K-8 Programming Study Committee Meeting
The K-8 Programming Study Committee will meet on
Tuesday, April 18 from 4:00-7:00 p.m. The agenda
can be found by
clicking here.
The Benefits Office is pleased to
announce exciting improvements to the benefit plans for
2006 /2007! These changes include waivers for 40 hour
employees with proof of other coverage, new dental plans
with orthodontia and so much more. You will receive your
benefits enrollment packet in the mail by the beginning
of May, so you and your family has an opportunity to
review your options. You will also be receiving an email
at your kyrene.org address at the beginning of May which
will allow you to enroll with your benefit elections
online.
Please attend one of our Benefits
Open Enrollment meetings for more information, staff
members will be available to assist you with your
enrollments and questions at each meeting!
May 4th - District Office - Employee
Lounge - 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
May 8th - Paloma Elementary - Media
Center - 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
May 9th - District Office - Employee
Lounge - 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
May 11th - Monte Vista Elementary
Media Center - 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm
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Important
Information for Middle School Teachers!
Now
it’s your turn to be heard. . .
Middle
School classroom teachers, your opinions are needed as
part of the ongoing evaluation of the new middle school
model. The evaluation is being conducted by researchers
from ASU and now is your chance to tell them how things
are going under the new middle school model.
The
survey will be available online beginning
Wednesday, April 26th
and will close the evening of Sunday, April 30th.
The survey is your opportunity to provide input into the
evaluation and will be available only for the dates
listed.
Information on how to access the survey will be send
directly to middle school teachers on Tuesday, April 25.
The
survey will take no more than 20 minutes of your time.
For your convenience, you can complete the survey at
anytime during the administration period and from any
computer with access to the internet. Your identity will
remain anonymous.
Your
opinion is important because the survey results will be
presented directly to the Governing Board as part of the
evaluation report. Take the opportunity to be heard;
please participate.
Annual District Recognition
Event
Once again this year, the
Kyrene Schools Community Foundation, the Kyrene
Governing Board, and the three employee groups will
honor Kyrene employees who have dedicated 15, 20, 25, 30
years to Kyrene as well as the number of employees who
will be retiring this year. The event will take place on
May
18, 4:30-6:00 PM at the Manitas School MPR.
More information on who will be honored will be included
in a future Insider.
Click here for a list of all the staff to be
honored.
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Strategic
Plan Revision Council Update
A special writing
workshop/session was held this past week. The purpose of
this was to draft objectives for the 5 goals that are
part of the Strategic Plan currently under revision.
Each objective will specify audience, behavior,
condition, degree and evaluation to ensure that the plan
can be implemented successfully. It is expected that the
revised Strategic Plan will provide the framework of the
District work. Progress will be reviewed on a regular
basis and refinements and revisions will cause this to
be a “living document” that will serve the district in a
flexible and meaningful way. Once the objectives are
drafted they will be shared with all staff and community
members for further
comment, additions and revisions. It is expected that
this work will be completed by the end of May and
brought to the Governing Board for approval. All
employees will will soon have the opportunity to review
what has been drafted.
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Important Meeting for
Middle School Certification/Highly Qualified
KEA is sponsoring a
Highly-Qualified/Certification Information Session on
April 27 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. in the Board room. This is
in response to the window that will be opened on April
30 for adding approved areas for Social Studies,
Science, and Language Arts to certifications. This
session will answer key questions staff have about
certification and highly qualified.
Representatives from ADE will be present to answer these
important questions. For information about this
topic
click here or contact your KEA building
representative.
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A+ School Upcoming Site
Visits
Best of Luck to Cielo and
Monte Vista as they embark on the next stage of their A+
School application process. Very soon these
schools will take part in their site visits, one of the
last steps in the process. Good Luck!
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Sureño
Community Honors Pat Tillman
A team
of Kyrene del Sureño teachers have been working closely
with Pat Tillman’s family and the Pat Tillman Foundation
to see how the school community could assist in
supporting Pat’s memory. Pat Tillman used to volunteer
at Kyrene del Sureño school for many years. Last year
42 students, community members and staff from the Sureño
school participated in “Pat’s Run.” This year they 170
people participated this past Saturday in "Pat's Run."
The school began a Mileage Club several months ago
through the PE teacher where kids began training for the
run before and after school. Pat Tillman’s family
presented the Sureño team with an award on
Saturday for having so many participants.
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Honoring Our Staff
Outstanding Principals
Congratulations to Gina
Taylor and Mark Knight, who were selected as finalists
for the Circle of Honor recognition being given by AZ
LEADS to
Arizona’s
outstanding educational leaders.
Lynette
Nield Receives Honor
Outstanding
Educational Technology Graduate Awardee Lynette Nield
was honored with the Outstanding Educational Technology
Graduate Award at the Northern Arizona University
College of Education Awards Banquet. In addition to her
stellar academics by maintaining a 4.0 GPA, she
completed an amazing capstone project that was an
exemplar of good design, organization, and content. This
project will serve as a model communication tool where
educators can share technology integration resources,
curriculum, and activities.
