March 16, 2000
Volume 9, No. 5
Every year approximately half of the seven seats on the Summit Board of Directors come up for election. This year seven candidates will be running for four seats. Of the seven candidates, three are running for reelection: Jim Cederberg, Chris Howard and Hunter McDaniel. Four are new: Tom Jarmon, Betsy Phelan, Randy Reims and Cynthia Scott.
To help parents get to know the candidates, we have asked them to answer four key questions. Their responses are included as an insert in this newsletter. There also will be a roundtable discussion with all the candidates on Wednesday, March 22, from 7:00 - 8:30 PM in classroom #4 at Summit. Everyone in the Summit community is invited to attend this forum. Remember, this is your school!
Come to the forum, read the candidate interviews, and above all REMEMBER TO VOTE BEFORE APRIL 7.
The CTBS is scheduled for the week of April 10 through 14. Please do not plan vacations or doctor appointments during school hours on these days. Students should make a special effort to get a good breakfast and a good night's sleep each day that week.
Summit's 1999-2000 Annual Report may be downloaded from Summit's website, http://bcn.boulder.co.us/univ_school/summit/, in PDF format. Hard copies are available in the Summit office.
A big thanks to the 89 families who have responded so generously to this year's fund drive. If everyone is as generous as these first responders, we will have no trouble reaching our goal of $45,000. If you haven't done so, please take the time to fill out your donor card and make your contribution.
With the ebb and flow in the stock market, an increasing number of families are making gifts of stock to Tools for Learning. According to Janet Christensen, fundraising chairwoman for Summit, there are several advantages in giving stock. "If you have an appreciated stock and sell it," she explained, "you will pay capital gains tax. If you give it to Summit, however, you pay no tax AND gain a charitable deduction." Tools for Learning can accept stock as well as shares in mutual funds. To make such a gift, call Janet at 303-499-5786.
However you give, we hope you can do your part to keep Summit strong. Tools for Learning dollars help pay teachers' salaries, provide materials for labs, put books in classrooms, and greatly assist our extracurricular programs. Every child at Summit benefits from Tools for Learning, and every family should do their part.
It is with deepest regret that the Summit Board accepts the resignation of Mr. Ray Mueller, effective at the end of March. Mr. Mueller has taught math, computer programming, applied tech and philosophy classes and has provided all-around tech support at Summit since the spring of 1997.
As difficult as it is to have a teacher leave in mid-term, the Summit Hiring Committee is busy interviewing potential candidates for the interim teaching positions to cover Mr. Mueller's classes for the rest of the school year. By the time you're reading this, the committee hopes to have candidate interviews completed and to have made hiring recommendations to the Summit Board. Mr. Mueller has generously offered to spend time with the new teachers before spring break, to ease the transition for the new teachers and our students.
Mr. Mueller has accepted a position with a private company in the Boulder area, and we wish him every success and much happiness in his new job and future endeavors. He has enlivened and enriched our Summit community immeasurably, and he will be greatly missed by his students, their parents, and his colleagues on the Summit staff.
Information from the parent, staff, student and alumni 1999-2000 satisfaction surveys has now been compiled and summarized for presentation by the AAA Committee to the Summit Board. Overall satisfaction rates and specific comments from all corners of our Summit community are extremely positive!
The survey responses you've given to the AAA Committee and to the Summit Board are invaluable as we take a careful and analytical look at all aspects of Summit's program. The information you provide is especially taken into account as the Board reviews teacher evaluations, student placement at Summit and in high school, Summit core classes and elective classes, extracurricular activities and our policies and procedures. Any "red flags" are specifically noted, and changes or revisions based on the feedback we get can be implemented as soon as possible.
Special thanks to these parents and staff members, whose terrific help made the compilation and analysis of survey results possible: Amanda Avallone, Audrey Block, Bernie Grove, Molly Heins, Barbry Hogue, Kathy Reims, Suzanne Taborsky-Barba, Roxy Walker, and Cathy Woods. If you have specific questions about any portion of the surveys, please contact a Summit Board member.
We're also pleased to announce the winner of the parent satisfaction survey submission raffle! The raffle was effective, as it enticed several more of you to complete and return surveys this year than last year. The raffle winner of a gift certificate for the Chautauqua Dining Hall, compliments of the Summit Board, is Issy Kilbride! Thanks to everyone who took the time to complete the surveys and give us your candid feedback.
