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Show B4 • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2008 S cho Covering what matters most First Board meeting Lindsay B. Wolsey STAFF WRITER Wednesday, Oct. 9 marked the first Nebo School Board of Education Meeting since the decision was made to try and streamline the meetings. Board Member Debbie Swenson explained that in an effort to shorten the length of the meetings, the consent agenda will be looked at by the board prior to the meeting. This cuts out between 10-15 minutes per meeting. Orchard Hills Elementary Principal Kim Barlow gave a brief explanation of the special program happening at the Santaquin school. "Each area in the district has students in specialty classes, and for whatever reason they need extra help than they can get in the classroom. We are fortunate enough to have some of these classes at Orchard Hills," Barlow said. "A goal is to mainstream the students, have them in the regular classroom as much as possible," he said. Barlow then turned the time over to the two teachers in charge of the Early Utah Ingregration Program (EUI), Jennifer Waters and Lauralene Edvalson. "Our students have a lot of emotional and mental disabilities, and different classifications, from autism to Down's syndrome to being wheelchair bound. But they have one thing in common—they all need friends," Edvalson said. "We'd like to share about the positive impact the Lunch Buddy and Peer Tutor program have had on our school. Each day our students have the chance to pair up with a buddy at lunch time and it provides a chance for peers to reach out and make the day of one of our students," she said. "This makes their day." It's not just the EUI students who are being positively affected by the Lunch Buddy Program. Many teachers ask for thenstudents to pull out to help with the two programs so the mainstream students will have successes in their day. Edvalson read some notes written by students participating in the program. "These little guys have so much love, and accept students without question. I think that helps our general student body so much. It helps them be kinder. The students love it, they smile more; they are happy to be at school." "Since we started that program on the first day, I could see the unity increase in our school. I was talking to a parent that has a child in my class, and several of the students walked up and interacted with the students and me, saying hi. I am so grateful to have these students and have the experience to have these students in our school," Waters said. More than one meeting attendee and members of the school board had teary eyes by the end of the presentation that showed students participating in the Lunch Buddy program. Students in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades take turns working in the lunch room. The students who are not assigned to lunch duty are assigned a lunch buddy to sit with. After the presentation by Orchard Hills, Seth Sorensen explained the recent results of the No Child Left Behind report. The Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report is quite complicated, but Sorensen tried to explain it to the audience. Sorensen did his best, but the eyes of the student attendees still began to glaze over. Th& national goal is by 2014 all students will have mastery or near mastery of curriculum for any given course. Schools are judged by overall scores and by various subgroups of students. If a student belongs to more than one subgroup, that student can be counted multiple times. "Overall Nebo did make adequate yearly progress last year," Sorensen said. "Only two schools didn't pass." The two schools that didn't quite make AYP were Spanish Oaks Elementary and Springville Jr. High; Spanish Oaks. The failing Spanish Oaks subgroup was the Disability Subgroup on language arts. "They didn't make it because their group was very Security Insurance TOP DON HONORING EXCELLENCE AT Senior Sonnett Davies- is the daughter of Ron and Karin Davies of Spanish fork. She has a 4.0 GPA and her favorite classes include Ambassadors, 'Concert Choir and her CNA class at MATC. Sonnett is an NHS officer and a Jr. Miss representative for Spanish Fork and Salem. She would like to tour Europe and would listen to "random songs" on her ipod. Insurance BYU Young Ambassadors Lana Hiskey C H O I R BOOSTER Brigham Young University's Young Ambassadors will perform at Spanish Fork High (SFHS) Spanish Fork High's Choral Music department will host the Brigham Young University's Young Ambassadors on Oct. 30,2008, at 7 p.m. SFHS's Ambassadors and Encore choral groups will also be singing. Reserved seating costs $7 and general seating costs $6. Tickets may be purchased at SFHS office from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. or from any SFHS choir member. The Young Ambassador's musical production, The New Music Makers, will celebrate popular music and dance from the 1960s up to the present day, and feature familiar tunes that will no doubt have the audience tapping their toes and humming along. The Young Ambassadors will perform at Spanish Fork High audi- torium, on Oct. 30,2008. at Randall Boothe, "we have sifted through hundreds of 7 p.m. Featuring hits by Frankie songs and have selected the Valli and The Four Seasons, most fun, most positive, and Carole King, Stevie Wonder, most uplifting music —muDiamond Rio, while includ- sic that typifies wholesome, ing some of the most exciting • family entertainment. The moments from Broadway to- New