APRIL
2002 PARENT NEWSLETTER
Parent-student-teacher conferences
Thanks
to all of you who attended our recent parent-student-teacher conferences. We had
an outstanding turnout and sincerely appreciate the feedback you provided at
these conferences.
Your input and, most importantly, your participation in your child’s
education are critical to the success of The 21st Century
Community Schoolhouse.
 End-of-term
project
Community
Schoolhouse
students are completing their school-wide end-of-term project this week.
The school’s theme for the 2001-2002 school year is “Journey” and
students are focusing on the immigration journey in the project Coming To
America. Student
groups will present their final project to staff during a celebration event on
Thursday, March 21. There
are no classes on Friday, March 22.
The
end-of-term project serves as a performance task that requires students to
integrate knowledge and information they have acquired in their classes during
the term. The task was created
collaboratively by teaching staff and will be evaluated collaboratively as well.
It will earn up to 20 percent of your child’s grade in each of their
academic blocks.
Spring
break & April 15 schedule
The
Community Schoolhouse
will be closed for spring break from Monday, March 25 through Friday, April 12.
Phone messages will be checked periodically beginning the week of April
1.
Classes
resume on Monday, April 15 at 9:50 a.m. for a shortened first-day schedule with
dismissal at 1:35 p.m.
Winter term report cards
Winter
term report cards will mailed to parents during spring break. Community
Schoolhouse report cards are tailored specifically for our school’s
instructional programs.
A
traditional Salem-Keizer School District report card will be distributed at the
end of the school year. The Community Schoolhouse Levels of Mastery
system (see “Documenting Student Achievement” section of the Parent-Student
Handbook) will be used to assign letter grades and credits for this district
report card.
Teambuilding
ropes course activities set for April 16-18
 Community
Schoolhouse students will participate in a fun and exciting teambuilding
activity April 16, 17 and 18 at Youth With A Mission Ropes Course in south
Salem.
The ropes course is a variety of obstacles designed to encourage
participants to work together in order to accomplish specific goals. Each
element is made up of various cables, wooden beams, ropes, tires, and
surrounding trees.
The elements encourage the development of trust, teamwork, confidence,
cooperation, perseverance, communication and interdependence.
The
school’s student population will be divided into three groups of up to 45
students with a different group participating in the ropes course each day.
The activity will run from 10 a.m. to approximately 2:30 p.m.
Students will be returned by bus to The Community Schoolhouse by 3
p.m.
Your child will be notified on Monday, April 15 which day they are
scheduled to attend the ropes course.
Your
child has already received a parent/guardian permission slip for this event and
we have enclosed another copy for your convenience.
This permission slip and liability release form must be signed and
returned to your child’s ER teacher by Monday afternoon, April 15.
Students will not be allowed to participate in the ropes course if their
permission slip/liability release form is not returned before this deadline,
regardless of the day their group is scheduled to attend the event.
State CIM tests scheduled April 15-19
The
spring round of state Certificate of Initial Mastery (CIM) tests for Community
Schoolhouse tenth-graders will be administered April 15-19. This is
the first week of classes following the school's three-week spring break.
Reading, math multiple choice, and science multiple choice tests will be
administered.
Schools’
progress on the state multiple choice tests is the component that counts the
most in formulating each school’s rating on the state report cards.
Growth over time and most recent results on the reading and math tests
account for 70 percent of the “student performance” category on the state
report card. This category makes up
80 percent of the school’s overall rating.
The
Community Schoolhouse is currently in its second year of operation and will
not receive an overall state report card rating until after its third year.
Enrollment/lottery
update
The
Community Schoolhouse
is currently accepting student applications through April 30 to be included in
the school’s initial lottery drawing for the 2002-03 school year.
The school currently enrolls 130 students and is planning to increase
total enrollment to 150 students in grades 9-12 for the 2002-03 school year.
The
total number of applicants randomly drawn in the spring lottery (for the 2002-03
school year) will depend on the number of returning students from the current
school year. Students
successfully completing the 2001-02 school year are automatically allowed
entrance for the start of the next school year.
However, returning students and their parents must
complete a Returning Student Enrollment Form and return it to the school by
April 30 in order to ensure their space for next year.
The form will be included with winter term report cards, which will be
mailed to all parents during spring break.
If
a student currently attending The Community Schoolhouse completes the
school year and has an eligible sibling(s) who desires to attend, preference
will be given so that family members can attend the same school.
