November 20, 2002
Volume 14, No. 7
The fund raiser at Borders is nearing. We hope to see you Saturday, November
30 at Borders Books for a special community support program, Borders Benefit
Days. Shop at Borders, 1600 Pearl Street, Boulder, on November 30, 9 a.m.
to 11 p.m.
This is a very easy way to directly benefit Summit! Be sure to remember to have a voucher with you when you shop, as vouchers CANNOT be handed out on November 30. Only the purchases made using the Borders 15% Benefit Day for Summit vouchers will qualify (make sure friends and families have vouchers, too). Volunteers will be on hand to gift wrap purchases. If you have questions, call Penny Hannegan at 303-499-3684. See you there!
RTD Teen bus passes for December will be on sale for $9 each on November 22nd, 25th, and 26th after school in the entrance hall. Payment will be accepted in cash or check made out to "BVSD."
We are desperately seeking photos for the yearbook. Does any one out there have a team picture of our flag football team? Also we need someone to take a picture of our 8th grade boys basketball team. All photos must be the original glossy and in color. Call Joan Jacus with your questions at 303-499-3013.
Also, a reminder to all 8th graders: If you would like your baby picture in your yearbook (and we know you do!) they need to be turned into the photo box by the Summit office now!
Buying food certificates is a very easy way to help support Summit. It's been great that so many of you have placed orders. Please remember, though, that these orders need to be picked up within two days of your order because we have money invested in your certificates that can't otherwise be used. Also, we need people to help keep this program running. Please call Joan Jacus at 303-499-3013 if you would like to get involved.
The faculty and administration at Summit appreciate the effort students bring to their schoolwork, but we also understand the importance of spending time with family. To celebrate the fine work students have produced this semester and to encourage them to take a bit of time off for family, friends, and leisure activities, Summit teachers have unanimously agreed to make the weekend of December 7 and 8 a "homework-free" weekend. No assignments will be due on Monday December 9, so that all students who are up to date on their work can take the weekend easy. Enjoy yourselves and use the time well!
At the last meeting, the Summit Board reviewed the Tools for Learning requests and approved some of the expenditures for requests this year. Some other "big ticket" items will wait until we see the results of the current fund-raising campaign.
In addition, site improvements are underway for our new portable classroom, which will be rolling off the production line very soon. Also, school tours for prospective students have started, with the official open enrollment period beginning December 2.
The next Summit Board meeting will be on November 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the Summit Library. Visitors are always welcome, and a special time is made available toward the beginning of each meeting for parent or teacher concerns. If that isn't convenient, please use the contact information at the end of the newsletter to call or email any of the board members directly.
Attention BVSD 8th grade students and parents! Find out more about the International Baccalaureate program and the other programs Fairview High School has to offer. This presentation will cover the IB curriculum, profile of a "typical" IB student, solicit feedback from parents and counselors, and discuss open enrollment procedures.
When: Tuesday, December 10
Where: Fairview High School Auditorium
If you have questions, call 303-447-5343 or visit http://flatirons.org/courses/ib.index.shtml.
An important informational meeting about enrolling your child in high school will be held for the parents of all 8th graders on Thursday, November 21 at 7 p.m. in the Summit Library. Summit's guidance counselor, Kendra Bartley, will discuss how to choose a high school program, and provide information about neighborhood high school enrollment and open enrollment procedures. In addition, parents will be given important information regarding the process of choosing and registering for appropriate courses at high schools in the Boulder Valley School District. The meeting is for parents only, as similar information will be provided to all 8th grade students during the week after Thanksgiving break. If you have questions regarding your child's enrollment in high school, this meeting is a must! Please join us.
The best way to find out about area high schools is to attend the open houses that are offered at each school during the open enrollment period. Below is a list of the informational meetings, open houses, tours, and shadowing opportunities at BVSD high schools. Please consider visiting the programs offered by your neighborhood high school, as well as other schools your student might wish to attend. The more you learn about high school programs, the more informed your decision about high school will be!
BHS Showcase and Open House: Thursday, January 9 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. Shadowing available by appointment from November 12-January 9.
Open Enrollment Information Meeting: Tuesday, December 3 at 7 p.m. in the library. No shadowing scheduled at this time.
Celebrate Centaurus: Wednesday, December 4 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. School tours available by appointment.
General overview and International Baccalaureate Program Information Night: Tuesday, December 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium. Shadowing available December 2-18. Call to make an appointment. Visitation tours available December 11-18 at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Call to make an appointment.
