Wednesday, March 28, 2012

OMS Accountability Meeting (3/26)


OMS Accountability Committee was held March 26, 2012. Registration and CHAMPS (health screenings) will be held from August 6-9th. The implementation of Standards Based Report Cards will not occur for the 2012-2013 school year. OMS wants to improve parent teacher conferences, if you have any suggestions write them in the comments section below and we'll pass them on to OMS.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

March K-5 BAC (3/22/12)

The AES K-5 Building Accountability Committee met on March 22, 2012. We reviewed the School Improvement Plan which is to be submitted to the Colorado Department of Education in April. There are four strategies targeted for improvement including holding stakeholders (parents, teachers, staff) accountable for student achievement, creating relevant curriculum, re-focusing PLC's based on student data and, developing a system to engage parents, family & community in the educational process.

We reviewed and discussed line item ledgers for school fundraisers and the recent Book Fair. Through the Book Fair, AES earned $3,887 in Scholastic Dollars to purchase new books.

The AES PTO gave $1,500 toward the 4th grade Denver field trip. Each grade will now have a specific field trip. Kindergarten will do a Community Walk (visit to fire station, library, museum, picnic in Cole Park); 1st grade will ride the train; 2nd grade has not yet been decided; 3rd grade will go to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, 4th grade will go to Denver (Museum of Nature & Science, Aquarium, Zoo); 5th grade will go to Sand Dunes & Ft. Garland.

Updates:
Lunch tables - New lunch tables were delivered to K-2 but they were the wrong tables. Still waiting for correct tables to arrive.
Overflow Parking - BOE is collecting bids for road base project to be completed in three phases. The goal for AES is to have first phase completed and signs posted to designate overflow lot as main drop off/pick up for 3-5 building by beginning of next school year.

New Concerns: Cold weather policy - chart was handed out. You can view chart here.

Upcoming Events: Literacy Night will be on April 17th.

Next BAC meeting will be April 19 at 5:15pm. PTO will meet on April 19 at 4:15pm.

BOE Meeting on 3/19/12

The Alamosa Board of Education meet on Monday March 19th. One of the agenda items was to vote on the calendar for the 2012-2013 school year. The calendar was approved as proposed. You can view the calendar by clicking here, the actual calendar is on the third page. Discussion on the calendar brought up two issues:

1. The amount of student/teacher contact time each day
2. Aligning Spring Break with ASC, TSJC and all other Valley school districts.

Several Board members expressed similar concerns over the amount of time teachers spend during the school day on tasks other than teaching, specifically meetings and committee work. ASC contacted Mr. Alejo about opening a dialog to align Spring Break with the District beginning in 2015. Mr. Alejo referred ASC to the SAC. In addition to the above two items, the Board also decided to research the 4-day week option so they could make an informed decision based on data.

Also of interest was the mention of House Bill 12-1238 which would require mandatory retention of K-3 students who fall below the minimum literacy level. This bill is making its way through the Colorado State Legislature and, if passed as currently written, will require action by our school district.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Alamosa Elementary High Wind Action Plan

A third party review of the structural design of our new schools was recently conducted. It has been determined that there could be potential building damage with sustained winds of 50mph or higher. A letter was sent home with AES students further explaining this issue and outlining the plan to evacuate students, faculty & staff in the event of 50mph or higher sustained winds. Click on this link to view the details of the evacuation plan which may include relocation to Ortega Middle School and Alamosa High School.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

School Board Meeting on Monday night

Just a reminder that the Alamosa School District will be voting on the proposed 2012-13 school calendar tomorrow (Monday) night at 7pm. If you wish to comment on the school calendar, arrive to the meeting (at the School District Admin offices - 209 Victoria Avenue) at least 5 minutes in advance to sign up to talk. You will have 3 minutes to share your comments.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Alamosa School District puts out DRAFT 2012-13 School Calendar

We would like to share with you the DRAFT calendar that the school district calendar committee has put out. You can find the calendar and rationale behind it here. The calendar was presented to teachers yesterday. The teachers will have the opportunity to vote/comment on the calendar. That input will then be presented to the school board on March 19th at 7pm where the school board will make a decision on the calendar.

Parent input on the calendar can be provided in one of two ways:

1. Contact your school board representative. To know who your school board representative is, and how to contact them, you can use the following links:

a.
Find the District you live in: District Map

b. Find your district representative names/phone number: School Board Reps

2. Attend the March 19th school board meeting at 7pm at the District Office (209 Victoria Avenue – next OMS). Arrive 5 minutes early and sign up with the secretary to speak during the meeting. You will get 3 minutes to address the board. This section of the meeting occurs shortly after the start of the meeting.

If you have any questions about the process, we are more than happy to answer any questions by emailing us at alamosapage@gmail.com.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

District Accountability Meeting (3/5)

District Accountability meeting was held on 3/5 at Ortega Middle School.

Data from the A-PAGE parent survey as well as calendar input from each of the buildings teachers was presented to the Calendar Committee. The district stated up front that they would not consider a 4-day student week and that any discussion on that topic would need to be school board driven, not parent/teacher driven. The drafted calendar will be presented to the teachers on 3/7 at their PLC and will not be provided to the DAC until after that time. The calendar will go to the school board for approval on 3/19.

The K-5 BAC report included a request for bids for gravel for the 3-5 overflow parking lot and an update that the extra lunchroom tables arrived with one being broken upon arrival.

The OMS BAC requested ideas for Parent/Teacher conferences from the DAC. Two suggestions were provided: 1) Job Fair type format – all teachers in cafeteria so you can see who is available. 2) Have Principal network with other principals to find out how it’s done at other schools.


Friday, March 2, 2012

Parent Calendar Survey Results

Recently A-PAGE worked with the Alamosa School District to distribute surveys regarding the school calendar to all parents of students in the district.

361 Surveys were returned representing 734 (35%) of the student population. Of the four early release options, strong parent support was received for a 4-day student week, followed by a single PLC day per month. In each of the early releases options there was a strong desire for early releases to be held on Friday. Parents were extremely satisfied with the longer winter break this year and a majority felt it important to align spring break with Adams State, TSJC, as well as other valley schools.

Click here for the results of the survey.