Jefferson County Public Schools
May 2012
Nov.-Dec. 2013
Elementary application period starts Nov. 18
www.jcpsky.net Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer Offering Equal Educational Opportunities
Buster the Bus talks to showcase visitors.
Visit the district’s Elementary School Showcase—Nov. 16
Get answers to your questions about schools and programs
Staff members from all Jefferson County Public School (JCPS) District elementary schools and from many departments will be available to answer your questions at the Elementary School Showcase.
both parents and students. School administrators and teachers will be on hand to talk with you and your child.
It will be held on Sat., Nov. 16, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Kentucky International Convention Center, located at the corner of Third and Market Streets.
Key JCPS staff members will be available to talk about applying to schools, transportation, magnet and optional programs, the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program, and the Exceptional Child Education (ECE) Program for specialneeds students.
The showcase will offer detailed information for
You’ll get a free copy of Choices at the showcase.
2
The guidebook also is available on the Showcase of Schools page on the JCPS Web site at www.jcpsky.net.
Elementary school application period begins Nov. 18 Mon., Nov. 18, through Fri., Jan. 10, is the online application period for JCPS elementary schools for the 2014-15 school year. The following students should apply during this period:
and instructions will be available on the district’s Web site and at registration sites that will be located throughout the district during the application period.
If you don’t have Internet access, call 485-3323 for information on how to apply.
• Students who are entering kindergarten • Elementary students who have moved • Elementary students who want to apply to a magnet school, a magnet program, or Hawthorne Elementary’s Dual-Language Spanish Immersion Optional Program The online application form
Should you register before you apply to schools and programs? All students in kindergarten through grade twelve who have not previously attended a JCPS school need to register online with the district. After registration, students who are entering kindergarten may apply online to schools in the elementary cluster that serves their home address as well as to magnet schools, magnet programs, and Hawthorne Elementary’s optional program. To find out which cluster serves your address, call the JCPS Demograph-
ics Office at 485-3050 or use the online SchoolFinder at http://apps.jefferson. kyschools.us/demographics/ schoolfinder.aspx. Online applications also are accepted from older JCPS elementary students who have moved or who want to apply to a magnet school, a magnet program, or Hawthorne’s optional program. These students do not need to register first.
How to register Students who are new to the district need to com-
plete their initial registration on the JCPS Web site (www .jcpsky.net) from any computer with Internet access. Computers are available at JCPS registration sites, which are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lam Building (4309 Bishop Lane) and the ESL Office (1325 Bluegrass Avenue). Additional registration opportunities, including a schedule of stops for the bus that serves as the JCPS Mobile Student Registration Site, will be announced on 3
.us. Note: You may register your child for school regardless of immigration status and/or a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence.
How to apply
the district Web site when they are available. (If you don’t have Internet access, call 485-3323 for the latest information.) Overview of the registration process: • Go to www.jcpsky.net, and click the green Register & Apply button in the upperleft corner on the homepage. • The online system will walk you through the registration process. At one point, it will ask for information on the parent/ guardian who is completing the registration. After you click Save Registration, you’ll see a confirmation number. Write it down because you’ll be able to use it later to verify your identity. • After you’ve completed all of the questions, you may print a copy of the record you’ve created. 4
• You then will need to take proof of address to a JCPS school or registration site, or you may scan your proof of address and email it to addressverification@jefferson.kyschools .us. The proof of address may be a gas/electric or water bill issued within the last three months, a lease, a house contract, a paycheck or paycheck stub, or a Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or other government benefits letter that has your name and address on it. • Students whose parents are moving to Jefferson County from another county or another state must provide proof of residence in Jefferson County before registering. For more information, call the Parent Assistance Center (485-6250) or send an e-mail to askstudentassignment@jefferson.kyschools
This is an overview of the online application process for students who are entering kindergarten and older JCPS elementary students who have moved or who want to apply to a magnet school, a magnet program, or Hawthorne Elementary’s Dual-Language Spanish Immersion Optional Program. (If you don’t have Internet access, call 485-3323 for information on how to apply. Students who have not previously attended a JCPS school need to register with the district before they can apply.) You will need one of the following pieces of identifying information to apply to elementary schools and programs: — A JCPS Parent Portal username and password — A Parent Portal activation key — A registration confirmation number • Once you have the identifying information, go to
the JCPS Web site at www. jcpsky.net and click the green Register & Apply button in the upper-left corner of the homepage. The online system will walk you through the application process. • Be sure to review the information on your child in the system. If any of the information is incorrect, notify your child’s school or go to a JCPS registration site. If the address is incorrect, you will need to provide proof of the correct address. • The online system will let you rank the schools in order of preference in the elementary cluster that serves your address. (Most JCPS elementary schools are part of 1 of 13 clusters.) • You also may choose to apply to magnet schools and programs as well as Hawthorne Elementary’s Dual-Language Spanish Immersion Optional Program.
