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

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.

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.

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)

Last Day of School Cancelled

On Monday evening the School Board approved the cancellation of the last day of school which was scheduled to be May 24th. The new last day of school is now May 23rd.

School Board Meeting (4/9)

A-PAGE was in attendance at the Alamosa School Board meeting on 4/9. Items of interest from the meeting:

1) A presentation was made by the Community Resources & Housing Development Corporation regarding their letter of intent to purchase Boyd Elementary and repurpose it into 16-20 apartment units. Their goal is for Boyd Elementary to be a community asset that in addition to apartments would have a daycare center, Broadband technology center as well as maintaining the community gardens.

2) Another presentation/discussion was made regarding the Omsbudman program (which is the replacement for the Alamosa Open High) and the possibility of offering a National Ombudsman diploma in addition to the standard Alamosa High School Diploma. The School Board requested additional information on how that might be implemented as the desire is to have students graduate with an Tier 1 Alamosa High School diploma over a Tier 2 Ombudsman diploma.

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.

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.

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 19^th 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 19^th 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.

Alamosa Board of Education meeting (11/28)

The Alamosa Board of Education meeting was held on 11/28 in the Administration Office. Presentations were made by K-5 students, AHS National Honor Society and AHS FFA. The Community Garden also gave a Power Point presentation with data showing correlation between Environmental Education & standardized test scores. A continued collaboration with the District was encouraged. 

The District Accountability Committee (DAC) report included a recommendation from the AES Building Accountability Committee (BAC) to spread gravel in the overflow parking area to make it more accessible in inclement weather. Questions about A-PAGE were brought by the Board to DAC Chair, Christine Jones-Daboll. She was asked to invite A-PAGE to the DAC for more information about A-PAGE.

Response to BOE questions about A-PAGE

Why is A-PAGE Important?

We help encourage parental involvement. There is a large group of parents that for one reason or another are unable to attend School Accountability Meetings, and their only avenue for getting involved is to attend. This group is about allowing parents the opportunity to get involved at their convenience, and assist them in bringing their thoughts and concerns forward through these already established accountability meetings. Also there are many parents who are currently involved but have children in multiple schools and it is difficult for them to attend every meeting. This group can assist them by having representatives on each committee that can help bring information to and from these meetings.

How does A-PAGE represent the parent majority?

A-PAGE is open to everyone who wishes to join, and our goal is to work with parents and help support issues that are common among the majority of those who are members of A-PAGE.

Why can't A-PAGE work with already existing groups?

That is exactly what we are doing. Our second goal states: “Use existing and established district meetings to facilitate communication to the district from parents.” We have representatives on each Accountability Committee and intend to use those existing district meetings to encourage parent communication.