January 13, 2003
Volume 15, No. 1
We need parent and student help to get the portables ready to go. Everything for our music program will be moved over to the new portable, and the current music portable will be converted back into two regular classrooms. Equipment moving, cleaning, painting, and much more will be involved and plenty of volunteer help will be needed. We will start at 9 a.m. and work until ???? While we know this is a four-day weekend, please contribute a few hours or a day to help so that this important work doesn't fall to just a few. Please RSVP Tom Mahowald at 303-499-6632 if you will be able to contribute time and energy and to let him know how you can help out.
The open enrollment period closes at the end of next week, January 24 at 4 p.m. All BVSD open enrollment applications must be returned to BVSD by this date and time. DON'T MISS THE DEADLINE!!
Under the terms of our charter contract, siblings of current Summit students and siblings of Summit graduates are guaranteed enrollment priority. However, YOU MUST FILL OUT A BVSD APPLICATION to be considered for open enrollment to Summit for 2003-2004. Simply indicate the sibling priority and indicate Summit as your first choice for middle school. We also ask that parents fill out a Summit open enrollment form, which gives us back up information about the students applying for enrollment.
You may pick up a copy of the Summit form in the Summit office and it's also on the Summit website at <www.summitmiddleschool.org>. Completed Summit information forms are to be turned in to the Summit office only. The BVSD form is available in the Summit office, at the BVSD Education Center, and at any BVSD school. Completed BVSD forms must be submitted to the BVSD Open Enrollment Office at the BVSD Education Center, no later than January 24.
For more enrollment information call the Summit office at 303-499-9511 or Linda Parkhill, Summit's enrollment coordinator, at 303-665-9355.
Parents, dig into those backpacks!! On January 10, a re-enrollment form was sent home with your student to indicate your student's intention to return to Summit for the 2003-04 school year. Each current 6th and 7th grader must complete a form and return it to the office by January 24 at the latest-sooner is better!
These very important forms give us the necessary information so the Summit Board can plan for next year's enrollment and determine how many new students can be accepted for next year. Please give the Summit office a call if you have any questions regarding re-enrollment. Thank you for returning your form promptly to save the office staff from making reminder calls J.
Once again this year Summit has pulled in the top middle school CSAP scores in the Boulder Valley School District and among the top scores in Colorado. We received a letter from Governor Owens last week congratulating Summit on being named a John J. Irwin School of Excellence for 2002, for the third consecutive year. Our graduates continue to excel in high school, and members of our two first graduating classes have now moved on to top universities and colleges. We continue to elicit strong volunteer and fund raising support from our parents and to generate high degrees of satisfaction from our students and parents alike. All this has been accomplished, for the first four years, in a shared facility and, for the last two-plus year, in an old elementary school building that is inadequate in many ways. Also, let us remember that while relations with BVSD continue to move in a very positive direction, Summit was born in a hostile political environment, presenting numerous obstacles to our very survival let alone to such remarkable success.
People often ask: "What is Summit's secret ingredient? How do you do it? What makes Summit so successful?"
The answer is complex and unfolds on many levels. If I had to tease out the interwoven aspects of our school that support such high levels of achievement, I would have to include, at least, the following components:
Summit is consumer oriented. We place a good deal of stock in making sure that our students and parents are satisfied with the education provided here. Informal conversations and formal surveys give us important feedback, which is then used to fine tune our program. As a parent-founded and parent-run school, we believe that parents should have a lot of input into their children's education. Good communication with the home is central.
Summit's curriculum is standards based and is benchmark driven. We have clear objectives for each core subject, and our lessons and assessments are based around mastery of these curricular benchmarks.
Summit is reflective. We set improvement goals for ourselves each year and then measure how well we have achieved these goals. This reflection provides guidance for changes and improvements in our program.
Summit has a site-based management structure. We hire our own teachers and administrators and go through a very extensive selection process to do so. As a result, our faculty and administration is outstanding-creative, knowledgeable, diverse, and accountable to our school. Also, decisions can be made without having to jump through innumerable bureaucratic hoops.
Summit is "lean and mean." By not allowing our administrative level to become bloated, we can position most of our resources where they will most directly benefit our students.