• If you apply to a magnet Mathematics/Science/ school, magnet program Technology (MST) Program or Hawthorne Elementause a random-draw list if ry’s Dual-Language Spanopenings for new students ish Immersion Optional are limited. Students will Program, school staff may be included on the ranask for additional informadom-draw list only if they tion, such as a student select these schools or the work sample or a recomMST Program as their first mendation from a teacher choice. or child-care provider. If If openings are not limita school asks you for the ed, students who selected additional information, the schools or the proplease reply promptly and gram as a second choice send the information dialso will be considered for rectly to the school. available openings. • Submitting more than one • Students will be assigned application will void the to a school for the next previous application. Subschool year before the end mitting false information of the current school year. will void an application. • Students who are not resi• The online application lets dents of Jefferson County you select a first and a will not be considered for second choice when you placement in a school or apply to a magnet proprogram until all Jefferson gram or school, but note County applicants have that the traditional magnet been considered. schools, the Brown School, and the middle school
Please note • Submitting an application doesn’t guarantee placement in a school or program. • Waiting lists are not kept from year to year.
5
Elementary magnet programs JCPS elementary magnet programs provide a specialized learning environment (such as a Montessori school) or focus on a specific subject (such as technology or health and fitness). Students who are accepted into a magnet program become a full-time student of the school that offers it. Students throughout the district may apply to many of the following programs, but some serve students from specific clusters. JCPS provides transportation for most students who are accepted into a magnet program. 6
Academy for Excellence in Teaching and Learning: Atkinson (districtwide magnet program)
gram for Clusters 1 through 6) and Rangeland (magnet program for Clusters 7 through 13)
Communications: Breckinridge-Franklin (magnet program for Clusters 8 through 13)
Institute for Creativity and Innovation: Maupin (districtwide magnet program)
Environmental Studies: Cane Run (magnet program for Clusters 1 through 6) and Portland (magnet program for Clusters 7 through 13)
International/Cultural Studies and Language: Fairdale (magnet program for Clusters 1 through 7) and Goldsmith (magnet program for Clusters 8 through 13)
Gifted and Talented: King (districtwide magnet program) Health and Fitness for Accelerated Learning: Wellington (magnet pro-
Leadership Academy: Mill Creek (magnet program for Clusters 1 through 5) Mathematics/Science/ Technology: Wheatley
(districtwide magnet program)
McFerran (magnet program for Clusters 4 through 7)
MicroSociety: Indian Trail (magnet program for Clusters 6 and 7)
Success for All Accelerated Reading: Jacob (magnet program for Clusters 1 through 5)
Montessori: Kennedy Montessori (magnet program for Clusters 1 through 8) and Coleridge-Taylor Montessori (magnet program for Clusters 9 through 13) Preparatory Academy:
Talent Development: Byck (districtwide magnet program) Technology: RooseveltPerry (districtwide magnet program)
Visual and Performing Arts: King (districtwide magnet program) Visual Arts: Rutherford (magnet program for Clusters 1 through 6) and Price (magnet program for Clusters 7 through 13) Waldorf-Inspired Program: Byck (districtwide magnet program)
Elementary magnet schools Elementary students throughout the district may apply to the following magnet schools, which are not part of an elementary cluster. JCPS provides transportation for most students who are accepted into a magnet school (except for the Brown School). International Baccalaureate (IB) school: Young (3526 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd.) Mathematics/Science/ Technology school: Brandeis (2817 W. Kentucky St.) Performing arts school: Lincoln (930 East Main St.) Self-directed learning school: Brown (546 S. 1st St.) Traditional schools: Students are assigned to Audubon Traditional (1051 Hess Lane), Carter Traditional (3600 Bohne Avenue), Greathouse/Shryock Traditional (2700 Browns Lane), or Schaffner Traditional (2701 Crums Lane) based
on their home address. The districtwide Traditional Magnet Program is available at Foster Traditional Academy (Cluster 2) and Shelby Traditional Academy (Cluster 12). These six schools are part of the traditional education feeder pattern to Barret Traditional, Jefferson County Traditional, and
Johnson Traditional Middle Schools. Wilkerson Traditional (Cluster 2) and Smyrna Traditional (Cluster 7) provide traditional education, but they don’t offer magnet programs and aren’t part of the feeder pattern to traditional JCPS middle schools.
