March 17, 1997
Volume 3, No. 5
Spring break is March 24-28. Sorry, no school.
At its meeting on March 17, beginning at 7 PM in the library, the Summit Board of Directors will begin considering the possible coordination of class times with Southern Hills for the next school year. The Board is entirely open minded on this issue and requests input from the Summit community. It will possibly be voted upon on March 31 (no meeting March 24). To help stimulate your thoughts, Board member Hunter McDaniel has summarized several possible advantages and disadvantages. See the article, "Schedule Coordination: Pros and Cons," in this issue of Summit News.
The March 1 deadline has passed and Summit yearbook prices have gone up to $15 (from $12). There are a few reservations left on a first-come, first-served basis. Write, on an envelope, your student's name, the number of copies ordered, and the total amount (at $15 each). Enclose a check payable to Summit Middle School, and deposit the envelope in the specially marked box in the Summit office.
The Summit drama class will present two performances of Peter Pan on Friday, March 21. The first will be during school, 1:15-3:05 PM. The second will be 7-9 PM. Parents are welcome in the afternoon if they cannot make it to the evening performance. Voluntary donations of $1 per person will be accepted at the door.
Director Ms. Hutton needs parent back-stage helpers the following dates and times: March 17-19, 3-5 PM, and March 21, 9 AM - 3 PM and 6:30-9:00 PM. Parents will help with back-stage supervision, costumes, and make-up.
The Challenge Foundation has awarded Summit a 1997 grant of $100,000 for curriculum development, textbooks, and computers. In its award letter, the Foundation notes, "Your . . . success in developing a potentially `world class' model school continues to be impressive."
The Summit Board is deeply appreciative of the honor and responsibility conveyed with this award.
Elections will be held the first week in April for three two-year positions on the Summit Board. Anyone interested in running should contact Sally Benjamin on the nominating committee, 530-4354, by March 20.
Physical education, health, and time management teacher Kirk Adams was appointed Acting Principal by the Summit Board of Directors on March 3. Mr. Adams is held in high regard by the Summit students and faculty. He has authority over disciplinary matters at the school, supervises the office staff and faculty, and serves as Summit's liaison with Southern Hills. Ms. Julie White has been hired to take over Mr. Adams' classes this semester.
There are openings for two students in the Broomfield car pool. Call Ren or Pepper Anderson, 469-4354.
Have you not helped out at Summit in a while? Is your conscience bothering you? March and April are spring cleaning months at Summit, and we need several helpers and handypersons. A variety of times and dates are available for volunteers. Call Joan Harig, 466-1464.
Eighth-grade parents interested in organizing the Summit graduation ceremony and associated festivities, please call Linda Cowan, 543-7433.
Please update your emergency contact cards in the Summit office. Call 499-9511.
On Friday, May 2, 5:30 to 8:30 PM, French students will enjoy an authentic French dinner. Information will be sent to parents in April. Mme. Hanckel is recruiting native French speakers to cook and serve. If you know of likely candidates, please call 441-4546, press 2950#, and leave a message.
The first annual Summit Science Fair was held on March 4 and 5. Judging took place on March 4, with an awards ceremony and public viewing in the evening. On March 5, science teachers took their classes to view the exhibits, where students explained their projects to their peers. The district fair followed on March 7 and 8.
Eight students represented Summit at the Boulder Valley District Science Fair: Jesse Bartley (Ocean Breezes), Malorie Dusenbery (Temperature and Oxygen in Chemiluminescence Reactions), Ben Gilman and Antti Koivuniemi (Demonstration of Bacterial Transformation through Plasmid Insertion or How the E. Coli Changed Its "Jeans"), Davis Hart (Modeling Elephant Communication), Robert Lee (Not Seeing but Believing Anyway), Jennifer McKibbin (What Birds Eat), Amy Motomura (Focus Pocus: The Mysteries of Vision), and Matt Smith (Augmented Real Time Stereoscopic Vision). The four alternative students selected were Blake Caldwell, Aaron Johnson, Marissa Vosper, and Laura Scrimgeour.
At the District competition, honors awards were given to Jesse Bartley, Davis Hart, Robert Lee, and Amy Motomura. In addition, Robert Lee was recognized by the Colorado Welding Instructors Association with a savings bond. Ben Gilman and Antti Koivuniemi were among the students selected to represent the district at the State Science Fair in Fort Collins on April 10-12. Ben and Antti also were awarded the McDonald's Challenge 2000 Award. A plaque will be presented to the school in their honor for "Excellence in Science."
Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Science Fair. Each participant did a commendable job. The Summit community takes pride in your hard work and scientific thought.
Many community members helped make the Summit Science Fair a success. Of the 23 judges who took time out of their day, five were Summit parents: Christine Caldwell, David Clark, Cyndi Goldfarb, John Hart, and Scott Smith. Ron Goldfarb coordinated the judging, and Linda Cowan coordinated the logistics.
Volunteers included Cynthia Anderson, Sally Benjamin, Susan Bruggeman, Dave Crocker, Amy Davis, Laurie Grassman, Dr. Guinn, Brian Hansen, Judy Hart, Barbry Hogue, Lianhua Ji, Melody Johnson, Dr. Keen, Chris King, Lea Kovac, Tom Mahowald, Susan Prentice, Susan Rasmussen, Dr. Sikora, and Deborah Vink. Several students helped set up and break down the tables.
A total of 112 students participated in the Summit Science Fair. We sent eight students to the district fair, rather than five as originally planned, thanks to the efforts of Melody Johnson, who convinced the district organizers that Summit actually had 250 students enrolled, not 150.
Mark your calendar for another spectacular Summit music concert: April 3, 7 PM, in the auditorium.
