Are your Monday nights free?  Check this out.

High School and college Students,  tha Anchorage Concert Chorus Mentorship Program provides an opportunity for young singers to participate as members of the ACC for a season (2009-10) with ALL FEES WAIVED. ( This is a great chance to learn from one of the area’s finest choral directors,  Dr. Grant Cochran, and appear in the Atwood Hall in the PAC accompanied by the talented musicians of the Anchorage Symphony.

The Link Below will lead you to the Concert Chorus website where the guidelines and applications are Posted for Easy access and downloading.  OR ask Karen in the Library.    We have had Steller students participate in the past.
http://www.anchorageconcertchorus.org/

A new school year presents opportunities for various beginnings- new classes, new faces, sometimes-new courses, and often-new materials.  Summer and vacation can be great healers; and as we approach the opening day of a new school year, the end-of-year pressures that plagued us in June seem quite remote and inconsequential.

Newness alone, however, cannot produce transformation.  We ourselves must be willing to be caught up in the rebirth that is possible with each new year.  Starting a new year gives us the opportunity to make new plans, design new strategies, and implement new ideas.  There is a special kind of joy and satisfaction in planning lessons and activities for new classes; for although the subject or grade level is the same, the students are new, and they appreciate the planning that is done for them.  Whether one’s responsibility is administrating, supervising, teaching, maintaining a building, or managing an office, there is always room for improvement and for new ways to do a good job even better.

We can be proud of what we achieve in Steller- in our classrooms, in our offices and on our stages- but our achievements are not due to complacency and satisfaction with the status quo.  Our program is what it is because a staff of dedicated, aspiring men and women have a common goal- to do what is best for students and are always looking for ways to achieve that goal.

This year, as in the past, we must concentrate on the processes that spur continuing advancement; evaluating what we have, determining what we can do to improve, and identifying what we need to make those improvements.

Let us make 2009-10 our best year yet!

Harlod Green

Here is the schedule of fall classes for Steller.  As always, they are subject to change.  We will post an updated version as soon as we are notified.

Here is an updated Activity Calendar for the 2009/2010 school year.  Click here to download.  The schedule is often changing.  For a more accurate and almost up-to-the-minute calendar, check out the calendar on the Steller Flash website.  Click on the calendar icon near the top of the right column.  A very dedicated parent volunteer, Dean Franklin, reads every new notice and adds the dates to the calendar.

I am sure many of you are aware that we lost some very good people last year.  I have been interviewing throughout the summer trying to find quality people to hire.

We have a very good Social Studies person in Leigh Ann Bonney.  Leigh Ann comes to us from Romig.  She taught at Polaris for several years and is very familiar with our system.

Chemistry/Science, the position held by Shennon is frozen.  I have someone perfect in mind however I am unable to submit her name due to Science being frozen throughout the District.

As of yet we do not have our Special Ed. teacher.  There are not that many high school special education teachers out there.  The District is working on a plan to fill all of the special Ed slots throughout the District.  More information on that as it comes in.

Finally, the full time counselor’s position is still unfilled as of the date.  I have some really good candidates I am interviewing this week 8/3- 8/7.  Hopefully I will find someone from this group.

Zangle is still coming online as planned.  It is changing how all schools conduct business, however, the biggest changes will be to Steller.  These are changes that do not have to create problems if we don’t let them.  I see us being able to operate as usual with the addition of a few responsibilities that will fall to teachers, students, administration and parents.

I hope you all had great summers and look forward to seeing you all again.

Harlod Green

Welcome to Steller Secondary School!   2009-10 will see many changes in the way student information will be gathered and kept.  Some of these changes will necessitate a change in how we have been keeping track of attendance.

If you have not heard about ZANGLE you will!  Zangle is the Anchorage School Districts new “Student Information System”.  It replaced the old “VAX” system.  By now you should have received a form from the District asking for updated information- phone numbers, address etc.  If you did not receive one of these forms please let me know.

