SCHOOL-WIDE LOCKDOWN

Today the district-wide lockdown alarm was activated at 1:32 PM. Students and staff followed the procedure and were locked down for approximately 23 minutes as the local police department and the county law enforcement cleared the building. Once the building was cleared and deemed safe, the lockdown was removed at 1:55 PM.

Our students and staff executed the lockdown with precision. Everyone is safe. The alarm system indicated that the west doors of the elementary were propped open, thus indicating a possible security breach. This system did what it was designed to do. Thank you for your cooperation and patients. Please know that keeping our students and staff safe is our priority.

Special thanks to the St. Ignatius Police Department, the Lake County Sheriffs Office and CSKT Tribal Police for their prompt response.  

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call.

Community Library Hours

In order to secure our facilities for our student and staff safety, the School Board took formal action at the January 15 meeting last night and temporarily changed the Community Library hours. The District Library will be open to the community Monday through Thursday from 4:00 PM until 7:00 PM. The School Board will gather more information for consideration and readdress this issue at the next meeting on February 19, 2013 at 7:00 PM. Public entry will be directed into the Library through the west entry.

Once again, these changes will come at some inconvenience, but are necessary. We want to do everything possible to prevent and prepare for possible emergencies in our community. Restricting unmonitored access to students and staff is the first step.

Thank you for your understanding and patience in these matters,

Bob

 NEW

COMMUNITY LIBRARY HOURS

MONDAY - THURSDAY

4:00 PM -7:00 PM

PLEASE USE WEST ENTRY INTO LIBRARY

MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL HIRED

by Superintendent Robert "Bob" Lewandowski

Due to the number of struggling, at-risk students and the data received through the 2012 Prevention Needs Assessment survey along with the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey the School Board approved hiring a Middle School Principal in the regular 2012 December Board Meeting. The rational is to provide students and teachers with the administrative proximity to follow up with issues of attendance, achievement, behavior and social/emotional attributes that are affecting student outcomes at both middle and high schools.

In a Special Session on December 28, 2012 the Board selected Dan Durglo as the Middle School Principal. The position officially began on Wednesday, January 2, 2013. Mr. Durglo will begin to assimilate duties on Monday, January 13 beginning with the Community Breakfast; however, Mr. Durglo will be acting as both teacher and administrator in order to take the time needed to make an appropriate transition for students and staff alike. It is District's goal to have the transition completed by the end of the quarter/semester on January 18, 2013. This may be a lofty goal, but we will do everything possible to make Mr. Durglo assessable to the middles school students and staff as soon as possible.

Mr. Durglo and Mrs. Stobie will be communicating with elementary parents as well as working with the elementary staff in addressing the 3rd grade needs. Mrs. Stobie has assigned Mr. Tim Krantz (current fourth grade teacher) to Mr. Durglo's 3rd grade classroom. Up until this time, the fourth grade has utilized two teachers to deliver the fourth grade curriculum; however, this year's fourth grade is the smallest class in the district with only 23 students. Ms. Pam Rodeghiero will continue to teach the forth grade with the support of a para-educator while Mr. Krantz transitions to the 3rd grade.

The administration will be communicating with everyone as often as possible until this transition is complete. The District believes this is best for our students in supporting their needs to be successful. We want to appropriately support both the 3rd grade students and the middle school students, as well as the parents and staff in this transition.

Please welcome Mr. Durglo as the Middle School Principal.  I am sure he will be contacting parents to extend his services and support for education here at St. Ignatius.

HOLIDAY GREETINGS

We wish you and yours a blessed Christmas and happy New Year!

 

The St. Ignatius Administrative Team (left to right): Superintendent, Bob Lewandowski; District Assistant Clerk, Adam Hawkaluk; Maintenance Director, Steve McCullum; Elementary Principal, Cherie Stobie; Technology Director, Matt Lyon; High School Principal, Jason Sargent; and District Clerk, Neil Easter. 

Break begins on Friday, December 21, 2012  at 12:30 PM

School Resumes on January 2, 2013 at its regular times.

STUDENT SAFETY

by Superintendent Robert "Bob" Lewandowski

Due to the senseless and horrific shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut our District has implemented some additional crisis prevention measures for the safety of our children and staff. In most cases, the District is just tightening up safety protocols that are already in place; however, we have implemented new preventative measures that will be inconvenient to the public and the educational flow throughout our schools. We know that not all tragedies can be prevented, but we need to do everything possible to keep our children and staff out of harm's way.

While there are only a few changes, we ask that everyone be patient and cooperate with the District in providing a safe environment for all.  Because our buildings were designed before tragedies like Columbine (1999) and that of Sandy Hook, we have multiple entries into the building that will have to be redirected. These changes will come at some inconvenience to the students, staff and public, but are necessary. We want to do everything possible to prevent and prepare for possible emergencies in our community. Restricting unmonitored access to students and staff is the first step.

Public Access Changes:

1. All doors except for the main entries will be locked.
2. All access into any of the buildings by visitors must flow through the main entries.
3. All visitors must check in at the front office of the respective school visited and receive appropriate visitor tags to be worn while they are in the building. This includes parents, past students and community members.
4. Please drop students off at the main entries. A building administrator will be present in the entry of each school to greet and meet students upon morning arrival. 

Thank you for your cooperation. Your efforts make a difference in the lives of our children.  It is with our children in mind, that we take on this difficult, yet necessary work.

Our prayers, thoughts and sympathies go out to the lives of the children and adults lost at Sandy Hook Elementary. Words cannot express the sadness felt by all over this horrific event.

SECOND GRADE COMMUNITY SERVICE

The Mrs. Shock, Mrs. Hout and the SECOND GRADE delivered 99.4 pounds of foot to the food pantry today! The also made chilli bags as well. It is great to see this type of community service at work in our school, let alone at the SECOND GRADE!

