Community Newsletter

Wednesday, December 9, 1998

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CLC Progress Report

By Kyle Peck

Dear CLC parents and friends,

Thanks, once again, for your continuing, fantastic level of support. With your help, we continue to make important progress as a school, and individual students are blossoming!

The biggest changes I see involve students who are increasingly comfortable and productive in their roles as independent learners and team players. As I walk through the classrooms I see new levels of student responsibility and teamwork, both of which are very difficult to accomplish and to measure. We’ve also made progress on the Student Information System, after school activities, and more. As you read this newsletter, I hope you join me in thanking the wonderful faculty and staff we have at the CLC, and in congratulating our students on their growth and accomplishments!

Thanks!

Thought for the day…

John Cieply, Parent Volunteer and Developer of the Student Information System

Student Information System "Up and Running" One of our very important goals at the CLC is to provide parents with more and better information about the progress their children are making. We are making progress toward this important goal, but we still have a long way to go. In the survey we sent out with the last newsletter parents were asked for their permission to make their student's data available via the Internet, and were asked to provide a login and password they would use to access the information. Thanks to John Cieply, CLC parent and a data security expert for Ratheon, the confidentiality of the information on student progress is protected in three ways. First, the data stream is encrypted so that anyone who might intercept the data would not be able to make sense of it. Second, it takes a login and password known only to the parents and the CLC system administrators to start the transmission. And finally, when the data arrives, it does not contain the student's name, so even if someone was successful in intercepting and understanding the information, they wouldn't know whose data they had received. Please use this information we offer to to understand the progress your CLC students are making. (If you have forgotten the login and password you sent in, just call the CLC and we'll remind you. In the meantime, you can also use your child's login and password to get the same information.)

The rating system we use tells you how well your child met our expectations FOR YOUR CHILD. (The ratings are not competitive. We are comparing the work your child submitted with the work we believe your child is capable of producing, so a rating of "check" is fine.) The rating system should be interpreted like this: Rating Meaning   "Minus"   (-)   Well below expectations   "Check Minus"   (ˆ-)   Slightly below expectations   "Check"   (ˆ)   Meets expectations   "Check Plus"   (ˆ+)   Exceeds expectations   "Plus"   (+)   Exemplary &emdash;Well above expectations The Math Skills database is also very useful. It tells you which arithmetic skills your child has passed, and which ones have yet to be mastered. You can also use this information to assess which lessons your child might select from the Jostens CD-ROM. We will continue to work on this, and we'd appreciate your feedback and ideas on how we can make this better!

Corey Brickley, CLC Student, in "Mars Chronicles 1." Available at http://clccharter.org/~magazine/novmag/writing/mars/mars1.htm

The CLC Chess Club, led by Angie Volz, was visited by special guest Mark Latash, CLC parent, Professor of Kinesiology, and "semi professional" chess player. Dr. Latash learned to play chess while living in the Soviet Union as a boy. He moved up through the ranks, and became a very capable player, and was an excellent advisor for the club. He advised the students to read books on chess, and to play against people who are better than they are and learn from them. The CLC Chess club meets on Wednesday afternoons from 4:00 &emdash; 5:00, and parents are welcome to participate!

Mark Toci is working with community volunteer Tim Swartz (students may remember Tim as "the feeder watch guy") to identify a schedule on which Tim will offer lessons in Karate as a mental/physical activity that will help CLC students get and stay in shape.

The CLC Charter bids farewell to Zhou Jiang, pictured here on top of Mount Nittany with Christa Peck. Zhou’s family will be moving to Mountain View California during the December holiday break. We’ll miss you, Zhou, and your heartwarming smile. Best wishes to you and your family. Good thing we all know how to use email!

It sounded good at the time. We liked the idea of CLC students maintaining the facility, picking up papers, sweeping, mopping, taking out the trash, and even cleaning the bathrooms. It develops responsibility! It develops respect for property, and an appreciation for and an understanding of the value of low-skill jobs. OK. But perhaps it was a bit naïve to think that we could get quality work from ten and eleven year olds, without investing a lot of time that could instead be spent on academic or creative progress.

As the cleanliness of the facility began to decline, and the frustration began to increase, we decided to "think again" about the value and costs of this position. We came to the conclusion that students should "participate in" the maintenance of the building, but should not carry the load. As a result of this decision, we got bids and awarded a contract to Nittany Professional Cleaning, Inc. to sweep, mop, and clean bathrooms, three times each week. Our students will take out the trash and wash the table tops. We can already see the difference.