Ms. Stough thanks students (and parents!) for preparing such delectable dishes for all of us to try from Spanish-speaking countries! We enjoyed main courses, soups, desserts, and beverages! ¡Buen provecho!
It has been a great year for the counseling department at Summit, to a large extent because of the amazing efforts of parent volunteers! Their enthusiasm, support, and willingness to do whatever is needed have made it a joy to be at Summit, and possible to accomplish more than ever for kids.
Laura Spalding co-sponsored the Ambassadors Club with Ms. Bartley this year. Assistance was also provided by Renee Von Roenn and Roxy Walker. These volunteers provided refreshments and helped run Ambassador's club meetings and the three shadow days that were held in February. A number of parent volunteers also helped with our monthly school tours, including Carol Dreselly-Thomas, Cindy Smith, Marion Rothschild, Mary Carole Smartt and Roxy Walker. During schedule changing season at the start of the school year and at the semester break, Mary Carole Smartt and Carol Dreselly-Thomas helped with filing and getting new schedules to students.
With great innovation and dedication, Marjorie Riksheim took on the first-time project of creating a database for all of our teachers to use in making course recommendations for our eighth graders at their high schools for next year. She also put together individualized informational booklets for our teachers to use during the high school registration process that describe the course offerings at each high school relevant to the teacher's department. This project allows us to track Summit course recommendations for future reference and for improving the high school articulation process. Many thanks to Marjorie, we couldn't have done it without you!
I would also like to thank Linda Parkhill, who has kept newsletter articles going that keep parents up-to-date about schedule changes, school tours, the high school registration process, and all of the other events we have held this year. Linda's hard work on the newsletter has been vital to the success of the counseling program, as well as to all of Summit.
To all of those who helped out this year, and to those I might not have mentioned, I send my heartfelt thanks. It has been a pleasure to work with you, and you have made a difference at Summit!
Congratulations to our Summit students, who did a marvelous job at the Boulder Valley Science Fair last weekend. The Boulder Valley Regional Science Fair was held on Friday, March 10 and Saturday, March 11 at Centaurus High School in Lafayette. Summit was well represented by fifteen well prepared and somewhat nervous students. They all had a wonderful time during the Fair, as well as at the pizza party afterwards.
The following students represented Summit at the Boulder Regional Science Fair:
A Boulder Valley committee selected 7 senior and 10 junior projects to represent the district at the Colorado State Science and Engineering Fair on April 13-15 in Fort Collins. Seven of the 10 junior projects were from Summit:
Also Katherine Hermann, a Southern Hills student, who is currently taking language arts at Summit, will be among the ten projects competing in Fort Collins.
In addition, many of our students received Special Awards, local as well as national, varying from savings bonds and T-shirts, to graphing calculators:
Congratulations to these fine scientists and mathematicians, and good luck in Fort Collins!
The following students received A's in at least all five of their core classes for the 1st semester: Genevieve Aguilar, Lindsay Bailey, Katheryn Baker, Alexandra Barba, Galen Bascom, Kaitlin Beall, Daniel Beylkin, Charles Bogenberger, Jessica Boulet, Hildur Boylston, Lisa Brownstone, Maxwell Carey, Terence Cudney. Corinne D'Ippolito, Laura D'Ippolito, Miranda Daigle, Jason Eckstein, Christopher Evans, Sarah Evans, Joy Fest, Tyler Fox, Paul Franz, Alessandra Fuhrman, Kent Gonzales, Ryan Hamerly, Greer Hansen, Eric Hansford, Thatcher Heumann, Brittany Horlbeck, Cassie Houtz, Andrew Jarmon, Aviva Johnson, Jess Johnson, Cari Jones, Joshua Karpel, Sara Klymkowsky, Anna Lindemann, Jasper Lipton, Ross Logan, George London, Vivian Lu, Parag Mahajan, Linden Majack, Linden Manley, Heather McDaniel, Mara Meaney-Ervin, Stacy Metzger, James Norton, Evan O'Loughlin, Dana Oppenheimer, Eric Pahlke, Galen Pahlke, Clark Patton, Heather Perry, Colin Peterson, Allison Reid, Paul Reynolds, Alana Riksheim, Madeline Rovira, Aban Siraj, Caroline Smartt, Elise Smith, Erica Smith, Layla Smith, Tove Smith, Marek Sotola, Meredith Strauss, Halley Theodore, Laura Tippit, Vani Vivekanandan, Lauren Von Roenn, Alex Wang, Victoria Webster, Emilyanne Weigel, Steven Wilson, Tracy Wilson, Ashley Witt, Alisa Yamasaki.
