Sunday, July 25, 2010
Weber Registration
Weber's registration process will look a bit different this year, due to the huge expense of mailing the registration materials. Instead of mailing all paperwork to you, we will have a packet ready on your child's desk at Ice Cream Social. You can fill out the very important paperwork at home and then send to school with your child on the first or second day of school. You should be recieving a welcome back letter with important dates and information in a few days. Less than a month and we will be back together to continue learning! :) I am excited for a new year! Hope you are too!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Congratulations Mr. Walthart!
Our assistant principal, Mr. Brian Walthart, recently got news that he will be the new principal at Washington Elementary in Muscatine, Iowa. Although we will miss his work at Weber, we are thrilled for this exciting opportunity for him. Congratulations!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Everyday Mathematics Journals
Your child's math journal from this year will be coming home with them. The journal serves as a source for learning concepts from the daily lessons, as well as for practicing previously taught skills. There are various ways that we used the journals in class. Often students worked together with their peers while a teacher walked around the classroom to help. Sometimes we completed problems as a class and other times students worked independently so that we could check their progress. Therefore some pages are not completed or corrected.
You may use these journals for reviewing skills over the summer. If a page seems confusing or too difficult, skip it and choose one your student understands. The pages with Math Boxes are the best ones for students if they are looking for some extra practice. You could even make up new problems on a separate sheet of paper based on the ones in the journal.
Your child's math journal from this year will be coming home with them. The journal serves as a source for learning concepts from the daily lessons, as well as for practicing previously taught skills. There are various ways that we used the journals in class. Often students worked together with their peers while a teacher walked around the classroom to help. Sometimes we completed problems as a class and other times students worked independently so that we could check their progress. Therefore some pages are not completed or corrected.
You may use these journals for reviewing skills over the summer. If a page seems confusing or too difficult, skip it and choose one your student understands. The pages with Math Boxes are the best ones for students if they are looking for some extra practice. You could even make up new problems on a separate sheet of paper based on the ones in the journal.
You may use these journals for reviewing skills over the summer. If a page seems confusing or too difficult, skip it and choose one your student understands. The pages with Math Boxes are the best ones for students if they are looking for some extra practice. You could even make up new problems on a separate sheet of paper based on the ones in the journal.
Your child's math journal from this year will be coming home with them. The journal serves as a source for learning concepts from the daily lessons, as well as for practicing previously taught skills. There are various ways that we used the journals in class. Often students worked together with their peers while a teacher walked around the classroom to help. Sometimes we completed problems as a class and other times students worked independently so that we could check their progress. Therefore some pages are not completed or corrected.
You may use these journals for reviewing skills over the summer. If a page seems confusing or too difficult, skip it and choose one your student understands. The pages with Math Boxes are the best ones for students if they are looking for some extra practice. You could even make up new problems on a separate sheet of paper based on the ones in the journal.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
More Redistricting Info
Below you will find a web link to our redistricting plan for the ICCSD over the next few years. The board of directors approved steps one and two. The remaining steps will be discussed at their upcoming meeting(s).
RSP & Associates, our consulting firm, is putting together maps that will visually show the details of these decisions. When they are completed, they will be posted on our website. We will send an update letting you know when this is done.
http://www.iccsd.k12.ia.us/district/redistrict/0525/BoardApproveMay25.pdf
RSP & Associates, our consulting firm, is putting together maps that will visually show the details of these decisions. When they are completed, they will be posted on our website. We will send an update letting you know when this is done.
http://www.iccsd.k12.ia.us/district/redistrict/0525/BoardApproveMay25.pdf
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Update about Redistricting
This is a Thursday, May 13, 2010, redistricting update from Ann Feldmann.
Some have asked, “What is the new information that relates to redistricting?” The information to which board members referred in their May 11 meeting is twofold:
· some corrections on maps on pages 60, 66, and 68 (find these updated maps for the final Enrollment and Redistricting report on the district website at: http://www.iccsd.k12.ia.us/district/redistrict/index.html )
· a clarification of how Free and Reduced Lunch rates were calculated throughout the redistricting process. The clarification around FRL is as follows.
Q: The total FRL rates are different in each high school scenario. Since they represent the same students only distributed differently what accounts for the total percentages of 18.5% and 24.7% in 4D, 22.9% and 24.7% in 4E and 22.2% and 24.7% in 4F?
A: They are different because they are based on different years as noted on the maps. The two HS scenario is done by 2012/13, while the 3 HS is 2014/15. Also, the 3rd secondary bldg is a 9th grade center.
Q: So how DID the consultants at RSP calculate the FRL numbers in their map legends?
A: The number of 2009/10 students with FRL based on address is joined to a planning area. When there is a change in which facility the planning area attends in a future year, the FRL can be compared between 2009/10 and that future date. The reason projections from RSP show a lower overall FRL percentage five years into the future is: in these projections, there isn’t an attempt to project a number of students on FRL….so the number remains constant into the future. The FRL numbers remain the same, only distributed differently according to proposed boundary changes. RSP simply looked at where a FRL student resides in 09/10 and assumes if the boundary changes at some point in the future how that would impact enrollment at each facility with respect to that student being moved to that new attendance area in that given projected enrollment year. RSP makes no assumption on changing FRL – this is a tool to understand where FRL students reside in relation to the attendance area.
