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December 5, 2007
Dear Parents,
I would like to extend a warm and heartfelt greeting to all of our families
during this holiday season. My thoughts and best wishes are with you as you
gather with family and friends during this time.
This time of year provides an opportunity to review our first half of the
school year and to look ahead to the many things we would like to accomplish
for the remaining months of the year. In doing so I would like to update you
on some of the progress and projects yet to come.
The School Accountability Committee has spent a great deal of time working
on our “School Improvement Plan” (SIP) and corresponding school goals. This
group is comprised of parents, students, staff and administration. Our
original three year goals were established in 2005-2006 by this group. Each
year the group reviews progress on these goals and then identifies the
corresponding strategies, action plan items, success indicators and
professional development identified to reach the goals for that year. Once
finalized the SIP is presented to the District Accountability Committee
(DAC) and then to the Steamboat Springs School Board for approval. You can
view our SIP, with our corresponding building and department goals on my
website at:
http://teacherweb.com/co/sshs/Knez/
We held our inaugural “Parent Academy” in November. The event was an
overwhelming success with close to ninety parents in attendance, which
represented a cross section of our school community. Susan Good provided an
interactive workshop on “Love and Logic for your high school student”. The
idea of a “Parent Academy” arose last spring and the counseling department
at the high school along with the administration has been working since then
to develop this concept. After reviewing data from the Asset survey, taken
by students in 2005, surveying parents at back to school night and meeting
with an advisory group of parents a set of beliefs were established to guide
our plans. These include:
*We believe that an asset rich community increases resiliency in youth and
empowers them to become caring, responsible adults.
*We believe in creating mutually supportive relationships between the
school, parents and community.
*We believe that the partnership between youth, home, school, community and
neighborhood will influence decisions young people make.
*We believe that there are skills that empower parents to have meaningful
relationships with their children.
With these beliefs in mind a list of potential topics were developed and
potential contacts identified. We have planned for three more “Academies”
throughout the year.
Janurary 15-Adolecent brain development. What is normal and how to recognize
when your child is in trouble and then where do you turn?
March 11-Stress-how do you handle stress, and how do you support your child
when they become stressed?
May 6-Communicating to your son or daughter.
Please look for additional information on these in upcoming newsletters.
The curriculum committee is beginning the process to look at new course
proposals for the 2007-2008 school year. We will be reviewing additions,
deletions and course changes over the next few months in order to have any
changes ready for students as they participate in the registration process
for the 2007-2008 school year, that will begin in February.
The curriculum committee is also beginning the process to conduct a review
of the high school block schedule. The committee is in the initial stages of
the process to examine the essential question of “What is the best schedule
for the high school?” The group has established a tentative process of how
this might be undertaken. The topic of block scheduling will certainly bring
up strong emotions and beliefs from many groups. There are many different
types of schedules in existence across the country with conflicting research
on the effectiveness of the variety of schedules in place. It is the
committees’ responsibility to evaluate all information and then determine
what schedule meets the needs of the vast majority of our students at SSHS.
Stay tuned for future updates on this issue.
Finally, I would invite you to join us at the high school over the next few
weeks to support our students in a wide range of performances. Many of our
athletic teams will be taking to the courts and ice, and both our choir and
band have their annual holiday performances. Also, the dance showcase is
gearing up for their performance at the end of January
I wish everyone a safe, restful and joyous, holiday season and look forward
to our continued communication in 2008!
Respectfully yours,
K. Michael Knezevich
Principal SSHS
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