In conjunction with this meeting, please consider this invitation from parents Wendy Brown and Vivian Baumer…

Come early (6:00?) to the next meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 22 and enjoy some pot luck, and pleasant conversation!

Also, during the parents’ meeting we will be hosting games for the children in the fireside room and generally making merry. We might even have a little home made entertainment! So if your child likes, or might like parlor games bring them along.

Parents! It would be great if you could bring a salad, side dish, drinks or desert for pot luck. We could also use tableware.

Please call one of us if you can attend and let us know what kind of dish you may be able to bring. That way we can fill in missing items.

This is nothing formal, so come as you are, relax and enjoy!

Call Us! Vivian Baumer at 238-4329 (evenings) or Wendy Brown 231-0185.

An important issue raised by parents at our last meeting was extending the inclusion of art (especially "messy art") in our curriculum. We agree that the arts are important, and that our students should experience many different media as they experiment with art. To help us think about the arts in our curriculum, we called on Wendy Snetsinger, one of the original ten thinkers involved in the design of the CLC. Wendy is a local artist and supporter of the arts, and an active member of the Art Alliance.

Wendy has agreed to work with us for a half day each week, integrating artistic experiences into the projects and activities the teachers develop. One example of this occurred this week, as Wendy worked with Josephine’s class to create decorations and "set the mood" for the Holiday Meal on December 10. We look forward to a fine relationship with warm, wonderful Wendy!

At the last board meeting a parent expressed a concern and a solution. It went something like this. "What if there’s an emergency and we need to contact the school when you are out at the field for P.E. or on a field trip? Might the CLC get a cell phone so that it will always be possible to contact our children in an emergency?" Good point / Good idea / Done.

When we’re on the move and can’t answer the regular phone line (861-7980), our voice mail recording for that number will state the cell phone number, and we’ll take an active cell phone with us. Thanks!

Since many of our students ride the State College Area School District busses, our schedule is tied to theirs. If the State College High School is open, we’re open. If it’s delayed, so are we. Questions? Call Kyle.

As you’ll recall, the CLC follows the State College Area High School schedule, since our students ride their busses. As such, we will be CLOSED on the following days in December and January:

December 24 &emdash; January 1 &emdash; Winter Holidays

January 18^th &emdash; Closed &emdash; Teacher Inservice Day

Beginning when we return from the Holiday Break on January 4^th, the CLC will be ordering student lunches from the State College Area School District Food Service Division. As another outstanding example of the District’s willingness to serve our students, they have allowed our families to benefit from the professional staff they employ, including their experts on nutrition, their food preparation professionals, and the administrators who handle the paperwork that goes along with federal programs offering free and reduced priced meals.

Here’s how it will work…

Parents will order "lunch tickets" directly from the School District through the mail, as described in the enclosed letter from Food Service Director Megan Schaper. The district will send the tickets you buy to the CLC, and we will give them to your child. Each morning the teachers will take a lunch and milk count, will collect tickets, and will call the orders in to the District. The district will deliver the meals to Fairmount Elementary School where they will be stored appropriately until we pick them up just before the classes break for lunch.

Enclosed with this newsletter you’ll find a blue menu for the month of January. We’ll send a menu home each month.

If you’re interested in applying for free or reduced price lunches, please complete the enclosed form and return it to Robert Yarnell at 131 W. Nittany Avenue, State College, PA 16801. If you have questions, you can call him at 231-1077.

Every child of school age who is attending or who should be attending a public or non-public school is entitled to certain health services. The CLC will provide these services by contracting with health care professionals employed by the State College Area School District.

On the afternoon of January 15^th, every 5^th grade student will receive vision and growth screenings, and every 6^th grade student will receive the vision and growth screenings as well as a scoliosis screening.

In addition to these free screenings, each 6^th grade student is to report the results of a physical exam at some time during the school year. These exams are not part of the free screenings, and can be administered by your family physician. If your student is in the 6^th grade, a form to give to your physician has been included with this newsletter. If ten or more families are interested in having the exams done at school, rather than by their family physician, we can arrange for a doctor to come here to do the exams, at a cost of approximately $10 per student.