Community Newsletter

Thursday, January 20, 2000

We are pleased to welcome three new students and their families to our school.

Kyle Butler comes to us from Bellefonte Middle School. Rhiannon Rasmussen-Silverstein joins us after spending the past 4 months in Denmark with her family. And Devan Kochersperger will transfer to CLC from Nittany Valley Charter on Monday, January 24.

Theresa Shay is the new assistant teacher in Glenn’s classroom. Theresa received her undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College and her Master of Education degree from Harvard. She has taught in Boston and Philadelphia. For the past two years she has been working for United World College in India and Venezuela. Theresa brings a wide range of experiences to our school and is obviously very qualified to take on her CLC classroom responsibilities. We are really excited to have her join our team.

Mary Jo Hogan (M.J.) has been hired as our school manager. As we had announced earlier, we had made a decision to find a full time staff person to take over many of the administrative responsibilities at CLC. M.J. received her degree from Penn State in Human Development and Family Studies and has lived in State College for the past 18 years. M.J.’s strong organizational and communication skills will be an asset to our community and we are pleased to have her with us.

 

MJ will be in the school office Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 4:30. Please call ONLY the office during these hours and not the classrooms. If it is an emergency and MJ is out of the office, please call the cell phone number. Office:861-7980 Cell Phone: 360-5060

Brian Rowan has also made a change in his position at CLC. Brian is now the full time assistant teacher in Mark’s room. He has also continued his responsibilities as the after school coordinator, making his days very long!

So, we are now looking for a new coordinator for this program. If you are interested or know of someone who is, please let M.J. or Brian know.

While we’re on the topic of new faces at CLC, we are pleased to announce the addition of Cynthia Potter to our school board. Cynthia has served on the State College School Board for the past twelve years and we are very excited to welcome her to our community. Cynthia is currently a teacher at Friend’s School and the mother of two children: Joshua, a Penn State sophomore, and Emily, a junior at State College High School. Cynthia’s enthusiasm, knowledge, and experience as a mother, teacher and school board member make her great asset to our team.

Last week, each home team elected two students to represent them on the newly formed student school board. The board members are Nate Ryan, Katie Kisenwether, Jesse Fetterman, Aaron Zook, Elizabeth Stitt, Sarah Parker.

The board will meet once a week during lunch to create their agenda. More details to come…

It’s hard to believe, but we are half way through the school year! That means new knowlecule projects. Students will begin this rotation with their home team teacher. This round’s themes are:

Josephine: The Human Body

Mark: The Legislative Process

Glenn: Geography

Please check each teacher’s home page as of Monday, January 24, for more specific information on each project.

*Note: Josephine is planning a special informational meeting to discuss the Human Body Project. This meeting is for parents only and will be on Tuesday, Feb. 1 from 7-8:30.

We are pleased to announce that the students are well on their way to buying an "Ark". Under the leadership of Jessi Lehman and Katie Kisenwether, they have raised $1350 so far, and they’re not done! Their initial success has inspired them to continue their efforts toward the original goal of $5000. We’ll keep you updated on future fundraising efforts. Thanks to all of you who have supported this cause.

The Art Club has begun plans to design and paint murals on the walls of the "big room". YEAH! But first…we need to prime the walls! Here’s where you come in. After school on Thursday, Jan.27, the art club will be putting a base coat on the walls and are asking for parent volunteers to help them. If you are interested, please let M.J. know.

We have purchased new holders for the CLC cards in an attempt to keep them better protected. The policy is that each student must wear their card every day in order to have full privileges. If they forget them, they lose those privileges for that day. If they lose their card, they must pay $1.00 for a replacement.

As you probably have heard by now, the school was broken into last Wednesday afternoon. Fortunately, very little CLC property was actually stolen. The police were involved, but are not hopeful that any of the stolen items will be recovered. We have also taken steps to insure the building is properly secured each evening.