High School Happenings

Treasury Report: Balance of $1,302.49 in Parent Group account.
Financial Aid Night: January 21 at 6:00 in library (changed to February 3rd)
Other Communication: Drug named Salvia Divinorum (commonly referred to as salvia) is legal for 18 year olds to purchase in Colorado. It is a hallucinogen that can be smoked and has been declared illegal in most East and West Coast states. Articles about the Safe 2 Tell program and how it has helped are available at our meetings.
21st Century Committee - an update from Constance Brown. They are meeting, discussing and deciding how to incorporate the teaching of "life skills" into curriculum. They must also figure out how to measure the results of what has been taught. Teachers are quite excited about this concept. They do not expect to get through all 10 of the identified skills this year, however.
Parent Survey Results - A summation of these results was distributed and discussed. Of particular note, 70% of parents surveyed felt that teacher's expectations were made clear to students. For whatever reason, students often use that as an excuse for not getting work done. Administration plans to put surveys in registration packets next year. They will also include more information on the Parent Group.

Programs Available to Students
Study Hall - held Tuesday and Thursday after school in the library until 4:00. Teachers of all subjects are available to help students.
Saturday School - available every other Saturday from 8:00 am until Noon in the library. It is mostly for students trying to recover credits, i.e. - trying to obtain a passing grade.
Math Class - This will be available to seniors taking college entrance exams. It will be a 6 week course, meeting from 6:45 - 7:30 am twice a week, starting in February. Students will test to determine current ability, to see where they need help. They will be given a syllabus of what will be covered and may attend just the classes where they need help. Mr. Quintana will be teaching.
ACT Prep Class - Administration is looking at offering this class in the fall for Juniors and Seniors. It will not be a class for credit. They only need to attend what will be beneficial.
Parent Discussion - Some parents are concerned that students in the regular curriculum have not developed the necessary theme and essay writing skills that they will need in college. They feel like AP courses have prepared students well. Administration does have a meeting scheduled with UCCS to discuss their expectations. A parent did note that many college campuses have writing labs available to help students improve their papers.
After Prom - Patty Wood did a terrific job of planning and organizing last year's Prom. Jonathan McPhee has offered to help this years event, which is open to the Junior and Senior class. There is much to be done....... volunteers are needed to step up and make this another great sendoff for our graduating seniors. Contact Leticia @ 687-0467 or

LWAT809807@aol.com if you are interested in helping with this activity. Their committee will be sending out notices of meetings. The Parent Group is donating $200.00 towards cost of this event. Total current funds approximate $400.00.

What is After Prom? A well chaperoned, drug and alcohol free party, held at the high school after the Prom. Activities have consisted of movies and games with many donated prizes.    In the past, students have been given $3000 in play money that they can use to gamble or exchange for tickets, which in turn are put in buckets to win prizes.   Prizes are donated and have included things like a dorm refrigerator, bicycle, gas and grocery gift cards.
Collaboration Days - Staff time is being spent in several key areas: (1) differentiating curriculum between regular and honors classes, (2) common assessments between teachers of the same class, (3) developing staff morale.
Calendar Committee - They will create next year's calendar and will consider alternatives to half day collaboration days. One option could be whole days, on a less frequent basis, and hopefully set around a weekend.
Freshman Academy - Administration is revamping this for next year into 3 groups according to student readiness.    Groups are (1) students ready for a block schedule. (2) Students that meet in each class every day and (3) students working with a single group of interdisciplinary teachers.
Pathways - The first Pathway will be established next year - in the Health/Medical field. A medical terminology class will be offered. The goal for a student that enters this pathway would be for them to come out of the program with an EMT 1 license, ready to work or pursue a medical career in college.   Administration does expect that more testing will be done to determine what student interests are.
High School Principal - District will be meeting on whether to offer Del Garrick a permanent position as Principal or to open the position up and interview other candidates.
Open Discussion was held on topics of new hat policy, video cameras in the school, class sizes and open campus for junior/senior lunches.