www.jcpsky.netEqual Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer

Offering Equal Educational Opportunities

May 2012

Are you as smart as a JCPS middle schooler? (page 7)

Technology program

teaches more than digital

devices

PRP team creates award-winning campaign to fight depression (page 4)

(page 2)

Feb.-Mar. 2013Jefferson County

PublicSchools

JCPS soon will be complete-ly tobacco-free (page 8)

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Crums Lane Elementary students created AppSK US!—a project that includes videos about apps. Teachers and parents can watch the videos to get previews of what the apps do.Crosby Middle students de-veloped Speak with Your Hands, a project that uses videos, digital dictionaries, and other technologies to encourage people to learn American Sign Language.At Meyzeek Middle, stu-dents created Tools for Teachers, which shows edu-cators the best ways to use iPhones for instructional purposes.

Meyzeek students also developed Smart Technol-ogy Learning Possibilities, a project that explores in-novative applications for SMART Boards—the digital white boards used in many Jef-ferson County Public School (JCPS) Dis-trict classrooms. All of these projects were created in the Student Technol-ogy Leadership Program (STLP). Established in 1994 by the STLP State Advisory Council, the program’s mis-sion is “to advance

STLP students learn leadership, community service, and communication skills

individual capabilities; to motivate all students; and to create leadership oppor-tunities through the use of technology.”

Technology program teaches

more than digital

devices

Crums Lane students Vashawn Anderson and Zylena Stephens demonstrate AppSK US, which provides previews of apps for teachers and parents.

Renee Hinojos shows the steps involved in developing AppSK US.

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Students are encouraged to develop projects in one of three categories:• Community service:

projects that extend be-yond the classroom to benefit the community

• Instructional: projects that benefit classroom in-struction and support child or adult learning

• Technical expertise: projects that focus on specific hardware or soft-ware—or on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) topics

STLP is offered throughout JCPS. Caitlin Waldeck, a Crosby Middle eighth grader who has been involved with STLP since she was a Farm-er Elementary third grader, says she joined the program because “I like to experi-ment with many different types of technology.” Crosby’s STLP coordina-tor, Rodney Jenkins, says

the program also offers students many unique op-portunities to “use the technologies they learn at school in real-world applica-tions.” The Speak with Your Hands project, for instance, lets students connect their interest in technology and their STLP work with advo-cacy for the deaf. Jenkins says STLP also teaches students the most effective ways to organize and present information, and, because it lets stu-

dents plan and man-age projects themselves, it truly devel-ops leader-ship skills.Students from 14 JCPS schools par-ticipated in the STLP Fall Showcase at the Univer-sity of Louis-ville (UofL). Overall, the showcase drew more

than 500 students from 41 schools in 7 districts. Students at the follow-ing JCPS schools were se-lected to progress from the showcase to the STLP State Championship: Bloom Elementary, Crums Lane Elementary (two teams), Farmer Elementary, Kenne-dy Montessori Elementary, Olmsted Academy South, Roosevelt-Perry Elemen-tary, Crosby Middle, Farns-ley Middle, Meyzeek Middle (three teams), Atherton High, Doss High, and East-ern High (two teams).Students also may qualify for the state competition by submitting projects online for Winter Virtual Judging. It began in January, and schools will find out later this month if their students qualified. Overall, about 3,500 stu-dents from 300 schools will participate in the State Championship, which will be held on Thurs., Mar. 28, at the Lexington Convention Center and Rupp Arena.

Crosby Middle students Savannah Clarkson, Caitlin Waldeck, and Nathanial Ruhs demonstrate their project at the STLP Showcase.

Ugonna Okorie explains Smart Technology Learning Possibilities to a showcase visitor.

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PRP team creates award-winning

PRP Creative, a team of six Pleasure Ridge Park High students, won the top prize in the Thirteenth Annual High School Marketing Chal-lenge Competition, which was sponsored in the fall by the American Advertising Federation–Louisville as well as Humana and PNC Bank.

Students at several schools competed in the challenge by creating marketing cam-paigns that spotlight the dangers of—and possible solutions for—teen depres-sion. PRP Creative devel-oped a social media cam-paign on Twitter, Facebook, tumblr, and YouTube. They also created posters, print ads, and a Web site.

