St. Regis Schools

90 Tiger Street

PO Box 280

St. Regis, MT 59866

406-649-2311

1/3/2012

Dear Parents & Students;

Subject:   School District News update for start of 2012

The following information is shared with you to keep you informed regarding the very numerous continuous school improvement initiatives underway as we complete 1^st Semester on 1/13/2012 and start our second half of the school year. 

Art/Crafts for K-5^th grade/21^st Century After School Program- now available ec. Wednesday.

Art Club for 6^th-12^th grade- Sign-up sheets are available in our main office.   We would like to begin monthly activities, starting this month.   Information will be available to students via morning announcements in the cafeteria.

Project Lead the Way-  On 12/23/2011 I submitted our district’s budget proposal to Mineral County Hospital as they seek grant funding through the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN to fund a Bio-Medical/Health Sciences training and Work-Study initiative.   The vision is to provide our interested 9^th-12^th grade students with a four year course of study to prepare them for excellent employment in the Health Sciences field.   This effort is also being partnered with Mineral Cty. Health Dept., other county school districts that may wish to participate, and are legislators.   Our goal is to roll out this program for our 2012/13 school year, dependent upon grant funding.    I will keep you posted as we work through this process.   Our many thanks to Mineral Cty. Hospital (Mr. George Bailey and Mr. Steve Carty) and to Mineral Cty. Health Dept. (Mrs. Barb Jasper) for working with us regarding this initiative.

Bio-Mass heating boilers for our schools- I have invited Mr. Michael Oswald, President of Precision Energy Services, Inc. of Hayden, ID to make a presentation to our school board at our meeting on 1/11/2012 regarding the feasibility of transitioning to wood-pellet heating boilers.   We would be seeking grant funding for such work.   (Transitioning away from propane could be a considerable

savings  to our district). 

Technology News:

                -Our District is investing in IPads, one for each of our teachers, to enhance their capability

                to differentiate instruction and to impart technology skills to our students.  The IPads will

                arrive for teachers this month, with training to be provided periodically through 5/2012

                to help support this initiative.  (Funding is being provided through the National Title I Award

                monies awarded to our District earlier this school year).

                -Mrs. West, JH/SH Science teacher, and Mr. LaBrie, JH./HS Social Studies teacher have

                requested fifteen IPads each for use with their students during each class period of the day.

                Their request has been supported by Administration and the Board.   The units were ordered

                prior to Christmas break and will arrive in early January.  (Funding is being provided from the

                Student Restitution fund). 

                -We are completing an audit of our technology infrastructure via Black Mountain Communi-

                cations, free of charge.   The audit findings will be a great resource for us as we strive to

                be current with our technology hardware and software and ability to train our students with

                current/viable resources.    (Our thanks to Mr. Kern Wilson, Technology Coordinator).

Grant application updates:

                -The grant request we submitted to fund half the purchase of a new school bus for our

                District has been denied.   7 of 21 applications in the state were recently funded, generally

                to districts with larger rider-ship population.   (We will be alert for any future opportunities

                and will continue to apply)

                -Quality Schools Facilities Planning grant- this application was submitted on time during 8/2011.

                Districts across the state of MT continue to wait for outcome information, as do we.   I called

                again during vacation to inquire yet again.   Applications are still being reviewed.

                -Project Lead the Way- please see page one

Science Curriculum Review work:

                -We plan to conclude our review work during January and February and to bring recommenda-

                tions to our Board for updated textbooks and curriculum supplies by spring for our 2012/13

                school year.   Christine Kuschel, Director of the Missoula Cty. Curriculum Consortium, with

                whom we participate, has been helping to facilitate this important work.

-JH Girls Basketball season begins the Week of 1/2/2012—Go Tigers!

-Completion of 1^st Semester is 1/13/2012—congratulations!

-Job Posting:

                -We have received and accepted the resignation of our present Business Education teacher,

                effective 1/13/2012.   The position is posted via the MT OPI site.   Our thanks to Mr. Schmidt

                for his service to our district first semester.

                -Maintenance Director post- we will begin  interviewing candidates during the second half of

                January and may well have a recommendation for our Board in February.   (My thanks to

Mr. Strate/Custodian and our team of Substitutes for keeping our facilities safe and looking good this fall and winter).

We continue to post a great deal of information for you to our school website at www.stregisschool.org.

Attached please find our school District Activities Calendar for January, 2012, our School Meals/Cafeteria information for January, and a Student Aide/FAFSA webinar notice.   I continue to share our Weekly Student Activities listing with the Mineral Independent newspaper for sharing with county readers each Wednesday.   We also continue to encourage coverage of our numerous school events through the newspaper.    I trust the information contained within this newsletter is  helpful to you.   My thanks to Principal Demien, our Teachers and Support Staff, and our School Board for their on-going teamwork to deliver quality education opportunities to each of our students every day.   Feel free to contact us as we may be helpful to you.  

Respectfully shared,

Patrick C. Low, Ed. S., Superintendent