Steller Secondary School

It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want - oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain

I certainly have “spring fever” and I am ready for the snow to stop falling and the grass to start springing! I am very thankful for more hours of daylight and know that the students and staff are appreciative of the increased light as well. As we complete the last quarter of this school year and move into Intensives, it is important for our students to keep their focus, stay on top of their course work, and complete the school year in good standing.

The last quarter of the year always goes by very quickly. Between now and the end of the year there are some very important events and activities that will occur. Please check the calendar in this news-letter and the list of dates and activities below. We hope to see you at many of these events.

Steller had a very positive lottery in March and will be welcoming 52 new 7th graders for the 2008-2009 school year, along with a small number of students across the other grade levels. Steller will also be saying good-bye to a great group of seniors on the 20th of May at Steller’s Graduation at the Discovery Theatre. This is a very accomplished graduating class and a number of our graduates have received prestigious scholarships, been recognized for community service, and been accepted to highly regarded colleges and universities. We will certainly miss them and wish each and every one of them success and happiness in the future.

Thank you for a great school year and to each of you who have contributed your time, talent, and energy for our school . The Steller community will work together next year to complete the process for Northwest Accreditation. I invite you now, to become an active part of the process next year, and work with us to continue to make Steller a unique learning environment for our self-directed learners.

Have a great summer. Enjoy the wonders of the Alaska summer….once it finally gets here!

Karin

• End of Quarter – Friday, May 2
• Intensives – May 5th through 16th
• Steller Olympics – Monday, May 19th
• Student Presentations – Tuesday, May 20th from 8:30-11:30 am
• Students will be released at 11:30 to attend Graduation on Tuesday, May 20th
• Graduation – Discovery Theatre, Tuesday, May 20th at 3:00 pm
• Parent Teacher Conferences – Wednesday and Thursday, May 21st and 22nd

Although it was nice to have some time off to bond with my family after the birth of my second child, it’s also good to be back at Steller to work with all the staff and students again. Thank you all for welcoming and supporting the substitute nurses in my absence.

It’s been a pleasure to work with such a great school community this year. Although we’re all anticipating the beginning of summer, I know I’ll be glad to see many of you next year. And to the seniors who are moving out into the world, I send them our best wishes in all their future endeavors.

Spring Intensives & Travel

If your student is participating in travel or overnight intensives, the health office will need updated medical and medication information. Please check with your student for paperwork you need to review and return to the health office prior to Intensives.

Student Medication

Medications cannot be left in the nurse’s office over the summer. It must either be returned to the parent or discarded. Please pick up medications in the Nurse’s Office by 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, May 20th.   Remember, any medications which are not picked up by Wednesday, May 20th, 11 a.m. will be destroyed.

Immunizations

Many students will need immunization boosters before the end of school and over the summer. The immunization must be received and documentation provided to the school prior to attending classes. The State of Alaska has a strict “NO SHOT, NO SCHOOL” policy. I mail out reminder letters several months prior to your student’s immunization due date. I will mail notification letters in May to the parents of students who will require immunizations over the summer. Free immunizations are available at a variety of locations. Please contact me if you have questions or concerns.

Summer Camps for Alaskan Youth with Asthma

The American Lung Association of Alaska is coordinating two summer camps for students with Asthma.

CHAMP Camp for ages 7-12 will take place July 27th through August 1st at Camp Carlquist in Chugiak; and Limitless Adventures Camp for ages 13-17 will take place June 8th through June 14th at Eagle Valley Center in Juneau. Contact Michelle Ferreira at 907-644-6417 or mferreira@aklung.org for more information

Prom and Graduation Parties

Prom night and graduation are very soon! We want this to be a time of fond memories and not a reminder of a tragic event. Please take time to remind your sons and daughters about the safety issues and consequences of drug and alcohol use. Remind them that it impairs judgment, lowers inhibitions, and can cause alcohol overdose (read that as poisoning), and increase the risk for motor vehicle accidents. Let’s work together to keep our students safe.

Thank You

Thank you to all the families who have donated lunch and snack items this year. Our parent group has requested I contact the parent/guardian of any student who regularly uses our free lunch/snacks. We want to keep lunches/snacks available for those students who need them in an emergency and not have them used as a regular substitute for bringing one’s own lunch or not wanting to go out and buy a lunch. On the average, about six Steller students a day come to my office for a lunch or snack, and so far this year, your donations have supplied over 800 lunches/snacks. Thanks again for all your support.

