February 8, 2002
Volume 13, No. 3
The high school registration and course placement recommendation process at Summit will begin during the week of February 25-March 1. Boulder High counselors will visit Summit on Monday, February 25 during 7th period and Fairview counselors will visit on Tuesday, February 26 during 4th period to provide students with course booklets and registration instructions and materials. On Thursday, February 28, Summit core subject teachers will meet individually with their 8th grade students during each class period to give course placement recommendations and sign off on students' high school registration forms. After reviewing these recommendations, students should finalize their course selections and have their parents sign the forms.
The Boulder High and Fairview counselors will return to Summit on Tuesday, March 5, to collect students' signed and completed registration forms. Forms that do not have all core subject teachers' signatures and a parent's signature will not be accepted. Students who do not bring their forms or whose forms do not include the required signatures will have to complete these at a later date and hand-deliver them to the high school they plan to attend. Students who will attend high schools other than Fairview or Boulder High need to make an appointment with the high school counselor at the school they will attend to complete the registration process.
The high schools listed below will hold academic planning nights to assist 8th graders and their parents in choosing appropriate courses for 9th grade. Parents and students are strongly encouraged to attend these evenings to gather information about placement, course offerings, and registration procedures, as well as extra-curricular activities and athletics.
Boulder High School: Orientation session for parents of 8th grade students -- Wednesday, February 27, 7 to 8:30 pm.
Centaurus High School: Freshman academic planning night -- Wednesday, February 20, 7 to 9 pm. Parents and students are asked to attend this event together.
Fairview High School: "Evening of Transition: 8th Grade Student and Parent Information Night," Wednesday, February 27 from 7 to 9:30 pm in the large gym.
Monarch High School: 8th Grade Transition Night -- Monday, March 11 at 7 pm.
Niwot High School: 8th Grade Parent Meeting -- Thursday, February 21 at 7 pm.
Peak to Peak Charter School: High School Transition Night for students and parents -- Tuesday, March 12 at 7 pm.
If you have any questions regarding high school registration, please feel free to call Kendra Bartley, Summit counselor, at 303-499-9511.
Six years ago, Chris Howard approached me about teaching at a new school called Summit. She enthusiastically described how this school would be a place for students to excel in an academically challenging environment. She, along with other founders, had a vision of a community of life-long learners that would include students, faculty, parents, and administrators. I was intrigued and signed on.
It has been a powerful six years. Every person who has walked through Summit's doors has been touched by the enthusiasm of the students, and the commitment of the teachers and staff. Summit has affected my life forever.
I want to take this opportunity to thank you. Friday, January 18, my last day at Summit, was a timeless, perfect day for me. The "snapshot" of students who stopped by to say goodbye was gracious, humble, accomplished, and inspiring in their commitment to life. I am so proud of each of the Summit graduates. The parents who visited showed such appreciation and joy and sadness and love. At the end of that day, far into the wee hours of the night, I shared with my husband the scrapbook that many of you signed. I cried. I laughed. I remembered. I realized that a group of people sharing a vision can make it become a reality. Thank you, Summit, for everything you have done for my family and me. Upward and onward!
After seven years on the Summit Board of Directors, we are retiring at the end of our terms on June 1. It seems like half a lifetime ago that we began working together on this amazing project. We have put heart and soul into Summit for these many years, through countless battles and successes. Our involvement has been profoundly rewarding and satisfying, because we know in our hearts that Summit has made a difference in the lives of many children, and will influence their lives for many years to come. Our own children are long past Summit, and it is time for us to move on and for others to move in.
Our tenure on the Board has lasted Summit's entire lifetime. Now Summit has a life of its own. It transcends us and the many wonderful people with whom it has been our privilege to share this adventure. Summit stands on firm ground for the future. Summit has a home, a wonderful staff, a great program and curriculum, accomplished alumni, an outstanding reputation, and a strong stream of incoming students.
Like any living thing, Summit will continue to develop, change and evolve. Opportunities and challenges lie ahead. The educational establishment will never embrace Summit or what it stands for. Summit's mission will always be vital to this community and our society. Our children must always be nurtured and encouraged to use their talents and realize their full potential, and we must make sure this happens.
