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By Michelle Johansen, on January 28th, 2010
This Sunday, January 31, 2010, is COLLEGE GOAL SUNDAY beginning @ 2PM, right here at Polaris. College Goal Sunday began a few years ago to provide assistance in filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), for seniors who will be attending college or trade schools later on in the year. The FAFSA must be filled out by both parents and students to receive financial aid for college – scholarships, grants, loans, etc. Attending College Goal Sunday is a great way to get all your questions about this process answered by the experts, and you will actually be able to complete the FAFSA and have that important step toward college checked off your list!
By Stacy, on January 24th, 2010
Polaris Newsletter Jan 2010
Please click the above link to download the January Newsletter.
By Stacy, on January 21st, 2010
Yes, the auction is just 3 weeks away. This is the 16th anniversary of our auction and we hope to make it the best yet! This year we will not only host a live and silent auction but a dessert auction as well. We are planning fun activities for the kids too. The Magic Man Don Russell and The Mad Scientist will both be at this years auction.
AREAS WE NEED VOLUNTEERS
Teacher Liaisons for class baskets– one per class
Business solicitation – ideally everyone will help here
Faxing of solicitation letters
Set Up
Basket Decorators
Computer work
Cashiers and data entry for event day
Activity set up and clean up after
Help run the event
Serve Food – 1/2 hour shifts
Help with activities with the kids – 1/2 shifts
Auction Runners
Live Auction Help
Check-in and Check-out before and after Event
Make a Dessert for the Dessert Auction
Sign ups for each of these areas will be posted on the Parent bulletin board by this Friday.
Ways you can help the auction:
Solicit 2-3 donations for the Auction. This can be from your hairdresser, your barber, or any other business that you frequent.
Let us know if you or your company has a spare laptop the auction could use.
We are looking for a solid auction committee. Many of you already volunteer in your children’s classes a morning or afternoon a week. If you can spare a few hours a week please sign up.
If you have ideas about how we can improve our auction or ideas that you have seen work at other fundraisers we are all ears. Please don’t hesitate to send your input to us. Contact Stacy at 227-1385 or sroberson33@hotmail.
Save February 12th for a fun evening with us!
Donation should be brought to the Polaris Office and placed in the Red Buckets labeled Donation Items. Please fill out a donation form, which are on the table next to the buckets, so that we can get the information in the Auction Catalog. This is a three part form meant for you to take the pink copy for your tax records. We will need all donations in by Feb 8th to make it into the catalog.
By Stacy, on January 20th, 2010
Press release by ASD on January 11, 2010
Polaris K-12 School included in report of America’s Best High Schools
Polaris K-12 School was included in the U.S. News and World Report ranking of America’s Best High Schools and was awarded the Bronze Medal. More information on Polaris’ recognition is available at www.usnews.com/listings/high-schools/alaska/polaris_k-12_school.
The following information was published by U.S. News and World Report. http://www.usnews.com/sections/education/high-schools/index.html
U.S. News ranks America’s Best High Schools for third consecutive year
By Kenneth Terrell
Posted December 9, 2009
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., the top school in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best High Schools rankings, is designed to challenge students. A course load of offerings that include DNA science, neurobiology, and quantum physics would seem to be more than enough to meet that goal. But students and the faculty felt those classes weren’t enough, so they decided to tackle another big question: What are the social responsibilities of educated people? Over the course of the school year, students are exploring social responsibility through projects of their own design, ranging from getting school supplies for students with cerebral palsy in Shanghai to persuading their classmates to use handkerchiefs to reduce paper waste. The One Question project demonstrates the way “TJ,” as it’s referred to by students and teachers, encourages the wide-ranging interests of its students.
Kristina Brant makes bio-diesel from algae in Chemical Analysis research class at Thomas Jefferson High School.
“None of our students has the same passion,” says TJ Principal Evan Glazer. “But having a passion is widely accepted and embraced.”
