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)

AES K-5 Building Accountability Committee

The first K-5 Building Accountability Committee meeting of the 2012-2013 school year was held on August 30^th. 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 20^th in the K-2 Conference Room.

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.

DAC selects next years officers on Monday

The District Accountability Committee (DAC) meets at 5:15 on Monday May 7th at the District Offices (209 Victoria Ave) and will be selecting officers for next year's DAC.   If you're interested in being a more involved, this is a great opportunity to do so.  The DAC meets just once a month for 1.5 hours and is THE PLACE to know what is happening at ALL the schools!    We encourage you to show up at Monday's meeting (the last of this school year) to see what it is about and sign up to help out next year.

Coleen Astalos (DAC Current Vice Chair)

April OMS BAC (4/30/12)

The OMS Accountability Committee held it's regularly scheduled meeting on April 30, 2012.

There will be a 5th grade parents night on May 7th at 6 pm.

The BAC received the results from the Parents Perceptions of Community Alcohol survey done at Parent/Teacher Conferences.

Training Opportunity for Parents

Training Focus:

• Learn how schools, families and communities can partner in a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (RtI/PBIS) to support positive academic, social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes for all students 
• Develop knowledge of family partnering legal mandates and the research base for coordinating learning between home and school
• Identify challenges and solutions to successful partnering 
• Obtain adaptable, "takeaway" tools to support various activities
• Plan for ongoing everyday family-school-community partnering practices

When: Tuesday May 8th, Adams State College, Student Union Building Room 309

Time: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Registration starts at 8:30 a.m. Lunch is provided, with coffee/tea in the morning.

Audience: This training is for all education stakeholders, including family and community members. Administrators, teachers, related service providers, higher education faculty, advisory groups, school board members, advocates, and accountability committee members are all invited to participate.

This training is free, if you would like to attend, please arrive at 8:30am in the Adams State College Student Union Building (room 309) for registration.

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.