For Summit to continue to thrive, it must have excellent leadership. Fortunately, we have an outstanding nucleus of continuing board members in Barbry Hogue, Debbie Feyh, John Jacus and Tom Mahowald. But Summit, ultimately, is no more and no less than the Summit parent community makes it. Summit needs new leaders to emerge and shape its future. Summit's leaders must constantly renew and expand Summit's vision, hire and assure fair compensation of teachers and administrators, evaluate and motivate our staff, oversee the operations of the school, make curriculum decisions, and of course, protect and defend Summit from the educational establishment.
The qualifications for serving on Summit's Board of Directors are simply stated: commitment to providing excellent education for public school students, integrity, your own common sense and good judgment, your own talents and abilities, willingness to work with others, and dedication to do your share of the work. We guarantee only one thing in return for your service: other than raising your own family, you will be extremely fortunate to have a more rewarding experience than being an integral part of this wonderful school.
Please consider stepping up and becoming a member of the Summit Board. Elections by vote of the Summit community will be in early March. Candidates should announce by February 15. If you are interested in serving, please call Hunter at (303) 924-6505 or (303) 530-1840.
By now you should have received your invitation to the annual Summit community meeting, to be held on Wednesday, February 13 in the Summit multipurpose room, beginning at 7 pm. All parents and staff are invited to attend. See you there!
Also mark your calendar for Wednesday, February 27 at 7 pm and attend the Board candidates forum in the Summit library. Candidates for the three Summit Board seats up for election this year will be there to introduce themselves to the community and to answer questions from parents and staff. Come listen and learn more about the candidates before you vote!
A regular Board meeting was held on February 5. Science Fair logistics and planning were discussed, with the hope of finding a way to reduce the huge time commitment by teachers and volunteers in coordinating all aspects of Science Fair. Teachers have proposed a number of new elective classes, possibly to be taught next year. The second round of Board observations of classroom lessons is underway, and the math and English tutoring labs are now staffed and serving students. The recent all-school assembly acknowledged students for honor roll, Student Council projects, academic competitions, and athletics.
The Board retreat on January 26 was time well spent and allowed Board members and staff representatives to discuss a number of issues key to Summit's current and continuing success. Areas for improvement also were identified, and there will be a follow up meeting this spring for a check on progress towards improvement. The agenda and assignments for the February 13 Summit community meeting were developed.
Open enrollment first-round offers have been sent by BVSD. Summit received 152 first-choice applications for an estimated 90 spots for new students in 2002-2003. Approximately 33% of incoming students fall in enrollment priority categories.
Summit will submit an application to be considered as a pilot school for a financial process audit organized by the Colorado League of Charter Schools and to be conducted by an independent business practices auditing firm. If selected, Summit could serve as a model that other charter schools could use for improving their financial practices. There was discussion of the current staff compensation budget and agreement to adjust the line item entry to reflect the actual balance. Hunter explained the preliminary budget projection information recently received from BVSD. Work continues on the spreadsheet format that will be used for monthly financial statements for Board use.
Tools for Learning reminder letters will go out soon to families that have not yet contributed this year. Donations so far are encouraging, and current figures will be helpful in making budget projection for 2002-2003. The AAA committee will soon be compiling and analyzing all the satisfaction survey responses. There was a suggestion to separate out grant development and grant writing projects from other AAA responsibilities, with the realization that searching for and writing grants has become increasingly important for Summit and there should be a dedicated committee to focus on this priority. Review work in preparation for the 2001-2002 Annual Report will begin soon.
All regular Summit Board meetings are public meetings and we welcome guests from the community at any time. The next Summit Board meetings will be held on February 18, March 6, and March 18. Meetings are held in Summit's library and begin at 6:30 pm unless otherwise noted.
We are seeking a small group of technology-savvy parents and Summit supporters who can assist with the development of a technology plan for Summit. The technology plan will be used to support applications for Colorado Department of Education funding, technology equipment discounts, and a variety of grant opportunities. We believe there are CDE staff members who could meet with our Summit team to provide support and a possible template for the plan.
We are also putting together an on-site tech support team. This is more of a nuts-and-bolts support and planning group for current technology needs at Summit (hardware and software, etc.). This support can be provided either during the school day or after school hours.
These are excellent volunteer opportunities for those who have both the time and technology skills to offer! If you are interested in helping with a strategic technology plan and/or being part of the tech support team, please contact Debbie Feyh at (303) 543-8646 or by e-mail at feyh@indra.com.
