Bailey McVay, a 5th grader at Mountain Elementary School, is pictured with her parents, Troy and Tina McVay, and Mountain Principal Jennifer Kieltyka, left, at the School Board work session. Bailey recently had her head shaved to raise awareness of childhood cancer and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. She was recognized by the School Board for being an inspiration to her classmates and the community. Courtesy/LAPS
LAPS News:
The Los Alamos Public School’s Board met for a work session Thursday, March 21 in the library at Chamisa Elementary School in White Rock.
This was the first work session presided over by new Board President Ellen Ben-Naim.
The evening began with the board recognizing the Los Alamos High School ProStart program. Students Haley Adams-Brown, Tiana Lopez, Alexandra Pittman and Weston Soenke, along with their teacher Rebecca Jones, recently participated in the New Mexico ProStart Invitational in Albuquerque where they received excellent reviews and placed in the top ten. This is the first time the group has competed at this level.
The board also recognized Bailey McVay, a 5th grader at Mountain Elementary, who recently “went under the razor again” to raise awareness about childhood cancer and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. The board acknowledged that she is an “inspiration to [her] classmates and to all of us.”
Chamisa principal Suzanne Lynne provided an update to the board on student test scores and the implementation of several new programs at the school, including Number Sense, Number Talks and Imagine Math. The board members were also treated to a tour of the Chamisa Makerspace by Beverly Nelson, the Chamisa librarian.
Representative Christine Chandler provided a legislative update, noting that the recent 60-day session moved at “an accelerated pace” the entire time. Chandler touched on several bills which she was directly involved on as part of the tax and revenue and judiciary committees. What she found the most encouraging in regards to education was “seeing people come together” and the awareness of the need for change.
The board approved the Public Schools Cost of Construction (PSCOC) School Security Projects Funding Application for 2019-2020 in the amount of $944,292. The application requests funding for improved security systems, including security cameras, handheld radios and perimeter fencing, at the school sites. Both the state and the district would fund the projects. Each school site provided input on what systems would be the most beneficial, according to Jennifer Guy, Assistant Superintendent for Learning and Accountability, and Susan Fellows, District Safety Coordinator. “We are establishing standards in the district,” noted Guy.
The board also approved the questions for this year’s climate survey. Erin Middleton revised the survey, which has been used by the district for the past several years. She noted that some questions from previous years have been removed, but that she worked to keep a “balance between upgrading the survey and keeping some questions for trend data.” The survey will be distributed to LAPS staff in April.
Kathryn Vandenkieboom, Learning Systems Director, briefed board members on Simple K12, a professional development accountability and acknowledgement system, for use by district staff. Staff will be able to participate in live webinars, access on-demand recordings and virtual field trips, join discussion groups, and utilize online resources, including lesson plans and training.
The next regular school board meeting is April 16 at the Los Alamos Administration Board Room.
There will not be a school board work session in April.
Community budget meetings are scheduled for April 9 in the LAHS Speech Theater and April 23 at the White Rock Public Library. Both meetings begin at 5:30 p.m. and are open to the public.