Nurse Wendy

The following article was included in the latest issue of the Coalition of Essential Schools and is definitely worth a closer look!

Raising Teens: How Parents Can Bridge Societal Challenges

Parenting philosophies come and go, but old-fashioned values are still the best, says a Binghamton University nursing professor in two new books on raising adolescents.             

“Kids are not just small adults,” Associate Professor Mary Muscari said. “That’s my mantra. Even teenagers don’t think like adults. They don’t have that ability, those experiences.” In the latest books, Everything Parents Guide to Raising Adolescent Girls (with lead author Moira McCarthy), and Everything Parents Guide to Raising Adolescent Boys (with lead author Robin Elise Weiss), Muscari notes that although the general issues of parenting don’t change so much, new trends in society can create added challenges. For instance, more families today have two working parents, which can make it difficult to spend time together. Muscari said it’s critical to find time — and quantity counts along with quality.

“All the toys in the world will never make up for parental time,” she said. “When the job takes priority, kids see that. And that’s a really bad place to be as a kid.” Still, Muscari acknowledges that some ideas must be modernized a bit. “The good, old-fashioned family meal that we’ve long forgotten about is so critical,” she said. “If you can’t do it at night because the kids are overscheduled, do it at breakfast. Have some time when people can sit down and share and connect.”

This connection will pay off in the long term, Muscari said. When parents and children communicate well and regularly, kids are less inclined to hide their problems. If your child tells you when something goes wrong, you can get involved before a situation escalates. Communication can help keep kids safe in other ways, too, because gangs and predators don’t want a child who runs to his parents for help.

Muscari said she often discusses safety concerns with parents. It’s true that children now are more exposed to the world outside their neighborhood, she said, but fear itself can be a threat to kids.

“We can’t make these kids bubble kids, even though we have all these things that we worry about,” she said. The bottom line, she said, is that parents need to be parents. “I’m very dead against that parents as pals business,” Muscari said. “Parents are there to be guides for their children.”

Books are published by Adams Media Corporation: www.adamsmedia.com

Mary Muscari is an associate professor in the Decker School of Nursing at Binghamton University, and is an expert in child health, mental health, and forensics. She has more than thirty years of experience working with children and teens, and has written or co-authored more than 100 publications, including:

• Not My Kid: 21 Steps to Raising a Nonviolent Child
• Not My Kid 2: Protecting Your Children from the 21 Threats of the 21st Century
• Let Kids be Kids: Rescuing Childhood

She conducts parenting workshops around the country on topics such as keeping kids safe from predators (’live’ and on the Web), bullying, and how to raise nonviolent kids.

To Make This A Prom For The Seniors To Remember!!

The junior class sponsors the Spring Prom for the seniors and we need the help from some parents to chaperone and bring food for the prom.

 You can leave a message for Larry at 742-4961 or e-mailing me at nevada_larry@asdk12.org.

The time is here…
The time is now…
The time is so gone…

 Thank you,

Larry, Jennifer, and Troy

Our library relies on volunteers to keep it open, organized, and operational throughout each seven-hour school day. When I am not in the library, a volunteer is.

Patty Anderson
Shehla Anjum
Joe Banta
Warren Cole
Leslie Johnson
Anne Kessler
Sara Klever
Danni Koenig
Ravnit LaChapelle
Lori Ostrosky
Dotty Tessandore
Kim Tix

And our Tech Volunteer, Mark Friest

Thanks to Lorryn and Rochelle Wilhelm for the donation of new books!

The Library Closes on Friday, May 2. You’re welcome to come in and study but you may not check out new books.

LOST BOOKS:  A Perspective

On April 12th, 39 Steller students have a total of 58 books overdue! Are you one of these people? Overdue notices have gone out, so please locate your books and return them before intensives.

If you’ve lost a paperback, you may replace instead paying the lost textbook fine. (Hmmm…$8.95 versus $25 fine.) If you calculate 58 lost books per year at $25 per book, the cost of replacing these books is nearly 2/3 of the ENTIRE library budget. It’s hard to improve the library when most of our money goes to replacing lost books. Please help!!

Danyiel and I will collect fines this spring, and again next fall during registration.

Summer Reading
The list for the Battle of the Books is available at:  www.akla.org/akasl/bb/bbhome.html  The Municipal Library Summer Reading Program is always fun…even for grownups. Lists are also available at the Loussac Library.

You’ve seen this website before, and maybe even used it:  www.sled.alaska.eduNow this database has a new title, The Digital Pipeline. Go ahead and use it to search for information in newspapers, magazines and other sources.

