November 2, 2009
RFSD Community Update
RFSD Community UPDATE
From Judy Haptonstall
November 2nd, 2009
Parent Portal
The parent portal gives you instant access to the teacher’s grade book, absences and tardies, immunization records, transcripts for high school students, and many other important pieces of information. If you didn’t get a chance to sign up during parent teacher conferences, call the school to get help at any time!
Curriculum Maps by Quarter
In the areas of reading and math, you can access which Essential Learner Outcomes (ELO’s) are being taught each quarter by logging on to our district’s curriculum site at http//wiki.rfsd.k12.co.us. Once you log in, click on Essential Learner Outcomes which will take you to a page that allows you to select the curriculum map by grade level. Once you access the curriculum map, which tells you what students will be learning each quarter, you can click on the blue links for more information regarding what each ELO means in terms of what students need to know and be able to do, including specific vocabulary words that students are learning each quarter.
Parent Promise
Following the Board’s first community forum intended to roll out more details regarding the Parent Promise that you received in October, some schools have asked for copies of the power point to use with their parent groups in schools. The power point provides great examples of what you and your children can expect to see in our classrooms across the district that exemplify our commitment to individualized approaches to learning, student involvement in the learning process, and the use of highly effective learning strategies with all students.
Roaring Fork School District Goals 2009-2010
· Increase Learning for All Students and Close the Achievement Gap
· Implement Results Teams with Fidelity
· Implement Monitoring and Accountability Measures
This week’s Standin’ By recognition is for Suzanne Wheeler-Del Piccolo, principal at Basalt Elementary and Karen Olson, principal at Crystal River Elementary for taking the Parent Promise power point to parent groups in their buildings to help parents understand what they can expect from teachers in our district in terms of standards based practices. Complete with video clips from across the district, parents get to view first hand students using rubrics, setting goals with their teachers, and charting their own progress on learning. If we want parents to be partners in the learning process, it’s critical that they understand how we do business and know what to expect for their children in our classrooms.
Housing Update:
The next Planning and Zoning meeting will be held at the Carbondale Town Hall in November. This should be the final hearing with Planning and Zoning and the project will then move on to the Town Trustees.
Local news stories regarding budget cuts help us all understand the bigger picture of the economic crisis Colorado is experiencing. The different budget cutting measures reported here from Basalt last week and Carbondale this week are not meant to be predictive of how our school district will deal with our own budget cuts but are meant to serve as good background information for making our own decisions about dealing with severely decreased revenues from the state.
Decreasing Revenues Impact Local Communities
Town of Carbondale
· Four full time and one part time employee laid off
· Five furlough days are planned for next year for every employee
· Matches for one of the town’s two retirements benefits will be eliminated in 2010
· Between the furlough days and the reduced benefits, town employees will be seeing a 4% reduction in benefits and pay
· The town manager is taking a 15% pay cut
· A quote from City Manager, Tom Baker. “Many staff members said they would be willing to sacrifice in order to minimize layoffs. Some town employees came forward with proposals to work less, understanding it would be better than not working at all.”
Calendar:
November 2nd – Salary meeting at CMS at 3:30
November 4th – Leadership Team Meeting from 8:00-12:00 at the district office
November 4th – Salary meeting at RFHS at 3:30
November 5th – Salary meeting at BHS at 3:30
November 6th – Superintendents’ Advisory Council at 7:30 a.m. at RFHS
Upcoming Events:
November 9th – Salary meeting at BES at 3:20
November 11th, 12th, and 13th – Howard Pitler from McRel in the district to do walkthroughs with administrators in each building
November 11th – Salary meeting at SES at 3:15
November 12th - Salary meeting at BMS
November 18th – Initial Interest Based Bargaining (Negotiations) meeting at the district office at 4:00 to determine timeline for IBB process for the year.
November 20th – Western Slope secondary administrators meeting from 9:00-12:00 at the district office
If you have questions or comments, please contact Info@rfsd.orgor email me directly at jhaptonstall@rfsd.k12.co.us or by calling 384-6001.