Zangle will require all teachers to take daily attendance. Therefore, it will be critical that if you know your child is going to miss school for whatever reason you call that into the school no later than the next day [742-4950].  At the end of this letter I have added brief directions on how to go about notifying the school

If you are a new family to Steller Secondary school you will quickly learn that being at Steller is a time of change.  The workload and social adjustments are greater here than any ASD school.  Your child will be expected to attend school regularly, complete all assignments, and behave appropriately.  Their year will be exciting and filled with many new opportunities.

You will receive a student handbook [if not please contact the main office] read all items carefully.  Students are responsible for knowing the contents of their handbooks. It does a good job of explaining a typical year at our school and what the expectations are for all of our students.  By reading it, you will have a better idea of what those expectations are.  Also, take a moment to look at the school website and then go to the community website (Steller Flash).  There you will find a plethora of information that will assist you in navigating Steller.

We are pleased to have you as partners for the 2009-10 educational school year.  As the year progresses, and as you become either more informed or more puzzled we encourage you to come in or call the school and talk with those who might be able to help.

The importance of school attendance in relation to achievement, engagement, and educational success has been well researched and documented.  The pervasive thought is that the more time students are in school [Alternative setting, internships. Community services or educational trips] the better chance they have to be personally and academically successful.

As stated before, attendance will be a requirement for all ASD schools next year.  Excused absences: Parents should call to excuse absences no later than the next day following the absence.  When calling to leave a message please speak slowly and clearly and spell the last name of the student.   The importance of calling in an absence is that when an absence is excused your child can get make-up-work.  With an unexcused absence the teacher does not have to give make-up-work for the absent day(s).

In addition if your child needs to leave school for an appointment, you should call the main office at 742-4950 and notify the school.   At that point it will be noted in Zangle.  This will allow your child to leave school at a designated time and return to school late without consequence. 
No student has to have a “Blue Pass” ever.  It is a pro-active measure if you 
know he/she will be coming back late from a Dr. appt for example.  

I know that sometimes parents like to take their child out for lunch as a 
treat for a birthday, if this is the case it would be best to notify the office, that way it can be noted as an excused absence or tardy.

New procedures will require two things:

 1.  If your child is absent for any reason call it in as soon as possible
 that day so it will go in the books as an excused absence which requires 
they get make-up-work.
 2.  If, anytime during the day, you need to take your child from school the 
call will serve as an excused absence that allows them to get the
 make-up-work they missed. The student will need to check in the office prior to leaving and a “Blue Pass” will be issued to the student.  A “Blue Pass” is a type of excused absence which means your child can get make up work for the times they are gone due to appointments.  If you have to leave a message please speak slowly, clearly and spell the last name.

We are glad to have you with us this year, and we want to assure you that we will do our best to help your child experience academic, social and emotional growth.  With your help and cooperation, this should be an excellent school year. Steller   Secondary School offers complete academic programs with the flexibility to meet your student’s individual needs.   Your concern, your involvement, your support, and your parental guidance have never been more important than they will be over the next few years.

Good luck on your journey through the hallowed halls of Steller Secondary School.  We hope this will be one of your most successful years ever.

Harlod Green

Thank you for taking the time at registration to make sure you were signed up for the Steller Flash updates.  Not everyone has remembered the last, very important step of confirming their subscription in their e-mails.  If you know any parents, students, or staff who are not yet receiving these updates, please remind them of this step.  If the e-mail was accidently deleted they can visit the website at (stellerschool712.org) and enter their e-mail address again.  Thank you for your assistance in helping make sure everyone is receiving the Steller Flash information.

If your child has graduated or otherwise left Steller and you are no longer interested in receiving updates from this site, please click the “Unsubscribe Now” link at the bottom of your email. It is much easier for you to unsubscribe yourself than for us to go into the system and remove you from the list. Of course, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.