Principal's Message
Aida Glimme
Wed. Nov. 4, 2009
Dear Acalanes High School Community,
It is difficult to believe but the 1st quarter of the school is behind us and we are already in the month of November. Our students and staff have been working very hard and this month brings some well deserved breaks. End of the quarter report cards will be mailed on Friday, November 6th. We encourage you to contact your son or daughter's teachers and/or counselors if you have questions about specific grades or are looking for additional support.
We will be hosting our Friday Forum on November 6th at 8:30 am in the Faculty Dining Room. Acalanes Union High School District Superintendant, John Stockton will be this month's guest speaker. We encourage you to attend this informative event.
The District and each school annually recognize community members as their Su Stauffer Friends of Education honorees. Su Stauffer was an outstanding member of our community and was a dedicated individual in support of public education. This year Acalanes High School has presented Joni Avery with the Sue Stauffer award. Joni has been a parent volunteer for Acalanes High School during the last five years. She has served in various official and unofficial roles, most recently as the 2008-09 Parent Club President. We thank Joni for all of her hard work, dedication, countless hours of volunteering and support for our community. Thank you Joni!
We would also like to acknowledge Bruce Lengacher for being chosen as the KKDV's Teacher of the Month. KKDV is a local radio station that monthly honors local teachers and coaches. Bruce is a highly respected, involved and beloved Acalanes High School Vocal Music teacher and is KKDV's November Teacher of the Month. Thank you Bruce for all that you do to support and develop our students.
Fall sports season is coming to an end as the winter teams gear up for the start of the tryouts on Monday November 9th. Please visit the AHS Athletic Booster website for the schedule of winter sports tryouts. Also, please remember that all athletes must turn in their Athletic Clearance papers prior to being eligible to try out. We would like to congratulate all Fall Sports teams on a highly successful season. We still have many teams competing and working hard to make it to the NCS playoffs. Congratulations to the Men's Water polo team for winning the DFAL League Championship and earning the number 1 seed in NCS. We also congratulate our Women's Water Polo team for their 6th seed in the NCS tournament. Good luck to the other teams as they attempt to do the same in the remaining two weeks of their competition. Please make sure to visit our website for complete schedule of athletic events.
On November 17, 2009 members of the Acalanes faculty and staff would like to invite you to an informational meeting in the cafeteria to address "Study Skills at Home". This is an opportunity for you to gain information that will hopefully help you and your child use strategies and resources to maximize success in high school. Representatives from the core subjects of English, Math, Social Studies and Science, will give you information relevant to their disciplines. Our librarian, Karen Findlay, will instruct you in the use of Blackboard, data bases and books on tape. We hope you will take this opportunity to learn more about how to help your child use effective study skills at home.
Acalanes staff will be participating in two days of Staff Development on November 23rd and 24th. These will be non- school days for our students. Our staff members will be participating in various workshops with the focus on examining and analyzing our performance data. We hope that you will use this last week of November to spend time with your family and friends. I would ask you to please schedule your vacation time and use the days students are not scheduled to attend school and do not sign them out and excuse them earlier.
Thank you for reading
Wed. Oct. 7, 2009
Greetings Acalanes High School Community,
As the summer leaves us and we enter the fall season I am happy to report that it has been a very good start of the school year. The school's API scores improved by 6 points to a score of 902. These results are a tribute to our teachers and staff, our students and to you, the supportive parents. Our students are fully absorbed in their classes. The athletic teams are performing well and are busy with the start of the league competitions. Many clubs have been organized by our students to provide gatherings and activities for students with interests ranging from Ultimate Frisbee to philosophical and political discussions. Our first performing arts production is coming up. The drama class is putting on a performance of "Dracula". Student Government is currently focusing on diversity and tolerance by organizing various lunch time activities and tolerance workshops in the classrooms. They will be tackling homecoming at the end of October.
Academic Support is being provided in the Library, Monday through Thursday from 3:15 - 4:15pm. AHS Math teachers are available to help students struggling in all levels of math. If your child is having difficulties in his/her math class please encourage them to take advantage of this program. Thanks to LASF and Parent Club, Academic Support is free to our students.
