COMMANDER,

U.S. PACIFIC COMMAND
(USPACOM)
CAMP H.M. SMITH, HAWAII 96861-4028

27 August 2008

To all Military Families of Alaska,

The Pacific Command is committed to the support of quality education opportunities for the children of our military families attending the Alaska Public School System. From the implementation of educational programs, to the purchase of textbooks, funding is essential.

One very simple way that you, as a parent, can dramatically help to ensure a major source of funding is to complete and return the Federal Survey Card your children will bring home in the coming weeks. By investing a few minutes of your time to complete this card, you enable your school to accurately report the number of military dependents enrolled. This important data may qualify your child’s school for additional services and funding. Unfortunately, the past return rates, especially for middle and high schools, have been extremely low. We need your help to turn this around.

Everyone is aware of the fiscal challenges facing our nation’s schools and the negative affect these challenges have on our children’s education. By returning the card, your school district may receive reimbursement of up to a few thousand dollars per military child which will help defray the cost of over $10,000 to educate a child in Alaska’s public schools. Each year, hundreds of cards are not returned or are improperly completed. This results in a loss of millions of dollars to Alaska’s public schools.

During the next few weeks, your child will bring the Federal Survey Card home from school.  Please remember to carefully complete the Card and return it as quickly as possible.

Thank you in advance for your support and for playing a valuable part in the future of all military families.

JOSEPH E. PEDRONE III
Colonel, USA
Director for Manpower,
Personnel and Administration

Note: This letter was retyped to display properly on this website.

Looking to Shape Alaska’s—and Their Own—Future
second
Conference of Young Alaskans
January 3-6, 2009
Girdwood

The University of Alaska will convene the second Conference of Young Alaskans in January 2009 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Alaska statehood and to foster awareness and appreciation of our state’s history among the emerging leaders of Alaska. Encourage all 16-25 year olds to apply online now at www.YoungAlaskans.org to be one of 55 delegates to the 2009 Conference of Young Alaskans (COYA) being held at the beautiful Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, AK on January 3-6, 2009.

Applications will be accepted until midnight on Saturday, Oct. 18.

National Merit Scholarships are determined by this test. Only juniors are
eligible for this scholarship.

October 18  -  THIS Saturday  at Steller

Arrive at 8:15  pick up by 11:45
Bring water and a snack,  two # 2 pencils and a calculator

Sign up in the library BEFORE Friday,

PAY the $13.00 fee to Karen or in the office.
NO MONEY WILL BE ACCEPTED ON SATURDAY.

There are 15 slots available.

The class schedule for second quarter is now available.  Click here to download a copy.  As always this is subject to review and change to best meet the needs of the students.

For course descriptions click here.

It is never too soon to start thinking about college – not obsessing, but thinking about it.  ANY student regardless of grade who would like to chat with our UCLA College Counseling intern, Paula DeLaiarro, can drop by the library on Thursdays from 11:30 to 3 pm or email her at minus10@aol.com.  Paula is working with Steller College Counselor Karen Emmel and they can provide a broad range of information, including a list of WUE schools, schools that are strong in a particular major, schools in a particular region of the country, private schools that award merit scholarships, admission requirements, portfolio guidelines, financial aid information, etc.  Drop by!

(SELECT PRINTABLE VERSION HERE)

Games start on time as listed below. A female must be on the playing floor at all times or you will play shorthanded for that time without a female. Games are 17 minutes long. ALL GAMES ARE ON MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND SOME FRIDAYS AT LUNCH . MAKE SURE YOU KNOW YOUR SCHEDULE FOR GAME TIMES AND DAYS.
TEAM ETIQUETTE:
STAY WITH YOUR TEAM…. THIS IS A TEAM SPORT AND A TEAM SPORT REQUIRES ALL OF YOU TO BE THERE WHEN YOU HAVE A GAME WIN OR LOSE. THE EXPERIENCED PLAYERS ARE TO HELP AND GUIDE BY LEADERSHIP TO THE NOVICE, LESS EXPERIENCED PLAYERS. TEAMS WIN WHEN GOOD LEADERSHIP OCCURS… TEACH THEM WELL.

The top 3 teams in each division will go to the playoffs- Regular season
games count toward your division record. Please be at all the games as it is only fair to the other team you are playing. Playing improves your game even if your teams has a losing season.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL
.
Game times are
Start Times 11:50am 12:13pm
9/29-MON A-G D-H
10/1-WED C-G F-B
10/3-FRI. B-E F-A
10/6-MON B-D C-H
10/8-WED E-H C-F
10/10-FRI G-D A-B
10/1-17 FINALS WEEK NO GAMES
10/20-MON D-E F-G
10/22-WED A-H C-E
10/24-FRI G-B A-C
10/27-MON A-E F-D
10/29-WED B-H A-F
11/3-MON A-D F-E
11/5-WED C-B E-H
11/10-MON C-F F-H
11/12-WED D-E A-G
11/14-FRI B-H OPEN
11/17-MON C-D G-E
11/19-WED B-D A-C
11/21-FRI C-G D-H ALL STAR VOTING FINAL DAY
11/24-MON G-H B-E
11/26-WED ALL STAR GAME- 30 MINUTES
12-1-1/4 FINALS WEEK-WINTER BREAK-INTENSIVES
1/5-MON F-G B-D
1/7-WED A-C E-H
1/9-FRI A-F D-H
1/12-MON B-E A-G
1/14-WED C-G B-H
1/16-FRI F-E G-H
1/21-WED C-F D-E
1/23-FRI F-G OPEN
1/26-MON A-B C-D
1/28-WED PLAYOFFS START

PLAYOFFS
THE TOP TEAM FROM THE REGULAR SEASON WILL DRAW A BY FOR SEMI FINALS;
-2ND AND 3RD PLACE TEAMS WILL PLAY IN THE SEMIFINALS;
-WINNERS OF THE SEMIFINALS WILL MEET THE REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS FOR DIVISIONAL CHAMPSHIPS;
-WINNERS OF THE DIVISIONAL GAMES PLAY IN THE CUP FINALS.