Who's Who Among America's
Teachers
We are working with the organizers of the Who's Who
awards to get a complete listing.
National History Day Project takes students to
Washington D.C.
6th grade Social
Studies teachers at Kyrene Centennial Middle School, Mr.
Paul Wilcox and Miss Deb Malsom, worked with their
students to participate in the National History Day
project. Students participated at the school level and
then some participated at the State level. All of the
students did a terrific job representing Centennial and
they all are winners for participating and doing their
best in the local and State competitions. The state
winners from Centennial for the National History Day
competition will be competing at the National level in
Washington D.C. this June. The 1st place State Champions
for a group exhibit are:
Alyssa Black, Kaleigh
Campbell, and Mckinley Hunter. These girls
also had a perfect superior score and competed against
19 other entrants to become the State Champions. 2nd
place for individual exhibit was:
Marcus Campbell. Marcus
competed with 18 entrants to take 2nd place.
Congratulations to these fine students and good luck to
them as they compete at the National level.
Retirement Celebrations
There will be a retirement
celebration for Dr. Maria Menconi on
Tuesday, May 9 at 5:00 at the District Office.
Staff, parents, students and community members are
invited to attend.
Norte
will
have a reception on May 5th from 4:00 – 5:30
in the Multi-Purpose room. The retirees are Mary
Korsmo, Jerry Totman, Julie Harris and Debbie Dinyes.
Cielo
is having a retirement reception for Judy Austin
and Wendy Henes on Friday, May 12 from 3:00-5:00
AMS will have a celebration
for Marty Warren. A retirement reception will be held
in the AMS Library on Friday, May 5, at
4:00.
Mikie
Garland has asked that we share her
attached letter with the entire Kyrene family as she
retires this summer.
Council for Exceptional Children Award Winners
Dr. Mark Knight ~
Outstanding Administrator (Manitas)
Teri Koerner ~
Outstanding Parent (Manitas)
Holly Benson ~ Outstanding
PE Teacher (Cerritos)
Shonalisa Slim-Entz ~ Outstanding
Student (Manitas)
Amy
Milton ~ Outstanding Special Educator (Pueblo)
Fran
Griffin ~ Outstanding Instructional Assistant (Aprende)
Gail
Evans ~ Distinguished Service to Exceptional Children
(District)
KTTP
Team and Middle School Teachers Present at
Microcomputers in Education at ASU
Kyrene
had a strong presence at the 26th Annual Microcomputers
in Education Conference (MEC) on March 11th at the ASU
Campus. This conference brings together over 1,200
educators and school administrators, along with
technology providers and organizations, to create the
Southwest's largest educational technology event to
provide a forum for educators to learn, discuss and
exchange ideas about applications for new technologies
in the classroom.
KTTP
teachers Kim Mason (Niños 2nd Grade), Esther Santillan (Niños
1st Grade), Naomi Gottlieb (Waggoner 3rd Grade), and
Liza Richards (Waggoner 5th Grade), facilitated by
Jacinta Sorgel (Educational Technology Specialist),
presented "Effectively
Using Electronic Portfolios to Help Students Document
Their Learning"
highlighted how some of our Kyrene teachers are using
electronic portfolios and student reflections to
effectively document student growth. After a brief
explanation of the electronic portfolio implementation
history and the strategies that were used to support the
use of electronic portfolios, the teachers shared
student samples and discussed the many benefits that
their students and they experienced from implementing
electronic portfolios.
Middle
school teachers Mary Bittell (KMS), Jessey Johnson (Aprende),
Gina Meade (Altadena),
and Sharon Smith (Aprende), facilitated by Laura Stoner
(Educational Technology Specialist), presented "Projectors
and a Middle School Learning Team"
highlighted the exciting advances in our KTTP middle
school classrooms. After a brief explanation of the
projector implementation history and learning team
approach, each Kyrene teacher shared implementation and
integration strategies.
If you
know of any staff members who are being honored please
email Karin Crider so we can be sure to recognize our
staff!
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Celebrating
Mariposa
Congratulations to Marianne Lescher and her entire team!
Mariposa has
been named an Intel and Scholastic Schools of
Distinction semifinalist. This award will honor the
Mariposa team for their dedication to young learners and
the effort they took to share their unique strengths and
achievements with Intel.
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Kyrene Education Support Professional Association
The former KCA
organization is now known as Kyrene Education Support
Professional Association. There is a new website set up
to keep members informed of current news. If you would
like to receive regular updates electronically, please
email Shellie Walker
or visit the website at
www.kyrene.org/kespa.
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Kyrene Receives Grant from Arizona
Department of Education to Reimburse Staff for SEI
Provisional Endorsement Costs
The Kyrene School District received a grant from the
Arizona Department of Education that will provide
funding to permit Kyrene to reimburse staff members for
the cost of the first 15 hour requirement for the SEI
Provisional Endorsement. Any staff member who has
taken an SEI Provisional Endorsement training outside of
the District and has paid a fee for this class may
request reimbursement up to $150 each. Staff
members are to contact
Gail Promponas,
ESS Department (4166), to request an SEI Provisional
Endorsement reimbursement request form.