Open Enrollment Information Night: Wednesday, December 4 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. Visitation and Tours: 9 to 10:30 a.m. on November 18 and 25, December 2, 9, 16, January 6 and 13. Shadowing is not available.
Open House, Tour, and High School Activity Fair: Tuesday, December 3 from 7 to 8 p.m. Visitations by appointment January 7-9. Call 24 hours in advance.
Open House Nights: 7 to 8:30 p.m. on December 4, 9, 17, January 8, 13, and 23. You must call in advance to set up a shadow date. Available on December 10, 17, January 7, 14, 21 from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Information Meetings: 7 to 9 p.m. on December 11 and January 13. School Tours with Classroom Visits: 8:15 to 10 a.m. on December 4, 18, January 15 and 22. Students can shadow for half-day - Call to make a reservation.
The next session of the CU-Boulder Wizards program, intended for fifth through ninth graders, include:
Free parking is available in lots 169, 308, 396, and 436.
Tutoring hours for students have been posted to the school web site at www.summitmiddleschool.org.
To see the current or back issues of Summit News, information about Summit, links to other charter schools, and related education information, refer to Summit's web site via: http://www.summitmiddleschool.org.
The next Summit News will be distributed the week of December 10. If you have news, notes, or announcements, forward them via email to pat.hyde[at]attbi.com by Thursday, December 5.
One of the topics of discussion you might occasionally hear around Summit's (or any school's) faculty lunchroom is the question of how one of our students "turned out." Yes, we know that a person is, hopefully, always a work in progress. We know we are all growing and changing throughout our lives. It is not as if we, as teachers, yearn to pin one of our students down at some given point in the future and say: "So this is the person he or she has become!" Nevertheless, we do seek some confirmation that our contribution, our energies, the quizzes we gave, the homework and projects we designed and graded, the conflicts we helped resolve, the skills we sought to impart, did make a positive difference in the lives of the students with whom we have worked.
Sometimes a former student will come back and visit, and we (hopefully) can see before us in this fine young man or woman some qualities of excellence in which we can take pride for having contributed our small measure. But such validations can be intermittent and can lead us to wonder: "What difference have I really made?"
On November 5, Election Day, I received an answer to this question for myself in an unexpected way. A circle was completed for me in a manner I had not anticipated. At previous schools where I have worked the buildings were not needed as polling places. Even last year at Summit, while we did offer the building as a polling site, the voting took place in the gym. People entered through the corner doors directly into the gym, voted and left without really having entered the school. This Election Day was different. Because the weather was cold and snowy when we made the arrangements regarding where to place the voting booths, we decided our PE classes might need to be in the gym on November 5. We therefore scheduled the voting to be set up in the library. As a result, there was a steady stream of people entering into the heart of the school all day, and going into the library to vote.
It is a strange feeling to work in a polling place. As I went about my day, this stream of voting people kept intruding into my consciousness. Through my office window, my peripheral vision kept picking them up as they entered the building. When I left the office, there they were, footsteps echoing down the hallway or bodies wrapped in voting machine curtains. It seemed as if two disparate realities had passively agreed to exist side by side for the day-Summit students, teachers and staff going about their day and people from the community coming in to vote. But there was no contact, no crossover from one to the other. Then, at some point during the afternoon, I realized in my mind the voices of the people coming in to vote and the voices of our students had merged into one voice. The footsteps of each had merged into a single flow. I came to see the people entering and leaving the building as a stream turning back upon itself. I saw our students flowing out into the future and then returning at some point-to this or to some other building- to cast their vote, their own affirmation for the future.
If we do our job well, they will have the analytical skills, the historical framework, the level of literacy, the sense of commitment and responsibility to effect positive change in our community, and in our world. They will seek to make a difference and they will have the tools necessary to do so. And we, their teachers, will have had some part in that, intangible though it may be.
The cynicism, into which I can sometimes find myself receding when contemplating the flaws of our political system, slowly eroded away with the steady flow of those feet entering and leaving the school, from early morning until after sunset. Yes, there was the one citizen who tied up his emotionally dependent Doberman Pinscher to one of the lunch tab;es, while he (the man) went in to vote. The howling and barking tried our nerves, but no one ever said democracy was easy or perfect. In the end, the stream of people continued flowing from the street into the library and out into the street again, carrying with it the hope we have for all our children as they move out into their own futures. The hope that they will be happy, that they will understand and appreciate this beautiful and complex world in which we live, and that they will care enough to try and make this world a better place with the small measure of time which we have all been granted.