Summit is fiscally responsible. We run our school with a balanced budget and are careful to exercise strong fiscal management. The reason most charter schools fail is due to fiscal mismanagement, and Summit has been extremely cautious to avoid that path. Part of our success operates on the fundamental level of having stayed around for the past seven years. "I save therefore I am."
Summit teaches "cross-curricular skills." An important part of our curriculum is helping students learn skills that are expected in all classes, in all academic subjects. This includes organizing and managing time and materials, listening courteously and effectively, speaking courteously and fluently, writing correctly and effectively, and more. Our program strives for a balance of material to learn and development of critical thinking skills.
Summit places students according to academic level and interest, rather than solely by grade level. This allows students to be challenged at their full potential and not to be held back.
Summit provides an academically challenging program but also provides support to help students succeed. After school or lunch time tutoring, math and English labs, Schoolnotes.com, literacy support-there are numerous ways we assist students who are struggling or just need a little extra help occasionally.
Summit provides a rich array of electives, extra-curricular and sports activities. We believe that the arts, athletics, and other opportunities to explore different areas of learning and culture are a central component of a well-rounded education.
Summit is small enough that we know all our students. It is hard for people to fall through the cracks here. As a result, the school is very safe and community oriented.
Students come to Summit from across the district BVSD's open enrollment lottery. As a result, we have a diverse population. This helps create a student body with rich and varied backgrounds and, ultimately, helps create a vibrant learning environment.
Finally, Summit has a clearly focused mission. We do not try to be all things to all people. As the first line of our mission statement articulates, we seek to: "provide a rigorous, academic curriculum that promotes high levels of student effort and academic achievement." Summit attracts students who enjoy intellectual challenge and meaningful academic accomplishment. Consequently, there is a culture at Summit in which scholarship, academic achievement, and creativity are valued.
As in a great poem, so too in a great school, the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. A school like Summit also has many intangible ingredients that go into the mix as well. But the end product is truly something special indeed.
Mark your calendar and plan to join us for the annual Summit community meeting on February 18 in the Summit multipurpose room at 7 p.m. Tour the new music portable, come join in discussion of exciting plans for facilities and program improvements, hear about this year's open enrollment season, and visit with other Summit parents. The Board candidate Q&A forum is also scheduled for this evening and is a great opportunity to hear directly from the parents who are running for the Summit Board. See you there!
Parents, please consider running for a position on the Summit Board of Directors. The Board governs the school, sets policy and makes decisions about the school's budget, teacher and staff hiring, curriculum, course offerings and scheduling, accountability, and communications. The Board relies on and benefits from the diverse expertise of its members in all these areas as well as computer programming, law, grant writing, and negotiation.
There are seven elected members of the Board and the principal serves as an ex officio member. This year there will be four Board seats up for election. Each candidate should be dedicated to Summit's educational philosophy and be willing to devote the time necessary to serve on the Board. Candidates should announce by mid-February and elections will be held by early March for two-year terms that begin officially June 1. Newly elected candidates are expected to attend as many spring Board meetings as possible, as non-voting participants, beginning in March. The Summit Board meets approximately every two weeks through the school year, with occasional periods of more intense activity, and occasionally during the summer.
Please contact any current Board member for more information: Paul Atcheson 303-581-9013, Debbie Feyh 303-543-8646, Barbry Hogue 303-665-3798, John Jacus 303-499-3013, Barb Kostanick 303-442-7115, Tom Mahowald 303-543-8903, Betsy Phelan 303-443-0832.
Let parents and students who are interested in Summit Middle School know that they are invited to tour the school with a Summit administrator or Board member and attend a Student/Parent Information Night. Tours are by appointment only-please call 303-499-9511.
Thanks to all the parents and Summit supporters who visited Borders on November 30. Borders donated 15% to Summit of all purchases recorded on behalf of the school. Thanks to Penny Hannegan for coordinating this fund raiser and others who participated. Just under $800 was raised and donated to Summit. Another $300 in books and materials were donated to the library as well. A great day and thanks to all that made the effort to get to Borders to support Summit!
