November 23, 2001
Volume 12, No. 8
The Boulder Valley Rotary Club sponsors the Coats for Kids/Share a Coat drive. There is a box at Summit for donations of youth and adult size coats. They will be picked up November 29 to be given to needy families in the Boulder Valley School District.
This year, BVSD open enrollment begins November 26 and ends January 18. Students who are considering attending a school other than their neighborhood high school will need to obtain an open enrollment application and submit it to the Boulder Valley School District Open Enrollment Office during the open enrollment period. Students who plan to attend their neighborhood schools do not need to submit an open enrollment application, and will simply register at their high schools in the spring.
Now is the time to make sure you know the name of your student's attendance area (neighborhood) high school. If you do not, you may call the BVSD transportation department at 303-447-5125 to determine this.
This week, Ms. Bartley will visit all 8th grade Social Studies classes to discuss high school options and the open enrollment process. At that time, she will also provide information on high school information nights and other opportunities to visit area high schools. Students and parents are strongly encouraged to attend the evening programs listed below. Events are held at the individual high schools.
Boulder High School - On January 10, Boulder High will offer its "BHS Showcase" program from 7 to 8:15 pm in the auditorium to discuss opportunities for students who are considering attending Boulder High. On November 27, from 6:30 to 9 pm, Boulder High will host an evening program to inform students about the Advanced Placement Course (AP) Focus Program, and to discuss the AP courses to be offered. For more information about these programs, contact Eileen Calaway at 303-442-2430.
Broomfield High School - December 3 at 7 pm in the library at Broomfield High School. For more information, contact Paulette Laging at 303-447-5376.
Centaurus High School - December 5 at 6 pm. For more information, contact Anna Hurley at 303-665-9211.
Fairview High School - On December 4, Fairview will host a general information night in the auditorium at 7 pm. On December 6 at 7 pm, Fairview High will present "Is IB for Me?" This will be an informative presentation for students and parents interested in learning about the Pre-International Baccalaureate (PIB) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs. For more information about these programs, contact Jenny McCarthy at 303-499-7600.
Monarch High School - November 28 from 7 to 8:30 pm in the Monarch High School auditorium. Informational events will also be held from 9 to 10:30 am on November 27, 29, and 30 in room #L107. For more information, contact Jackie Hendricks at 303-665-5888.
New Vista High School - December 3 and 11, and January 10, from 7 to 8:30 pm. Events will also be held from 9 to 10:45 am on November 27 and 29, December 4, 6, 11, 13, and 18, and January 8, 10, 15, and 17. In addition, events will be held from 1:15 to 3:05 pm on December 4 and 13, and January 8, 10, 15, and 17. For more information, contact Diane McKnight at 303-447-5401.
Peak to Peak Charter School - A high school program information nights will be held on Wednesday, December 5, from 7 to 8:30 pm. For further information, you may visit the Peak-to-Peak web site at <www.peaktopeak.org>, or call Chris Howard at 303-673-0978.
The principal reported that the first round of teacher observations is successfully completed. Several ideas were presented to the Board for uses of Tools for Learning funds and the $10,000 CDE grant. Actual allocations will be made at the next Board meeting. Future dates for consideration of Tools for Learning allocations will be February 1, May 15, and October 15. There was a discussion of options for creating Summit's schedule, using either our current process with a scheduling program specific to Summit's needs or the district's SASI system. There will be more consideration of options, with a decision deferred to later in the school year.
The Board will invite Amy Anderson, independent charter school consultant, to facilitate the mid-year Board retreat in January. She would work with the Board again at the Colorado League of Charter Schools retreat in May. Mr. Finell has enlisted the help of Chris King, Assistant Superintendent, in confirming a suitable venue and dates for the spring musical - proposed to be South Pacific. With investigation of more information about disclaimers regarding student travel, the Board will develop a policy that applies for Summit.
