip to Denver.
3. Allow student input into how Pie Fundraiser money should be spent.

We set the calendar for topics that we will discuss in all future 2012-2013 BAC meetings.

The Fall NWEA and DIBELS results were also discussed. First and second graders scored at or slightly above target while remaining grades were below target. We will compare with Winter test scores in January.

It was reported by Ms. McBee and Mr. Bilderbeck that the Fall Fun Run  was successful. It was also reported that the leveling & gravel work on the overflow parking lot is complete. Parents of 3-5 students are encouraged to use this lot for drop off and pick up. Mr. Bilderbeck will be writing an article for the AES Newsletter and chalk lines will be added to assist in traffic flow.

Ms. McBee commented on Parent Round-Up Sheets that were sent home. They did not get many responses so will sent them out again. She responded specifically to a parent concern brought up at a recent UDLT meeting about AES Libraries not needing or wanting parent help. She confirmed with both librarians that this statement is "not true".

The next AES BAC meeting will be held in the K-2 Conference Room on November 15th at 5:15pm.

A-PAGE receives positive feedback

Almost a year ago when A-PAGE began, we were not well received by the Alamosa Board of Education (BOE).  In the last year, we have made many accomplishments including a complete turn around by the BOE on their attitude towards our parent group.  At the October 15th BOE meeting, we shared the A-PAGE accomplishments over the last year and received very positive feedback from the BOE.  You can read more about it in the Valley Courier article here.  Thanks to the parents who have worked hard over the year on A-PAGE.

Not a member yet?  Sign up to be part of our group by filling out the form on the right side of this page.  Want to be more involved this year?  Email us at alamosapage@gmail.com to see how you can help out.

Parent Teacher Conference Sign-ups at OMS

In response to the results of the Parent Needs Assessment that A-PAGE created and implemented for the District at the end of the last school year, we have researched different ways to schedule Parent Teacher Conferences for our schools. In the first round of conferences for this year, coming up in early October, we are assisting OMS in a trial run using the website PTCFast.com to schedule Parent Teacher Conferences. If all goes well, other district schools will use this website for scheduling next time.

Any OMS parent wishing to schedule a Parent Teacher Conference on either October 4th or October 9th can click on this link, http://www.ptcfast.com/schools/A_PAGE_OMS_School, to sign-up. If you don't want to do this online (or can't for some reason), call the school at 587-1650 and the secretary will sign you up. Sign-ups will be open only a short time, now through October 3rd at 3:30 pm. If you want to sign-up after 3:30 on October 3rd, you will need to call the school at 587-1650.

Instructions for how to schedule a Parent Teacher Conference online can be found by clicking this link.

We will be soliciting feedback on this process from both parents and teachers to use in improving the process in the future. If you would like to leave us feedback directly, you may either leave a comment on this post or email us directly at alamosapage@gmail.com.

AES K-5 Building Accountability

The AES K-5 BAC met on September 20^th. We discussed the K-5 budget and requested additional information to include specific information regarding last year’s 4^th grade field trip. We also discussed fund raisers for the 2012-2013 school year. The only fund raiser will be the Pie fund raiser. The 4^th grade classes may have additional fund raisers to help fund their end of year Denver field trip. The money raised from selling pies will go into an “Activity Fund” which will help purchase new books and shelves for each library, set up of aquariums in each building, curriculum support (maps, globes, etc.) and field trips. We learned from Mr. Bilderbeck that the leveling & gravel work on the overflow parking lot will begin on September 24^th and continue for 2 weeks. The goal is to have the lot ready for the Fun Run on October 5^th. Mr. Bilderbeck stated that Neenan is taking care of the parking lot work.

Community Concerns:

•  Substitute Teacher Procedure Manuals – in process

• K-2 lunch tables – Mrs. Smith reported that district did not have additional tables and that Mr. Alejo said he would buy tables, if needed. After observing lunch periods, it is Mrs. Smith’s opinion that new tables will not be necessary.

• Power School – Julie Brooks (A-PAGE representative) reported that results of Parent Needs Assessment Survey conducted at end of last year indicated that K-5 parents are not familiar with Power School. Julie also reported that A-PAGE would like to volunteer to help parents set up Power School accounts during Parent/Teacher Conferences on October 8^th and 11^th. Tracy Wetzler and Daniel Quintana will provide district help.

• G/T Plan?? Position for G/T Coordinator is still open. Mark Meyer is heading the program until position is filled.

• Building/Classroom temperature calibration – in process

Next BAC meeting will be October 18^th at 5:15pm in K-2 Conference Room.

September 17 BOE Meeting

A-PAGE attended the BOE meeting on September 17th.

Key items of discussion included:

• Boettcher Teacher-In-Residence Program:  this is a five year program that will bring Master’s degree education students (nation-wide recruitment) into our district and pair them with “mentor” teachers for experiential training.  This program is designed to assist with filling positions with well prepared teachers in subject areas that have historically faced teacher shortages. The first residents will begin in 2013-2014 and will include the Alamosa, North Conejos, and Center school districts.

•  Athletic Vo/Ag Complex:  ballot language has been set and the work of fund-raising and advertising will begin. Vo/Ag portion will be bid locally to bring $1 million back into local economy.

The next BOE meeting will be October 1^st at 7:00pm.

September DAC

The first District Accountability Committee (DAC) Meeting was held on Tuesday 9/4.  We are in DESPERATE need for more parent involvement on this committee.  This is the committee that can make the most impact in the district as it involves all the schools and has the ear of the school board too.  The charter of the accountability committees is to measure the adequacy & efficiency of the educational program.  We also handle issues that arise building or district wide.  Building Accountability Committees (BACs) feed building level information to the DAC.  Please consider joining us at our next meeting on Oct 1st at the school district offices (next to the Middle School) from 5:15 - 6:45.

Key items from this month's DAC were:

•  3-5 Parent Drop off loop graveling (1-1/2" gravel, 4" deep) is only a few days from final approval and will be completed prior to winter weather.  Cones are placed daily to delineate the drop off area and a duty teacher assists with crossing the bus lane.
• School Lunch times have been extended, two serving lines are being run and lunches are mixed grades. This is improving the issues at lunch.  More tables have been ordered (in addition to the ones already received) to accommodate the larger Kindergarten class this year.
• DAC priorities on School Budget:

o   Keep class sizes in line with district guidelines - K-2 is running average of 21.5 students/class (K-20.3, 1st-21.6, 2nd-22.4).  Added one Kindergarten teacher to handle additional class size.  3-5 is running an average of 22.6 (3rd-22.4, 4th-22.7, 5th-22.1).  Requested additional data on OMS/AHS class sizes.

o   Don’t cut specials - more elective offerings at OMS/AHS than previously.

o   Make technology updates at OMS/AHS a priority - new computer lab being added to AHS.  Funds from sale of Open High will go directly to OMS/AHS technology needs.

• Parents Needs Assessment - the Unified District Leadership Team reviewed the Parent Survey sent to all parents in May of this year.  Three items were added to the district improvement plan as a result of this survey:

o   Welcoming Environment - the district will create a welcoming environment for all parents

o   Restructuring of Parent Teacher conferences - to include pre-scheduling appointments

o   Additional training/information on Power School

Each School Building Accountability committee will use their building's data to create actions on those 3 items as well any individual school items based on the survey.  Copies of the survey results will be available to the DAC & BACs by the end of the month.