Dual-Language Spanish Immersion Optional Program Hawthorne Elementary’s program is designed to provide a daily Spanish immersion experience that prepares students to read, write, and speak proficiently in Spanish. The students (kindergarten through fifth grade) receive daily math and science instruction in Spanish. Other content areas are taught in English. Students also benefit from cultural enrichment in a Spanish arts class, which meets twice a week and combines the arts with Spanish language and culture learning. Hawthorne’s program benefits both students who are learning Spanish as a second language and students who are learning English as a second language. In addition, the Hawthorne community is a duallanguage community with an expressed appreciation of language learning and inclusion of diverse cultural experiences. Because this program is an optional program, transportation is provided only for Cluster 13 students. 7
JCPS is now accepting middle and high school applications JCPS is now accepting online applications for middle and high school magnet programs, optional programs, magnet schools, and high school Open Enrollment for the 2014-15 school year. Visit the JCPS Web site, and click the green Register & Apply button in the upper-left corner on the homepage. You also can complete the online application at registration sites at JCPS offices. The application period will end on Fri., Jan. 10. For more information on optional programs, magnet programs, and magnet schools, contact the JCPS Optional and Magnet Programs Office at 4853323. For general information, contact the Student Assignment Office at 4856250.
The middle and high school version of Choices is available on the JCPS Web site.
Veterinary science program receives national certification Tammy Wright, teacher in the Veterinary Science Magnet Program at Central High School Magnet Career Academy (MCA), has obtained certification of the school’s program from the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America. Wright worked on the application process for about a year. The certification will give students in Central’s 8
Veterinary Science Magnet Program the opportunity to sit for the American Veterinary Association (AVA) exam and become AVAcertified. State laws prohibit students younger than 18 from working in radiology, but an AVA-certified student will be able to work in a veterinary medicine clinic and become trained in film developing,
assisting restraint, and personal safety. Seniors in Central’s magnet program are scheduled to take the exam this fall, and those who become certified could explore a variety of co-op partnerships. Wright is exploring partnerships and opportunities with local agencies.
Library reorganization encourages students to read more books Students at Knight Middle no longer use the Dewey Decimal System to find library books.
She points out that the Book Store Model seems to make more sense to students than the Dewey
Christen Priefer, the school’s library media specialist, has implemented a classification system called the Book Store Model and has reorganized the library’s holdings according to subject categories like those in a bookstore.
Decimal System. “I think this helps them because it’s more genre-based and by topic,” Priefer says. The reorganization received significant support from the JCPS Library Media Services Department. Knight is the only JCPS middle school that has switched to the Book Store Model, but it has been used in two of the district’s elementary schools: Atkinson Academy and Okolona Elementary.
Knight hosted a grand reopening of the library in late September to introduce the new model to parents and community members. The library has about 4,600 titles, and students checked out at least 600 books during September, which is a greater number than in the past, Priefer says.
Library media specialists at those schools also have reported that students started checking out more books after the switch.
JCPS vision, mission, and values Vision:
All JCPS students graduate prepared to reach their full potential and contribute to our society throughout life.
Mission:
To provide relevant, comprehensive, quality instruction in order to educate, prepare, and inspire our students to learn.
Values:
• Our students are cared for and treated as if they are our own. • Children learn differently. • What happens in the classroom matters most. • The differences of each are assets of the whole. • High-quality teaching is the most powerful tool for helping students reach high standards.
• Leadership and innovation are essential to prepare students for their futures. • Talents and resources are used wisely to benefit students. • Partnerships among schools, families, and community are important for the health and wellbeing of our students. • Adults model integrity, respect, creativity, and accountability. 9
Student named Constitutional Academy Scholar Seneca High student Asia Peeples was selected as a 2013 Bill of Rights Constitutional Academy Ford Scholar. During the summer, Asia attended the Bill of Rights Constitutional Academy in Washington, D.C. — an academy designed to educate young people about the words and ideas of America’s founders, the liberties guaranteed in founding documents, and how our founding principles continue to affect and shape a free society. Asia was the only student selected from Kentucky, and she received a full scholar-
ship to attend the academy. A student in Seneca’s Pre-Law Magnet Program, she was nominated by her teachers, Emily Fritts and Justin Cornell.
