Head of School "Photon" -- Issue #4

The Head of School Photon

Vol. 1, Issue 4

Sean Aiken, Head of School

BASIS Oro Valley

January 24, 2012

Greetings!

Just a blink into 2013, and so much happening already. We Heads of School always ring in the New Year by meeting together with Michael and Olga Block, founders and co-CEOs of BASIS Schools, to talk shop. We gather to plan the months ahead, get a sense of our bearings, discuss developments, set the course.

Much is discussed. Each of us has the opportunity to voice ideas and improvements in the name of our home cities -- all drawn from the families with whom we partner. We also quietly brag about your kids -- a job I take quite seriously.

This year Oro Valley added much of that agenda: as the first school to ever rapidly adopt the ambitious BASIS curriculum, we happily light the way to allow more children across the country (and perhaps soon the world -- see below) access to a rigorous education. It takes a great deal of energy. And OV families make it look easy.

To that end, I need your help. I volunteered us all for a project that I think will improve our and every other campus. We need to design a real parent survey -- one that people will want to use and paints a clear picture of the expertise in our community. If you're interested in contributing, click here and let me know .

This month's Photon is an excerpt report on over 20 hours of conversation between all BASIS Heads of School and senior management. A newsletter, yes, but hopefully with something revealing. Much to highlight, lots to do, and we're happy to have you with us.

Please Enjoy,

Sean Aiken

Head of School

Our Amazing Students

"Reviews"
Well, the reviews are in. Hats off to ALL of our 6th and 7th grade students for their strong performance on this year's pre-comprehensive exams. Not only did they show their dedication and commitment in preparing for the seven tests, they showed composure, class, and professionalism in the taking. Xenon, Copper, Nickel, Cobalt, Iron, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Fluorine, Helium, and Potassium made Oro Valley proud. Well done!

A Head of School also has the responsibility of comparing their results to BASIS students in other cities. Thanks to our Academic Division, this year we have sophisticated analytical tools that give us quick and easy vehicles to share results. It's a rapid response system to the implementation of a complex curriculum, and it's only getting better as we grow.

January through March marks an important season of our student support process -- Spring Subject Meetings. Fueled by student responses in the Lower School, SSMs allow teachers to pinpoint and disperse best practices using real-time results. They also help us generate better question prompts for comprehensives down the road. In the next months, students from 9 BASIS Schools will set the bar for each other and tell us where to improve. Moreover, we'll soon issue a student survey so they can make their voices heard, too. We owe them at least that much for all their hard work.

So to their courage, their patience, their sense of humor, their heart, their unbeatable optimism, I ask that we listen this week for the sound of almost 300 pats on the back, times seven tests each, times an average of 75 questions each test, times nine schools...*

and counting.

(*Special prize to the first Lower School student to tell me in person how many pats on the back we should expect to hear per test question across all BASIS Schools, based on the formula above)

Our Amazing Teachers

"APID"

The Advanced Placement International Diploma is a globally recognized certificate for exceptional achievement. By year's end, Oro Valley will have two APID recipients, but we think many, many more are coming.

AP success across disciplines is always challenging, but no matter their other strengths, students can only be considered for the APID by also passing an AP in a second language. For most students, this is the highest hurdle.

BASIS OV's Foreign Language department will be instrumental to achieving a dramatic increase in our APID recipients. These teachers are charged with preparing entire classes to master AP requirements by the end of 11th grade so students can note the honor on college applications. And we don't shy away from a challenge.

These high expectations and all the work that comes with are not by any means the only way our language experts help shape the BASIS story.

BASIS Educational Group recently accepted an invitation from officials in China to a visit to their country's top performing schools. They wanted to discuss possible exchange opportunities and hopefully international BASIS schools in the near future. BEG asked Oro Valley Mandarin teacher Chad Longoni to create a crash course introduction to Chinese culture and present it to division staff on a recent Saturday. Mr. Longoni didn't think twice -- this could be great for his students -- and his information and perspective proved invaluable.