Well done SECOND GRADE BULLDOGS!

OHhh Yeah!

MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

by Superintendent Robert "Bob" Lewandowski

Our school faces many unique challenges and issues. After extensive administrative and board discussions, due to the number of down and failing students  in both the Middle School and High School at the end of the 2012 Fall Quarter as well as the results of the Prevention Needs Assessment, the Montana Youth Risks Behavior Survey of at-risk students, the District will be seeking a full-time Middle School Principal to provide immediate administrative proximity and involvement with students, parents, teachers and community to help our students succeed.  This position will help address and strengthen student standard proficiency, attendance, dropout rate, disciplinary issues, at-risk behavior as well as the State's AYP corrective actions at both the Middle and High Schools.

Qualified (K-12 principal certification) in-house candidates are preferred to offset financial costs. The start date for the position will be January 2, 2013. Applications from qualified candidates will be accepted immediately. If an in-house candidate is selected, replacement scenarios will be reviewed with a student-centered approach and discussed by the board. The Board will interview candidates on Friday, December 28, 2012 and make a potential hire by special meeting following the interview.

 At this time, the number of students that are academically at-risk of failure complicated by the behavioral at-risk factors calls for immediate action as described above. 

The District will be hosting a community & parent meeting in January to review the at-risk data to mobilize our efforts in identifying the antecedents necessary to address our students' needs.  

The following ACTION PLANS are being implemented to provide students with the additional support needed for academic achievement and success.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT ACTION: School Wide Program: Strategies to Address Student Needs, Opportunities for Student Proficiency

1. The District (by school) will identify students at-risk of not being proficient or above in reading, math, English, social studies and science as indicated by the Mont CAS, DIBELS, MAP, classroom assessments, and/or classroom mid-term and term reports.
2. The District (by school) will develop an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) and identify specific skill deficiencies for every student who is at-risk of not being proficient or above.
3. The District (by school) will provide a response to intervention for identified students through a tiered process.
4. Identified skill deficiencies and interventions will be complemented by a progress-monitoring instrument maintained by the classroom teacher for each deficient skill. This process will be developed in the Individual Learning Plan (ILP) on Mileposts.
5. Student progress will be continuously monitored (by school and classroom teacher). 
6. Each student’s personalized learning plan and program will be tracked using a data-warehousing instrument called Mileposts by Silverback Learning and made available to the administration and classroom teachers.
7. Individualized programs, plans and interventions will be developed by the classroom teacher with support from the building administration and instructional facilitator in an ILP that will involve parent meetings and monitoring. All program and plans will be housed in the Mileposts program.
8. The District (by school) will seek best practices and utilize on-line programs and technology interventions that enhance student skills and provided differentiated instructional solutions.
9. Common core standard instruction will be implemented and utilized to describe student needs and targeted outcomes.
10. Provide staff development and support through an instructional facilitator (coach) for embedded instruction and practice for the successful implementation of objectives 1-9.
11. Follow through with  strategies identified in Goal Area 1: Student Achievement in the District Strategic Plan 2011-2016

STUDENT BEHAVIOR ACTION: School Wide Program: Strategies to Address Student Needs, Opportunities for Student Proficiency

1. Increase administrative proximity and involvement with students, parents and teachers to improve attendance, drop-out rate and disciplinary issues as well as referrals.
2. Provide counseling out-reach through disciplinary follow-up linking behavior, academic performance and attendance with parental involvement and the Individual Learning Plans.
3. Harness MBI to help offset the current at-risk behaviors as identified by the 2012 Montana Prevention Needs Assessment and the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. 
4. The District (by school) will research evidence-based programing  that can help identify scientifically based approaches to preventing and intervening at-risk behaviors.
5. Follow through with  strategies identified in Goal Area 5: Student Centered Positive Climate and Culture in the District Strategic Plan 2011-2016

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTION: School Wide Program: Strategies to Address Student Needs, Opportunities for Student Proficiency through professional development opportunities.

1. Provide staff development and support through an instructional facilitator (coach) for embedded instruction and practice for the successful implementation of academic objectives 1-9.
2. Provide substitute teachers to allow for professional development opportunities for the implementation of academic objectives 1-9.

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT ACTION: The District (by school) will develop a school wide plan for improvement. Each school improvement team will be lead by the principal.

Increase administrative leadership and direction setters for implementing a working school improvement process.

Develop and identify a comprehensive school improvement planning team.

Develop and conduct a comprehensive needs assessment survey.

Collect comprehensive needs data from multiple sources to identify the most important needs within the school. The data should focus on five specific areas: student achievement, curriculum and instruction, professional development, parental and community involvement, and school perspective and organization.

Develop a Comprehensive School Improvement Plan.

The School Improvement Plan is designed to help facilitate systematic change in the entire educational program of high-poverty, at-risk schools. The purpose of this systematic change process is to increase the academic achievement of educationally disadvantaged

 

PARENT & COMMUNITY ACTION: The District will increase parent and community awareness and involvement.  as well as  administrative leadership and direction setters for implementing a working school improvement process.

Involve parents in the programs, plans and interventions of their children. (See item 7 of the Student Achievement Plan).

Provide Parent/Guardian training opportunities for using the student information system twice every year (once per semester).

Host Fall, Winter and Spring Community Awareness Meetings to review scores outcomes and data.

Design, distribute and collect a Comprehensive Needs Assessment Survey once every three years. (See item 1 of the School Improvement Plan)

Design, distribute and collect a post graduate survey once every three years.

Follow through with  strategies identified in Goal Area 4: Community/Communication in the District Strategic Plan 2011-2016.