November 17, 2003
Volume 16, No. 7
An important informational meeting about enrolling your child in high school will be held for the parents of all 8th graders this Wednesday, November 19, at 7 p.m. in the multipurpose room. The purpose of the meeting is to provide information about neighborhood high school enrollment and open enrollment as well as information regarding the process of choosing and registering for appropriate courses at high schools in the Boulder Valley School District.
Parents who are interested in comparing or finding out about various high school programs should attend the evening programs at the high schools listed on the sheet that was mailed home to all 8th grade parents. We will not be covering this topic during the presentation. Instead, we will discuss how to choose high school courses that are appropriate for your student and provide information about neighborhood high school enrollment and open enrollment procedures. A high school counselor from the Boulder Valley School District will present information and answer questions regarding the transition from middle school to high school.
This 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. If you have any questions, please contact Kendra Bartley at 303-499-9511.
The Summit Winter Concert is a great community event to celebrate the holidays and enjoy the hard work the students and staff have put in so far this year. I know most of you already got these dates in September, but just in case, here are the dates and groups performing at the Winter concert:
Other concert dates for the year include:
Other than the graduation event, all of these concerts will be held at Boulder High School, will begin at 7 p.m., and should last no more than 90 minutes. Instrumentalists should arrive at 6:15 p.m. for warm up and tuning, vocalists at 6:30 p.m.
Thanks, by the way, for the great response to the need for help with concerts, etc. You are awesome!
The music department needs a couple of parents who can act as monitors when we have a concert at Boulder High School. This would involve filling out a monitor waiver form at BHS, working the alarm, and locking the doors after the concert. This will cut the concert costs by half and so would be greatly appreciated. We also need someone handy with nuts and bolts to put some hardware on our drum sets and tighten things up. Call Doug Ackerson for details on either at 303-499-9511. Thank You!!!
Many thanks to Carolyn Bondarovich and Mary Ann Williamson for volunteering to co-chair the important Parent Volunteer Connection position. In this role, Mary Ann and Carolyn will help to channel and coordinate all the parent volunteer energy at Summit in an efficient manner. Please thank them when you see them and please respond to their requests for help throughout the rest of the school year.
As many of you know, Summit received a generous grant this fall from the Walton Family Foundation, in the amount of $64,900. Among its other programs that support charter schools, the Foundation offers an expansion grant program to assist maturing charter schools as they grow and improve. Our grant proposal, as submitted to the Foundation via the Colorado League of Charter Schools (CLCS), proposed a budget of $129,800. This proposal was carefully developed based on real needs for supporting improvement of individual academic achievement through the purchase of new books and other materials for the library, intensive curriculum review, textbooks, A/V equipment, and software purchases and licensing to support the library computers and computer lab. Proposed grant funds expenditures would not only expand the opportunities for current students to excel but also help prepare for the accreditation process that Summit will undergo during the 2004-2005 school year.
The challenge is that, although we received a large award, it is only 50% of what Summit sought from the Foundation. The CLCS and the Walton Family Foundation requested a response from Summit about how the remaining funds would be provided, in recognition that all needs listed are real and immediate. The Grant Writing Committee has been successful in receiving some additional funds through the Foundation for Boulder Valley School's classroom mini-grant awards and plans to write proposals to other foundations. However, we also listed the Tools for Learning fundraising process as the key area from which the school would draw the remaining funds.
So, when you are considering your Tools for Learning contribution this school year, keep these unmet needs in mind and please be as generous as you can so that we can match (and exceed) the Walton Family Foundation award to provide ongoing support for our teachers and students.
Also, please keep in mind that potential funding sources want to know the level of parent and staff support for our school. It helps tremendously if Summit can show a 100% contribution rate from our key supporters-moms, dads, staff members, alumni families, and incoming families.
If you have questions about the Walton Family Foundation or the grant, please contact Debbie Feyh at 303-543-8646 or Barb Kostanick at 303-442-7115. If you would like more information about Tools for Learning, please contact Dolly Dean at 303-473-9600.
Thanks to the more than 40 families who have already returned their Tools for Learning pledge cards! We already have received more than $31,000 in pledges - tremendous progress toward our goal of reaching $100,000 during this school year's campaign.