Q: The current numbers for FRL do not match our official district numbers. Why might that be?
A: The FRL percentages change on a daily basis (especially in October as families that qualified the previous year are allowed to remain on free and reduced lunch through October.) The district’s official enrollment report (see the district website: http://www.iowa-city.k12.ia.us/district/district_reports/2009-10Enrollment_Report.pdf ) uses the federal reporting date of October 31 for our official FRL percentage. The official rate for 2009-10 at West is 20.06% and at City is 27.50%.
Our consultants at RSP pulled enrollment and free and reduced data on October 19, so it may be assumed that City had a high number of students from the previous school year who qualified and remained on the list until the official reporting date of October 31.
Q: Why doesn’t the district administration make a prediction for FRL?
A: Other than to make a general overall prediction, there isn’t reliable way to accurately project FRL. There are factors that are hard to predict, such as a change in a city rental ordinance or a change in an apartment unit owner’s policy of accepting or discontinuing accepting Section 8 vouchers, for example. Even changes in other large urban centers’ housing policies or availability can noticeable affect our district or school averages. The floods two years ago correlated with a slower than average increase in the FRL rate.
All that being true, we believe it is unlikely that district average FRL rates will decrease over the next five years since historically they have steadily risen.
Bottom Line?
FRL process is only a tool-- not a projection-- to understand where FRL students reside in relation to an attendance area but without adjusting for an enrollment increase.
At their May 11th meeting, the board voted to endorse the vision of a 3rd high school. At the conclusion of the meeting, they went into closed session for the purpose of discussing “bargaining/land acquisition.” Did they buy land for a 3rd high school?
No, there was no decision or discussion regarding the purchase of a third high school site. However, as is prudent, the administration has taken and continues to take steps to prepare for the building of a third high school, including discussions regarding land acquisition.
Some have asked, “What is the new information that relates to redistricting?” The information to which board members referred in their May 11 meeting is twofold:
· some corrections on maps on pages 60, 66, and 68 (find these updated maps for the final Enrollment and Redistricting report on the district website at: http://www.iccsd.k12.ia.us/district/redistrict/index.html )
· a clarification of how Free and Reduced Lunch rates were calculated throughout the redistricting process. The clarification around FRL is as follows.
Q: The total FRL rates are different in each high school scenario. Since they represent the same students only distributed differently what accounts for the total percentages of 18.5% and 24.7% in 4D, 22.9% and 24.7% in 4E and 22.2% and 24.7% in 4F?
A: They are different because they are based on different years as noted on the maps. The two HS scenario is done by 2012/13, while the 3 HS is 2014/15. Also, the 3rd secondary bldg is a 9th grade center.
Q: So how DID the consultants at RSP calculate the FRL numbers in their map legends?
A: The number of 2009/10 students with FRL based on address is joined to a planning area. When there is a change in which facility the planning area attends in a future year, the FRL can be compared between 2009/10 and that future date. The reason projections from RSP show a lower overall FRL percentage five years into the future is: in these projections, there isn’t an attempt to project a number of students on FRL….so the number remains constant into the future. The FRL numbers remain the same, only distributed differently according to proposed boundary changes. RSP simply looked at where a FRL student resides in 09/10 and assumes if the boundary changes at some point in the future how that would impact enrollment at each facility with respect to that student being moved to that new attendance area in that given projected enrollment year. RSP makes no assumption on changing FRL – this is a tool to understand where FRL students reside in relation to the attendance area.
Q: The current numbers for FRL do not match our official district numbers. Why might that be?
A: The FRL percentages change on a daily basis (especially in October as families that qualified the previous year are allowed to remain on free and reduced lunch through October.) The district’s official enrollment report (see the district website: http://www.iowa-city.k12.ia.us/district/district_reports/2009-10Enrollment_Report.pdf ) uses the federal reporting date of October 31 for our official FRL percentage. The official rate for 2009-10 at West is 20.06% and at City is 27.50%.
Our consultants at RSP pulled enrollment and free and reduced data on October 19, so it may be assumed that City had a high number of students from the previous school year who qualified and remained on the list until the official reporting date of October 31.
Q: Why doesn’t the district administration make a prediction for FRL?
A: Other than to make a general overall prediction, there isn’t reliable way to accurately project FRL. There are factors that are hard to predict, such as a change in a city rental ordinance or a change in an apartment unit owner’s policy of accepting or discontinuing accepting Section 8 vouchers, for example. Even changes in other large urban centers’ housing policies or availability can noticeable affect our district or school averages. The floods two years ago correlated with a slower than average increase in the FRL rate.
All that being true, we believe it is unlikely that district average FRL rates will decrease over the next five years since historically they have steadily risen.
Bottom Line?
FRL process is only a tool-- not a projection-- to understand where FRL students reside in relation to an attendance area but without adjusting for an enrollment increase.
At their May 11th meeting, the board voted to endorse the vision of a 3rd high school. At the conclusion of the meeting, they went into closed session for the purpose of discussing “bargaining/land acquisition.” Did they buy land for a 3rd high school?
No, there was no decision or discussion regarding the purchase of a third high school site. However, as is prudent, the administration has taken and continues to take steps to prepare for the building of a third high school, including discussions regarding land acquisition.
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