Thanks to the hard work of Mr. Longoni and folks in the new Independent Schools Division, we hope to soon offer more international opportunities through BASIS Oro Valley. Please send your children to speak with me if they are interested in helping these programs get off the ground floor.

Our Wonderful Volunteers

"Best. Dance. Ever."
For two years now the Booster organization has organized and hosted a phenomenal Lower School "Black and White Holiday Party & Dance", thanks entirely to the generous time and effort of our parent volunteers. While I know there are many involved -- donating supplies and games (I got trounced in ping-pong more than once), serving food, watching and keeping everyone safe -- there is one person I would like to recognize for her consistent support of all of BASIS OV's kids.

Lisa Best has been with us since the beginning, and you have no doubt seen her influence all throughout the school. Lisa is a master organizer and has engineered some of OV's most successful events. If you've ever been to the Parking Lot Party, Extracurricular Fair, or school dance, you know her work. But maybe you don't realize all the blood, sweat, and tears that can go into these evenings. So, to Lisa, we sincerely appreciate everything you do for this community. Thank you for another "best. dance. ever."

"Are You Smarter...?"

I was quite pleased at the number of families who sent their students for the extra practice at our "Are You Smarter" evenings (an idea borrowed from BASIS Phoenix). I was downright shocked at the number of brave and supportive parents who helped us by playing along.

I'll admit it -- I planned to rig the entire thing. There was no way my kids were going to lose, and I was so incredibly grateful to those parents who joined as contestants and allowed me to present their children as the big winners. These parents helped lift the esteem and enthusiasm of entire grade levels, and all by just losing over $40,000 of Jeopardy money.

The coolest thing was that the kids didn't need us to rig it. There were so many questions where an ocean of 11-year-olds jumped up with a wave of right answers while parents only just uncapped their markers. Gracious adults let me poke a little fun at our expense, but by and large the kids just mopped the floor with us.

What a fun couple of nights. Thank you to all those involved!

ATF Donors - 2012-2013

A special thanks to the over 50 new families we added to our donor list in December and January. Your outpouring of generosity during our Holiday Gift Tag program meant that every single teacher went home for the holiday with a few (and more than a few) precious notes of thanks in their bag. Furthermore, the program was such a success that other Heads of School are trying the same idea for their teachers. It means a lot to Oro Valley's team and speaks volumes about our supportive community. From all of us, thank you!

2012-2013 Donors

(as of 1-23-13)

Anonymous

Nafees & Shagufta Ahmad

Osaf Ahmed & Farah Khadim

Jamil & Yasmin Ahmed

Steve & Beth Andresen

Ryan & Marla Ayers

Isaac & Judy Bai

The Baim Family

Pascal & Melanie Bamford

Manuel Bedoya

Licita Benelbas

John& Taleen Burnham

James & Colleen Campbell

Sagar & Ana Chandra

Hun-Seng Chao (Thompson)

