Colorado state budget cuts – what can our community do about it?

Dear Longs Peak Community:

Public schools across Colorado are looking at yet another year of significant cuts (see my previous posts for the details). In the past few weeks, I have had parents, teachers, and community members ask me how the state budget cuts might impact students at Longs Peak next year.

These cuts have been a sore spot for many of you and I am getting questions about what, if anything, can be done about the state budget cuts. As the principal of a public school, I need to stick to the facts and remain neutral and dispassionate.

However, If you are angry or concerned (as many of you have expressed), I respectfully suggest you pick up the phone or send an email to your state representatives or Governor Hickenlooper and make your dissatisfaction known to them. If our elected officials decide to take action, things may change. Until then, economists project that Colorado’s public schools will continue to see shrinking budgets for years to come regardless of if the economy picks up or not.

On an interesting side note, Judge Sheila Rappaport recently ruled in the Lobato vs. Colorado case that Colorado’s public schools were, in her words, ”signficantly underfunded”…see this Denver Post article for details. http://www.denverpost.com/legislature/ci_19520710?source=pkg

As always, thank you for your support of Longs Peak and GO RAMS!

Best Regards,

–Matt

Principal

Longs Peak Middle School

Finish second semester strong!

Longs Peak families:

It was wonderful to see so many of you at our annual Community Celebration on November 17. (We estimate that we had about 500 people in attendance.) For those of you who were not able to make it, Longs Peak was honored to receive the National Demonstration School award from College Board representative Stephen McCue. As our teachers and staff continue to provide our Longs Peak Rams with a world-class education, we look forward to more opportunities this year to celebrate the great things happening at Longs Peak.

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There are just three weeks of school left in the second quarter. Please join us in supporting students to continue working hard in class in order to finish the quarter strong. Students should be reading 30-60 minutes each night so that they reach their Accelerated Reader goals for the second quarter. Most importantly, now is the time to turn in any make up work and begin studying for unit tests and final exams.

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We have several holiday concerts in the next three weeks at Longs Peak. These concerts include band, choir, drama, and orchestra performances. Please be sure to check the calendar on the school website for details.

Finally, I want to remind parents that our Longs Peak Rams will be taking the second set of Galileo assessments during the last two weeks of this quarter. Galileo assessments are important interim measures of student performance and help our teachers adjust their teaching and their curriculum. Please encourage your students to put forth their best effort on the Galileo assessments.

As always, I appreciate your support of Longs Peak. Have a great holiday season and new year. If you have any questions, please call me, e-mail me, or stop by school. Thanks again & GO RAMS!

Sincerely,

 

Matt Buchler

Principal, LPMS

Governor Hickenlooper’s Proposed 2012-13 Budget & Its Impact on School Finance

Longs Peak Community:

Here is another update about how next year’s state budget could impact Longs Peak Middle School and the St. Vrain Valley Schools.

As you have no doubt read, Proposition 103 did not pass last Tuesday. Prop. 103 would have helped to restore funding to K12 education that has been cut over the past few years at the state level.

According to Governor Hickenlooper’s proposed 2012-13 budget (FY13), the following cuts are likely to occur:

1. Approximately $89 million will be cut from K12 education next year.
2. Per pupil funding for St. Vrain will decline by $162.85 next year. There are about 25,000 students in St. Vrain, so the total cut will equal approximately $4 million.
3. Since the 2009-10 school year, state cuts have resulted in funding cuts of $785.oo per student, or approximately $19.6 million district wide.
4. Governor Hickenlooper’s budget relies on a third year of suspending the Senior Homestead Exemption. If this exemption is not suspended, the Legislature will need to cut an additional $98 million from the state budget; close to half of this amount would have to come from K12 funding.

I will continue to update you as new information is available. Please note that whatever the economic circumstances, Longs Peak and the St. Vrain Valley Schools will continue to be committed to providing every student with a world class education.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me. Thanks for your support of Longs Peak and GO RAMS!

Sincerely,

 

Matt Buchler

Principal

Why we teach our Rams to shake hands…

The Rams Code:

R = Respect

A = Achieve goals

M = Model good citizenship

S = Safety for all

 

Longs Peak Families:

Parents often ask me what the Rams Code stands for and how we incorporate it into the daily lives of our students at Longs Peak. A few years ago, the Longs Peak staff started to teach students to shake hands. We believe shaking hands helps students practice professionalism and good citizenship. These high expectations for behavior support and enhance the rigorous academic expectations we have for our students in our Pre-Advanced Placement and SpringBoard programs.

If you are able to take the time to visit classrooms – and you are always welcome to do so by calling and notifying the office ahead of time – you should be met at the classroom door by one or more students who get up, welcome you to Longs Peak, shake your hand with a professional handshake, look you in the eye, and introduce themselves.

