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St. Regis Public School
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District Spring Update letter for constituents. St. Regis School District #1
Friday, 2/26/2010 Dear School District Parents & Students; Spring School District News Updates The following information list is shared to help keep you well informed regarding our District’s operations and efforts on behalf of our students and communities. I encourage you to consult our website often, as we are continuously enhancing and updating our site www.stregisschool.org As always, if you have any questions or suggestions feel free to contact me. -Our School District information Reader Board is partially repaired and operational again. Key weekly activities are being posted to the Board for your information. Additional repair parts are being installed to make our sign 100% once again. -Read Across America Day, Tues., 3/2/2010! Thank you for partnering with us to encourage reading at home. Reading at home with your younger students is hugely helpful. Older students are also more apt to read at home when they see parents reading newspapers, magazines, writing letters to family members, etc. Turning TV off and providing 30 min.s to an hour or more of quiet reading time or quiet family time is known to pay big dividends with student achievement. -Music Programs: Mon., 3/1, K-4, 7pm, Tues., 3/2, 5-12, 7pm. Possible All-School Music Matinee, 3/3, 2pm *(Note- Honor Choir is performing at Jefferson School of Fine Arts on Fri., 2/26/2010—parents of students participating are aware and we are spreading word at school as well). -World Language Day- 3/5/2010, Spanish classes to U. of M. for exchange day. -Science Fair- Wed., 3/17, starting at 10a.m. Under Mrs. West’s leadership, and with the support of staff, this year’s Science Fair will host approximately 200 exhibits from St. Regis Schools and neighboring schools. Lunch at Noon, Dinner at 5:30, Awards at 6pm. -School Play, Antigone- Sat., 3/20, 7pm. -Winter Sports Awards Dinner- Wed., 3/24/2010, 6pm -Science Field Trips ! -HS Science Club members, Grand Canyon, 3/25-3/30 -JH Science Club members, Yellow Stone, 5/21-5/23 -Close-Up Government in Action Program- 4/11-4/16, to Washington, DC (several St. Regis students with Mr. Jensen, Advisor) -TSA/Technology Students Association- 4/18 – 4/20, St. Regis students to MT annual competition (Mr. Jensen Advisor) -Prom- Junior Class is completing planning discussions. They are planning a late April or early May Prom. More info. will follow as available. (To be held in our HS gym). -Graduation/HS- Sat., 5/29/2010, time to be announced -Graduation/JH- Thurs., 6/3/2010, 7pm -After School Programs continue through April- 21st Century Grant, Mon-Thurs., 3:30-4:30. For specific info. please see our website or contact us here at school. -After School Study Hall with Tutorial support continues- Mon.-Thurs., 3:30-4:30 in our Library. -Late Bus (one) departing approximately 4:45pm, after release of Study Hall. -Late Bus, extra run, after Spring Sports practices will begin after 3/16/2010. -July 4th School District Centennial Celebration- over all of July 4th weekend. (Activities throughout District, W. to E. and N. to S. !) Much info. to follow-- -Work on our new Strategic Plan continues. Our Board, Staff, and Administration will work again with the MT School Boards Assoc. on 3/23/2010, 5-8:30, in our Music Room. This Spring parents and community members will be invited to participate in this process as we work through draft documents to a final document for use in our upcoming five years. -MT Office of Public Instruction (OPI) requires all public school districts to revise their Five Year Plans. We are finishing year five of our existing plan and have submitted our new proposed plan to start 2010/11. (This is a different Report requirement than our Strategic Plan noted above). We have increased our target goals in Math and Reading and will continue our emphasis upon Professional Development for Staff. We will also be adopting the MT Behavior Initiative (MBI) sponsored by the MT OPI (Office of Public Instruction). The MBI emphasis support of positive student behaviors Pre-K/12th grades, inclusive of individual, classroom, and school wide recognitions of positive student behavior. It also emphasis collaboration between school and parents. We will gradually be sharing more information about MBI with you in coming months and in upcoming school years. -Assessment of Student Achievement: -Results from our latest NWEA (N.W. Evaluation Assoc.) assessments in Math, Reading, and Language Arts found that our students compare favorably with other students in our nation. We either scored above or within two to five percentage points of the national average scores at grade levels in the above content areas. We are reviewing test data to guide our teaching and work with our students. While we are encouraged, we would prefer to score the highest in our nation. (Individual student info. was available at Conferences, if not picked up is being mailed home). -Dibels Reading Assessment: (Info. available at recent Conferences-- being mailed home if not picked up at Conferences) -Results from our recent testing of elementary students indicates that we compare favorably with other students nationally. We scored above or within several percentage points of national averages. Again, while encouraged, it is our goal to have all of our students score as the best readers in our nation. Staff are also reviewing Dibels test data to help guide their teaching and work with our students. (Individual student info. was available at Conferences—if not picked up, is being mailed home).