This enthusiasm has placed TJ at the top of the America’s Best High Schools ranking for each of the three years that U.S. News has ranked high schools. U.S. News uses a three-step process that analyzes first how schools are educating all of their students, then their minority and disadvantaged students, and finally their collegebound students based on student scores on statewide tests, Advanced Placement tests, and International Baccalaureate tests.
Of the 21,786 public high schools examined by U.S. News and its partner in the project, School Evaluation Services, 1,750 were recognized for considerably outperforming their state’s standards. In that group, there were 561 schools that also were found to be doing an excellent job of preparing students for college-level coursework. California leads the nation this year with 110 high schools that earned recognition, followed by New York (53 schools), Texas (50 schools), Illinois (37 schools), Florida (24 schools), and Massachusetts (21 schools). Nebraska and Oklahoma did not have sufficient information for their high schools to participate fully in the analysis, which involves a three-step process that examines how well a school serves its entire student body (average students, disadvantaged students, and collegebound students).
One major challenge all of the nation’s best public high schools are facing is how to continue to challenge students despite budget pressures. Although the federal stimulus money has helped many school districts retain teachers who otherwise would have been laid off, many schools are finding it difficult to renovate—or even maintain—their older buildings. At Martin Luther King Academic Magnet High School in Nashville, No. 30 on the list, students and faculty have found ways to achieve in a 1930s-era building in which the roof leaks, kids eat lunch in the hallways because the cafeteria is too small, and rats sometimes raid the vending machines. “All of Nashville should be concerned that we are educating the best and brightest in a broken-down building,” says Shunn Turner, principal of MLK high school.
That hasn’t stopped the students from learning or getting into Ivy League schools such as Harvard. “With all the amazing teachers, students, counselors, and staff, there was no need to focus on why the lockers didn’t open half the time or why the soccer team changed outside,” says Jake Rudin, an ‘09 MLK graduate who currently is a freshman at Cornell University.
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By Stacy, on January 9th, 2010
The Anchorage School District will be holding its yearly K-12 Alternative Fair on:
- Saturday, January 23, 2010, from 9 AM to 3 PM
- Location: ASD Boniface Education Center
- Why: For families from across the district that attend this event to learn more about the optional school programs available for their children. This is a great opportunity to showcase our school.
If you are able to help out, please contact Carol Bartholomew (bartholomew_carol@asdk12.org or Room 234).
By Michelle Johansen, on January 8th, 2010
2010 Climate and Connectedness Student Survey – Grades 3 – 12 only
The 2010 Climate and Connectedness Student Survey is being administered to provide schools with information about
perceptions and experiences related to school climate and student connectedness for use in setting school goals and redirecting resources. This is an annual survey implemented and analyzed jointly by the ASD departments of Safe and Drug Free Schools and Assessment and Evaluation. The survey will take place between January 19 and February 10 of 2010.
This survey does not require parental permission and will be administered to all students in grades 3 – 12. This message serves as a notice to parents about this upcoming survey.
Please follow or type this link to review the survey: http://www.asdk12.org/depts/assess_eval/climatesurvey.asp
By Stacy, on December 18th, 2009
Please click the link to download a PDF of our auction solicitation letter.
Parent Forum auction letter 2010
By Stacy, on December 18th, 2009
Please click on the link to download the newsletter.
Polaris Newsletter DEC
By Cathy Wright, on December 16th, 2009
Just letting you know there was an error in the Polaris Events Calendar on the Website for Winter Vacation. The Winter Break starts Friday, Dec. 18 with an In-Service Day, then continues through January 3. First day back at school is Jan. 4, 2010.
Have Happy Holidays and a Fabulous New Year!
-Cathy Wright
By imke, on December 14th, 2009
We have the Spanish registration going on through December 17th. Please email imke@alaska.com for the forms that are needed to have your child enroll in this wonderful program. We will have once again have two different age groups. K-2 and 3-5. You may choose if you would like Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays. Registration fee is $120 and scholarships are available. The Spanish classes will start on January 18 and run for 8 weeks, twice a week.
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