The handshakes are a great example of our commitment to teaching our Rams how to behave and succeed in a professional setting. This month I have included an article by Washington Post writer Esther Cepeda (http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_19159657). Cepeda describes how a young man looking to get a job unintentionally damages his efforts by failing to dress, sit up, and speak in a professional manner. I hope you enjoy the article; if you have a chance, please let me know what you think.

On behalf of our staff, I am looking forward to seeing all our Longs Peak families at our upcoming community celebration on November 17 (5:30 pm).

As always, thank you for your support of Longs Peak and for helping us get off to a great start this year. GO RAMS!

Best Regards,

–Matt

Principal

What is the purpose of Galileo testing multiple times during the school year?

Dear Longs Peak Families:

One of our parents asked me a great question last week after I had informed parents about Galileo testing. The question is:

Why does Longs Peak test students using Galileo and what does it tell teachers that CSAP doesn’t?

Galileo tests show teachers how kids perform on the grade level standards on the day they take the test. What’s good about this is that teachers can look at the specific standards the Galileo test measures and see if what they taught was actually learned by the students. If necessary, teachers may need to re-teach something the students did not learn or pass over something that kids already learned/know (but teachers were unaware of).

The next time we take the Galileo tests (December), teachers will look for growth (of course) on the standards, subjects, skills, etc. that they have been teaching since October. We would hope to see good growth on those standards, subjects, etc. We can also identify students who might already have learned the knowledge/skills and need acceleration (and the students who are behind and need additional help).

CSAP does measure all these things too. And we do use CSAP scores to see where kids are at. CSAP is a very comprehensive, valid, and reliable assessment as it has been given for many years to tens of thousands of students in Colorado. The only difficulty with CSAP is schools have to wait four months to get the scores back; students take the CSAP in March and educators get the results in early August. It would be nice if the state could eliminate such a long lag time.

Nevertheless, I do like most of the elements of CSAP because it is good for schools to have to be accountable to a comprehensive, outside of school assessment (once a year) that measures how much students have learned. I would like to see CSAP be just one, one hour test in each of these subjects: math, reading, writing, science, and history. That would be just five hours of testing. I would also like to see it be given at the very end of the school year with the results back to schools within a month.

If you have questions or comments, please leave them on the blog  or contact me directly. Thank you for your support of Longs Peak and GO  RAMS!

Best Regards,

Matt Buchler

Principal

What is Galileo testing and why is it important?

Dear Longs Peak Parents:

Galileo testing is going on this week and next at Longs Peak. Students will take 60 minute assessments in the areas of reading, writing, and math (also science for grade 8). The results of these assessments will give our teachers good information about the knowledge and skills our Longs Peak Rams have learned so far and what their learning needs are for the rest of the school year. Here are some more basic facts about Galileo:

• Galileo is an assessment given to all St. Vrain middle school students three times per year.
• Galileo assessments help our teachers better understand the results of their teaching efforts in the classroom.
• Galileo is what we call an interim check of student learning. An interim check shows teachers what grade-level knowledge and skills have students mastered at a certain point in time.

Please encourage your students to put forth their best effort on the Galileo assessments. If you have additional questions, do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your support of Longs Peak!

Best Regards,

Matt Buchler

Principal

RAMS ON THE ROAD TO COLLEGE PREPAREDNESS! 

 

Colorado state budget & proposition 103

Longs Peak Parents & Community Members:

I have taken several questions about next year’s state budget, Proposition 103, and what effects they might have on Longs Peak. As a public employee, I cannot advocate for or against a ballot intitiative and am allowed only to provide facts. Below are the facts regarding next year’s state budget and Proposition 103. *(The language used to describe Proposition 103 below is taken from the ballot language itself).

Colorado State Budget
For the past few years, Colorado has experienced state budget shortfalls of hundreds of millions of dollars. Because K12 education funding makes up around 40% of the state’s total budget, K12 education has endured significant cuts. Next year’s state budget shortfall is estimated to be between $200-$300 million. Depending on the final state budget, the St. Vrain Valley Schools will face another year of cuts between $10-$20 million. I will continue to update our community on this important issue. Please be sure you continue to read Superintendent Haddad’s community updates at http://www.stvrain.k12.co.us/district/welcome.php

Proposition 103
The Colorado Tax Increase Initiative, also known as Proposition 103, will appear on the November 1, 2011 ballot. The measure would increase the state income tax from 4.63 percent to 5 percent and the sales tax from 2.9 percent to 3 percent. The revenue generated from the tax increase would be used to help fund education in the state. It is estimated that the measure would generate about $3 billion over a five year period after which time it would sunset.

As always, if you have any questions or would like to meet with me please contact me directly at Longs Peak (303) 776-5611. Thank you for your support of Longs Peak and GO RAMS!

Sincerely,

Matt Buchler
Principal

Readers are leaders…

The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read.

