Early Release will be on Wednesday next year

At the School Board meeting on Monday, April 8th, the BOE approved calendar option A with a early release day of Wednesday.  There was one modification to the calendar, which was that OMS & AHS will release at 1:40 instead of 1:25 for 15 additional minutes of instruction. (AES will release at 1:15pm)

A-PAGE via the District Accountability Committee questioned how the state required minimum number of 1056 hours for Secondary (OMS & AHS) were being met given that the current district policy (IC/ICA) specifically excludes passing time (time between classes) from being included in the definition of "actively engaged in the educational process".  While the state does allow passing time to be included in this definition, current district policy does not.

For the 2012-13 school year, the amount of time that students are "actively engaged in the educational process" at OMS is 990 hours, 8 minutes and at AHS is 990 hours, 27 minutes.  Both of which are well below the 1056 hours required by state law (by about 11 regular school days).  The approved calendar for next year calls for 976 hours at OMS and 994 hours at AHS (with the proposed block schedule).  Again, those are still both significantly less than the 1056 required by the state.

It appeared that the district was ready to push though a change to the IC/ICA policy with a revised agenda for the BOE meeting last night.  However, at the last minute, they tabled the action item regarding that policy.  So our question still remains, how is the district meeting the minimum required 1056 hours of instruction at the middle school and high school level?

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.

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.

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.

District Accountability Meeting (2/6)

The District Accountability Committee met on 2/6.

- The calendar committee for the next school year calendar has been established. Teacher input has already been requested. A-PAGE drafted a survey to request parent input and the DAC approved sending a paper copy of the survey home with parents. Watch for it late this week from your children. Parent input will be provided to the Calendar Committee for consideration along with teacher input.

- K-5 gravel for overflow parking lot is being pursued by Mr. Alejo.

- The district website was reviewed and comments from the DAC review incorporated into the website. Webmaster contact information was added to the bottom of the main district page to direct any comments/corrections on the district website.

- District budget review and current year spending is in line with the percent of the school year that has elapsed.