Summit News

March 15, 2006
Volume 21, No. 4

Download a PDF version of this newsletter.

From The Principal's Office
—David Finell

Capital Improvements Planning Committee

As you may know, BVSD has a Capital Improvements Planning Committee that has been soliciting input from people in the community regarding school facilities' needs. A number of meetings were held in the past couple of weeks at high schools in the district to explain the process and to get input. I want to thank those Summit parents who attended one of these charettes. I also want to let everyone at Summit know that if you were not able to attend one of these meetings there is still an avenue for you to give your opinion on general facilities needs in the district and, specifically, at Summit.

If you would like to give your input please go to www.bvsd.org. The first paragraph that comes up on the home page says: "Capital Improvement Meetings Scheduled for the Community". It then says: "Follow this link for more information". If you click on this link it says: "Take a moment to complete our Capital Needs Survey. If you click on that it will bring up the survey, which you can then complete and send in on-line. The survey has 20 questions and room at the end for your comments and suggestions.

If we stand any chance of the district taking seriously our need for improved facilities at Summit, it is important that the district hear loudly and clearly from as many Summit parents as possible. If they do not hear from us it is likely they will conclude this is not such an important issue for Summit families, and that is obviously not the case. I think if there is one thing everyone at Summit can agree on it is that we need to improve our facility. If the district did not hear from you at the charettes, I strongly urge you to take a few minutes to complete this survey and give your comments at the end.

Thank you.

Mr. David B. Finell, Principal

AYP Newsletter
—from Colo. Dept. of Education

We will soon be sending home a letter from the Colorado Department of Education informing you that the Boulder Valley School District did not make Adequate Yearly Progress as defined in No Child Left Behind. Though BVSD is very pleased that 132 out of the 145 subgroups of our students reached this achievement target, which equals achieving 91% of our goals, we are working with our schools to improve the achievement of the thirteen subgroups that did not make AYP in 2004-05. We are submitting a Program Improvement Plan to CDE that reflects this work. Because our Program Improvement Plan will reflect the work that our schools have already done with the input from their parent communities, we are not planning any separate district-level activities regarding parent involvement. Please feel free to contact any of our schools to ask what they are doing.

The district has previously released information about specific schools that did not make AYP. However, please remember that our district and its schools operate under two additional accountability and accreditation systems, the State Accountability Report (SAR) and the District Accreditation Contract with the department of education. The district received the highest praise in its most recent accreditation report from the State of Colorado, all of the district's schools are fully accredited, and 75% of our schools rated Excellent or High on the SAR. The letter that is being sent home continues to reinforce this excellent level of performance of the school district.

Additional Summit Middle School Honor Roll
Fall Semester 2005-2006

Christian Allen
Samantha Baker
Cole Bradley
Julia Donahue
Emily Hoskins
Luke Light
Ian Meyer
Michael Ozeroff
Anna Peshock
Ella Pyle
Nicole Reese
Nicolas Vincent

RTD TeenPasses

$23.00 per month

Please make check to BVSD or use cash. Passes will be sold after school the first and last 2 days of the month.

Tools for Learning Needs You

There are only 13 weeks of school left. If you have been meaning to contribute to this year's Tools for Learning campaign—but still have the pledge card on your desk—please return it as soon as possible. WE NEED YOU!

We have now received $84,068 in donations from 127 currently enrolled families and 48 alumni families and we are 84% of the way to our fund raising goal. We appreciate the tremendous generosity of the current and alumni families that have participated. Plus, there will be some additional funds that have been pledged that we will receive in the next few months due to multi-month donations. However, less than 50% percent of our currently enrolled families have participated. One of our goals is 100% participation and every donation counts and moves us closer to our goal of $100,000.

The generosity of our community has allowed us to fund a number of purchases this year that otherwise would have been out of reach. This includes the upcoming purchases of new microscopes for Biology, GPS devices and heart rate monitors for Science, two film edit stations and software, multiple other software purchases for various classes, supplemental texts for History and English, and monies for curriculum development. We also draw on SOS funds to supplement our budget for teacher salaries. Your donation, in any amount comfortable for your family, is IMPORTANT to Summit and your child's education.

Please return your pledge card today! Additional pledge cards are available from the front office. Thank you to those who recently contributed to the campaign:

Nancy Billica & Brian Vickers
Norma Sierra
Paul Harstad
Shemin Ge & Ning Lu
Kerry O'Keefe Glynn & Joe Glynn
Elizabeth & Sam Benz
Amy & Dan Hoskins
Michelle & Christian Meyer

The following families made their donations before the end of 2005 but were not listed in the January newsletter. I missed sending an entire block of names to be printed in the newsletter. My apologies! If you have made a donation and not seen your name listed (assuming you did not wish to remain anonymous), please don't hesitate to contact me!

