{"id":6223,"date":"2011-02-13T07:39:10","date_gmt":"2011-02-13T15:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/flash\/?p=6223"},"modified":"2011-02-13T07:39:10","modified_gmt":"2011-02-13T15:39:10","slug":"from-the-principal-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/from-the-principal-2\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Principal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Week ASD Memorandum # 219 http:\/\/www.asdk12.org\/School_Board\/archives\/2010-2011<\/a><\/span> Proposed Financial Plan (First Reading).<\/p>\n

The board passed the proposed budget on first reading.\u00c2\u00a0 We heard lots of testimony from people concerned about four issues.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The change in middle school sports from a competitive team model to an intramural program;<\/li>\n
  2. The reduction in high school secretary positions;<\/li>\n
  3. The reduction in library assistant positions; and<\/li>\n
  4. The career guide positions in middle school.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The administration proposed about $13 million in spending reductions. Of that, there appears to be board concern over about $2 million of those changes, and based on the testimony, the community is concerned about a slightly smaller amount of reductions. \u00c2\u00a0That suggests that the administration has done a very good job of listening to the views of board members and the community, and has aligned the budget with those views.<\/p>\n

    Although the board didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make any changes at this meeting, there will likely be some changes at the second reading. The District will continue to receive e-mails and other comments. E-mails can be sent to schoolboard@asdk12.org<\/span>.\u00c2\u00a0 There was extensive discussion about possible changes. \u00c2\u00a0There seems to be support for restoring summer school, high school secretarial support, and possibly the library assistants. \u00c2\u00a0The career guides are proposed to be in the budget, and the board seems to be supportive of that as well.<\/p>\n

    What is less clear is whether there is support for making changes that would free up money to pay for adding anything back to the budget. \u00c2\u00a0Some board members are willing to consider some increase in average class size.\u00c2\u00a0 Others are very much opposed. \u00c2\u00a0Most board members seem willing to use some additional fund balance, but not enough to pay for everything the District would like to put back in the budget<\/p>\n

    Some new costs this year include:<\/p>\n

    New fees for rental of the Anchorage Football stadium
    \nNew fees for rental of municipal trails and picnic shelters
    \nNew fees for helping pay for property tax collection
    \nFull cost of the School Resource Officers who spend about 70% of their time on ASD work.<\/p>\n

    \n

    I will keep you informed, as more information is available.<\/p>\n

    \n

    In addition we have just learned that Steller is not immune to the effects of retirement.\u00c2\u00a0 At the end of this school year our beloved Nina Bonito-Romine is retiring.\u00c2\u00a0 Sad but true, Nina has been a fixture in the hall\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s of Steller for 28 years.\u00c2\u00a0 She will be missed by one and all.\u00c2\u00a0 Her wisdom, leadership and enthusiasm\u00c2\u00a0 for teaching and her support for the Steller way will leave a void that will be difficult to patch.\u00c2\u00a0 But, patch it we shall!<\/p>\n

    \n

    The enrollment projection for Steller next year is a bit down from previous years [see chart below].<\/p>\n

    Although we were slated to have 271 students this year we were significantly under that.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    If you know of anyone that wants to come to Steller, please tell them to fill out an application and get it to Elizabeth Wood no later than March 24 by 3:00pm.\u00c2\u00a0 In an effort to up our enrollement we authorized a radio ad with KSKA for 12 spots on the morning drive advertising our upcoming Open House.\u00c2\u00a0 Depending on the results of this radio blitz-\u00c2\u00a0 will determine if we do the same for lottery.\u00c2\u00a0 Hopefully, we will have success with this strategy.\u00c2\u00a0 In addition Linda is working hard with the Know Your Alternatives and we are all set with our Elementary Ice Cream Social that we are hoping will bring in elementary parents to see what we are about.<\/p>\n

    Also, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve authorized our MPR for evening use to Winterberry.\u00c2\u00a0 This should create goodwill and positive rapport with another segment of the community.\u00c2\u00a0 The hope is by Winterberry having some events here the parents will inadvertently see Steller as a welcoming place to be.\u00c2\u00a0 The hope is we will draw some new support through this effort.<\/p>\n

    \n

    For those of you with Seniors and Juniors you should find this very helpful.\u00c2\u00a0 I have attached the link to the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education and Alaska Student Loan Corporation [APS] website for frequently asked questions. \u00c2\u00a0I have received some questions regarding the funding of the program\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthis is how the question has been addressed on the APS website:<\/p>\n

    \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Funding has not yet been appropriated for the Alaska Performance Scholarship<\/em><\/strong>. It is expected that funding will be considered in the 2011 Legislative session. The Governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office has announced that the Governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proposed FY 2012 budget<\/em><\/strong> will include $8.2 million for the first year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s awards.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

    http:\/\/akadvantage.alaska.gov\/Grants_and_Scholarships\/Alaska_Scholarship_Program_FAQs.aspx#dec<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/p>\n

    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Last Week ASD Memorandum # 219 http:\/\/www.asdk12.org\/School_Board\/archives\/2010-2011 Proposed Financial Plan (First Reading). The board passed the proposed budget on first reading.\u00c2\u00a0 We heard lots of testimony from people concerned about four issues. The change in middle school sports from a competitive team model to an intramural program; The reduction in high school secretary positions; The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}