-MontCas/MT Statewide student assessments- We will be administering these assessments (Reading, Language Arts, Math, and Science at selected grade levels) during March. Results are generally shared with districts by the MT OPI in late spring or over the summer. We will be eager for the results and will share your student’s achieve-ment information with you shortly after we receive it. Students getting plenty of rest during assessment cycles is known to be helpful. -The following Curriculums are under review this school year: -Math, Science, and Health. We will be sharing recommendations for updated textbooks for our K-12 pro- gram. Many hours of work have been invested in reviewing our strengths and areas in which we can improve to further help our students. Fully teaching state math Standards/Skills, with transference of skills from one unit to the other and from one grade level to the next is very important. Use of best teaching practices and teaching for mastery are emerging as key priorities. We are partici- pating with the Country Curriculum Consortium to take advantage of area wide research and review. -CATCH Health & Wellness supplemental curriculum is being instructed one special Lesson per month, K-8, starting 3/2010. (Coordinated Approach to Child Health) -Master Class Schedule and Course offerings for 2010/11- Our Board has asked us to study how to offer more Music, Band, Physical Education, and electives (including more Business and Technology offerings). One way to accomplish this could be to offer an 8 period school day. We would still provide a Block slot or two for courses such as Science that need to run Labs. More information will be forthcoming this Spring as we work through this process with Staff. Your input is certainly welcome—feel free to contact me. -Student Council and/or Class Representatives continue to be welcome to participate with us at our monthly School Board mtg.s -Winter Sports just finished this past week and weekend! Thank you for your support of our Tiger Cubs Saturday a.m. BB program and our JH and HS BB programs. We have much to be proud of regarding our student/athletes dedication, teamwork, goal setting, persistence, and poise representing our District and Community. Our thanks to our numerous coaches for their dedication. We will be reviewing our Winter Sports programs, noting where we are strong and where we need to improve, and will establish new goals for 2010/11. More info. will follow via Board Report info., etc. Feel free to contact us to share any reflections, suggestions, etc. Thanks-- -Spring Sports (Track & Golf) begin 3/16/2010! -Athletic Summer Camps- I would love to see St. Regis offer Summer BB and FB camps for our student/athletes. I am working with our Athletic Director, Mrs. Feasel, to try and have these offerings in place for summer. We are eager to build on the positives within our programs and to help our players further develop solid basic skills to help take them to their next level. We are eager to help our athletes be their best—summer camps would really help. (More info. will follow this spring and early summer). -Adult Education Yoga Class (incorporating Aerobics) is scheduled to begin 3/3/2010. You may contact Dustin Feasel, Coordinator at 649-2311 to enroll. Course will run once a week for six weeks. Course fee is just $2 per session. (Open to School District residents—sign up, participate, and bring a friend!). -Radio Station- I am gradually pulling information and resources together that will allow us to “broadcast” school events from our campus. This is a methodical process, and I will keep you updated. -Centennial Planning Committee- Continues to meet and plan for the July 4th weekend activities! If you wish to participate in planning, just give us a call. *A
new Flag Pole with a Time Capsule is being planned for via donations for
our FB field. -School Budget development for 2010/11- We are gradually working in to this school year cycle. We anticipate only modest adjustments for any increased costs for utilities and reasonable cost of living increase for our dedicated teachers. Staffing levels will remain about the same for next year. We are awaiting new premium prices for Health Insurance (staff pays a portion of their premiums with the District paying a portion). We continue to “supplement” our school district services through grant funds all we can. -Teachers Contract for 2010/11- Our Board will begin contract talks with our teaching staff in late March. As our school year has been positive and cordial, we look forward to positive, productive, and timely negotiations. -Facilities- We will be putting out Bids to have our exterior Stucco trim cleaned, primed, and painted this summer. We are also planning to re-paint our Locker Rooms and are researching different flooring options (re.- tile, spray on finish, other tbd). Plans are also in place to replace the HS entry doors with Aluminum doors to match the rest of our buildings. *We are working with our Maintenance staff and students to help keep our campus and adjoining neighborhood areas litter free! You will see our Tiger Pride evidenced through a very sharp campus and adjoining neighborhood areas!. Thank you for your interest in and support of our St. Regis School District. We have SO much to be proud of! Our students receive the care and attention generally only found in very expensive private schools due to our wonderful class sizes (teacher/student ratio). If you wish to volunteer in our schools, please contact us and we will strive to match your skills to one or more of our school activities. It continues to be a privilege to serve you all. I look forward to continued years of service working for you and with you and with Staff and Board members on behalf of our students and communities. Have a good end of winter and start to your spring! We have a great and very unique school District; together we can continue to make it better and better! Sincerely, Patrick C. Low, Ed. S.
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