This year's Tools For Learning campaign is off to a great start! The campaign has raised over $40,000 in cash and stock donations through December 31, and we have credit card pledges of another $10,000 to be processed very soon. That puts us over $50,000 in funds raised, more than half way to our goal of $90,000 for this year's campaign.
Of course, we also have a goal of 100% participation in the campaign, and less than half of Summit's families have donated thus far, so please plan to make a donation of whatever size you can to Tools For Learning in the coming months if you haven't already. We have important unmet needs for computer upgrades, among other things, that cannot be adequately addressed if we fall sort of our goals.
Thanks to all of you who have already given so generously to the campaign. Of course, those who haven't will be getting reminder calls and mailings from Supporters of Summit as we kick the campaign into high gear! Please call John Jacus at (303) 499-3013 if you need another pledge packet or have other questions about the campaign.
As Mr. Finell mentioned, Summit received a letter from Governor Bill Owens letting us know that, once again, Summit Middle School was named as a John Irwin Award Winner. This recognition is given only to schools that demonstrate exceptional performance in the Colorado Student Assessment Program. Congratulations to all of the students, faculty and families who worked together for these great results.
Summit has begun the process of meeting with BVSD to discuss options for a gym that would be more appropriate for a middle school population. The new portable will be powered up and ready for the start of second semester. Beside providing more appropriate space for some teachers who currently teach in a different classroom each period, the new space will allow more of the library to be used as a library.
The new process for selecting electives is being implemented for next year. Elective packets went home January 10. Students will select 10 elective choices for next year, but the choices are not prioritized. While the previous system asked that elective choices be prioritized, the reality of ensuring that all student get the correct core course placement meant that the elective prioritization carried little or no weight in the scheduling process. At the December meeting, the Board approved some new elective offerings, and many old favorites return. The new scheduling process and software will allow us to get a master schedule established before school ends this year, which will give teachers more time to prepare for next year's classes.
Finally, Summit's questionnaires for students, families, faculty, and alumni are being finalized. Look for one soon.
Summit History Club is up and running! As an outgrowth of our community service projects during the past two years, the Social Studies department has formalized our History Service Club. Our goal is to make the world a better place, one kind act at a time. Our first president is 8th grader Julia Hansford and our vice president is 7th grader Nicholas Gerstle. Under their capable leadership, students gather each Monday to eat lunch in Mrs. Kapsak's room. They brainstorm, vote on and then establish community service projects (and eatcookies!). In November, just before Thanksgiving, the History Club collected and donated 878.5 pounds of canned food for the food bank in just one week!
In December, the students made holiday cards for Meals on Wheels and hospital patients. They also "adopted" three children of prison inmates, and raised funds to buy gifts. Students, parents, Mrs. Kapsak, and Mr. Havens met on a Saturday in Boulder to shop. The students had true shopping karma as we trekked from Old Navy to Target on our mission of kindness. The students wrapped the gifts at the next Monday meeting, and a representative from the program came to Summit to thank the students (in both English and America Sign Language) and to take the gifts to their destination. It is a wonderful thing to see our Summit students wanting to make a difference NOW. Special thanks to all the parents who took time out of an already busy holiday schedule to drive students back and forth to shop.
Our next activities include reading to pediatric patients in a hospital in January, bringing Valentines and visiting with residents in a nursing home in February, and touring a jail to bring good used magazines for the jail library in March. Mrs. Kapsak and Mr. Havens sponsor this club. All students are welcome. We always need cookies at lunch on Mondays, so if you bake, please consider bringing some to Room 2. And, special thanks to Julia and Nicholas for their leadership and initiative!
The Summit Social Studies department congratulates our National Geographic Geo Bee Winners for 2002-03! In December, just before winter break, the following students won the classroom competitions:
6th graders: Mara O'Loughlin, Adam Jesudason, Ben Kuelthau, Stanley Chen, and Margot Van Loon
7th graders: Nicholas Gerstle, Rebecca Heywood, Daniel Weidlein, Tim Smith, Melanie Harwood, and Elizabeth Fleagle
8th graders: Rachel Ertz, Bobby Neibauer, Scott Belding, and Timothy Nguyen
Our school runner-up, in a hard fought battle, was Scott Belding. Our school winner was Nicholas Gerstle. Congratulations, Nicholas, and to all of our geography scholars!