The six PRP students coor-dinated support from other students, administrators, and the school’s talented Step Team to create a flash mob that spread the cam-paign’s message during lunch in the school’s cafete-ria. (Click here to watch a video of the flash mob.)

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campaign to fight teen depression

PRP Creative received a Marketing Challenge trophy and $800—as well as the attention of marketing pro-fessionals throughout the region. Students at South-ern High, the Academy @ Shawnee, and Fern Creek Traditional High also earned awards in the competition.

PRP Creative is Kelly Hasselbach, Trevor Gibson, Taylor Gray, Brittany Auvil, Malik Alleyne-Jones, and Sydney Doyle.

The students’ advisor is PRP graphic design and photography teacher Denise Webb.

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PTA offers scholarship for seniorsHigh school seniors are encouraged to apply for the 15th District Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Evangeline J. Sansome Scholarship, which is applicable to almost any type of training or schooling necessary to prepare for a career. It’s a need-based scholarship. Applicants must need fi-nancial assistance to go to college. They also must have a minimum grade point aver-age (GPA) of 2.7, and they must be members of their school’s PTA or Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA). The value of the scholarship will be determined in April. Last year, the PTA was able to provide 16 schol-arships worth $1,700 each. The application deadline is Fri., Mar. 29. More informa-tion and an application form are available here. More information also is available from senior counselors at JCPS high schools.

JCPS wants to hear from youYou can help shape the future of JCPS by completing the 2012-13 Comprehensive School Survey. District administrators rely on input from parents to identify needs and develop strategies that ensure success for every student. This year, you can complete the survey through the new Data Management Sur-vey Tool (DMST). If you have a JCPS Par-ent Portal Account, you’ll receive a link to

February . . Black History Month

Feb. 25 . . . . Make-up day (Students will go to school to make-up for the day they missed on Feb. 1.)

Feb. 26–Mar. 1 . . . . . Potential make-up days

Mar. 1 . . . . . Parent-Teacher Conference Day (Note: Some schools may not hold conferences on this day.)

Mar. 5 . . . . . Statewide ACT for high school ju-niors

Mark your calendarMar. 7 . . . . . 15th District PTA Vendors Fair

Mar. 9 . . . . . SAT testing

Apr. 1–5 . . . Spring Break

Please note: The potential make-up days will be used if school is cancelled because of bad weather or other emergencies. If these days aren’t used as make-up days, schools may offer remediation or enrichment activities for some students. If no activities are scheduled, students will not attend school on these days. Contact your child’s school for more information.

the online survey, which will be available through Fri., Feb 22. If you don’t have online access, you still can complete the paper version of the sur-vey, which will be sent home from your child’s school. Your opinions are important to us, and the district values your input. For more information, contact your child’s principal or counselor.

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Are you as smart as a JCPS middle schooler?The answers to the eleventh-grade social studies questions in the last issue of Par-ent Connection are 1: D, 2: D, 3: C. To re-view the questions, click here.The first parent to send the correct an-swers was Steve Mattingly, father of a student at Highland Middle. Other win-ners were Anuradha Jagatheesan (Eastern High) and Thomas Sermon (St. Matthews Elemen-tary and Kammerer Middle).This month, Parent Con-nection offers a quick quiz with sixth- and seventh-grade math ques-tions. (The first ques-tion is a sixth-grade question. The others are seventh-grade questions.). The first three parents who send the cor-rect answers to the Parent Connection office via e-mail and the first three who send the answers via regular mail will re-ceive a free JCPS T-shirt. Please include the name of your child’s (or grandchild’s) school. Click here to send the answers via email. The regular mailing address is Thomas Pack, Communications and Publications North, C. B. Young Jr. Service Center, Building 4, 3001 Crittenden Drive, Louis-ville, KY 40209. You don’t need to write the questions or answers. Just send the question numbers and the letters for your answers. Or you may print out this quiz and mail it.