Work continues on documenting finance office procedures and creating monthly financial statements for the Board and principal. The Tools for Learning letter will be mailed this week. As a "mini fundraiser", the Board OK'd selling Boulder Bookstore gift certificates for personal use or to support purchase of books for the Summit library. In consultation with Jeremy Karpatkin, Summit parent, the Board has developed a plan and guidelines for public relations and media opportunities. The annual North Central Accreditation and CDE charter schools survey forms were submitted on time. The Board looks forward to math department recommendations regarding placement determination and alignment of math courses. Last but not least, the Board took time to recognize and honor Board member Betsy Phelan for successful completion of her Ph.D. degree.
All regular Summit Board meetings are public meetings and we invite members of our community to attend at any time. Remaining meetings during the first semester will be held on December 3 and 17, and January 8 and 22. Meetings begin at 6:30 pm and are held in Summit's library unless otherwise noted.
World History thanks Mrs. Allen (Aaron's mom) for coordinating our Egypt festival. We thank all the parents who cooked and baked delicious Middle Eastern and African foods, served all day in each class and listened to students present the Egyptian News! Thanks also to parents who sewed and painted magnificent Egyptian costumes!
Special thanks also to all the parents who came in to create shadow boxes, made pounds of salt dough, and helped us build the Nile over 130 times on October 26! The finished projects are beautiful, and a benchmark of understanding why the Nile flows south to north has been accomplished!! Thanks especially to Shelly Hendrick who coordinated this project, Tao, Adam's dad Jim, who helped us build miniature pyramids for the Nile banks, and to all the parents who came to help. Is there any salt left in Boulder? Also, Ava Allen organized volunteers and food for each class. To the parent who left the voice mail saying that her son had used one cup of oil instead of one tablespoon of oil, but did not leave her name: yes, we fixed it.
We also send long distance thanks to Hart Lipton's grandmother, Barbara Lipton of South Orange, New Jersey, who donated Egyptian Archaeology and National Geographic Egyptian materials to our classroom. We appreciate her support across the miles. Thank you, Mrs. Lipton!
Thank you to the Reisfield family for donating a subscription to The Economist magazine for Summit.
Special thanks to Ms. Belz (Race Engbar's mom) for building our large pyramid in Mrs. Kapsak's room. Now we know that 17 sixth graders fit comfortably inside. Many mummies might envy our new digs. Summit parents make teaching Summit students a joy when they demonstrate such unconditional support and love for us in these ways!! Thanks to each of you.
The Social Studies department would like to invite the Summit community to view History Day projects on Wednesday, December 12. History Day is a long-term research project that is required of all students in American History classes. Projects may be viewed from 8:10 am until 3:07 pm at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, located just north of Summit. Access to the Army Reserve Center is from Table Mesa Drive, between Tantra Drive and 46th Street. Parents of all participants should make arrangements to pick up History Day projects between 3:10 and 4:15 pm on Wednesday, December 12. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Havens at 303-499-9511.
Also, my thanks to all the parents who donated food and their time to make Colonial Day at Summit so wonderful. On Tuesday, November 20, students sampled colonial cuisine and participated in activities from the colonial period of American History. A very special thank you to Joan Jacus, who made this memorable hands-on experience a star spangled success. Thank you to all who made this day possible.
The concert on November 8 was wonderful. A huge BRAVO to all our music students! We also would like to thank our parent volunteers, as there would be no concert without your help. Thanks to Barb Miner, Joan Nagel, Laura Ting, Sally Benjamin, Barb Wilcox, Ava Allen, Cheryl Runyon, Gary Schmitz, Regula Steffen, Cathy Reisfield, Cassandra Carpenter, Arleen Miller, Barbara Weidlein, and Laurie Eason for chaperoning our kids before the show. Carol Baum and Dorinda Cudney did a great job as stage crew. Thanks to David Eason and Ava Allen for transporting our equipment back and forth. Lets not forget all the parents that brought food for 170 kids. Great job!!