World History classes thank all the families who cooked for our India and China festival in December!! Special thanks to Stanley Chen's father, who brought an entire Chinese feast for Period 5. We appreciate all the books, statues, art you sent as well. Thanks to Dylan Howell's family, Guri Nikrad's family, Devon Belcher's family, and Andi Rudman's family for the beautiful things you sent to us.
Many thanks are due to the Summit Middle School Spanish Club members for making 250 Spanish language holiday cards to place in baskets for the needy in Longmont. The Volunteer Connection of Longmont was very appreciative, as were the many families that benefited!
Congratulations to Mia Fuhrman and Trevor Ranney for being chosen as representatives to the Middle School Advisory Board for the Bolder Boulder. This board is comprised of only 12 students from all interested middle schools in Colorado. They were nominated by Mrs. Blakemore and submitted an essay demonstrating to the Bolder Boulder staff why they would be great representatives to discuss training, registration, social opportunities, fitness, goal-setting, nutrition, race-day experience, etc. Well done!
Enjoy running? Want to help students and yourself run faster, set goals, get fit and have fun? We'd like your help! We hope to start some early light training for the Bolder Boulder, weather permitting, in mid-February to early March. We are looking for a few running parents to volunteer weekly, or when possible, to help supervise training after school. Initially, we hope to offer training two or three days a week and gradually increase to every day for those students who want it. Please contact Mrs. Blakemore at 303-499-9511 if you would like to help.
On December 10, Summit's American History classes participated in Summit Middle School's History Day. This annual event, again held in the National Reserve Center, was the culminating event in a three-month research assignment. All students should be very proud of their projects. As a result of Summit's History Day, 19 projects will represent Summit at the district-level competition in April. The students moving on and their project categories are:
Group Documentary: Ben Horowitz, Anuraag Chintalapally, and Marcus Feyh; Alex Reisfield and Daniel Weidlein; Liz Rovira and Malia Guy; Emily Woods and Anna Hermann
Individual Documentary: Sarah Gregory, Lizzy Halpern, and Dana Stepleton
Group Exhibit: Erin Silk and Anna Sergeeva; Ryan Schmitz and Lance Light; Sarah Smith and Tess Udall.
Individual Exhibit: Rachel Baum, Alison Ferris, Elizabeth Fleagle, Chris Jarmon, and Helen Sims
Paper: Elias Stallard-Olivera, Charlie Wilcox, Sabine Kunz, Sam Galler, and Teresa Wong
Honarable Mention Awards: Rishi Rawat, Alison Grady and Julie McClellan, Kryn Dykema, Sarah Goldstein, Anna Khvorova, Pierce Martin, Trevor Ranney, Ellie Shetter, Simon Steffen, Kyle Strand, Lisa Yao, Rebecca Heywood, and Michelle D'Ippolito.
As Mr. Havens' newsletter article says, Summit's 7th graders (plus a few 8th graders) did a fabulous job with their History Day projects this year. Congratulations to all of you on some very nice work. Summit was fortunate to have nine judges from outside of the Summit community, all of whom were most generous with their time (AND impressed by our students' work!). They are: Robert Abbott, Barbara Bintliff, Linda Cooke, Gerda Norvig, Sam Pai, Scott Richards, Jason Sivy, Chris Todd, and Jim Zoller. Amy Buck was our scorer for the second year running. If you know any of these special people, please reiterate our appreciation for helping out Summit in a BIG way.
As wonderful as our outside helpers were, History Day couldn't have happened without a great job by Mr. Havens and a super group of Summit parents. Our hard-working judges were Marilyn Carol, John Gerstle, Paul Harstad, Frances Hartogh, Clarissa King, Laurie Kuelthau, Toni Ozeroff, Lisa Shearer-Cooper, and Rayma Skeen. Our principal, David Finell, was also a much-appreciated judge. Claire Stepleton did an outstanding job of coordinating our facilities needs, with help from a crew of Alaine Lerner, Beth Robertson, Jay Stepleton, Dave and Jennifer Strand, and Barbara Weidlein. Lydia Pottoff designed some striking certificates of participation, and Beth Wilcox helped procure awards materials. Joan Jacus led the kids safely back and forth between Summit and the Reserve Center.