Career Resources Corner

Did you get a scholarship? If you did, please tell Karen Emmel. Anchorage School District likes to have an idea of the award amounts received at each school. They’d even like to know about the awards you don’t accept. Just tally up all your awards (not counting the $50 check from Aunt Sally…) and give a single dollar amount to Karen, e.g. Janie was awarded $50,000.Thanks, Everyone!
Karen Emmel

May 6th is the final deadline to register for the June 7th SAT.  Register online @ collegeboard.com

Thank you very much to all the parent chaperones who helped make this year’s Activity Night a success! We had a wonderful turnout and we really appreciated all your help! It’s an easy way for families to log their ten volunteer hours.  You may want to keep it in mind for your family next year!! If you have some feedback from this year’s event, or, if you have an idea for a contest or arts and crafts activity for next year, please e-mail your student’s advisor. We’d really like to hear your ideas and suggestions.

With the school year accelerating to a close, we would like to remind you that students will soon be scheduling Year End Conferences with their advisors. These parent-student-teacher conferences serve a variety of purposes, from recapping the students’ educational experiences to setting goals for next year. Conferences are also an opportune time to get information regarding next year’s SAT/ACT testing schedules, fill out your intent to return form, or update your Steller directory information as well as other housekeeping details. This year’s conferences will be held on Wednesday, May 21 and Thursday, May 22. You or your student can schedule a conference by contacting your student’s advisor or by phoning the front office to reserve a time slot.

For students wishing to recoup lost credit or looking for enrichment courses, summer school information is now available online at asdk12.org. Summer school offers a semester of credit per session and many students find that participating in summer school allows them more freedom of choice in coursework during the school year.

Under the “Last but not Least” category, please ask your student to look under the bed and beneath the floorboards for any textbooks, library materials or other school-related items that should make their way back to Steller. Kids with outstanding fees for lost or missing books, uniforms, equipment, etc. won’t be able to get their final grades (or diplomas

We look forward to the final of weeks of school and meeting with you and your student during the conferences!

The Indoor/Outdoor Games Intensive needs some “loaner” equipment. Can you help us out?

• Athletic shoes with cleats (not metal
• Shin guards or knee pads
• Over-the-knee sports socks

Twenty-nine students signed up for this intensive! Since some of our students will be playing field hockey and outdoor soccer for the first time, they may not have this kind of athletic gear. Since they are “trying out” these sports during our two-week intensive, some loaner equipment would be very helpful. Contact Toni or Jim if you can donate / loan us some of our gear!

• Please check in the office for lost electronics…
• Graduation on May 20th at 3pm - At the Discovery Theater
• The building closes at 12 noon on May 20th so students can attend graduation.

ASD and Smithsonian Travel is offering a Presidential Inauguration Tour in January of 2009 and it promises to be an exciting learning experience for our students. Students will not only experience a wonderful tour of Washington DC but will also attend the Presidential Inauguration, Inaugural parade, and an Inaugural Ball held exclusively for Smithsonian Student Travelers! It promises to be an unforgettable hands-on-learning experience as our students participate in this historic event.

ASD and Smithsonian Travel have are making this trip affordable. The complete cost including airfare, hotel, most meals, tours, and security is $1714. But in order to lock in at this price, a deposit of $150 with an application is due by April 30th!

If you would like to participate in this exciting adventure, contact the office at 742-4960.

Jennifer Wadsworth and Jack Davis will be leading our Steller group.

Little by little does the trick. Aesop

As I work with students, some of whom are overwhelmed by a task before them, I am reminded of this quotation. Procrastination, deadlines, projects, the end of the quarter are all contributing factors to students feeling overwhelmed from time to time. Taking an assignment, breaking it down into workable pieces, and prioritizing what must be done often helps a student refocus and see an assignment or assignments as manageable. This is a skill that applies to schoolwork, but also to the many tasks that each of us must accomplish each and every day.

Little by little does the trick also applies to our upcoming standardized tests. By taking each day of testing individually and dealing with each test question separately, students can maintain focus and not become uneasy about testing. In this newsletter, you will find information about the upcoming Standards Based Assessments (SBA’s) and the High School Graduation Qualifying Exam (HSGQE). All of our students in grades 7—10 will be participating in one of these assessments on April 1st (reading), 2nd (writing) and 3re (math). In addition, the students in grades 8 and 10 will be taking the SBA’s for science on April 4th. It is important that our students participate in these assessments and we gain valuable information about our student’s academic needs in specific areas from these tests.