The Spring Concert, featuring all Summit music groups, will be on Thursday, March 7 at Fairview High School, beginning at 7 pm. As always, we need the help of many volunteers to make this evening run smoothly. Please call Joan Jacus at 303-499-3013 to offer your help with chaperoning that evening, printing programs and/or flyers, and helping to move equipment to FHS. Please call Barbara Weidlein at 303-581-0432 to volunteer to help feed our music students that evening. Thanks for your help!
If you think your student might need any medication at all during the day, he or she MUST HAVE written authorization from a doctor and the medicine must be stored in the locked health room cabinet. This also applies to over-the-counter drugs such as Tylenol or Advil. Even though we all know that our young teens are capable of administering their own Advil or Tylenol on occasion, school district policy says that they may not carry it with them at any time at school.
The only exception to this is for asthma control medications and EPI pens. These items can be carried by students who have the proper authorization. If your student needs to carry one of these and you are unsure about the authorization, please contact me so that we can set the school records straight. We have the required BVSD forms, also available in most doctor's offices, and we can facilitate the legal process if you need some help with this aspect of your student's at-school health care. Please call me in the health room at any time if you have questions about these policies.
Teachers for the math and English tutoring labs have now been hired and are working with Summit students. The math tutor is Annie Davids and the English tutor is Terri Wells. We welcome both of them to the Summit staff.
The purpose of these labs is to provide another element of one-on-one support during the school day for students that need it, to help assure their academic success at Summit. The tutoring labs are in addition to the regular after-school tutoring sessions (see schedule below). Each tutoring lab is offered one day per week, throughout the day, with math tutoring lab on Wednesdays and English tutoring lab on Tuesdays.
To provide additional support for student learning, Summit teachers provide after school tutoring time for extra help, study sessions, make-up work, and questions about assignments. For a schedule of this 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
The Summit Science fair was a huge success. Congratulations to all the students who participated. As usual, we saw some incredible projects. Printed below is the list of the 34 students who were semi-finalists in this years event.
Many thanks to all the individuals who helped put together the first round of the Summit Science Fair on January 31. Stephanie Donaton did an astounding job as coordinator, bringing energy, enthusiasm and stamina to a very demanding job. Having been part of a truly challenging logistic feat, those of us involved as volunteers are thankful to have such a talented and dedicated group of science teachers. Thanks to Ms. Donaton, Ms. Phelps and Mr. Teasdale for all your hard work. And to Mrs. Wharton and the entire administrative staff, we are grateful for your assistance, support and sense of humor.
Thanks to all our parent volunteers--we couldn't have done it without you! Pete "Spreadsheet" Simpson recruited 67 judges and helped coordinate the judging process. This is a huge task, and we hope to see Pete back next year. Our judges included Summit parents as well as a large group of special individuals from our community who gave their time and deep attention to the task of evaluating projects and providing feedback to our hard-working students. To all the wonderful parents who helped with so many essential tasks before, during and after science fair, THANKS: Jamie Simpson, Lynne Jacobs, Barbara Metzger, Yuri Fedorov, Marlene Long, Loretta Melhado, Carol Hermann, Barbara Weidlein, Pamela Phillips, Regula Steffen, Leslie Grady, Penny Hannegan, Joan Jacus, Angie Dorsey, Carol Kearns, Risa Heywood, Alan Fine, Deborah Martin, Cindy Baxt, Carol Baum, and many more.
The BVSD Regional Secondary Science Fair will be held on Thursday, February 28, at the Glen Miller Ballroom on the CU campus. The public is invited to view projects from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Come and see the diversity of projects undertaken by BVSD secondary students!
Thanks to all that have ordered their 2002 yearbook . The yearbooks will be handed out in May. Thanks to the 6th graders for your great response. We have not heard from many 8th graders! These books are wonderful mementoes of your year at Summit. Late order forms are available on the table outside the school office. Pick one up today. Call Joan Jacus at 303-499-3013 if you have any questions about this year's book.
Thank you to the families who have responded so far to our first Tools for Learning solicitation. We're well on the way but haven't yet reached our dollar goal and participation goals, so watch soon for TFL reminders if you haven't yet donated! 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 with any questions or comments about Tools for Learning.
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.
We have two winners this week for our trivia contest. Stephen Harmon and Theo Kopf guessed correctly that none other than Mr. Striffler was the staff member (1) who met Cher in Barney's, New York City, (2) whose mom participated in a yodeling contest (and German dancing exhibition) at a World's Fair, sometime in the '60s in New York, and (3) who lliterally knocked down President Jimmy Carter while in the student union (Dobb's University Center) at Emory University. Both students earned a free trip to the student store!