Delicious and abundant food was provided thanks to the organizational efforts of Angie Dorsey, Diann Glander and Lauren Hager. The food itself was provided by Gloria August, Carol Baum, Dianne Cardinal, Karen Forman, Maggie Fox, Yvonne Garvin, Susan Karpatkin, Alaine Lerner, Jan Markham, Susanne Metzler, Betsy Phelan, Lydia Pottoff, Cathy Regan, Cheryl Runyon, Sally Scott, Karen Van Dusen and Barbara Weidlein. Thanks to each and every one of you who played a part. Many hands made for light work and a memorable day.
If you are interested in helping to sponsor this year's issue of the Summit yearbook you can pick up an order form at the school office or call Joan Jacus at 303-499-3013.
Wow, what a great concert Summit musicians delivered last month! Thanks to Mr. Ackerson and Ms. Dorinda Dercar for all your hard work, leadership and organization. Dorinda Cudney especially thanks Tom Jarmon, Andy Dickson, Pam Ringenback, Carol Baum, Sarah Cudney, and Terrence Cudney for all their help with the set changes. Without their help the show would have been two hours longer.
A standing ovation for our parent chaperones Linda Stancliffe, Suzanne Taborsky-Barba, Shelly Hendrick, Karen Forman, Lisa Lewis, Barbara Weidlein, Lynn Jacobs, Barbara Sil, and Laurie Kuelthau. Thanks to our transportation crew Linda Parkhill, Cathy Kerry, Ann Alexander, Susanne Metzler, and Sharon Atcheson. Finally, thanks to Dana Van Loon and a huge thanks to Diane Chicoine for helping to get all our volunteers organized.
All students enrolled in an art class spring semester (Sculpture or Ceramics) should purchase a sketchbook. There are a wide variety of options. Please select one that is approximately 8"x10", has at least 60 unlined pages, and will withstand a semester of art room abuse. Spiral and hardbound books work fine. Sketch pads are not durable enough for this assignment. See you in a week!
The Summit Library has received a number of donations recently. The entire Summit community benefits when you make a donation to the library! If you would like to donate a book in honor of a student, teacher, administrator, or volunteer, please contact Mrs. Woods in the library. Her hours are Tuesday and Friday, 8:10 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. and Wednesday, 9:10 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. She can help you pick a book from the library's wish list, will provide a book plate for the book, and notify the honoree.
Recent donations include:
Looking for a way to pitch in and help Summit? We have a variety of opportunities coming up:
Please contact Miriam Sproul at walbelding<at>attbi.com or 303-543-9298 if you can help with any of the above.
Carpenter needed in the music department. No musical skills necessary. We have a few fun projects for someone that knows how to use power tools. For details, please stop by the music portable and speak with Mr. Ackerson or call Joan Jacus at 303-499-3013.
While textbooks can provide a wealth of information and detail, little beats living an experience or hearing a credible, firsthand account. Earlier this month, Summit math teacher Dr. Ingrid Fotino was featured in a story in the Daily Camera. Once a year, Dr. Fotino takes a break from mathematics to discuss a piece of her personal history with Summit students, detailing a difficult journey out of Soviet-occupied Romania at the end of World War II. If you missed this story in the Camera, it will be archived online for another few days at: http://www.bouldernews.com/bdc/schools/article/0,1713,BDC_2488_1654139,00.html. [See "Summit in the News."]
The inside covers of the Summit student planners are available for appropriate advertising to our Summit Community. For more information, please contact Jaime Simpson in the office at 303-499-9511.
Remember that open enrollment closes January 24. Parents interested in learning about high schools of interest are encouraged to call high schools to see if more open houses, shadowing, or tours are available before the deadline.
The next two CU Wizards programs, targeted for students in grades 5 through 9, will be:
Free parking is available in lots 169, 308, 396, and 436. Shows begin at 9:30 a.m. For all programs remaining, go to: http://physics.colorado.edu/wizards/cuwizards.html.
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 in two weeks. If you have news, notes, or announcements, forward them via email to pat.hyde[at]attbi.com.