Thank you to all that attended our Sporting Goods sale on Sat, Oct. 3. It was a success and we look forward to working with the Parent Club on continuing this as a new tradition at Acalanes.
Please remember that we will not have school on Monday, October 12. All the offices will be closed on that day.
If you have or will have a new driver in the family, you are strongly encouraged to attend the CHP sponsored driving class Drive Smart- Stay Safe that will be presented at Acalanes free of charge. This program is for parents and students to attend together. It is designed to reduce the number of teenage injuries and deaths resulting from motor vehicle collisions. See the Acalanes Parent Club News for more details.
Thank you for reading.
Wed. Sept. 9
Dear Acalanes High School Community,
I hope all you have had a relaxing Labor Day weekend and spent some quality time with family and friends. I would like to remind you that "Back to School Night" will be held on Tuesday, September 15th. I strongly encourage all parents to attend this informative evening where you will have an opportunity to meet your child's teachers and hear their expectations and tips for success. I will start the evening with a short presentation in the Large Gym at 6:00pm. Period 0 will begin at 6:15 followed by Period 1 at 6:30. The evening will end by 8:10. I hope to see all of you attend this informative evening.
Today, our students are dealing with many pressures when it comes to getting accepted to colleges, doing well in high school classes, performing well on athletic and academic teams, and balancing their extra curricular activities. Often we find our students struggling to manage their busy schedules. Acalanes High School has been participating in the Stanford University initiated Challenge Success Program (Formerly known as Stressed out Students) in hope to help our students find ways to deal with stresses of a high school. Together with Stanley Middle School, our Challenge Success team will host Dr. Ginsberg, a noted pediatrician, author and expert on teens and resiliency. Dr. Ginsberg will spend a day working with Stanley M.S. and Acalanes H.S. staff to share his strategies in developing resilient students. We will also hold an evening portion open to all community members to attend. Community Presentation (Growing Roots and Wings; Secretes to building successful teens) will be held from 7:00 - 8:30pm on Thursday, September 24th in Stanley M.S. Multi-Use Room. Tickets are required to attend this event and may be purchased on the AHS Webstore. Individual tickets will be sold for $10 or two for $15. I encourage our parents to attend this event and hopefully obtain valuable information.
Wed. Sept. 2, 2009
Dear Acalanes High School Community,
September has arrived and with that we welcome the routine of the school year. It has been an excellent start of the year and I hope you are finding your students come back home excited about their classes, feeling that they will be challenged yet successful.
It is one of my goals to have an open and clear communication with the entire Acalanes H.S. Community. The administrative team has been visiting all English classes and going over the guidelines written in the student handbooks. I encourage you as parents to also take a moment and read through the handbook. There is a lot of valuable information contained in it. We will continue to communicate with the parents via the Weekly Newsletter that will come out every Wednesday. We will also continue using our Daily Bulletin to communicate news and announcements related to the activities at Acalanes HS. We hope to have the Daily Bulletin to you by 4 pm every day. I also encourage you to visit our website and obtain information posted on it.
On Friday, September 4th, we will be hosting our first Friday Forum of the year. All interested parents are invited to attend. The forum will begin at 8:30 and will be held in the Faculty Dining Room. Associate Principal, Steven France and I will give a short presentation and then we'll be available for questions. Hope to see many of you there.
I strongly encourage all parents to attend our "Back To School Night" on Tuesday, September 15th. I will start the evening with a short presentation in the Large Gym at 6:00 pm. The classroom portion of the evening will begin at 6:15. You will be receiving more details and the schedule of the entire evening shortly. We truly hope to see all of our parents at this important event.
Thank you
Wed. Aug. 26, 2009
Dear Acalanes High School Community,
I would like to welcome all returning and new students and families. The first day of school has arrived and we are excited to take on the challenges of the new school year.
While we may have some obstacles ahead of us in light of the current financial crisis, we promise to continue to offer high quality programs, curriculum that prepares our students for the 21st century and promote high level learning by all students.
I would like to thank all Acalanes High School staff members and parent volunteers who have worked tirelessly to prepare the school, register our students and make our incoming freshman feel comfortable. Your hard work is truly appreciated.
I'd like to remind all students that we will be holding our first rally and a school dance on Friday, August 28th. I hope to see all of our students attend these events.
