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Arapahoe Campus > Principal's Corner
Messages from the Principal

4/15/2009

May Newsletter

Parents, Guardians, Staff and Students,

 

The end of the year is growing closer and we are gearing up for all the events that students will be participating in as May approaches.  First, know that you may call the school during the day to visit with someone for clarification on our events and times. The main line phone number is 303-447-5220.  The White Rose will be held the evening of May 19th.  Any senior may participate in this event. It is a ceremony that allows seniors to honor someone that has made a significant difference in their education.  The next evening, May 20th, is reserved to honor students that will be awarded a Career and Technical Education certificate held at Chautauqua, on Baseline in Boulder, at 7:00 P.M. There will be bussing leaving from our campus if you would like to avoid difficult parking. Busses will also return to the campus after the ceremony.

 

Friday of that same week is reserved for senior graduation rehearsal located at Monarch High School, where our ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 24th at 10:00.  Friday morning, a bus will transport seniors to and from Monarch. Our plans afterwards are to picnic on our campus.

 

These events are extremely important to our community and seniors are encouraged to participate in all the proceedings. If you would like to make a financial donation to any of the events please contact Mary Parrish at 303-447-5573.

 

Registration for our returning students will take place automatically this spring and emergency information will be updated by families, in the fall. The counselors and assistant principals are busy putting the final touches on the master schedule.  We will also be rolling out changes that as a part of our campus visioning that will be exciting and helpful to our students.  One addition will be an advisory. The advisement time will be daily and the curriculum will assist students in developing a ten year plan for their career and education future.  Teachers will be trained this spring and we can launch the advisory program next fall.  Another change will be the elimination of skinnies… replaced with a retrieval and possible acceleration program called the Options Academy, which will include on-line learning.

 

Enjoy time with your families and friends.

Sincerely,

 

Joan Bludorn

Principal/Director

Arapahoe Campus

Boulder Valley School District
Posted at 7:45 AM by Brooke Loftus | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

3/16/2009

Fourth Quarter Letter

From the Principal’s Desk:

 

Dear Arapahoe Campus Parents:

 

I would like to review our 2008-2009 School Improvement Goals with you and give a report of our progress. Our goals are in four areas.

 

Achievement: Develop an organized reading program for the campus that meets the needs of our students and exposes students to quality literature and reading materials.

To be measured by:

  • An increase on DIRECTED reading time.
  • An increase (10 percent of ILP student’s scores) as shown on grade test or QRI’s.

 

Equity: Train teachers in differentiated instruction and the SIOP methodologies and models, along with other research based strategies for assuring equal access to the curriculum.

As measured by:

  • Compile a notebook of staff generated application that teachers can utilize for reference to specific differentiated learning styles.
  • Create a Zoomerang (pre and post) survey to transform staff growth in their knowledge and incorporation of those instructional strategies that they have implemented.

Increase climate survey by 3-5 percent regarding equity questions

 

Climate: Continue the Visioning work for Arapahoe Campus, given the confines of our physical plant and financial resources, to unite the campus in a common goal, common vision/mission and common identify by giving opportunities to crosswalk in curriculum and create common operational policies.

Attaining goal will be measured by:

  • Increase enrollment at Arapahoe Campus of 5-7 percent by October Count 2009-2010.

Increase positive climate survey results in all arenas, students, parents and teachers, by 5-7 percent

 

School Organization: Develop and adapt a uniform procedure which supports our attendance policy.  Through our RtI tier of interventions, we will provide support for those students identified with attendance concerns, in order to increase their attendance rate and limit educational gaps due to educational struggles.

To be measured by:

  • Increase in yearly attendance rate for 2008-2009, by 3 percent.
  • Decrease in dropout rate by 3 percent

 

The progresses we have seen thus far are as follows:

  • A PLC (professional learning committee) has been formed by teachers to address monitor methodologies that can be implemented in ESL classrooms
  • Implementation of Options Academy which will allow students to do credit retrial and credit acceleration.
  • An attendance policy has been implemented that has assisted our students that need more supports around attendance.  We are currently finalizing an attendance policy for TEC that will interface with the high schools that have students on our campus.
  • Naming of our school through voting of the entire campus.  We are continuing work on the vision and mission statement along with colors, a mascot, and a school song.
  • Out reach has been enhanced by inviting potential students to Open Houses scheduled on Saturday’s thought out the school year.
  • The program High Schools That Work is being considered as an accountability method for Career and Technical Education programs. 
  • Professional development files are being complied to reference for classroom activities by teachers.