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Parent to parent:

JCPS soon will be completely tobacco-free

To ensure a healthy learn-ing environment, the mem-bers of the Jefferson County Board of Education (JCBE) voted unanimously on Nov. 26 to approve a new tobac-co-free policy for JCPS.For many years, the district has prohibited smoking and other forms of tobacco use by students. They aren’t al-lowed to even possess or carry tobacco products on district property. The new policy, which will go into effect on Mon., July 1, 2013, will apply to everyone, including JCPS employees and parents. No one will be allowed to smoke cigarettes or use any other tobacco products any-where on JCPS property, in district vehicles, or at JCPS events. The policy will be in effect 24 hours a day, seven days a week.This 100 percent tobacco-free policy will ensure that students aren’t exposed

to second-hand smoke, a leading trigger of asthma attacks (and asthma is one of the top reasons that stu-dents miss school). The policy also will support health lessons taught in JCPS classrooms, and it will prepare students for work-places with tobacco-free policies. In addition, a comprehen-sive policy may reduce the number of teens who smoke outside of school. Studies show that schools with to-bacco-free policies have 40 percent fewer youth smok-ers than those without one. The new JCPS policy may even reduce the number of Louisvillians who smoke in the future. Research in-dicates that 90 percent of people who don’t smoke before they turn 18 will not start smoking later in life.

The policy also will ensure that adults model a tobac-co-free lifestyle on JCPS property. When students see adults smoking, they think it’s okay for them to smoke too—no matter how often we tell them it’s dan-gerous. The Kentucky Department for Public Health points out that “we cannot send mixed signals [by allowing adults to smoke] in our learning environments. In order to be effective, there must be no exceptions.”Sincerely,

Donna M. Hargens, Ed. D.JCPS Superintendent

Parent Connection eNews is a JCPS newsletter that offers new, brief articles in a monthly e-mail. You can view the lat-est issue and sign up for future ones on the Parent Connection Web site.

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Free classes help smokers kick the habitThe Louisville Department of Public Health and Well-ness and the Kentucky Cancer Program offer free stop-smoking classes. They include 12 one-hour weekly sessions and relapse pre-vention.At most classes, materials and nicotine replacement products as well as the classes themselves are free, but registration is required. Call 574-STOP (7867) or send an e-mail to stopsmoking@louisville-ky.gov with your name, phone number, home ad-dress, and e-mail address. Indicate the class you want to attend. The start dates are listed below.• Mar. 5: Tuesdays, 11 a.m.

to 12 noon, Family Health

Center Portland, 2215 Portland Ave.

• Mar. 27: Wednesdays, 1 to 2 p.m., Bates Commu-nity Development Corp., 1228 S. Jackson St.

• Apr. 2: Tuesdays, 12 noon to 1 p.m., Transit Author-ity of River City (TARC), 1000 W. Broadway

• Apr. 4: Thursdays, 12 noon to 1 p.m., Sts. Mary & Elizabeth Hospital, As-sembly Room, 1850 Blue-grass Ave.

• Apr. 9: Tuesdays, 5 to 6 p.m., Sullivan University College of Pharmacy, 2100 Gardiner Ln., Sullivan Uni-versity Training Center Room

• Apr. 11: Thursdays, 6 to 7 p.m., Family Health Cen-ter Portland, 2215 Port-land Ave.

• Apr. 18: Thursdays, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Sun Valley Community Center, 6505 Bethany Ln.

• Apr. 22: Mondays, 11 a.m. to 12 noon, Family Health Center Portland, 2215 Portland Ave.

• May 17: Fridays, 12 noon to 1 p.m., Kentucky Can-cer Program, James Gra-ham Brown Cancer Center, Resource Center, 529 S. Jackson St., 1st Floor

More classes will be avail-able as we get closer to the date that JCPS implements the new tobacco-free policy (July 1). Information on additional classes will be available on the Health Department Web site and the JCPS Web site.

Did you know that high school graduates or adults with a General Educational De-velopment (GED) Certificate earn an average of $7,827 more a year than nongrad-uates? Free GED and skill-building classes are available throughout Louisville. For more information, call 485-3400 or visit www.adulted4u.com.

Learn more to earn more

Don’t forget to join the PTA or PTSA at your child’s school. The power of these or-ganizations is in the strength of their memberships. Every additional member adds clout and enhances the learning environment for all students.

Are you getting the e-mail newsletter?

Your PTA: there’s strength in numbers

Boosting self-esteem for children with disabilities

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Some children who have disabilities are prone to having feelings of low self-esteem. Here are some ways to build confidence:• Give your child opportunities to

solve problems and make deci-sions. For example, you could work with your child to develop a home-work schedule. Discuss the pros and cons of different schedules, and let your child take the lead in cre-ating the final one. Children have more self-esteem when they feel they have control and ownership of things in their lives.

