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News and Views -- January 28, 2009   Mounds Viewing Web visitors can now regularly view a variety of videos including live webstreamed School Board meetings, archived meetings, school events and more. This month, visitors also can learn more about how Irondale and Mounds View help welcome eighth-graders by watching an Easing Transitions video. To watch all videos, please visit www.moundsviewschools.org/news.asp. Have an idea for a great video we can share? Send your idea or video link to pr@moundsviewschools.org. Calendar approved The School Board recently approved the 2009-2010 school year calendar. However, potential Legislative action could bring a new calendar to Mounds View Public Schools. Current law prohibits school districts from starting the school year before Labor Day. With this in mind, the Board approved a calendar with a school start date of September 8, 2009, and ending June 11, 2010. View the calendar at www.moundsviewschools.org/pdf07/Calendar200910option1.pdf. However, there are indications that the Legislature may change the law and allow schools to start before Labor Day. If the law is changed before May 1, 2009, the Board has adopted another calendar featuring an August 31, 2009, start date, with school ending on June 4, 2010. To view that calendar, visit www.moundsviewschools.org/pdf07/Calendar200910option2.pdf. Subscribers to this e-news service will receive notification of any such changes as they occur.  Spanish addedIn response to years of persistent and wide-spread community interest, the School Board approved the addition of a World Language program for the elementary and middle schools. At the January 27 School Board meeting, the Board endorsed an administration recommendation to implement Spanish for grades 4-8 starting in 2009-2010. The decision comes after the District engaged in months of feasibility studies, curriculum reviews and public engagement. A month earlier, the Board approved adding Chinese language instruction as an elective course beginning in 2009-2010 at Irondale and Mounds View High Schools. Introducing a World Language program will: * Require all students in grades 4-8 to take one consistent language: Spanish. * Incorporate classes into unit studies time in elementary schools and into Allied Arts offerings in middle schools. * Be cost neutral because classes would be taught by classroom teachers who are also licensed to teach Spanish. * Move students to progressively higher levels of skill. * Force the reduction of Allied Arts options and the elimination of the Family and Consumer Science program in all middle schools. Kindergarten Roundup Every elementary school in the District will host a Kindergarten Roundup and New Student Enrollment Information Night on the evening of February 12, 2009. The events are for next year's kindergartner families as well as families with non-public school students in kindergarten through fourth grade. Visitors can meet the principal and staff, visit classrooms and explore the curriculum. Those planning to attend should contact each school for start times. To learn more about enrollment at Mounds View, visit www.moundsviewschools.org/enroll.asp. SEEing savings Mounds View Public Schools reduced its energy use by 19 percent and avoided $156,336 in energy costs. That's the report following the first quarter of energy monitoring (July, August, and September 2008) during the District's participation in the Schools for Energy Efficiency® (SEE) program. Savings were measured by comparing energy used in July, August and September 2007 to energy used in July, August and September 2008. To view a site-specific chart of savings, visit www.moundsviewschools.org/news.asp.   Editor's note: If schools were cancelled, how would families hear?Within 30 minutes of a decision to cancel school, the District would share the news by sending a recorded voice mail message and an e-mail message to families and staff through the Mounds View Messaging system. Next, our communication department would post an announcement on this web site home page and on our cable channel 20. Finally, the District would notify local media outlets. It’s very important to note that if you do not see or hear official news of a school closing, then school is considered "on as usual." The assumption should always be that schools are open unless you would hear differently. |
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