Staff and students are diligently working to continually improve our school for all. We celebrate these accomplishments and look forward to seeing successes in our students’ lives. Have a wonderful spring!

Sincerely,

Joan Bludorn

Principal/Director

Arapahoe Campus

Posted at 8:19 AM by Brooke Loftus | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

2/26/2009

Mid-Quarter Newsletter

Where has the year gone!  We are already busy making plans for next year as the architects move us along on their set timeline. Administration recently met with the bond oversight committee and we are starting to formulate dates for safety trainings for students and staff.  Rex Hartman is our site coordinator; he will be facilitating the communication among our campus, the school district, architects and the site superintendent. He will also inform us as to what to expectant, classroom moves, and safety concerns.

 

The first phase of our project will begin late April. The back alley which runs between the two main buildings will be fenced off and a main trailer site will be established for communication.  Administration will meet weekly with the superintendent of the project for updates and decision making needs.  Our School Resource officer will also be forming a Safety Task Force to see us though the project. If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact Jeanne Weber in the main office. If you remember from our original drawings, the alley area will become the new cafeteria. Another area that will be renovated simultaneously is the driving loop in front of the school.  The loop will be reconfigured to accommodate the  new wing that will be added beginning next fall.

 

The district will soon be gathering bids with the hope that they come in lower than originally expected so the possible “add ons” for the overall project may be possible.  Those “add ons” are smaller items on our wish-list that are important in the overall education of our students.  A benefit in the project that we did not expect, but are happy to hear about, is a cable television connection for the entire building. That original estimate, done years ago, ran in the thousands of dollars per foot, making cable cost prohibitive.  But, because Arapahoe Road is being widened this summer, the cables that run parallel with the road will become even closer to our building; making the total cost for that addition, doable.  You may have heard that we were not able to watch the presidential inauguration, clearly a disappointment for our students and staff. 

 

Overall, we are excited about the plans and changes on campus. It should be an eventful coming year. Please contact our office with any concerns or questions. We will be continually looking for parents that would like to serve on advisory teams as we see our project through to completion.  Until then, enjoy the spring and continue to encourage our students as they prepare for lifelong careers.

Posted at 8:18 AM by Brooke Loftus | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

1/18/2009

Third Quarter Newsletter

Dear Parents, Students and Staff,

Our campus is truly experiencing history in the making. At the end of first semester the visioning committee presented timelines for the campus visioning plans. Finding a name for our campus will be the next big undertaking. Staff and students will be voting soon and results will be presented to the School Board in February. Signage for the campus will follow shortly after the new name adoption. 

 

The district is piloting on-line classes this semester that will begin January 22. If you are interested in investigating the possibilities of an on-line opportunity at Arapahoe Campus, please see our Counselor, Larry Akiyama or any counselor at a Boulder Valley high school for details.

 

Registration for 2009-2010 classes begins soon. The Career and Technical Education Center, (CTE), is busy marketing programs to Boulder Valley high school students.  We visit sophomore classrooms in the district’s high schools and then invite students to tour the campus either through a guided tour during school hours or through attendance of an Open House scheduled for March 7 and May 9, from 8:30-11:30 A.M.  Please feel free to attend the open houses as we have administration and teachers on hand to answer questions concerning registration or programming.

 

Remember that conferences for the high school continue to be scheduled monthly.

Dates and times are as follows: 3:15-6:30 P.M.

January 29, February 19, March 3 (Shared conferences with CTE), April 7, May 7.

 

As in previous years, Colorado Student Assessment Program, CSAP will be scheduled in March.  Juniors and seniors in CTE will be encouraged to attend classes both in the morning and the afternoons because most high schools will not have regularly scheduled classes. This opportunity is made available to students that may be short hours for certification. Sophomores will alternate classes during testing days. For example, morning classes will be scheduled in the afternoon on the first day of testing and afternoon classes will be scheduled for the afternoon on the second day.

 

Graduation plans are underway for spring. We have three faculty members working on the details, Corey Papasathis, Leonard Haddox and Devorah Dettloff. There are three major ceremonies that take place for our campus. The Chautauqua on Baseline is the venue for the CTE certification held on, May 20. Whether your student earned a semester, one year, or two year certificate, all students are encouraged to attend this gala event. Next, the high school seniors host the White Rose Ceremony. This is an event where each senior is given the opportunity to give a short speech and present a white rose to someone who has made a significant difference in their education. The date for this event is May 21. Last and most importantly is the graduation ceremony that takes place in the auditorium at Monarch High School. We are expecting approximately 45 graduates and the save the date is May 23, at 10:00 A.M.