March will go by quickly for all of us with Spring Break from March 10th through 14th. The last All Community Meeting of the year will take place on Wednesday, March 26th. The focus of this meeting is the development of a Steller Mission Statement. The mission statement is a required part of the process for renewing our accreditation. The voices of our students, parents, and staff are a vital part of this process and we hope for a large turnout from all three of these constituency groups.

We will be having our Steller Auction on Friday March 28th. Please plan to join us for this community event. It is Steller’s major fundraiser for the year and supports travel scholarships for our students, technology, and yearbook. This year, there will again be exciting auction items accompanied by the opportunity to visit with others in the Steller Community. The theme for this year’s auction is Hawaii, so pull out those Hawaiian shirts and join us on the 28th of March.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Spring Break and return energized and ready for the last quarter of the school year.

Karin

Join us for this annual fundraising event
on Friday, March 28th at 5:30 pm.
This year’s theme is
Aloha in Paradise.
How can you help?

• Mark your calendar and plan on attending!
• Spread the word! The more the merrier!
• Bring your favorite appetizer ready-to-eat, ready to share.
• Help your student’s advisory group put together their basket.
• Contact Ingrid Parrish <iparrish@attglobal.net> to volunteer.

Come one and all and bring a friend. The more the merrier! Fabulous bargains, the famous Advisory Group Baskets and so much more will be ready and waiting to receive your bid.

On April 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, Steller will focus on testing students’ proficiency in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. This year we will also test the science proficiency for grades 8 and 10. We will use two tests: the Alaska Standards-Based Assessments (SBAs) and the Alaska High School Graduation Qualifying Exam (HSGQE). The SBAs will be given to grades 7 through 9, and the HSGQE will be given to our sophomores. Juniors and Seniors who have not previously passed all three subsets of the HSGQE would also test.

The SBAs measure individual student performance as well as determine whether individual schools meet the criteria under the No Child Left Behind Act.

The Alaska HSGQE (High School Graduation Qualifying Exam) is a proficiency-based test that measures the “minimum competencies of essential skills.” To receive a diploma at graduation, students must pass all three subsets of the HSGQE (reading, writing, and mathematics). Testing begins in 10th grade. If a student fails to pass all the subsets during their sophomore year, they will be given the chance to retake the portions they failed.

Sophomores take a combined SBA/HSGQE for Reading, Writing, and Math. The Science test that sophomores take is not a part of the HSGQE and passing it is not required for graduation. It is part of the SBA which is a federal requirement.

Neither the SBAs nor the HSGQE are timed tests. Testing times begin at 8:30 a.m. on each of the testing days and are expected to take about three hours.
Students who are making progress but have not completed the session within that time will be given as much time as they need to finish within the same testing day.

Parents are asked to help by having their students rested and ready for testing on testing days. Eating a nutritious breakfast is important. Please have your student to school on time and avoid scheduling appointments which may conflict with the testing on April 1, 2, and 3 (and April 4th for 8th and 10th graders).

We will receive test results for 10th-11th graders on May 27th, and the results will be mailed to parents/guardians as soon as possible.

Cell phones, ipods and other electronics are not allowed in the testing rooms. Please consider leaving them at home that day. Instead, bring magazines or books to fill the time in-between tests when you finish early. You may bring a snack and bottled water or juice.

Testing is a month away and the District is training Principals and Test Administrators. Final test schedules will not be finalized until after Spring Break, so please listen for robot calls and check the Parents’ Website for updated information.

Thank you!! We appreciate the families who have provided some wonderful snacks and luncheon foods for our Steller students this month.

Our thanks goes to the following students and their parents:

Emily B., Arvin T., Nora C., Bob H., Michael R., Sydney S., Cedars G., Taran H., Chloe & Sylvie B., and Evan R.

These are only the people whose names were on the goodies. We’ve had several folks just drop off donations without identification. We’d like to thank you all too for your generosity – the students here appreciate having some handy food available in the office. We’ve had anywhere from 5 or 6 lunch requests all the way up to 18 per day.

I also want to say how much I’ve enjoyed working with the students, staff, and parents here at Steller. I’ll be leaving after spring break and another nurse will take my place before Wendy returns from maternity leave. It’s been a wonderful experience for me, and I’ll have some good memories to take with me. Rosie, my therapy dog, will miss all the warm hugs and treats as well.

Jaymie Felton, your RN sub