If you hear about something funny or heartwarming that happened at Summit, send it along to: <tomwhiteoc@msn.com>.
I saw Esau kissing Kate.
I saw Esau, he saw me,
and she saw I saw Esau.
Tina loved Tim, the thin, twin tinsmith.
A tree-toad loved a she-toad,
Who lived up in a tree.
He was a two-toed tree-toad,
While a three-toed toad was she.
Why did the pig give his girlfriend a box of candy?
It was Valenswine's Day!
Do skunks celebrate Valentine's Day?
Sure, they're very scent-imental!
What did the paper clip say to the magnet?
"I find you very attractive."
What did one pickle say to the other?
"You mean a great dill to me."
Restore harmony to your household with this class designed for parents of teens. You will learn to parent with empathy and logical consequence; your teen will learn to accept responsibility for his/her own actions. Discover asset-Based approaches and restorative justice tools to guide your teen toward productive, happy and responsible adulthood.
Where: Boulder High. When: Tuesdays, Feb 12 - Mar 19, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Cost: $99 (individual or couple) + $15 for materials. Questions: Stephanie Bryan, 303-397-0646.
The Davidson Institute for Talent Development is offering prodigious young people across the country the opportunity to apply for a Davidson Fellows Award scholarship by the March 29, 2002 deadline. Those named Davidson Fellow Laureates will receive $50,000 scholarships and those named Davidson Fellows will receive $10,000 scholarships.
The Davidson Fellows Award program encourages, recognizes, and rewards the extraordinary achievements of young people. To be named a Fellow, students under the age of 18 must demonstrate significant achievement in one of five categories: science, technology, mathematics, humanities (music, literature and philosophy), or "out of the box" (a combination of 2 or more of the categories).
Each Davidson Fellow will be honored at a reception in Washington, DC, during September 2002. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent U.S. residents and be under the age of 18 as of October 1, 2002. There is no minimum age for eligibility.
For more information on the Davidson Fellows Award, or to download a 2002 application, visit the Davidson Fellows section of <http://www.davidson-institute.org>.
All programs begin at 9:30 a.m. 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.
February 23: LIQUID CRYSTALS, presented by Professors Noel Clark, Dave Walba and Joe Maclennan, in Room Duane Physics G1B30
March 30: THE CHEMISTRY OF LIGHT, presented by Professor Kathy Rowlen, in Chemistry 140
April 27: HEAT, TEMPERATURE, AND ABSOLUTE ZERO, presented by Professor Paul Beale in Duane Physics G1B30
May 25: LASERS AND LIGHT, presented by Professors Henry Kapteyn and Margaret Murnane in Duane Physics G1B20
June 15: BLACK HOLES (one show only), presented by Professor Andrew Hamilton at Fiske Planetarium
I currently have two full-size German violins and two full-size Romanian violas for sale. These instruments are made by skilled craftspeople and have incredible tone and appearance. I am offering these instruments first to parents (or prospective parents) of Summit's orchestra students at greatly reduced prices. Please contact Tony Striffler directly at (720) 422-6764 if you are interested.
Joan Jacus, at (303) 499-3013), and Diane Chicoine, at (303) 581-0754, have plenty of King Soopers grocery certificates available for those of you that are still eating. And for your shopping pleasure we now have Wild Oats certificates available. Do you shop at Albertson's? Pick up your Albertson's membership card at the Summit office. What an easy way to help support our kids.
The main branch of the Boulder Public Library, at 1000 Canyon, will offer a homework center beginning February 1. Students from CU will work as tutors in English, math, and science. There is no charge for this service. The hours of the center will be from 4 to 6 pm each day. If you are interested in attending, please call the library at (303) 441-3099.
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 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>.
Principal - principal@summitmiddleschool.org
Board of Directors - board@summitmiddleschool.org (including principal)
General information - info@summitmiddleschool.org
Hiring - jobs@summitmiddleschool.org
Webmaster - webmaster@summitmiddleschool.org
To see back issues of Summit News as well as a wide variety of information about Summit and links to other charter schools and education information, refer to Summit's website via the handy, new, improved, easier website address: <http://www.summitmiddleschool.org>
I set out to find a friend and couldn't find one anywhere.
I set out to be a friend and friends were everywhere.