Siblings of current students must submit an application by April 30 to be
considered for enrollment for the 2002-03 school year.
As
always, a waiting list will be maintained throughout the school year.
The waiting list is not ranked according to when applications are
submitted. All
eligible applicants remain in the lottery pool for the next available lottery
drawing. If
another lottery needs to be conducted for new students, it will be scheduled.
Take
Your Community To Work Day
 Eight
Community Schoolhouse students participated in United Airlines’ Take
Your Community to Work Day on Wednesday, March 6 at Portland International
Airport. Throughout
the day, students were exposed to different types of careers available in the
airline industry.
This began with visits with airline employees
that supervise the loading and balancing of luggage, freight and fuel. These
employees emphasized the importance of developing strong skills in mathematics
as it relates to their job performance.
From there, students moved through the maintenance department, onto an
aircraft and a peak at the cockpit, baggage check-in and handling, and the
ticketing and boarding areas.
After
enjoying a lunch of “airline food,” students listened to catering service
staff share their job descriptions and training. This was followed by
presentations by a United Airlines pilot and flight attendant, who explained
their education and training from high school to their current positions.
Throughout
the day students were allowed to ask questions of all the people they met.
For those students curious about a career in the airline industry, the
opportunity to view the action behind the scenes was quite informative.
The Community Schoolhouse hopes to participate in this engaging
opportunity once again next year.
April
29 fundraiser
Thompson’s
Restaurant (3575 Liberty Rd. S.) is sponsoring a fundraiser for The Community
Schoolhouse on Monday, April 29 from 5 –11 p.m.
Thompson’s – a McMinnemin’s restaurant – has agreed to donate
half of its gross profits generated during this six-hour period to The
Community Schoolhouse.
There will be more information and reminders to follow but please mark
your (dinner) calendar now for this April 29 event.
Be sure and spread the word to your family and friends to help make sure
this a profitable evening for your child’s school.
Staffing
update
The
Community Schoolhouse is sad to announce that Jessica Pembroke, our
Special Education instructional assistant, is leaving the school at the end of
winter term.
Jessica will be taking a leave of absence for the remainder of the school
year due to a family illness.
A replacement for Jessica will be announced during spring break and
information included in the next parent newsletter.
The
staff, students and parents of The Community Schoolhouse will miss
Jessica very much, but wish her and her family the best during this time.
Vertical Challenge
 On
Saturday March 9, four Community Schoolhouse students attended the
Vertical Challenge event at Hoodoo Ski Resort.
Each student earned a free bus ride, lift ticket and equipment rental
from the American Red Cross as a reward for raising a minimum of $150 in
donations. The money raised will go to local disaster relief efforts by the
Willamette Chapter of the American Red Cross.
When
added together, our students’ fundraising efforts on behalf of the Red Cross
totaled well over $1,000.
In addition, student Aundrey Contreras won a brand new snowboard
donated by Exit Real World for being one of the top fundraisers in the event.
Joining Aundrey in this event were students Misty Pfarr, Justin Martin
and Chris Westlund.
The Community Schoolhouse salutes these students and others for
working hard to give back to their community.
Read Across America
 For
the second straight year, Community Schoolhouse students visited Grant
Community School to celebrate Read Across America, the National Education
Association’s annual salute to reading.
Community Schoolhouse students  wrote
and illustrated short stories to share with Grant students on February 25. The
stories focused on teaching children a positive lesson, such as not judging
others by their looks, treat others as you would like to be treated, don’t be
rude, etc.
Bilingual
students from the Schoolhouse read in Spanish to their elementary reading
partners. This offered these students a good opportunity to apply their skills
in their second language and, for some, their native language.
The
reading event at Grant was one of a continuing series of schoolwide service
learning projects for The Community Schoolhouse.
Volunteers needed
The
Community Schoolhouse is still in need of volunteers in a variety of
instructional and support areas.
Please contact Linda Pooleon, instructional assistant, by phone at
503-763-8958, or by email at linda@communityschoolhouse.org
if you or anyone you know is interested in volunteering at the school.
Community Garden
Spring
is around the corner and planning for our second annual community garden will
soon be under way.
If any parents have a green thumb and are interested in helping out with
the garden this summer, please contact Heather Burns at 503-763-8958 or
by email at heather@communityschoolhouse.org.
| 
The
21st Century