• Give your child many opportuni-ties to contribute to family life. For instance, you could ask your child to help plan dinner menus or family activities. Tell your child that the family needs his or her help and that the contributions are appreci-ated.

• Make sure your child doesn’t feel defeated by mistakes. Children with disabilities are some-times more vulnerable to feeling like a “failure.” Help your child un-derstand that everyone makes mis-takes and that they offer a chance to grow. Discuss times when you struggled with something and made mistakes. Children also need to understand that they aren’t defined by their disability or the mistakes they may make. They are defined by the strengths and the interests that make them a unique person.

Source: the JCPS Exceptional Child Education (ECE) Department—Phone: 485-8500 Web: www.jcpsky.net/Programs/ECE/index.html

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Vision 2015:Strategies to increase parent and community involvementThe JCPS Strategic Plan: Vision 2015 in-cludes goals in four focus areas: Increased Learning; Graduation and Beyond; Stake-holder Involvement/Engagement; and Safe, Resourced, and Equipped Schools. Each issue of Parent Connection highlights the strategies that the district is using to meet one of the goals or the measures it is using to track success. This month, the focus is on Goal 3. To read the complete strategic plan, click here.Focus Area: Stakeholder involvement/engagementGoal: Parents, community, and partners enrich students’ educational experiences and support their success.Strategies: • Design aligned, data-driven, and

sustainable planning processes to provide a coherent focus in order to achieve the vision of the Board of Education. Align the Comprehensive District Improvement Plan (CDIP) and Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) with the Strategic Plan and ensure deep implementation of these strategies so that they impact the work on each student’s desk.

• Increase the number of out-of-school hours spent by students scor-ing at the Novice and Apprentice levels in reading, math, science, social studies, writing, ACT, and end-of-course subjects (Biology, Algebra II, English II, and U.S. History), including using such technologi-cal tools as SuccessMaker and Study Is-land.

• Increase the number of community-based opportunities/experiences to

support student learning, including ser-vice learning, the arts, and enrichment experiences. Increase the use of the Parent Portal.

• Think big! Plan with parents, teachers, administrators, and community stake-holders, and seek support and funding for major initiatives that will impact

student learning. Design commu-nity engagement—“a move-

ment” around increased learning time—that includes tracking family activities that support learning. (Audit ac-

tion 9.9)• Collaborate with the PTA, the Jef-

ferson County Teachers Association (JCTA), the Jefferson County Association of School Administrators (JCASA), com-munity organizations, and institutions of higher education to increase the “con-certed cultivation mindset” among parents in the community so that they become our partners in the “educational cultivation” of our children.• Increase the quality of teacher training and learning interventions by increasing the number of partner-ships between our higher-education partners and specific schools.

• Build capacity for schools to develop Professional Learning Communities with cohorts of teachers and adminis-trators who share a collective vision for and shared ownership of achievement for each child.

• Celebrate learning—the successes of our students as well as the contributions of teachers, administrators, parents, and community stakeholders.

Atherton students earn state honor for diversity videoMembers of an Atherton High speech and debate class earned the top award in the fourth annual Gov-ernor’s Diversity Day Video Project.Diversity Day is a program “that seeks to raise diver-sity awareness and cultural competency among Ken-tucky’s elementary, middle, and high school students,” according to the state Office of Diversity & Equality. The video competition chal-lenged students “to or-ganize and present their thoughts on this year’s

theme, ‘Working Together.’” Atherton student Daja Jones served as the princi-pal director for the award -winning video, First Im-pressions. Riley Fitzgerald was the principal editor. The students’ advisor was Atherton teacher Tony Prince.

Teachers win nation-al Intellectual Free-dom AwardEnglish teachers Martha Brennan at Waggener High and Rebecca Slagle at Jef-fersontown High were named winners of the 2012 Intellectual Freedom Award by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)/

Support for the Learning and Teaching of English (SLATE). During the 2011-12 school year, two English electives were offered at Waggener. Brennan taught Hip-Hop Lit-eracies. Slagle taught Urban Fiction. The two classes col-laborated to produce From the Hood to the Halls: A Survival Guide to Hip-Hop Culture. This guide includes advice on navigating issues that many youths experi-ence. Brennan and Slagle were nominated for the National Intellectual Freedom Award by the Kentucky Council of Teachers of English. They received the award in the fall during the annual NCTE Convention in Las Vegas. A transcript from the awards ceremony includes the following: “Teaching—real teaching—means cre-ating a safe environment for all students to express themselves. Teaching—real teaching—therefore, means creating a safe place for students who have seen violence, for students who know abuse and poverty, and for students who live lives beyond the safety of our classrooms and our adult culture. “We do not always agree with what students say or with how they say it, but all

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Clinton Morris, from the Kentucky Office of Diversity & Equality, presents a plaque to Daja Jones, Riley Fitzgerald, and Tony Prince.

students deserve teachers who create safe spaces for such expression. Tonight’s SLATE recipients did just that ....”