Music Makers accenjday, the Young Ambassadors tuates the positive with muguarantee that this 90-minute sic by some of the world's presentation will have some- most celebrated composers thing for everyone. Instru- and lyricists." mentalists will enjoy the reIn April of 2009, the turn, after a 20-year absence, group will take The New of a full 10-piece show band Music Makers on tour to that will be positioned cen- Scandinavia for their first ter stage. Family audiences Performing Arts appearance will not want to miss songs there since 1989. They will from the movies they grew also take their production up loving, along with fa- to New Mexico and Texas vorite Broadway melodies within the United States. from Wicked, Spamalot, and The Young AmbassaYou're a Good Man Char- dors represent the School of lie Brown. Over the past 37 Music in cooperation with years the Young Ambas- the Department of Dance at sadors have shared their re- Brigham Young University markable talent and energy in Provo, Utah. BYU js one in more than 68 countries and of America's largest private have gained a strong reputa- universities with 30,000 : tion as wholesome, profes- students from all over the sional entertainers. United States and 120 foreign countries. "For this show, especially," said artistic director ^ Courtesy Photb t GREAT BEGINNINGS: Salem Hills Hawks Nest hold their first ever meeting of the year. ) Skyhawks spread their wings \ Samuel G. Egbert PTSA Friday proved to be very successful for the "Hawks Nest" at Salem Hills glMENTARY Salem Elementary t. Loafer Elementary School is ; proud to spotlight Lexi VanTassell. f, Lexi was just voted as our new stu> dent council president! Lexi has ! many great ideas for the school ! and sets such a super example as ! a sixth grade student. In her spare [ lime, Lexi loves to dance, play tsoccer, and ride horses. At school, loves science, writing, and !|OVA. Lexi wears a wristband hat says, 'Take a stand, make a ence!" We know Lexi makes ence at Mt. Loafer and we date all of her hard work! Security nsurance 798-3500 A«G•E AT IT AGAIN: The BYU Young Ambassadors put on their best moves and smiles for all. Shay lie Riuwell 290 N. Main-Spanish Fork Allied Kelsey Hall/ Spanish Fork News SFHS Sonnett Davies Sponsored by: successful last year, so it was hard to improve. Seventy percent progress last year, 50 percent this year. Still impressive considering what those students are up against," Sorensen said. "They only missed AYP by four students in a school of 800." Springville Junior High also had a narrow margin, missing AYP by five students in a school of 564. Again, the failing subgroup was Students With Disabilities. "Good things are happening, but the way things are set up the schools are at a disadvantage," Sorensen said. "AYP does not follow students year to year, and because we're comparing this year to last year, its different percentages of students." There are 13 classifications for students with dis' abilities. Superintendent Chris Sorsensen wondered at the complicated way the AYP results are set up. "These kids are behind their peers, yet they're expected to test on the same level with their peers. It's the greatest mystery in education today. It baffles me." The state of Utah has its own classification system Utah Performance Assessment System for Students (UPASS). UPASS looks at student participation on assessment, status scores, and progress score. Students are followed year to year to see if they are making progress. In UPASS, students falling into a subgroup are only counted once. "The only schools who didn't pass UPASS were Bamett Elementary and Brookside Elementary," Sorensen said. School Board President Dean Rowley asked what happens to schools that don't pass AYP. "They could be sanctioned. The first year they're put on alert, second year the district comes up with plans to work with the schools, third year the state office works with the school. The fifth year the federal government can step in and make changes to staff or administration." Sorensen said. "That's after five consecutive years of failing AYP." "Even our alternative high school, Landmark passed both. To have all the high schools make AYP, that's very difficult," Swenson said. High School, as they held their first ever meeting. The 'nest' is a representative council made up of student club presidents, athletic team captains, student organization leaders, student body officers, and class presidents. They will meet once a month to promote unity, encourage student participation and involvement, give input and ideas, promote school spirit, coordinate activities and share duties of schoolwide service projects. The major matter of business during the first meeting was to plan a fund raiser for the Make a Wish Foundation. They discussed the need for the school to raise $5,000 to make the wish of a fellow student, Sarah Prince, of ! traveling to the United Kingdom. The plan was made to hold a food festival where each club would make a food associated with their club to sell to the public. A mother-daughter movie night was also planned :in which a Jane Austin movie, (Prince's favorite author) would be shown. "What a great feeling," expressed Mrs. Burr, assistant principal, "to look across the room and see the choir president, football captain, Spanish club president, all the different leaders of a high school sharing ideas and working together." I Get on the fASr track SPONSORED DYi SECURITY Be the first to HOME MORTGAGE get local news 798-1681 i - N E W S - Spanish Fork |