SEMI FINALS – JAN.28,30 FEB.2
DIVISIONAL FINALS – FEB. 6,19,11,13,17
CUP FINALS – FEB.18,20.23,25,27

EUGENE AND LARRY RESERVE THE RIGHT TO CHANGE TIMES AND DATES. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU CHECK AND KNOW YOUR SCHEDULE.

Steller will register students for 2nd Quarter on Monday, October 20th.

Seniors and 8th Graders will meet with their Advisors to review their current progress toward graduation and finishing middle school, respectively.  In order to best utilize their time, students need to meet with their Advisor between 8-9am and then proceed to class registration at 9 – 10am.

Juniors and 7th graders will meet with their Advisors 10 – 11am and register for classes 11- 12noon.

9th and 10th graders will meet with Advisors from 1 – 2pm and register for classes from 2 – 3pm.

All students who are unable to adjust their arrival/dismissal times to accommodate registration are welcome to bring a novel to read or work with other students on special projects or committee assignments in their Advisor’s classroom.  Additionally, the following sessions and workshops will be available for students during Registration Day:
Class/Schedule Input/ Office w/Danyiel
Chemistry Lab & Tutorial/ Shannon’s Rm
Chemistry Lab Clean Up/ Shannon’s Lab & Stock Rm
Art Room Clean Up and Organization/ Jean’s Rm
College&Career Planning w/Paula & Karen / Library
Spanish Tutorial/ Nina’s Rm
Math Study Hall/ Natalie’s Rm
Math Logic and Board Games/ Jen’s Rm
School-wide Clean Up/ Eugene
History Channel Film TBA/ Ken’s Rm
PARENT / GUARDIAN HELP WANTED/WELCOME!  CONTACT YOUR STUDENT’S ADVISOR, OR TEACHER LISTED ABOVE.

Sponsored by the Anchorage School Board and the Anchorage School District

The forums are an opportunity for candidates to inform the community, parents, employees and advisory groups of their positions on key educational issues and their plans regarding these issues if elected.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Dimond High School

6:30-7:30 p.m.
Senate District O
House Districts 30, 31, 32

7:45-8:45 p.m.
House Districts 25, 26, 27,28, 29

and

Thursday, October 16, 2008
Begich Middle School

6:30-7:30 p.m.
Senate Districts I, K, M
House Districts 16, 17, 18, 19

7:45-8:45
House Districts 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 32

All forums will be rebroadcast on ASD-TV cable channel 14 prior to the November 4th election.

Candidate Survey
Where do candidates stand when it comes to issues relating to education?
We’ve posed questions about educating students in the 21st century, early childhood education, highly qualified staffing needs, ideas to improve Alaska’s public schools, and increased academic expectations and technology needs related to student learning and parent access to information.

Read the candidates’ answers online at www.asdk12.org by clicking on Candidate Forums.

Anchorage School District

The Northwest Accreditation Survey is the baseline which the Accreditation Committee uses to monitor the progress of Steller Secondary School.  We rely on the input of both parents and students for this information.  At this time very few people have completed the survey.  Please help.  We need your input!

Click here for more information and links to the survey.

Through hard work and collaboration the “School Libraries Collection Development Grant” is now a law; however, it is not yet funded. AkASL needs to mobilize members, principals, parents, school board members,etc. to try to get the funding ($1.1 million ) into the Governor’s budget.

We all need to start a letter or postcard-writing campaign addressed to the —
Governor c/o Karen Rehfeld, Director of the Office of Management and Budget,
P.O. Box 110020, Juneau, Alaska 99811-0020 –
Phone (907) 465-4660, Fax (907) 465-3640.

Copies of letters should go to —
Commissioner Larry LeDoux,
Commissioner of Education and Early Development,
P.O. Box 110500, Juneau, AK 99811-0500

Any letters could also be copied to one’s local legislators.  It would be good to get several hundred messages going. The conversation topics to get our law funded are the same as the ones we used to get SB119 passed into law. The substance of these messages should repeat briefly the need for the program (check the AkASL website for talking points click here and then urge the Governor, Commissioner, and legislators to make this important long-term investment in 21st century materials for our 21st century Alaska students.

The funding of SLA Chapter 55 will enable school libraries to replace materials such as almanacs with statistics years out of date, encyclopedias with incomplete or inaccurate entries, atlases with incorrect political boundaries, health books with outdated or misleading information, nonfiction books too old to include advances in science and technology, folklore or picture books which are culturally insensitive, sports books featuring teams which no longer exist and the many wonderful library books which are literally falling apart from many years of use.

Contact legislators to make sure that they understand that there is a school library portion to what used to be SB119.  The public library portion was tacked on relatively late in the game, but put up top in the legislation.  Legislators were confused about the two different sections and judging from legislators questions and answers at a recent Anchorage forum, they still are.

The school library portion is Sec. 3 Chapter 55 SLA 2008.  The official title for the school library section is “Public School Library Collection Development Grant,” and in the Alaska statutes, it is AS14.56.360-375.   You can read or print out the law as enrolled here.

The Governor’s budget is being formulated right now.

Karen Emmel
Steller Librarian