Thursday, September 27, 2012

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.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

AES K-5 Building Accountability



The AES K-5 BAC met on September 20th. We discussed the K-5 budget and requested additional information to include specific information regarding last year’s 4th 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 4th 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 24th and continue for 2 weeks. The goal is to have the lot ready for the Fun Run on October 5th. 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 8th and 11th. 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 18th at 5:15pm in K-2 Conference Room.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

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 1st at 7:00pm.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

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.

BOE, Sept 9th


A-PAGE attended the BOE meeting on Tuesday, Sept 9th.  Key items from the board meeting were:
  • Neenan has completed all structural repairs to the K-2 & 3-5 buildings and two peer reviews were completed.  The buildings are now structurally sound.
  • School board voted to approve the bond question for a new Athletic/VoAg Complex at the high school.  So this question will appear on the November ballet.
  • Student Headcount is up 24 students from their May projection.
  • Discussion was held on AHS Homecoming and how to schedule sporting events & activities to get the best student/parent involvement.
  • Report from the District Accountability Committee (see the separate BLOG post on the DAC)

Friday, September 7, 2012

AES K-5 Building Accountability Committee

The first K-5 Building Accountability Committee meeting of the 2012-2013 school year was held on August 30th. We had eight members and six guests in attendance. It is always good to see new faces/parents who want to be involved!

We discussed the TCAP results from last year and, overall, our district is showing growth and trending toward proficient. There is still work to be done and the strategies that have already been implemented, in addition to new curriculum & teaching strategies, should cause test scores to continue to improve in the future.

There is an increase of 40 students enrolled in the K-2 building to start the new school year, which led to the last minute hiring of two new teachers. Every classroom in the K-2 building is being utilized this year! Enrollment is down slightly at the 3-5 building but the numbers are right where their projections said they would be. The first week of school has been “awesome” and they are looking forward to a good year.

There are a couple of notable changes to this year’s school schedule:
1.  Lunch periods are no longer grade specific – mixed grades will decrease time students will spend in line as older students will model correct procedure for the younger students. Also, a salad bar has been added.
2. The class time for Specials (Art, Music, PE, Technology, Counseling) has been increased from 25 to 30 minutes.

Community Concerns:
1.  Cafeteria tables – tables ordered last year are in but, with increase in student population at K-2, they are in need of even more tables. The district is looking for more tables.
2.  Substitute teacher training – Ideas for getting school /district policies & procedures into the hands of substitute teachers were discussed. It was also stated that it will be a priority to not pull teachers from their classrooms for meetings this year. This topic will be discussed further at the September meeting.
3.  Overflow parking lot – no official update from the district on this project. It was stated that it has been made known to the superintendent that this project should be a priority for this school year. In the meantime, lines have been chalked & cones set up to assist parents using the overflow lot to drop off & pick up students. Also, a duty teacher is assigned to this lot to help students cross the bus lane. The use of this parking lot for drop off & pick up is helping alleviate the congestion problem.

Officers for 2012-2013:
Chair: Christine Jones-Daboll
Co-Chair: Micah Jackson
Secretary: Julie Brooks
DAC Representative: Star Quintana (Sophia Avila – alternate)

The next K-5 BAC meeting will be at 5:15pm on September 20th in the K-2 Conference Room.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Welcome Back to School!


As we begin another school year, the A-PAGE committee would like to reach out and wish you a happy and productive year. We had many accomplishments last year and hope you found A-PAGE to be useful and informative.

We would like to share with you some of the accomplishments from last year.
  • Gathered input with a School Calendar Survey and provide input directly to the District
  • Developed and implemented a parent needs survey and provided the results to the District
  • Attended 49 District meetings (accountability & school board), wrote 31 blog posts, and sent 5 newsletters to keep parents informed.
  • Kept the District focused on parent issues including:
    • Graveling AES overflow lot for 3-5 drop off
    • Improved K-5 lunch duration
    • Student/teacher contact time
    • Improving parent-teacher conference process at OMS/AHS
For a printable version of this information and more about A-PAGE in brochure form, click here.