Aviva Johnson will represent Summit at the Regional Spelling Bee in April. Chris Dole placed second and Adam Petherbridge placed third. The other finalists were Jason Greene, Joy Fest, Tyler Damon, Alan DeGrand, Kristyna Chaps, Josh Volkman, David Eason, Elsbeth Rozanski, Jessi Boulet, Galen Bascom, and James Swirhun.
On March 16, the entire sixth grade class has been invited to attend a special performance of Act II of Mozart's greatest comic opera, Le Nozze di Figaro ("The Marriage of Figaro"). This is an exciting opportunity to hear and see live opera. Mr. Burkhart will be giving presentations in sixth grade classes about the historical importance of this revolutionary story, based on the Beaumarchais play which satirized the aristocracy and fed (or fed upon) the revolutionary fervor of the late 18th century.
Wendy Blakemore, one of our wonderful Spanish teachers, has received a Target Teachers Scholarship to attend a Spanish Immersion Workshop for Teachers for a week this summer. Target provides one scholarship per region, allowing teachers to further their professional development. This workshop is offered through the Concordia Language Villages (CLV) and it accepts only 15 teachers per session (once a year). The class provides advanced training in immersion techniques for the classroom and is conducted completely in Spanish. Time is spent at Bemidji State University, as well as at the Spanish Language Village.
As a previous article in Summit News noted, the Concordia Language Villages provide summer camp sessions in 12 world languages for ages 7 - 18, along with Credit Sessions both at the villages and abroad for high school and college students. Through the village experience, CLV's mission is to prepare young people for responsible citizenship in the global community. Language opportunities range from Swedish and Norwegian, to Japanese and Chinese, to Spanish and German, and even English for students from abroad! Ms. Blakemore's two children each have attended CLV for five years, and she has taught at the Spanish village for two summers. She would be pleased to chat with anyone who thinks they might enjoy the world language camp experience. Contact her through Summit or at home at (303) 530-7173.
A public forum meeting has been scheduled for March 22, 5:30-6:30 PM in the Library Conference Room, Education Center, 6500 E. Arapahoe Road. Parents and community members are invited to attend and provide input as the proposed policy change is finalized before being submitted to the School Board for adoption. Although Summit has its own TAG policy, parents with students in other schools may be interested in this meeting.
Students are invited to participate in the Tattered Cover Bookstore's Young Poet's Writing Challenge. Poems may be of any length and on any topic. Each winner will receive a $15 book token and a chance to read their winning poem in an awards ceremony on April 29 in the LoDo Tattered Cover store. A book containing all of the winning poems will be assembled for the winners to keep. The deadline is Friday, April 14.
If you prefer prose, consider enetering the Young Writer's Short Story Contest. Short stories should be between 500 and 1,000 words (excluding articles and contractions) and the setting must be the Tattered Cover Book Store. A first, second and third place winner will be chosen from the 7th/8th grade, 9th/10th grade, and 11th/12th grade groups. Winners will receive book tokens ($50, $40, and $30 respectively) and a chance to read their stories at a winners' party on May 27. The deadline is Friday, May 12.
Ask Ms. Lenz, Mr. McGarrity and Ms. Avallone for application forms. Call Samantha Bennett at the Tattered Cover, 303-322-1965 x 2737 with any questions.
Peak to Peak Charter School is now accepting applications for Elementary Principal and Elementary Teachers. Go to http://www.users.uswest.net/~kdrummond/Peak2PeakIndex.htm to view job descriptions, instructions, the application, and background information. If you are interested, please submit your application as soon as possible, as interviews will begin in mid-March. Watch this web site for additional information on specialist teachers and office staff. Call Janet Christensen at 303-499-5786 with any questions.
The Media Center is sponsoring a Scholastic Books "Buy One - Get One Free" Book Fair on March 23 and 24 from 3:30 to 6:30 PM, in the gymnasium. This is an excellent opportunity to get reading materials for your child to read during spring break. We hope to see you all there and thanks for your support in the past.
The Parent Professional Partnership is a BVSD program for special needs students. Upcoming forums include:
For additional information, contact Kathy McBride at 303-447-5176 or 303-499-4781.
http://bcn.boulder.co.us/univ_school/summit/
The next deadline for Summit News is April 3. Articles may be sent to LDParkhill@aol, or left in the box in the staff workroom.