Thank you again and Go Dons!
Aida Glimme
Principal
Wed. Feb. 18, 2009
As you are likely aware, we are still awaiting a State budget agreement for the 2008-09 fiscal year. We were all relatively certain an agreement would be reached over the weekend. As is, our uncertainty remains high as we move through this year without a budget and anticipate additional reduction in state funding for 2009-10.
Although AUHSD is in a much better financial place than most public school districts due to responsible fiscal practices, parent and foundation funding, and the local parcel tax, the state funding shortfall will certainly have impact on program and services in 2009-10. Based on the best current revenue assumptions, we are anticipating a 5.2 million dollar deficit next year. The budget shortfall continues to be a focus of discussion for the AUHSD Board of Trustees. At their next meeting, February 18 at 7:30pm at Las Lomas HS, they will continue to discuss areas for reduction and the viability of an additional local parcel tax.
News in the Cafeteria:
In an effort to restructure the Acalanes Food Services Program to better meet student needs and become a financially neutral service, the program will be starting a point of sale payment system for all food purchased beginning February 24. The program is similar to what most college dormitories use and is very common throughout K-12 schools. Each student will have their own meal account based on their current student ID number. Monies can be paid into the account in advance in lieu of students coming to school each day with "lunch money." Transactions can be tracked online. The program was successfully "piloted" at Miramonte HS last month. To sign up for an account and make prepayments, go to www.mynutrikids.com and follow the simple process. Additional information will be emailed home later this week.
Planning Ahead?
August 19 and 20 - Dons Days - We will have morning and afternoon sessions on August 19. We will have one morning session for freshmen only on August 20. Freshmen orientation will begin at 11:30 on August 20. We will announce more details as they become available.
August 26 - First day of 2009-10 school year.
Thanks for your continued support!
John Nickerson, Principal AHS
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
I hope that you have all found the many reasons to celebrate as we enter this New Year. With the inundation of gloomy state, national and global economic and political news, we sometimes find it hard to keep a positive perspective on the times ahead. I encourage you all to focus on the positive and make the best of 2009!
Final examinations are just around the corner - January 20 - 23. Students will be on a half-day schedule (8am start) with no more than two finals on each day. All courses at Acalanes have a final period, which is to be used for evaluative purposes. Semester evaluations are to be weighted for no more than 20% of the semester grade. I encourage you to check in with your student, assist them in the organization of their studies and management of time and stress. Try to minimize non-curricular commitments during final exam time.
Come out and support Acalanes basketball, soccer and wrestling teams, which are having successful seasons. Both Soccer teams are in league play and wrestling has been competing in tournaments and enter the league dual meets this week. Our basketball teams host their first league game against rival Miramonte on Friday. Join the students and wear white to support the Dons. As an extra treat, the new Acalanes drumline will debut at Friday's basketball games.
I ask that you (even the most passionate fan) make efforts to promote and model good sportsmanship at games. We want all athletic events to be positive experiences for both home and visiting athletes, coaches, officials and fans. As a reminder, the following will NOT be allowed as per DFAL rules:
- Obscenities or vulgarities
- Provoking gestures/signs
- Noisemakers, face paint or masks
- Abuse of officials
- Negative rooting against opponent
- Continuous standing at basketball games.
Join Friday Forum this Friday at 8:30 for an update on Acalanes and open conversation.
Thanks for your continued support! Once again, Happy New Year!
Sept. 3, 2008
Our first week has passed relatively smoothly and campus climate appears great! Academic and elective classes are in full gear. We anticipate a great year!
Back to School Night is scheduled for tomorrow night, September 4th. I will begin the program at 6pm with a short presentation in the big gym during which time I will present Acalanes updates and share and comment on achievement and survey data. The classroom portion of the program will begin at 6:30 for 1st period and run through 8:10. (Our "0" period classes will meet at 6:15.) The Parent's Club will be hosting a reception in the front quad beginning at 6:15. (Arrive early as the parking lots will be full.) We hope to see all of our parents at this important event.
For more info, go to http://www.acalanes.k12.ca.us/ahs/parent%20handout%202008.pdf
Principle John Nickerson