Sincerely, Michelle Meyer

Divine Family Foundation
Valerie McBeth & Kevin Allen
Beth & Terry Rogers
Isabel Echenique & Thomas Ingerson
Nancy Sleater & Ronald McClain
Julie & Jeff Andresen
Linda Jade Fong & Binx Selby
Roberta & Timothy Kileen
Chunfant Ding & Yizi Xu
Taiyi Xu & Ping Chen
Bruce & Polly Douglass
Cindy & Larry Halpern
Lakshmi & Kalpana Kantha
Deb Miller & Alan Kirton
Mimi & Mike Repucci
Karen & Barry Brents
Lyne & Marc Cahn
Elizabeth & Dave Reed
Joyce Bergmann & Leonard Tanis
Betsy Phelan & Paul Smith
Michele & Paul Dusenbery
The Compton Foundation/Bruce C. Stephens

Parent Engagement Network

Two Events for BVSD Parents:
  1. Intentional Parenting Transitions That Support Our Kids and Family, Elementary–High School
    Sue Wong, Transitions Expert and Consultant
    Thursday April 13th, 8:30–11:00 a.m.
    BVSD Ed Center, 6500 Arapahoe.
  2. Harnessing our Strengths in Prevention
    Maria Guajardo Lucero, Executive Director, City of Denver Mayor's Office of Education and Children, Annual Celebration Parent and Community Engagement
    Thursday, May 18th, Time and Location TBD.
Please join us for these two informative and engaging events! Questions? Want to volunteer? Contact Betsy Fox: (303) 441-3981 or bfox[at]co.boulder.co.us. Visit our website at www.parentengagementnetwork.com.

Regional History Day Results

Congratulations to our Regional History Day participants! Everyone from Summit put in quite a bit of hard work on Saturday, March 3, as they competed for State slots with schools across the district. From each of the 7 categories, the top 5 across the district were chosen to compete at the State level on April 29. Here are the results:
Historical Paper category
Andrew "Cap" Parlier: alternate
Chris Guthrie: 5th place
James Hastie: 3rd place
Charles Xu: 2nd place
Peter Repucci: 1st place
Individual Performance
Kerry Betz: 5th place
Erin Jones: 2nd place
Larissa Kunz: 1st place
Individual Exhibit
Alysia Mattson: 4th place
Stefan Norgaard: 1st place
Group Documentary
Jirka Hladis, Kyle and Connor Rowinski: 2nd Place
Individual Documentary
Timmy Schermerhorn: 4th place
Linx Selby: 2nd place
Alexia Ingerson: 1st place
Congratulations!

Bolder Boulder Training

Spring fever is approaching! The Bolder Boulder is almost right around the corner! Once again, Summit hopes to be well represented by our students and staff on Monday, May 29, for the big race. Training began March 6. Parents, we need your support! If you would like to volunteer to run or walk with our students on our training days, please contact Polly Moriarity (polly_doyle[at]hotmail.com), Annie Davids (annie[at]davidsfamily.com) or Mary Kathryn Williams (mkw333[at]hotmail.com). We welcome any availability and ability!

No Hot Lunch

No hot lunch will be served on the following days when the district is closed and Summit is open:

Monday, April 3rd
Tuesday, April 4th
Friday, May 19th

Please mark your calendars and plan on sending a sack lunch on these days.

Opening Dates for Summit 2006–2007

Friday, August 18: Registration Day for all Returning Summit Students. Drop in anytime between 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to turn in forms.

Monday, August 21: Orientation for Students New to Summit (8:10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.) and Registration/Reception for Parents New to Summit (8:15 a.m.–9:30 a.m.).

Tuesday, August 22: First full day of school for ALL students (8:10 a.m.–3:07 p.m.).

Class News

German

On March 1, the German classes attended Deutschfest, a language immersion day at the University of Colorado. The CU-Outreach Council, the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages, and the Boulder Valley Schools sponsor the event. After gathering in the UMC for a Kaffeeklatsch with students from all the high schools in BVSD as well as Skyline HS in Longmont, everyone attended three different activities of choice. These included arts and crafts from the German-speaking countries such as decorating gingerbread hearts and Easter eggs, folk painting, or the art of paper cutting. Other students learned to write in the old German style or made puppets called Hampelmaenner. Students wishing to get a bit of exercise could dance in a German-style disco, bowl with German instructors from CU, or learn traditional folk dances. After picking up a box lunch, students watched a film in German. We all had a great time and everyone is looking forward to the next Deutschfest. Many thanks to all the parents who accompanied us and helped our students find their way around four floors of the UMC!

Summit Criminal Justice Class Goes to Court

This article was written by seven of the nineteen students who attended the trial: Sam Gips, editor, with Shannon Burke, Paul Dreher, Arielle Eckstein, Natalya Fearnley, Peter Gips, and Tom Morley. We thank Ms. Kolanowski for her help editing.