The Summit Student Council spent November 16 and 17 at the YMCA of the Rockies near Estes Park on to talk about leadership, experience team-building activities, and take an afternoon climb into the trees! The council wishes to thank parents who drove us up and brought us back, and all parents who waited patiently for us on Saturday evening.
The Student Council will elect officers at the next meeting, Thursday, November 29. We will elect a Treasurer, Secretary, School Store Manager and Publicity Director. All members of Student Council are eligible for officer positions. Terms of office are supposed to be for a semester, but since we are having elections so late into the year, positions will be held until the 3rd quarter when we will re-elect those positions.
To provide additional support for student learning, Summit teachers provide tutoring time for extra help, study sessions, make-up work, and questions about assignments. For a schedule of tutoring help, please see below:
Social Studies, 3:10-4:10, Monday, Rooms 2 & 9
Science, 3:10-4:10, Monday, Rooms 14 & 15
English, 3:10-4:10, Wednesday, Rooms 3 & 5
Math
Foreign Languages
Applied Technology, lunch Monday and Wednesday, Room 4
Thanks to our generous community, the Summit Library's collection is growing! A number of wonderful books have been donated to the library. A list of the honorees, books, and donors appears below:
If you would like to honor someone with a book donation, please contact me at Summit. My hours are Tuesday and Friday, 8:10 to 3:10, and Wednesday, 9:10 to 3:10. I can help you pick a book from the library's wish list, will provide a special book plate for the book, and will notify the honoree.
You can also support the library by buying Boulder Bookstore gift certificates. Please see the attached order form at the end of this newsletter.
We have many dishes left in the teacher's lunch room from delightful meals provided for the Summit staff. Please stop by to claim them. Containers with food still in them are fast becoming science experiments in student lockers, so please ask your student about missing dishes if they haven't quite made it home!
Remember to get your yearbook orders in. Order forms are on the table outside the Summit office. For 8th graders, we need your baby picture NOW! Our 2001-2002 yearbook staff is hard at work making this the best Summit yearbook ever. Thanks to all of you for your continued hard work.
We would like to thank Mindy Logan for the tremendous amount of work she did putting together an emergency phone tree for the whole school.
The Summit Science Fair organizing committee is still looking for individuals to judge projects for Summit's Science Fair on Thursday, January 31. These individuals may be parents, colleagues, or other community members with backgrounds in any of the seven content areas: math and computers, zoology, botany, earth and environment, physical sciences, health and behavior, and engineering. Our goal is to identify 60 judges who will be available to review student projects during all or part of the day (from 8 am to 3 pm). A large number of students will participate in this year's fair, and we anticipate that there will be 170-180 projects.
Many thanks to the parents who indicated on their parent volunteer form that they are willing to judge Science Fair projects. We will be contacting you soon! For more information, contact Pete Simpson at <psimpson@ideo.com>.
Watch your mailbox this week for your Tools for Learning letter. As in past years, we have set a total dollar goal and also a 100% participation goal. Please contact Tom Mahowald, TFL chair, at 303-543-8903 or by e-mail at <t.mahowald@summitmiddleschool.org>, or Barbry Hogue at 303-665-3798 for details. Thank you in advance for your generous contribution to our major fund raiser!
If you know of families who might be interested in learning more about Summit as a middle school option, please let them know about these information sessions.
Monthly Scheduled Tours - Parents and students interested in Summit's program are invited to tour the school with a Summit administrator. Each tour begins at 8:45 am and at the end of each tour there will be time for questions and answers. Tours are by appointment only. Please call the Summit office at 303-499-9511 to schedule a tour. The next school tours will be on December 3 and December 14.