Have you returned your pledge? If not, please return pledges as soon as possible. A quick response saves us follow up mailings and keeps costs down. Donations can be made by check, credit card (Visa or MasterCard ONLY, please) or gifts of stock.
Also, return your pledge card now to claim your 2003 tax deduction. Please note that if you wish to pay by credit card and want to receive a tax receipt for a 2003 donation, we will need to receive your completed pledge card in the office no later than Tuesday, December 16 - otherwise, we may not be able to process your credit card before the end of 2003.
A list of the donors to date will run in the next newsletter. Remember, we only have two goals this year: to raise $100,000 and reach 100 percent participation. Thanks for doing your part in helping us reach these goals.
If you have misplaced your pledge card, additional cards are available in the office. If you have questions about the campaign, please call Dolly Dean at 303-473-9600.
On November 13, the Summit Board met to discuss school business. Among many topics covered, highlights include:
The next two Board meetings will be held December 4 and December 11. Meetings are held in Summit's library and begin at 6:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. All regular Summit Board meetings are public. Any and all members of our Summit community are encouraged to attend.
Spanish Club is selling warm tortillas every morning from 7:45 to 8:05 a.m. to raise money to donate to Toys for Tots so that needy children will have gifts for the Holidays! Come by Mrs. Blakemore's room (#6) and have a delicious warm tortilla for 50 cents or cheese tortilla for $1. The tortillas are from Tortilleria Las Americas in Longmont. All proceeds will be donated by mid-December!
Summit offers a mix of interscholastic and intramural athletic activities for students throughout the year. To participate, students must turn in a BVSD interscholastic athletics parent permission form (available from Coach A, Ms. Dornbush, or the office), and a copy of a sports physical conducted no more that a year before the start date of the activity. Upcoming sports activities include:
The CU Wizards Program is an informal introduction to astronomy, chemistry, and physics, intended for students in grades 5 through 9. Programs are free and begin at 9:30 a.m. The next program is:
Please see the e-mail version of Summit News for two corrections for your Summit directory.
Open enrollment will begin December 1 and close on January 23 for the 2004-2005 school year. Summit holds school tours for prospective students and parents as well as two information evenings for prospective students and their parents (see below). The office has a large supply of informational brochures and open house flyers, if you are able to distribute some to interested parents.
Monthly Scheduled Tours -- Parents and students interested in Summit's program are invited to tour the school with a Summit administrator. At the end of the tour, there will be an opportunity for questions and answers. All tours begin at 8:45 a.m. and are by appointment. Please call the Summit office to schedule a tour, at 303-499-9511.
Student/Parent Information Nights -- Student/Parent Information Nights are an excellent opportunity to meet Summit staff and Board members and to learn more about Summit's program. Summit's mission, philosophy, and curriculum are discussed, textbooks and work samples are displayed, and presentations made by core subject and elective teachers. All prospective students and their families are encouraged to attend one of these evening programs, offered twice during the year.
Student Visitation Days -- Students who have been notified of acceptance at Summit are eligible to attend a student visitation day. This program is designed for students who feel they need to visit the school to make a final decision before open enrollment to Summit. On the day they visit, students shadow a Student Ambassador (current 6th grader) for a half-day. Dates and sign-up procedures for student visitation days will be sent with letters of acceptance, which are mailed in January in coordination with the BVSD open enrollment timeline.
The calendar of events for prospective students and parents is:
As a general policy, Summit teachers will not give credit for homework that has been faxed or e-mailed to the Summit office. Thank you for your cooperation.
School cancellation announcements due to weather are made on the following radio and TV stations:
Closures are also posted on the BVSD web site under "Cancellations" at www.bvsd.k12.co.us.
Summit News is distributed electronically. Printed copies are available in the Summit office and newsletter issues, current and past, are also posted on the Summit web site at www.summitmiddleschool.org. To update your email address, drop a note by the office or email jaime.simpson[at]bvsd.k12.co.us.
Summit News is distributed on the 1st and 16th of the month during the academic year. Please e-mail news or announcements to newsletter editor Patrick Hyde at pat.hyde[at]comcast.net.
To see the current or back issues of Summit News, information about Summit, links to other charter schools, and related educational information, refer to Summit's web site via: http://www.summitmiddleschool.org.