The trial we observed was an assault and ethnic intimidation trial, Philip Martinez v. Andrew Sterling. On June 7th at 2 a.m., Philip Martinez was accused of attacking Andrew Sterling and breaking his jaw. The trial started on February 20th, and went to the jury on the 27th of February.

Mr. Martinez was charged with ethnic intimidation and second-degree assault. Mr. Martinez was also accused of yelling racial slurs at Andrew Sterling who is a 21 year old African American. Besides breaking his jaw, Mr. Sterling also suffered a brain injury.

The courtroom was surprisingly small, but was orderly. Before the trial started, the atmosphere was calm and the attorneys talked with each other. One of the prosecutors, who was from the Boulder District Attorney's office, even gave the defense attorney a pen. Yet once the judge arrived in the courtroom the atmosphere became very tense. Judge Glowinsky kept the trial orderly and fair for both sides, and it was apparent that she listened carefully to all sides. During the trial an audiotape was played featuring a witness named Mario Chapa. He was inside of the van that Mr. Martinez was also in when he was accused of getting out and hitting Mr. Sterling in the face. The interview took place in jail. Mr. Chapa said several times that he hadn't talked to anybody about the case. However, a private investigator for the defense had gone to the Weld County Jail and obtained the phone records. Through those phone calls the defense proved that Mr. Chapa had received 33 calls while he was in jail, some relating to the case. We were surprised that the Prosecution had not also obtained his phone call records. Later, the prosecution showed the wrong clip from an interview. The Prosecution tried to show a clip where one of the witnesses in the van wasn't cooperating with the police, but accidentally showed one where he was cooperating with the police. The Judge said to disregard the clip, but it seemed to us that it was a setback to the Prosecution, as we could see that one of the prosecutors was very disappointed and angry. Could the jury really completely forget what they had already seen and heard?

Next, the Defense brought in witnesses. Both of the witnesses were friends of Mr. Martinez, and both said that he wasn't a racist. Roman Greene, the third witness, was a perfect defense witness, as he was an African American man. He said that Mr. Martinez would never be a racist or discriminate against anybody, even under the influence of alcohol. This seemed to us to be a major success for the Defense, especially for dismissing the ethic intimidation charge from the minds of the jury.

The judge then called a recess to discuss the jury instructions. It took over an hour and a half, so we had lunch and went exploring. During lunch, we saw the Boulder County High School prisoners who had come from jail to the Justice Center for their school. Then we went into the actual Jury Assembly Room and we watched the very same jury appointment video that all potential jurors watch when they are summoned to serve as jurors. The math teacher of the high school teen prisoners gave us permission and helped us play the video. After watching the video, we went back to courtroom R to watch the end of the trial. It took the judge and the attorneys all of lunch and about half an hour more to finalize the jury instructions so that the prosecution, the defense and the judge all agreed that the jury instructions were right for a fair trial. Then the judge had to call in the jury and read them the instructions. In the middle of the first instruction, the judge read a stipulation, which stated that the van the defendant was in on the night of the alleged crime had gold stripes that had been removed. The jury had to leave the courtroom every time the attorneys wanted to discuss something so they could make sure it was a fair trial. Every time the attorneys had to approach the bench, the court reporter had to put on headphones so that she could hear what they were talking about and record it.

Other observations: There was a man in a blue suit sitting about one foot away from Mr. Martinez, who had decided not to testify. We later found out that the blue suited man sitting behind Phillip Martinez was his prison guard. He was there because Mr. Martinez was in jail for previous offenses. He was in a blue suit instead of his uniform so that the jury would not know that Mr. Martinez was already in jail for another unrelated offense. There were also two guards, armed with tazers, at the door in case Mr. Martinez tried to run out. We think that a possible reason Mr. Martinez decided not to testify was because of his previous offenses and convictions that could have come up in cross-examination. We had to miss the closing arguments because we had to go back to school. Two days later we read in the paper that Mr. Martinez had been found guilty of assault but not guilty of ethnic intimidation. He is to be sentenced on April 21st.

Thank you, Mr. Finell and Summit Middle School, for supplying us with the bus we needed for our field trip to court.

The School Calendar

March

Wednesday, 15
Summit Community Meeting, Summit Multipurpose Room, 6:30–8:00 p.m.
Thursday, 16
Summit Board Meeting
Wednesday, 22
AAA Committee Meeting, Summit Library, 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, 23, and Friday, 24
RTD Teenpasses on sale
Monday, 27, through Friday, 31
NO SCHOOL—Spring Break

April

Monday, 3
School Resumes
Monday, 3, and Tuesday, 4
RTD Teenpasses on sale
Wednesday, 5
Third Quarter Ends
Friday, 21
NO SCHOOL—Summit Day

May

Monday, 29
NO SCHOOL—Memorial Day
Monday, 29
Bolder Boulder Race

June

Friday, 9
Last Day of Classes
Friday, 9
Eighth Grade Graduation