JCPS educators receive state Teacher Achievement Awards Farmer Elementary teacher Angela Pleasant was one of ten semifinalists for the 2014 Kentucky Teacher of the Year award, sponsored by Ashland Inc. and the Kentucky Department of Education. The semifinalists were selected from a group of 24 state educators named 2014 Ashland Inc. Teacher Achievement Award winners. This group included
Asia Peeples was honored at a Jefferson County Board of Education meeting. 10
another JCPS teacher: Rita Cron at Atherton High. All 24 Achievement Award winners were honored during a ceremony on Wed., Oct. 16, at the State Capitol Building in Frankfort. Initial judging for the awards was conducted last August by a blue-ribbon panel of veteran educators. The judges considered the nominees’ teaching philosophies, experiences, and involvement in their respective communities as well as letters of recommendation from peers, students, parents, and administrators.
KDE recognizes schools for working conditions The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has recognized several JCPS schools for the teaching conditions, school safety, and student achievement in their buildings. Carter Traditional Elementary was one of ten schools selected for the KDE Winner’s Circle based on the results of the Teaching, Educating, Leading, and Learning (TELL) Kentucky Survey. It was administered to all public school teachers and principals in March of this year. The following JCPS schools were among the 50 Ken-
tucky schools that received an honorable mention: Audubon Youth Development Center, Kennedy Montessori Elementary, Lowe Elementary, Schaffner Traditional Elementary, and Western High (Early College Program). Schools that received awards or honorable mentions will be used as examples of best practices for other schools across the state.
tional board process has strengthened medicine. Wright served as a member of a moderated panel of National Board Certified Teachers who discussed how the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has helped them grow their teaching abilities. Wright also attended a dinner honoring the participating teachers, and he received complimentary registration to attend the National Board’s Teaching & Learning Conference in Washington, D.C., next March.
Teacher invited to Washington to discuss national certification Principal selected for state council Jeffrey Wright, physics teacher at Louisville Male High, was invited to attend an event at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wed., Oct. 9. Wright met with members of Congress and medical professionals to discuss National Board Certification.
The group explored how a fully scaled National Board Certification process could aid the nation’s teachers in the same way that a na-
Thomas Aberli, principal at Atherton High, was recruited by the Kentucky Governor’s Office to serve as a high school principal member of the Governor’s School Curriculum, Assessment, and Accountability Council. The group typically consists of 17 members who are appointed by the governor, and only 2 of those positions are designated
for school principals. Aberli already serves on the Kentucky Education Commissioner’s Principal Advisory Council, and he plans to continue contributing grassroots perspectives about education to inform and advise those who guide education legislation and reform.
Principal receives outstanding supervisor award David Johnson, principal at Pleasure Ridge Park (PRP) High, has been honored with the 2013 Outstanding Supervisor Award by the Kentucky Association for College Admission Counseling (KYACAC). The award is given annually to a supervisor or principal who provides exemplary support for his or her counseling staff members. Johnson accepted the award at the KYACAC’s College Counseling Information Exchange Conference in Louisville on Fri., Sept. 6.
Are you getting the e-mail newsletter?
Parent Connection eNews is a JCPS newsletter that offers new, brief articles in a monthly e-mail. You can view the latest issue and sign up for future ones on the Parent Connection Web site. 11
Quick quiz for parents
Are you as smart as a JCPS fifth grader? The answers to the seventhgrade science questions in the last issue of Parent Connection are 1. C. 2. A. 3. B. To review the questions, visit the newsletter’s Web site and select the October issue. The first parent to send the correct answers last month was Bettina Bard, mother of students at Field Elementary and Lincoln Elementary Performing Arts School. Other winners were Amanda Hartman (Bloom Elementary) and Terri Adams (St. Matthews Elementary)
You don’t need to write the questions or answers. Just send the question numbers and the letters for your answers. Or you may cut out this quiz and mail it. 1. The JUDICIAL branch of the government is responsible for
have had the greatest need to conserve water?
A. Northeast B. Southeast C. Northwest D. Southwest
A. making laws.
3. As a symbol of friendship, France gave America the
B. suggesting laws.
A. Liberty Bell.
C. interpreting laws.
B. Statue of Liberty.
D. carrying out laws.
C. Lincoln Memorial.
2. In what area of the United States would settlers
D. Washington Monument.
This month, Parent Connection offers a quick quiz with fifth-grade social studies questions. The first three parents who send the correct answers via e-mail and the first three who send the answers via regular mail will receive a free JCPS T-shirt. Please include the name of your child’s (or grandchild’s) school. The e-mail address is thomas.pack@jefferson. kyschools.us. The regular mailing address is Thomas Pack, Communications and Publications North, C. B. Young Jr. Service Center, Building 4, 3001 Crittenden Drive, Louisville, KY 40209.
Take the quiz, and you could win a JCPS T-shirt.