Theresa Chavez

Rony Chen & Liang Cao

Beatriz & Scott Crooks
Lisa Crooms

Cheryl & Dave Cuillier

Matt & Nicole Dabkowski

Ramon Delgadillo & Herika Galvan

Teresa Dobbin

Jeff & Amy Drescher
Lorraine Edminster

Jens & Tania Eltze
Isabelle Fleuraud
Mark & Angela Fraser

Brenda Frisbie

General Mills Box Tops for Education

Edward Gaffney

Renee Gauthier
Ted & Tamara Greve
Michael & Dawn Hecht

Laura Hege

Heritage Family
Randy & Annette Hesselink

Tammy & Michael Holcomb

Hal & Dianne Hudson

Craig & Diane Hufault

David & Meg Hughes

Randy Horwitz

Rehan Iftikhar & Sarwat Shafique

Neeko & Lee Jeong
Huw & Cynthia Jones
Kevin & Mary Jones

Dan & Cynthia Klingberg

Eric Lane

Charles & Kristin Lathrem

Mark & Donna Lawson

Raul Leija
Peiwen Li & Shuping Chen
Steve Liu & Chihwen Ting

Adrian Loeff & Lynn Randall

Eddie & Bertha Lopez

Douglas & Tanja Loveday

Nasim Ma'ani

Weishi Mang & Cindy Tang
Mr. & Mrs. C.D. March
Michelle & Jason Mason

Rob McCallum & Alison Lee

Michael & Katherine McKay

Chris & Sophie McCormick

Tushar & Pallari Mhatre

Marianne Milczarek
James & Daina Miller

John & Pamela Meredith
Ian & Billie Meuschke

Karthigeyan Nagarajan
Gladys Nasser

Miguel A. Chaar Navarro

Bruce Ogg & Lisa Best
Michael & Kristen Olsen
Yoohee & Jehong Park

Uptal & Vinus Patel

Troy & Elizabeth Paulette
Walter & Young Pierce
Richard & Kindra Pluss

Anil & Suma Prasad

Frank & Maria Prevatt

Chris & Angela Puffer
Pete & Veronica Rea

Jim & Margaret Rigney
Ryan & Malia Ritter

Kristin Rowley
Rizwan Safdar & Erum Rizwan

Pavel Safar & Alena Safarova

Martin & Mary Beth Santillan

Kurt & Elsa Schmidt

Wolfram & Ortrud Schuh

Keith & Heather Scollick
Sergey Seroukhov & Natalya Shyyka

Theresa Setlock

Mukhtiak Singh & Kamaljit Kaur

Sadhu Singh & Rajwinder Kaur

Kara Smarz

Marc & Renee Snow
Lee & Elise Souter

Ronald Sprague

Tanuja & Anil Srivastava

Joseph & Tania St. Louis

William & Linda Stavast

Mark Steiner

Lisa Strainer

Janet Stoll

Sanjay & Sonia Suri

Christopher & Michelle Thomas

Hugh & Allyn Thompson

Toby & Kirstan Tobin

Eric Torrez & Kim Tranquada

Russell & Heidi Tronstad

Patrick & Mona Watkins

Glenda Weil

Robert & Caroline Wieland

Kelly Wilson

Michael & Kristi Wintrode

David Xiao & Lucy Quan

Guihong & Ellen Xu

Xubin Zeng & Quingqui Shao

Business Donors

BASIS Oro Valley Boosters

Brinker International (Chili's)

Four Footed Fitness, Glenda Weil

General Mills, Box Tops for Education

LB West Consulting

Loop Casas Adobes

If you would like to make a donation to the BASIS Oro Valley Annual Teacher Fund please send your check to the front office or make a donation online. Truly, every donation, no matter how big or small, does make a difference!

If you have any questions please contact Jodie Kristensen, Head of Operations Assistant.

BASIS Oro Valley's Administration

(From Left to Right: Mr. Sean Aiken, Head of School; Ms. Teresa Shorbe, Upper School Director; Ms. Michelle Mason, Lower School Director; and Ms. Renee Snow, Head of Operations)

BASIS ORO VALLEY

TEACHERS

2012-2013

Brenda Bonine

Bradley Bultman

Monica Chavez

Tommaso Cioni

Chester Clark

Pascale Cutillas

Lynn Davidson

Nate Davis

Juan Diaz

Kathleen Docherty

Kevin Doubleday

Mark Durfee

Eileen Finnerty-Rae

Adrienne Fluitt

Julie Hains

Charla Hedberg

Patrick Hendon

Liliana Hernandez

Robert Lee

Ilene Lisak

Chad Longoni

Steve Lopez

Cameron Louis

William Lytle

Shelby Macneil

Miguel Martinez

Charlie McCaffrey

Max McCully

Kathleen McGowan

Heather Nagami

Leah Preuss

Elizabeth Robbins

Ariel Rosenthal

William Thomas

Jonathan Torrez

Jennifer Wechsler

Curtis Westbay

Janet Williams

Alicia Wong

Jason Zeitler

BASIS™ (collectively, BASIS Schools, Inc., BDC, A Public Charter School, Inc. and BTX Schools, Inc.), is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants for employment are recruited, hired and assigned without discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, disability or any other classification protected by law. BASIS™ expressly prohibits any form of unlawful employee or student harassment.