 

Typically, we have accepted donations for the expenses of these events. If you are interested in making a contribution make checks payable to Arapahoe Campus and specify which ceremony you would like to support.

 

Have a great spring!

Sincerely,

Joan Bludorn

Principal/Director

Arapahoe Campus

Boulder Valley School District
Posted at 9:00 AM by Brooke Loftus | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

10/15/2008

Second Quarter Message

Dear Parents, Students and Staff:

 We have been in school for nine weeks, where does the time go? We had a wonderfully successful parent/teacher night in October and several of you were also able to visit with both the high school teachers and the Tec teachers. Twice a year the high school and Tec share conference night for the convenience of parents and students.  The second time that we will share the night will be in March, save the date.  In the mean time, the high school will continue to have conferences monthly. Please also note that we have several interpreters available for Spanish speaking families.

 I am also pleased to announce that more parents have inquired about becoming involved in the School Improvement Team and district wide committees to represent Arapahoe Campus.  This group will be the main parent group for communications with the architects as we move forward on our bond project. On behalf of our school, I would like to personally thank Walter Melara for volunteering to represent us on the District Accountability Committee.  Parents are extremely important to our community! If you would like to volunteer to serve on a committee where you can give input, we would be happy to hear from you.  By volunteering you are truly helping our students and teachers and community. 

 We will be announcing our senior advisors in our next month’s newsletter.  In the near future we will also be contacting families to let you know how you may get involved with this important celebration.  I hope you take advantage of this opportunity; the graduation and White Rose Ceremonies are always extremely memorable events. 

 As always I invite all of you to visit the campus and invite friends too. There will be an Open House for our technical programs, November 1st and December 6th from 8-11:30 A.M. Feel free to stop in to browse around and perhaps even have your student choose early for next year’s Tec registration.  Slots fill up quickly, ACT NOW!  You may contact me, personally any time 303-447-5245.

Sincerely,

Joan Bludorn
Principal/Director
Arapahoe Campus
Posted at 4:01 PM by Brooke Loftus | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

9/1/2008

First Quarter Message

Welcome,

Arapahoe Campus starts out the year with the administrative union of Boulder TEC and Arapahoe Ridge High School. Since January of 2008, a visioning team has been busily planning a philosophical shift that will attempt to close the achievement gap for students in Boulder Valley School District.

The Vision Team consisted of administration, counselors, teachers, students and community members from across the district. Last spring brought an unveiling of a three ringed diagram that represents a framing of how students’ needs may be met for graduation through cross walking and strategies for a technical certification used as a vehicle to the world of careers and work.

For the most part, you will not see changes in class offerings and technical classes. We believe that what we have developed in the previous years has not been in vain. Rather, we are looking for ways for students to maximize their time at Arapahoe Campus while earning an education that will serve each student in the 21st Century.

Our new assistant principals are Kady Haisley, who comes to us from Fairview High School. Mrs. Haisley served on the visioning committee. Theo Robison comes to us from Adams 12 and also Adams 50. Larry Akiyama is our new counselor and he comes to us form Monarch High School. Mr. Akiyama will be serving Arapahoe Campus and brings a tremendous background in facilitating students. Kurt Levasseur will serve as the Career and Technical Education Representative for Boulder Valley, which means he will service the district’s high schools in their technical programs. Kurt was formally the Dean of Students at Boulder TEC.

The administrative team is eager to serve the Arapahoe community. With our new vision, Arapahoe Campus would like to invite parents and guardians to participate in making our school the best high school option. Please become involved in your student’s education by volunteering to serve on committees as they arise. Right now we need a parent to represent us on the District Parent Council. This is a very important committee as it provides BVSD with input from the parents’ perspective. If you are interested in serving in this capacity, please contact the school and I would be happy to visit with you regarding the details.

Another important committee is a school based committee called the School Improvement Team. This team assists with the development of the School Improvement Plan and therefore has a great deal of input into the educational direction we will take while your student attends school. This team meets on the second Monday of each month from 3:00 until 4:00. Please contact the office if you are interested in one of these positions.

Sincerely,

Joan Bludorn
Principal, Arapahoe Campus

Posted at 4:00 PM by Brooke Loftus | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

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