Student/Parent Information Night - This evening provides an excellent opportunity to meet Summit staff and board members to learn more about Summit. The mission, philosophy, and curriculum will be discussed, textbooks and samples of student work will be on display, and core subject and elective class teachers will give brief presentations. Prospective students and their parents are encouraged to attend. The next Student/Parent Information Night will be held on Wednesday, December 5, from 7 to 8:30 pm.
There is a $60 participation fee per sport or a maximum of $150 per student / $200 per family each year for interscholastic sports.
Participation fee for intramurals is $20 per sport.
If you hear something funny or heart warming at Summit, send it along to: <tomwhiteoc@msn.com>.
Many students e-mailed the correct response to last week's question:
Which staff member learned to play chess as a nine-year-old ... in prison. (This was in Yugoslavia, where the family was incarcerated when they tried to escape Soviet-occupied Romania).
Tracy Wilson and Allison Filderman were the first students to guess that Dr. Fotino was the chess student. Congratulations!
For this week's question, Can you guess:
Which mystery staff member was also a member of an improvisational comedy group in college?
Send your guess to <tomwhiteoc@msn.com> today! Win a free trip to the school store! Good luck!
Winners of a New York Magazine contest were asked to take a well-known expression in a foreign language, change a single letter, and provide a definition for the new expression.
REPONDEZ S'IL VOUS PLAID - Honk if you're Scottish.
HARLEZ-VOUS FRANCAIS? - Can you drive a French motorcycle?
IDIOS AMIGOS - We're wild and crazy guys!
The Rocky Mountain Center for Musical Arts presents its sixth annual production of Amahl and the Night Visitors, by Gian-Carlo Menotti, on November 30, December 1, and December 2. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the original presentation of "Amahl" as the first Hallmark Hall of Fame television program. Performances of this captivating one-act holiday opera will take place at the RMCMA, located at 200 E. Baseline in Lafayette. Advance tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children 12 & under; tickets are an additional $2.50 at the door. For more information, call the RMCMA at 303-665-0599.
The Boulder Youth Choir is accepting new members for the Spring semester. The BYC performs in this year's presentation of The Nutcracker with the Boulder Philharmonic and Boulder Ballet, and will also perform with the Broomfield Symphony on February 24, 2002. The choir performs music from a variety of musical and cultural traditions, often in the original language. For more information, please call 303-442-8681.
The Longmont Youth Symphony will hold mid-season auditions on January 12, 2002. For more information or to schedule an audition, please call 303-651-0167.
All programs begin at 9:30 am. See below for specific building and room. There is FREE PARKING ONLY in LOTS, 169, 308, 378, 396, and 436. There is also parking available for a nominal fee in the Euclid parking structure.
December 29: GO WITH THE FLOW, presented by Professors Janet DeGrazia and Brian Argrow, in Room Chemistry 140
January 26: SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT ELECTRICITY, presented by Professor John Taylor, in Room Duane Physics G1B30
February 23: LIQUID CRYSTALS, presented by Professors Noel Clark, Dave Walba and Joe Maclennan, in Room Duane Physics G1B30
Over the course of the year, numerous items show up in the Summit lost and found. If left unclaimed, periodically we donate them to Goodwill. Please make sure that your child's clothing and personal items have their names on them so we can return lost items to their rightful owners.
Upcoming deadlines for Summit News are December 3 and December 17 (Mondays). We welcome articles contributed by our Summit staff and parents! Articles may be sent to <tomwhiteoc@msn.com>, or placed in the Summit News folder in the Summit office.
To save on both paper and the cost of postage, we would like to send out by e-mail as many copies of the Summit News as possible. If you prefer to receive future issues of Summit News by e-mail, please send a message to Tom Mahowald at <t.mahowald@summitmiddleschool.org>.
To see back issues of Summit News as well as a wide variety of information about Summit and links to other charter school and education information, refer to Summit's website via the handy, new, improved, easier website address: <http://www.summitmiddleschool.org>
If it had not been for the wind in my face,
I wouldn't be able to fly at all.
~ Arthur Ashe