Getting to be PSAT Time **REVISED**

The PSAT will be given at Alamogordo High School on Saturday, October 17th AND at Cloudcroft on Wednesday, October 14th.

This test is for Juniors and is used to practice for the SAT, determine National Merit Scholarship eligibility, and get your student's scores in front of various universities.

www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/about.html

In Cloudcroft, both Sophomores and Juniors can take the test. There will be no charge for Sophomores, and a $13 charge for Juniors. There is a sign-up sheet in the Cloudcroft High School office, with space limited to 10 students per grade level. If Cloudcroft's spaces fill up, students can sign up at the Alamogordo High School Bookstore where the fee is $15.

Congratulations to D'dre Brock

Pressing out of town business forced me to miss the last school board meeting where D'dre Brock was elected to fill the position vacated by Terry Winkles. Congratulations to D'dre!

CMS to Implement Random Drug Testing for Students in Extracurricular Activities

It was an interesting athletics meeting this evening. Parents of students in all sports, plus other activities considered extracurricular, such as Band and Science Olympiad, are being asked to sign a permission slip so their student could be radomly drug tested. It sounds like if this form isn't signed, the student won't be allowed to participate.

There were a lot of questions from the parents in attendance. My sense was that this blindsided most of them, even though the school board had apparently addressed the issue back in October 2008. This seems like another example of poor communication between parents and administrators, and yet another reason to get this blog up and running.

Some of the points that I could hear that sounded interesting included one asking whether or not coaches, teachers or administrators would also be randomly drug tested. (The answer was "no.") Other comments were along the lines of why not randomly test from the entire student population, not just kids involved in extracurricular activities. (I didn't really hear an answer to that question.) It was also pointed out that in such a small community people had a pretty good idea of who was doing what, yet those kids were not tested unless a teacher actually saw them doing drugs. My brief Google search found this site: http://www.drugabuse.gov/drugpages/testingfaqs.html which says that if a student "exhibits physical symptoms of being under the influence, and has patterns of abnormal or erratic behavior" testing could be implemented. So my question would be is the school actually applying a more limited interpretation of drug testing than they have to?

Community Members Donate Money to School

At the school board meeting of June 8, 2009, the board accepted the following donations from community members:

Madison Everett donated $1,000 to the High School. According to Mr. Hancock, this money will be put into direct instruction to be used for the benefit of students.

Martin & Diane Stewart donated $350 to be spent on German books for the High School's German language class.

School Board Agenda Publication

I asked the school board and Superintendent Hancock at the June 8, 2009 school board meeting to start posting the school board agenda on the outside window so it could be visible to the public outside of normal administration business hours. Superintendent Hancock and Administrative Secretary Teresa Housler agreed to this. Mr. Hancock also said that the agenda would start being posted on the school's web page www.cmsbears.org at the beginning of the next school year.

According to the Open Meetings Compliance Guide published by the New Mexico Attorney General http://www.nmag.gov/pdf/AGO%20OMA%20Guide.pdf
"Meeting notices shall include an agenda containing a list of specific items of business to be discussed or transacted at the meeting or information on how the public may obtain a copy of such an agenda. Except in the case of an emergency, the agenda shall be available to the public at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the meeting. Except for emergency matters, a public body shall take action only on items appearing on the agenda. For purposes of this Subsection, an “emergency” refers to unforeseen circumstances that, if not addressed immediately by the public body, will likely result in injury or damage to persons or property or substantial financial
loss to the public body."

School Board Member Resigns

School board member Terry Winkles has resigned effective July 1, 2009. All school board members expressed their thanks for his service at the meeting held June 8, 2009.

Also discussed was the method which would be used to select his replacement. The board discussed having applicants submit a letter of intent by mid-July. The board will also develop a list of 10 questions that each applicant would be asked at the meeting scheduled for August 10, 2009. After each candidate presents a 2-3 minute introduction, and answers the same 10 questions, the board will decide in an open meeting who will replace Mr. Winkles.

Dual Credit and the IEP

The last I heard, the Dual Credit program would continue to be limited to 100-level classes. However, if a student has an IEP, that student would not be limited as to what classes would be available for dual credit.

If you are not familiar with an IEP (Individualized Education Program), it is part of the Special Education program. In New Mexico, that program includes kids from both ends of the intellectual spectrum. 

Another thing an IEP offers is CLOUT. If it is in that IEP, then the school better be paying attention to it.

So now the bottom line seems to be that kids with IEPs have no restrictions, while the other 80% of the students will continue to be limited to whatever 100-level courses are on the list approved by Cloudcroft.

How does this set with the parents of students that don't have IEPs?

Dual Credit

My first experience with Dual Credit came when my daughter wanted to take a class at NMSUA this summer. What I came to learn about the Dual Credit program was:

• The dual credit program would allow a student to take a college class and receive both college credit and credit for 1 elective at the High School level
• The University waives the tuition costs, CMS picks up the tab for books and "supplies", and the parents/students are responsible for transportation and course-specific fees.
  
• CMS has a list of courses that it will approve for dual credit. This list contains only some of the 100-level courses that are offered by the University (while Alamogordo HS has no limitations as to what courses it will approve).
• There are no written criteria for how a course is deemed to be acceptable for the Cloudcroft list
  
• Cloudcroft defines entry-level courses as 100-level, while the University has several entry level courses that are 200-level
• The legislature has funded the program, but the bill that would outline how those funds are to be dispersed did not pass the state senate. The funds still have not been dispursed to the schools
• Future funding will be based upon the number of students who participated in the program the prior year
• Probably fewer than 10 Cloudcroft students took advantage of the dual credit program this past school year
  

Why Is This Blog Here?

There are A LOT of teachers, administrators, board members, et al, who truly seem to care about the educational opportunities available to Cloudcroft students.

The goal of this blog is to support those who are dedicated to bringing our childrent the best possible education by reinforcing the fact that we, as parents and the community, are watching...and talking...and participating...and WE CARE.