April Report From School District Superintendent: Are You Interested In Summer School?

School Superintendent Board Report

Superintendent Theresa Laville

April 2, 2024

Kenny Lake School "Iditaread" Finshers. (Photo, CRSD Facebook Site) 

Mission: To provide an excellent education

Vision: To prepare and empower all students for current and future success 

Academic Excellence

Ashley, Georgia, and I have met to continue discussions for summer school. We will begin

reaching out to teachers who are interested in teaching summer school. CRNA is willing to

provide snacks, and we are still awaiting Chitina’s response in helping to drive students, so they

can attend summer school. However, Ashley and Georgia will be willing to be drivers.

Laura Scott Interventionist

K-5th grade parent/teacher conferences schedule have been modified this spring in order to

follow the Alaska Reads Act grade progression conversations with parents. The Act requires that

teachers have an initial conversation with parents 45 days before the last day of school for

students with a reading deficiency still identified by the mCLASS screener. Families of children

who are well-below proficient (students in red) will have a phone conference with their child’s

teacher to have that initial grade progression conversation. Those students below proficient

((students in yellow) will have a parent/teacher conference the week of April 8th. Grade

progression does not need to be addressed for these students, unless the teacher sees a need.

After the EOY mCLASS benchmark assessment on April 29th, teachers will schedule an in

person Parent/Teacher conference with those students who are still well-below proficient, to

either recommend progressing to the next grade level, or not progressing. Parents will sign a

letter agreeing or disagreeing with the teacher’s recommendation at that time. Third graders

have a mandatory Alaska Reads Act waiver for parents. Should a parent disagree with retaining

his or her child, then it will be recommended that the child complete 20 hours of summer reading

instruction. This also comes from the AK Reads Act.

Glennallen K-2 students are on their fifth Read at Home Program, which is a program

encouraging families to read together for at least 20 minutes a day. There is a monthly theme to

motivate students to win a reward at the end of the month if they reach their goal. (Photos

attached)

School wide Buddy Reading, organized by Mrs.Lorence, has middle and high school students

partnering up with elementary students to read for half an hour. Students have met twice to read and it has been a success all around. Hallways, classrooms, libraries are lined with pairs of

students sitting side by side reading for the sole purpose of enjoying the time. (Photos attached)

Unity

The Coffee/Tea with the Superintendent at Tazlina Village on March 20, 2024, turned out very

well. I met with six of the tribal council members. Also, I was invited to the Gulkana Game

Night, and there were 12 people in attendance. At both events, I shared the vision of the district,

and the changes that are taking place. Below is the list of things that were discussed or

suggested.

● Elders in the schools and classrooms

● Volunteers at schools

● Academic rigor and expectations

● Attendance

● Treks

● CTE

● Ahtna language revitalization

● Less screen time

● Staff at community events

● Ahtna artists

● Ahtna alphabet in the classrooms

● Ahtna pledge of allegiance

● Student recognitions

● Staff attending ME/IE meetings

At this time, I have not met with the Chitina Council, but I was told that they will reschedule a

meeting time with me in the next two weeks.

AK STAR Data Release Timeline:

● April 17, 2024:

○ 10 am DEED reviews AK STAR Data Brief and Press Release with Superintendents

○ 1pm DEED posts AK STAR Press release

○ 1pm DEED posts AK STAR Data Brief to Assessment website

○ 1pm DEED posts Report Card to the Public Assessment data to Data Center Website

● May 10, 2024: Districts release Student Reports to families (final deadline for release)

Stewardship

The next literacy night at Glennallen is on April 12th, and Kenny Lake is on April 24th. Survey

for literacy night has been sent home. We are hoping that the literacy night is encouraging

reading at home.

Ashley and Laura distributed the first set of books to 200 migrant students, K-12. Each child

received two books. The goal is to build a home library for each student.

Assistant Superintendent: John Bruce

The last round of mCLASS screening begins on April 22, and AK STAR window is April

9th-11th for the district. Teachers and administrators are finishing up their training to administer

the assessments. A Big “Thank-you” to our Administrative staff in the buildings towards

making this possible.

Academic Advisor: Jared Dale

The visit to UAF has been postponed to April 06, 2024, and the AVTEC trip is still planned for

April 11, 2024. We will be staying at Seward High School while in Seward. There were seven

permission slips handed out to students for the AVTEC trip and 13 for the UAF visit.

Interviews for the Idaho Youth Rally will take place during the final week of March and into the

first week of April. One student from the three KLS applicants and three GHS applicants will be

chosen to attend in July.

There is one more month of professional development (PD) for the “Site Based Champion” for

Project Transform. After the PD wraps up in April, the Project Transform coach Kami from

AASB will come to KLS for one final site visit in May. She will meet with all KLS staff who are

participating in the Project Transform PD and will be available for staff to talk with and ask

questions. Kami will meet with the team briefly after school to talk about the pilot year and the

plans for the 2024-2025 school year.

Migrant Education: Ashley Hicks

To increase cultural activities within the school systems and to use the paraprofessionals we

currently have in place, Ashley is creating Culture Kits to be placed within each of the schools.

The Culture Kit Estimated Cost: $2,113.54 per culture kit. Georgia and Ashley will build the

kits, and including in the kits will be fabric materials. They will also coordinate a class during

Treks to help students create their own regalia to use for graduation or ceremonies.

Alaska Leadership Group is donating MSTC Ahtna Language Series (set of 10) to each of the

libraries within the district. Ashley has also created a digital library via Google Drive and has

been inserting Ahtna language materials and resources into the folder. This can be used as a

resource for Ahtna language learning since there are limited publications for Ahtna language;

most resources will originate from anyone who is willing to share Ahtna material they own with

the district.

The Copper River School District Migrant Education Program (CRSD MEP) has awarded 23

Migrant students with financial aid awards to pay for sports fees and/or gears; some are pending

approval. This award is generated from the Migrant Education Program who recognizes hard

work and dedication to maintain a good academic standing to participate in educational

activities. This main goal is to ensure students are succeeding academically. The award

motivates and encourages both the parents and students to keep up the good work.

Indian Education: Georgia Jackson

Georgia Jackson is the new Indian Education Coordinator and Family and Student Liaison.

She has taken over the clerical work for the Indian Education Committee (IEC). She had a

Meeting March 18th , and the next meeting will be at the beginning of May. The IEC has invited

Kenny Lake and Glennallen principals to attend the May meeting.

Per the direction of the IEC, Georgia will be coordinating a Student Recognition Banquet. She

will be collaborating with CRNA, Ahtna Inc., and the Tribes within the District service area.

They would like this banquet to be “In Honor of Mrs. Dorothy Shinn” who was employed under

the School District Indian Education Program and would host banquets.

I have started reviewing the By-Laws for the IEC and started on a Draft revised/amended

By-Laws. I have also started reading through the CFRs and Guidelines for Indian Education

Grants.

On March 18th, Georgia began providing support to Glennallen students to promote culturally

responsive learning environments. She spends 45 minutes in the Middle School and 20 minutes

in each grade K-5. She and Ashley will be making a trip to Slana School on March 29th to see

how they can offer services there.

Technology/Food Services: Ann Helkenn

The department has been working diligently on getting the application information compiled for

the RUS DLT Grant. Ann and TechOps are working with Solutionz, an organization that worked

with CRSD in 2016. Ann continues to train Johnathan in the roles of this department.

Ann has been training Jen to take over the state reporting duties. The vending machines will be

delivered to the schools over summer to be installed for the SY 2024-2025. After the schools

serve breakfast and lunch for a full year at the site, we will qualify to be a CEP district which

means all our students will be provided free meals.