For important information regarding the
SEI salary stipend,
please read the
attached memo from human resources.
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Curriculum News
Would you like to be a Career Ladder Portfolio
Evaluator?
The Curriculum and Assessment
Department is seeking qualified applicants to evaluate
Career Ladder Portfolios. This is a wonderful learning
opportunity for the qualified candidate. Please check
the Career Ladder website for information about
Portfolio Evaluator Criteria and an application. We are
looking to fill positions to balance school sites and
content areas.
Thank You
to Career Ladder AKPPP Instructors
The
Career Ladder Program would like to thank all of the
outstanding AKPPP instructors for the 05-06 school
year: Lois Lalley, Carol McLean, Jo Hanken, Martha
Takacs, Lisa Gibson, and Joy Fogarty. A great big THANK
YOU to all of the teachers who participated in this very
successful Alternative Kyrene Pay for Performance
Program.
Summer 2006
Professional Development
Summer classes
offered through the Curriculum and Assessment Department
and the Technology Department are now online. To
register for a class, go to the Kyrene Information
Portal (KIP) at
http://www.kyrene.org/kip/.
Summer content courses for district resources (science,
math, and writing) will be released at a later date.
Please note that you will no longer receive online
evaluations or certificates upon completion of a class.
To view your transcript that lists courses and credits,
log into KIP, click on Basics, Kyrene Professional
Growth Online (PGO), scroll and click on Reports, SD
Transcript Report.
Writing and Spanish
Resource Adoption Public Review
The Kyrene School District has initiated a
60-day public review of K-8 writing and Spanish
resources that will serve as a foundation for
instruction beginning in the 2006-2007 school year.
These instructional materials for grades K-8 are
currently on display in the Curriculum and Assessment
Department at the Ben Furlong Education Center, 8700 S.
Kyrene Road, Tempe. Materials can be previewed from 7:30
am – 5:00 pm each day the Ben Furlong Education Center
is open.
A recommendation for adoption of
writing materials will be made at the Governing Board
meeting on April 25, 2006 pending the public review
process. A recommendation for adoption of Spanish
materials will be made at a Governing Board meeting in
June. For further information, contact the Curriculum
and Assessment Department at (480) 783-4127.
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Summer Programming
for Kyrene Kids!
Summer Academy
June 5-29 at Lomas, Cielo, Akimel
A-al and KMS
Learn something new this summer at Kyrene Summer
Academy! Summer Academy offers a wide range of classes,
there’s one that’s right for you! Try a new sport, learn
to speak Spanish, design a website, play in a rock band,
be a scientist, make a movie!
Browse our summer course selections and
Register online. For more information call
480-783-7314.
Summer Kids Club
May 30 - July 28 at Brisas, Cielo,
Esperanza, Lomas and Sureno
Summer Adventure is an exciting summer camp experience
for school-age children and middle schoolers (Club
Kyrene)! Children participating in Summer Adventure
enjoy fun, enriching activities with new and old
friends. There will also be a special employee only camp
located at Milenio from July 31-August 4, the week
teachers return.
S.T.A.R. Program
June 5-29 at Akimel A-al and KMS
S.T.A.R. (Success Through Academic Reform) is an
innovative, four-week summer program designed to build
on social, emotional and academic skills for students
who have struggled with success in school. S.T.A.R.
promotes student success through communication arts,
mathematics, team building, study/organizational
strategies, and character-building activities and
discussions.
Summer Links
June 5-29 at Sureno
You
don’t want to miss out on this exciting program designed
exclusively for Kyrene’s Native American students! This
four-week program for students entering kindergarten
through the fifth grade will strengthen their
academic and social readiness skills to make their
transition into the next grade level a success.
For more information on any
of these program visit the
e-services
website.
Upcoming Events
Parent Education Series
The Safe Schools/Healthy Students Program has several
parent education opportunities available for parents
throughout the school district. Below is a
summary of some of the upcoming offerings:
April 24, 2006 Social Skills
Enhancement
By: Jewish Family and Children’s Services
Location: Centennial Library 6:00 PM
Contact:
Adama Sallu
April
26, 2006
Cyber Bullying and Internet Safety
By: Officer Paul Kultala, Chandler Police Department
Location: Kyrene Schools District Office, 6:30
PM
Contact: Samantha
Heinrich
Akimel A-al Presents "7 Brides for 7 Brothers"
Dates:
Thursday and Friday, April 27th and 28th
at 7:00 p.m.
Matinee on Saturday, April 29th
at 3:00 p.m.
Where:
AMS Multipurpose Room
Price:
$8.00/adults and $6.00/children (there will be assigned
seating)
Manitas School 10 Year Anniversary
Join the
Manitas school staff when they celebrate the school's 10
year anniversary on Friday, April 28. The event
will start at 6:00pm with special guest speakers
followed by a community picnic at 6:30pm. All are
welcome to attend!
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