Maestro Bill Burkhart has agreed to direct an intergenerational choir of Summit students, faculty, and parents. If the thought of sharing some great music with members of the Summit community under the leadership of a master director appeals to you, plan to attend the first meeting on Tuesday, April 1 (no fooling!), at Summit, 4-5 PM. The location will be posted on the bulletin board outside the Summit office. For more information, or to express your interest, contact Christa Kastner, 469-4034, cdkastner@aol.com.
The Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) will be administered to all Summit students in April. The name of this new CTBS assessment series is Terra Nova. The test will cover reading/language arts (English), mathematics, science, and social studies.
The reading/language-arts test measures skills such as reading comprehension, language expression, vocabulary, and reference skills. These skills are integrated in one test. It is divided into two parts, both lasting 50 minutes.
The mathematics section allows students to take different paths to problem solutions. The test will begin with computation and estimation, followed by a variety of applications. Many of these math questions will involve critical thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. This test is in two sections, 15 minutes and 55 minutes long.
The science test covers physical science, life science, earth science, and space science. Students will be tested on their ability to evaluate and interpret data, formulate hypotheses, and predict outcomes with information provided in each question. This section will take approximately 40 minutes.
The social studies test emphasizes relationships among history, geography, civics, and economics. The test includes a number of authentic sources, such as political cartoons, photographs, posters, and diary entries. Students will be asked to analyze, assess, and apply information in a critical way. This section will take approximately 40 minutes.
The CTBS Terra Nova is a brand new test series. Norming studies were conducted in the winter, spring, and fall of 1996. The representative national sample was taken from grades K - 12. The public school sample was collected by geographic region, community type (urban, suburban, rural), district size area, and socio-economic status.
Dates for the CTBS testing will be announced later. If you have any questions regarding the CTBS, please contact Counselor Corky Strong at 447-5529.
The media center will have a buy-one-get-one-free book fair on March 19 and 20, 3:30 to 8:30 PM, during Southern Hills' parent-teacher conferences.
Some people do not realize that many capable students and gifted students have unique learning styles that require special strategies. Summit participates fully in the district's special education program to meet the needs of these students.
I work with special education students in two ways. I teach them compensatory strategies to use in the classroom, such as note taking or focusing skills. I also work individually with students on specific remedial areas such as writing or reading.
I help in two classes at Summit. That keeps me up to date on what is going on in class, which allows me to help my students stay on track. While in the classroom, I help other students who might be having difficulty with the material.
Sometimes teachers have concerns about specific students in their classes. Every Thursday at noon, the faculty meets and discusses techniques and interventions that might work best with a student. Sometimes a special education evaluation is indicated. If so, after parents sign a permission form, we give the student routine tests to determine if he or she would benefit from special education services. After the tests, we have a "staffing" to go over the results with parents to get a clearer picture of how the student learns best and what we can do to meet the student's needs.
For each special education student, we have an annual review with parents and teachers to plan for the following school year.
I discuss below several advantages and disadvantages of schedule coordination between Summit and Southern Hills. My assumption for this exercise is that Summit would have seven periods of 48 minutes, and would retain a separate lunch period. Southern Hills' proposal for an eight-period day of 46 minutes each period can be discussed on its own merits if we first decide that coordination is advantageous. Sharing lunch is likewise a separable issue.
The order of the items I have listed does not indicate their priority, nor does the number of advantages/disadvantages indicate their relative weight. The intent of this list is to facilitate discussion on exactly those issues.
Summit presented its annual report to the Boulder Valley Board of Education at the end of February. Copies are available to parents upon request. Call 499-9511 to reserve a copy.
Would you like to host a Japanese student in your home from July 21 to August 11? Twenty five high-school girls will come to Boulder to learn about our customs and culture while staying with host families. They will attend a program of classes and excursions from 8:30 AM to 5 PM weekdays on the University of Colorado campus.
Interested? Call Joy Weinstein, 442-3112. She is also looking for homes for students from Europe for three- to six-week periods during the summer.
A mind-set is a terrible thing to waste. The establishment mind-set views schools from the perspective of the providers of education rather than that of the consumers, from the perspective of administrators and teachers rather than that of parents and students. It should not be surprising, but it is, when a school board member makes reference to a principal's school, or when an editorialist writes, "A midyear departure of a principal at any school creates utter chaos."
Excuse me? Summit is not any school, certainly not in terms of its governance. Summit is governed by its parents through its elected Board of Directors. The Board of Directors sets policy; the principal administers the policy. If the relationship does not work out, the principal leaves, as sometimes happens in charter schools. "Utter chaos"? Hardly. The departure of a principal is announced at one student assembly, and, several days later, an acting principal is introduced at another assembly.
There were some distressed telephone calls to the Summit office in recent weeks. However, they were from disappointed parents whose students were not admitted for the 1997-98 school year owing to Summit's enrollment cap. Those parents will not be sharing in the celebrative champagne provided to Southern Hills' administrators by a "mediatory" school board member after Summit's request for a 50-student expansion was denied. (She subsequently apologized for the champagne.)
The coincidence of expansion request and principal resignation was awkward indeed for Summit, and made for much local newspaper coverage. As one who regularly attends Summit's Board meetings, I can report that, contrary to speculation by the Daily Camera's editorialist, until shortly before his resignation, there was no disagreement between Mr. Haas and the Summit Board about the desirability of an expansion to help accommodate student demand. A difference was that Mr. Haas wished for a 125-student expansion, whereas the Board believed that a modest 50-student expansion was both reasonable and achievable on the Southern Hills site.
I believe that Summit, in its first year, is providing an educational experience for almost all of its students that is unsurpassed in this district's public and private middle schools. Summit plans to do even better in its second year. Stay tuned.