Bates educator named Kentucky’s PE Teacher of the YearBillie Stone, fitness teacher at Bates Elementary, was selected as the 2012 El-ementary Physical Educa-tion Teacher of the Year by the Kentucky Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance.Stone was honored in the fall at an awards banquet at the Galt House. In the pho-to below, she stands beside Scott Gerlach of Oldham County, the 2012 Secondary Physical Education Teacher of the Year. When Gerlach was a UofL student, Stone was his field work supervi-sor.

Staff member receives national multicultural educa-tion awardAukram Burton in the JCPS Office of Diversity, Equity,

and Poverty Programs is the winner of the G. Pritchy Smith Multicultural Educator Award. It honors Burton’s three decades of work in the field.

Brooklawn educator named outstanding teacherBeth Guthrie, a teacher at Brooklawn School, was named Outstanding Teacher

of the Year by the Kentucky Educational Collaborative for State Agency Children. Guthrie was honored during the Alternative Strategies for Educating Students At-Risk Conference, which was held at Eastern Kentucky University.

Contact the Parent Connection editor, Thomas Pack, at 485-6315 or at thomas.pack@jefferson.

kyschools.us.

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Have you heard of the senior slump? It’s when seniors who worked hard during the first half of the school year decide it’s time to take it easy. They’ve already sent in their college applications, and they think the remain-ing months just aren’t that important.Parents of seniors may want to remind them that all classes are important and that some universi-ties have even withdrawn admission offers from stu-dents who suddenly start getting low grades or who drop college-prep courses.But the slump doesn’t just affect seniors. Students at any grade level might feel like it’s just not as impor-tant to study as hard as they did during the first semester. Here are a few tips for helping your child avoid the slump.

• Tell him or her that now is a good time to think about both short- and long-term goals. Explain how hard work through-out the school year lays a foundation that will help him or her reach those goals.

• Make sure your child has solid time-management and organizational skills. For instance, make sure your child knows how to create a homework schedule, set priorities for assignments, and use a printed or digital calen-dar to track them.

• Tell your child that it always takes effort to make good grades.

• If your child is a fresh-man, sophomore, or ju-nior, remind him or her that high school grades are cumulative. Some se-niors now wish they had worked harder when they were underclassmen.

Watch out for the second-semester slump

Next year’s calendar

First and Last Days for Students 8/20, 6/4*

*6/4 will be the last day of school unless there are days to be made up. Inclement weather may alter the school calendar, grading periods, and report card distribution dates.

First and Last Days for Teachers(No School for Students) ................................8/16, 6/5

No School for StudentsLabor Day ................................................................9/2

Thanksgiving Break ...................................11/27–11/29

Winter Break .................................................12/23–1/3

Martin Luther King Jr. Day .....................................1/20

Spring Break ...................................................3/31–4/4

Primary Election Day ..............................................5/20

Memorial Day .........................................................5/26

Professional-Development Days .........10/4, 10/7, 10/8, 11/11, 2/24, 2/25, 5/2

Make-Up Days for StudentsMissed school days will be made up in the following order: 2/26, 2/27, 2/28, 6/5, 6/6, 6/9, 6/10, 6/11, 6/12, 6/13.

If 2/26, 2/27, and 2/28 are not used as make-up days, individual schools will decide whether to use those days to host enrichment activities for some students or to have a no-school day for all students.

Parent-Teacher ConferencesConferences will be scheduled on the following dates: 10/8, 2/24.

APRIL MON TUE WED THU FRI 1 2 3 4 7 8 9 10 11 14 15 16 17 18 21 22 23 24 25 28 29 30

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer Offering Equal Educational Opportunities www.jcpsky.net

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School Calendar 2013-14

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