Culture Awareness Day

Ken McClure

 by Superintendent Robert "Bob" Lewandowski 
 
Every year the district plays host to Culture Awareness Day. Students are able to attend a variety of culture sessions to expand their understanding of the world beyond the school itself. It is a great opportunity for our students to learn more about others and themselves. The day always ends in a "Spring Pow wow" held in the gymnasium. This year the district honored Ken McClure. 

For those of you that aren't familiar with a "pow wow" (according to Wikipedia): A pow-wow (also powwow or pow wow) is a gathering of North America's Native people.  A modern pow-wow is a specific type of event where both Native American/First Nations and non-Native American/First Nations people meet to dance, sing, socialize, and honor Native American/First Nations culture. There is generally a dancing competition, often with significant prize money awarded. Pow-wows vary in length from one day session of five to six hours to three days. Major pow-wow or pow-wows called for a special occasion can be up to one week long.

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS

2013-2014 SELECTED CALENDAR

 by Superintendent Robert "Bob" Lewandowski 

 On April 21, 2013 at its regular meeting, the St. Ignatius School Board #28 selected OPTION #2 as the 2013-2014 CALENDAR.

Special thanks to the Calendar Committee for developing, surveying and providing valuable input and options for this selection process. The Calendar Committee  recommended the following calendar prioritization based upon their interpretation of the survey results: Calendar #3, #2, #1 and #4. The Board selected Calendar #2 as the most viable option noting there were more "dislikes" and "strongly dislikes" on Calendar #3 that #2.  If you would like to see the results go to: 2013-2014 Calendar Survey.

I would like to thank everyone for their input and time spent reviewing and filling out the Calendar Survey.

St. Ignatius School District #28

2013 -2014  School Calendar

 

DESCRIPTION:

170 Student Days; 183 Staff Days; Day Start 8:15 AM; Day End 3:30 PM; Calendar Start Day Aug 28; Calendar End Day June 6; Graduation June 7; 10 PIR Days; 9 School Improvement Half Days; 18 Partial Days; 3 Duty Free Day after each Quarter. 

DEFINITIONS:

Partial Days: These days are scheduled on Fridays and dismissal is at 2:15 PM.

School Improvement Half Days: On these days students will attend school until 12:30 PM. Staff will remain in school and continue with their professional responsibilities meeting with parents, school improvement teams, data collection and planning and preparation. These days will focus on school improvement through communication and collaboration efforts.

Duty Free Day: There is no school on these days for either staff or students; however, the time provides the opportunity for the professional staff to complete required documentation and paperwork at the end of each quarter.

Student Days: Days students will be in attendance at school.

Staff Days: Days scheduled for the professional staff.

PIR Days: Pupil Instruction Related professional development/training days. No school is scheduled for students.

Optional PIR Days: Days scheduled for the professional staff that may be substituted for State Professional Development on October 18-19. 

2013-2014 School Calendar Survey

The St. Ignatius School District #28 Calendar Committee would like to invite all of its stakeholders/constituents to to provide feedback on four different calendars developed by the Committee. We ask that you identify your relationship to School District #28 and then rate the calendars as described in the survey collector.

NOTE: We are utilizing several collectors to categorize responses: Social Media (Facebook); Website (stignatiusschools.org); and Email. The most reliable is Email, followed by Website (one response per IP address) and then the Social Media (open forum response). If you would like to participate in other forums, to maximize your voice, please email the district at info@stignatiusschools.org. 

THIS SURVEY WILL CLOSE AT MIDNIGHT APRIL 15, 2013.

To take the Survey click on the collector below.

WEBSITE Collector 2013-2014 CALENDAR SURVEY 

FACEBOOK Collector 2013-2014 CALENDAR SURVEY

COMMUNITY SHOWCASE

The district would like to invite you to the St. Ignatius School Community Showcase on April 25, 2013 from 4:30 PM until 7:30 PM.  We are serving a FREE Spaghetti Dinner from 5:00 PM until 6:30 PM in the Mulch-purpose Room (Cafeteria).

There is a talent show, gift give-aways, book drawings and much, much more.

See you there!

CALENDAR DEVELOPMENT MEETING

MEETING REMINDER

There is a Calendar Development Meeting scheduled on March 20, 2013 at 5:30 PM in the District Board Room. All stakeholders are invited.

STRATEGIC PLANNING: Mega Issues Reviewed

Mega issues are issues of strategic importance, which represent choices the school district will need to make in defining the ultimate direction of its long-range plan. These issues represent potential impediments to achievement of the Envisioned Future, and form a basis for dialogue about the choices facing the school district. These questions can serve as an ongoing "menu" of strategic issues that, using a knowledge-based approach in gathering insights relative to St. Ignatius Public Schools’ strategic position and directional choices for each of the issues, can be used by the Board to create regular opportunities for strategic dialogue about the future issues facing the school district.

Note: The mega-issue questions are not necessarily arranged in priority order. 

v Mega-Issue Questions for consideration by the District:

• How can we effectively engage the support of the community to enhance parental support of the educational system and subsequently improve student outcomes?

• How can we broaden the awareness to all employees of the District the importance of delivering a consistent, high quality education to the students regardless of background or capabilities?

• What can we do to encourage and support at-risk students to become fully engaged in (completing) their educational program?

• How do we instill the value of education?

• What can we do to decrease the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATODs)?

• As a district, what do we need to do to stay in front of the continued advancements in technology and science as it pertains to the culture of our students?

• How do we adjust with the possible sequestering of federal funding?

• MEGA ISSUES: Reviewed and updated on February 26, 2013.

Knowledge-Based Decision Making Questions

The Board should prioritize the above-referenced mega issues and decide which of these issues require immediate attention on the part of the Board.  Once the identified mega-issues are prioritized, the Board will set aside time at scheduled meetings to analyze a particular mega issue. At such meetings, the Board's primary focus will be on the mega-issue at hand.  All other business (routine or otherwise) will be conducted at the end of the meeting once the dialogue and deliberation on the mega-issue has been concluded for that meeting.  When analyzing mega issues, the Board will utilize a knowledge-based decision making process.  This will keep the focus of the Board on relevant factors to consider as it develops strategies to overcome particular impediments/barriers that may impact the Board's strategic direction.  The Board will analyze mega-issues by answering the following questions:

1.              What do we know about the wants, needs and preferences of our constituents that are relevant to this decision?

2.              What do we know about the current realities and evolving dynamics facing our constituents/community that is relevant to this decision?

3.              What do we know about the capacity/strategic position of our school district that is relevant to this decision?

4.              What are the ethical implications of our choices? 

Mont CAS MISSION POSSIBLE

MISSION: ARE YOU READY?

March Madness is more than just college basketball. Many public schools are getting ready to take state assessments. These assessments are critical in determining adequate progress by students, schools and states. TODAY, our students begin the 2013 journey with the MontCAS. We would like to invite everyone to support them so they can do their very best.

The video is a Dr Seuss parody with a twist on TESTING. It is intended to inform our constituents and students about the test while encouraging and challenging our students to do their very best!