 

 - Abraham Lincoln

 

Dear Longs Peak Parents & Families:

 

There is no better example of an American who lifted himself up by his bootstraps (to the presidency!) than Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was known for his voracious appetite for reading. Today, both common sense and a large volume of cognitive research support reading as the most important factor in a student’s success in school.

 

I have always been proud that Longs Peak’s teachers have focused relentlessly on improving reading in every classroom. To that end, every Longs Peak Ram participates in Accelerated Reader (AR). AR is a computer based program. At the beginning of each school year, students assess their reading ability using STAR reading assessment. Based on their STAR score, students set quarterly goals for their reading. After reading a book, students then take an online quiz; if they pass the quiz, they earn points toward their AR goal. AR is a popular program with our students and has increased the amount of reading our Rams do as well as their reading comprehension. Longs Peak’s 2011 first quarter goal is for 75% of our students to make 100% of their AR goal. The first quarter ends on Thursday, October 13. Please be sure you discuss your student’s Accelerated Reader goal at home on a consistent basis.

 

Longs Peak Rams should read 30-60 minutes every evening at home. They will benefit tremendously from this commitment, especially if nonfiction reading is a significant portion of the 30-60 minutes.

 

In closing, I want to note how fortunate Longs Peak is to have our librarian, Beckie Large-Swope, leading the charge for Accelerated Reader. Ms. Large-Swope is the best librarian I have worked with in my 17 years in schools. If you have questions about Accelerated Reader or good books for your students, Ms. Large-Swope is a great resource. She can be reached via email at largeswope_rebecca@svvsd.org. (Ms. Large-Swope is also looking for parent volunteers in the library this year!)

 

Thank you for supporting Longs Peak and remember that RAMS ARE READERS, AND READERS ARE LEADERS. As always, if you have any questions or concerns I would encourage you to stop by my office or give me a call.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Matt Buchler

 

Principal

Lessons from a Middle School Dad

Three years ago at Back to School Night I told our Longs Peak parents that, like you, I too was going to be the parent of a middle school student. Today it’s hard to believe my oldest son is moving on to high school. Soon, my wife and I will start the middle school experience all over again with our two daughters.

I have tried to learn from my experiences as a middle school parent over the past three years and use those experiences to be a better Principal at Longs Peak. This month I would like to share some of the most important things I think I have learned as the dad of a middle school student:

Moms and dads are the most influential teachers of our children. Sometimes middle school students would like us to believe we are irrelevant or less important than we were in elementary school. Don’t believe it! Any of the educators at Longs Peak will tell you how powerful and important parental encouragement and support is for our Longs Peak Rams.

Parents need to “fight the good fight.” In the search for independence and greater control over their lives, middle school students often rebel against their parents. Without repressing their will, it is crucial for parents to set firm, consistent guidelines and stick to them – even when your son or daughter informs you that “You’re the meanest, most unfair parents on earth.”

Good kids (and they’re ALL good kids) make poor decisions and “spin” the truth. Just before the first sixth grade, parent-teacher conference, our son Matthew expressed his great displeasure with his “overly demanding” (his words), sixth grade math teacher. In the conference the teacher let us know Matthew was excessively talkative, had not turned in much homework, and had a low grade. My wife and I responded with a dose of tough love: Your teacher is holding you to a high academic standard – be grateful for that. You need to work harder, get your homework in, and stop talking in class.

Patience, empathy, and love are parenting’s greatest virtues. Over the past 16 years, 99% of the students I have had the pleasure of working with have turned out to be fine young adults and productive citizens. This is difficult to remember in the heat of the moment when your adolescent is struggling with friends, school, or life. Middle school is a time of great physical, social, emotional, and intellectual transition: students enter sixth grade as children and leave eighth grade as young adults. At the end of the day, knowing their parents love them unconditionally is the greatest support we can give them.

I am looking forward to seeing you at the many events we have planned for May. As always, I thank you for your support of Longs Peak and GO RAMS!

Best Regards,

Matt Buchler
Principal

Longs Peak is a National Demonstration School finalist!

The Longs Peak staff is very excited about the recent announcement by the College Board naming Longs Peak as a FINALIST to be a National Demonstration School. Some statistics:

1. There are about 900 middle schools in the country that use the college prep, SpringBoard curriculum.
2. Of these 900 schools, 11 middle schools have been named as National Demonstration School finalists.
3. Of the 11 middle schools, Longs Peak is the only school representing the state of Colorado.
4. The 11 finalist schools represent a wide range of schools and districts. Like St. Vrain Valley Schools, the Belleview School District in Washington is widely recognized as an outstanding school district.

We are preparing for our College Board site visit in May and have been asked by our College Board Regional Director to present at the Colorado Association of School Executives convention in July.

We will keep everyone updated on these exciting developments. Our Rams are on the road to college preparedness!

Best Regards,

Matt Buchler

Principal