Tag: Homer

KPBSD curriculum director to meet with parents

KPBSD curriculum director to meet with parents 

Soldotna, October 23, 2012—Parents, guardians and students are invited to an interactive meeting with the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District curriculum director, Dr. Doris Cannon.
Purpose: Talk about the curriculum revision process and to offer an opportunity for parents and students to express needs in regards to the KPBSD curriculum and resources.
Locations and Times:

  • Seward Elementary library; 606 Sea Lion Drive, Seward, AK 99664
    Friday, October 26, 2012, from 6:30-8:00 p.m.
  • Mountain View Elementary library; 315 Swires Road, Kenai, AK 99611
    Saturday, October 27, 2012, from 1:30-3:00 p.m.
  • West Homer Elementary library; 995 Soundview Ave., Suite 1, Homer, AK 99603
    Monday, October 29, 2012, from 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Snacks will be provided, no RSVP necessary.
Questions: Contact Dr. Doris Cannon at: DCannon@KPBSD.k12.ak.us, or call 907.714.8885
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 This and all KPBSD media releases are online at this web page: http://bit.ly/MediaPublicRelationships
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Contact: Pegge Erkeneff, 907.714.8838

West Homer Elementary named a 2012 National Blue Ribbon School


PRESS RELEASE

 

West Homer Elementary named a 2012 National Blue Ribbon School

Soldotna, September 7, 2012—U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recognizes West Homer Elementary School as a 2012 National Blue Ribbon School. Based on overall academic excellence or for making progress in improving student academic achievement levels, 269 schools are honored as a 2012 National Blue Ribbon School.
Speaking in Arlington, Virginia, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, “Our nation has no greater responsibility than helping all children realize their full potential…. Schools honored with the National Blue Ribbon Schools award are committed to accelerating student achievement and preparing students for success in college and careers. Their work reflects the conviction that every child has promise and that education is the surest pathway to a strong, secure future.”
 Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski extended her heartfelt congratulations to West Homer Elementary (WHE) principal Raymond Marshall and everyone in the WHE community. Marshall believes, “West Homer Elementary School works hard to provide every student with a well-rounded, world class education. We have an exceptional teaching staff with hard working students and parents who are dedicated to their children’s success. Additionally, we receive great support from our community and students come to us from Paul Banks with a strong educational foundation that we can build upon.”
KPBSD superintendent, Dr. Steve Atwater, said, “I am thrilled to learn that West Homer Elementary is the recipient of a Blue Ribbon School award. This award is an excellent way to recognize the superb work of the West Homer staff with the students as well as the wonderful level of support for the school by the greater West Homer Elementary community.”
Principal Raymond Marshall and educator Shirlie Gribble will represent West Homer Elementary school in Washington, DC, when the Department of Education will honor approximately 219 public and 50 private schools at a recognition ceremony November 12-13, 2012.
The National Blue Ribbon Schools award honors public and private elementary, middle, and high schools where students perform at very high levels or where significant improvements are being made in students’ levels of achievement.
The program recognizes schools in one of two performance categories. The first category is “Exemplary High Performing,” in which schools are recognized among their state’s highest performing schools, as measured by state assessments or nationally-normed tests. The second category is “Exemplary Improving,” in which schools that have at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds demonstrate the most progress in improving student achievement levels as measured by state assessments or nationally-normed tests. WHE is recognized as an “Exemplary High Performing” National Blue Ribbon School.
School board member Liz Downing reflected, “I am so proud of the students, teachers, staff, and families of West Homer Elementary School. It truly is a special place well deserving of this recognition!” and Sunni Hilts, school board member commented, “Once again a South Peninsula school has joined others in the district in demonstrating the commitment to quality education that the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District strives to offer. West Homer has been recognized for the awesome school we have known and appreciated. Congratulations!”
In its thirty-year history, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program has bestowed this coveted award on nearly 7,000 of America’s schools. Between 1982 and 2010, eight additional KPBSD schools have earned the National Blue Ribbon School recognition.
Links:
2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools
September 7, 2012 U.S. Department of Education Press Release
National Blue Ribbon School Program

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This and all KPBSD media releases are online at this web page: http://bit.ly/MediaPublicRelationships
CONTACT:
Pegge Erkeneff, Communications Specialist
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Pegge@kpbsd.org
907-714-8888
148 N. Binkley Street, Soldotna, AK 99669

In Homer and Soldotna: Taylor Crowe “My Life With Autism…”

Is your life centered on capability or disability?
In spite of a daily struggle with autism, national speaker, Taylor Crowe, knows his life is centered on his capability. Now thirty years old, his life is in direct contrast to the physician who initially diagnosed his autism, adding, “There is no hope for him.”
The Alaska Autism Resource Center, in partnership with Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, welcomes national speaker, Taylor Crowe, to Soldotna and Homer for two inspirational evenings.
Crowe is an inspiring young man, artist, and graduate of the California Institute of the Arts with a degree in Character Animation. He will offer two free public presentations, and a general school assembly in Homer.
Taylor Crowe “My Life With Autism…” free public presentations:

  • SOLDOTNA: Monday, March 19, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., Soldotna Middle School library

  • HOMER: Wednesday, March 21, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., Homer Middle School library (childcare provided)

    • 3/21/12: general school assembly, West Homer Elementary Auditorium, 10:00-10:30 a.m.

Seventy-four students currently receive educational services in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School Special Education eligibility category of autism. Eligibility is based on student needs; students are varied and may be in a general education classroom, a resource classroom, or a contained class.
About Taylor Crowe and his presentation:
Diagnosed with severe autism when he was a preschooler, in the years of public schooling and intense therapy that followed, an extraordinary young man emerged.
Presentation will touch on the areas of his education and upbringing that had the greatest influence on him, vividly describing his evolution from a child given virtually no hope by the physician who diagnosed him, to a grade school student who showed occasional glimmers of promise, to an artistically gifted high school student surrounded by caring friends, to a refreshingly independent young adult who successfully completed a rigorous course of studies at one of the premier art schools in the world.
Focus on the impact teaching professionals, therapists, friends and family have in the daily lives of students with disabilities. He will share details about those specific situations both in and out of school that had the greatest influences on him. He will outline his personal advice to educators and educational assistants about what should and shouldn’t be done in school settings for students with autism.
Describe life from the frame of reference of an individual on the autism spectrum, explaining what life is like to someone who is a visual learner predisposed to interpreting things precisely and literally. Taylor will not describe a “miracle cure” of autism. He explains that he still struggles daily with the challenges his autism presents but emphasizes his conviction that by growing up in a caring and positive environment, he learned that his was a life of capability, not disability.
Share how his specific interests and areas of ability were discovered, nurtured and cultivated, not for any anticipated vocational benefit but as social tools for interacting with mainstream peers.
Coauthor and narrator of The View from Here: My Life with Autism, a video documentary describing his insights about the disorder. He has been the keynote speaker at scores of autism conferences and seminars throughout the United States and Canada, and is one of the individuals with autism featured in the 2010 HBO documentary film A Mother’s Courage: Talking Back to Autism.
Currently finishing a children’s book about autism he and a friend wrote and illustrated. He also draws editorial cartoons for The Southeast Missourian newspaper. In addition to this, he is also preparing a series of lectures about a particular area of interest to him, the history of animated theatrical short cartoons. In 2008 Taylor wrote and animated a short cartoon about the discovery of x-rays for the American Roentgen Ray Society. In his spare time, he paints landscapes.
Links:
Alaska Autism Resource Center
KPBSD Pupil Services
www.TaylorCrowe.com
Facebook: “Autism from the Inside: Taylor Crowe “My Life with Autism””