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Show The Park Record D Section A Thursday, November 16, 1995 Page A11 The spirit of giving ... I ji"Ff i f n . I'; - " " 1 j --II mm ' ' '"' I' ( ' ' ' .. ) 4 mix? V The upper elementary students of Soaring Wings Montessori School present $200 to Linda Meyers as a kickoff for the new Adopt-A-Native Elder Children's Program on Saturday, Nov. 11. The money is a portion of the proceeds from the Park City Children's Fair, which the school sponsors in the spring. The rest of the proceeds are donated to entities such as the the Summit County Friends of Animals, the Park City Library and Hogle Zoo. Soaring Wings Montessori School was founded in 1987 by Bruce King and his wife Duna Strachan. The school is conducted at the Park City Education Center. Left to Right: Christopher Brown, Robert Dalton, Glen Heinrich-Wallace, Linda Meyers, Caitlin Dalton, Katie Wilking, Kelly Sabey, Garrett Boyce, Leith Strachan and Charlie Christensen. Winter School might go global continued from A10 gave educators the nuts and bolts of B's curriculum. "I found it an absolutely fascinating fascinat-ing conference," Heinrich said, mmm All Winter School teachers will eventually be trained by IB, according to Damon, and indoctrinated in its philosophy, the emphases of the curriculum, curricu-lum, and how to prepare their students for IB exams. The Winter School is not a state accredited school, which means that if a student were to leave the school and enroll in a state public high school, his or her credits would not necessarily transfer. "We want to avoid problems for young kids," Damon said. The state denied the Winter School's application for accreditation mainly because not all of the teachers "We create gold medal kids, not just gold medals' -Kathy Calhoun-Damon were certified, according to Damon. However, Winter School teachers are required to have a college degree and display excellent teaching skills, no matter how they were acquired, she added. "A piece of paper is not a guarantee guaran-tee mat a person is an excellent teacher," Damon said. "Some Winter School teachers are certified, some are not. Our goal is to get the best teachers." Nevertheless, the school has reapplied for state accreditation accredita-tion and has enrolled teachers in certification programs. "It is our intent to comply" with state codes, Damon said The school is also a candidate candi-date with the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools. It has already passed the initial application phase and, after it completes com-pletes a self-study following its fourth year of operation, it will have full member-school status. Park City schools loaded with attractions continued from A10 "I know from my student teaching that Park City schools are more attractive because of parent involvement involve-ment and technology," said Babcock, who taught at an inner-city school in Michigan. "This is great compared com-pared to what I went through in my student teaching. I feel lucky." Park City alone its "great ambience and beauty" may entice teachers from across the country as well, Fielder said. "We also have excellent teachers and administrators administra-tors that have excellent reputations in the state," he added. Perhaps the two elements are symbiotic. "Because Park City is a desirable place to live, the district can choose the best teachers in the nation ," Turner said. "And the result of that is a good school." Teachers are also attracted to the district's small class size. "Here, locals have voted for leeways to hire teachers teach-ers to maintain a low teacher-to-student ratio," Fielder said. The average teacher-pupil ratio in Park City is 22.07; in Granite it is 24.39; in Jordan School District, 26.09, according to the Utah State Office of Education. Randall Godfrey, Park City High School English teacher, once worked at Granite School District's Kennedy Jr. High School. "It's real difficult to compare the two because Granite is so huge and Park City is just tiny," he said. "But when I started teaching in Park City, I knew all the teachers and by mid-October, I knew all the students stu-dents in the high school" something that he says he couldn't do at Granite district. "Patrons, administration and faculty have always been dedicated to small class size," Godfrey added. "They understand how important it is that each student stu-dent has a chance for one-on-one time with the teacher. As long as the community still holds to that, I don't see that growth will be a problem." Godfrey also doubts Park City School District will ever grow as big as inner-city schools, where 38 students stu-dents per class is common. "You can't teach students to write" in a class that big, he said. "I think why I want to go up there is the district's autonomy," said first-grade teacher Lori Briggs-Cook from Salt Lake City School District's Uintah Elementary School. "Teachers can work with one little district, and get to know people." Diana LeBaron applied to teach in Park City School District last year. "I knew it was one of the most innovative in terms of curriculum," she said. LeBaron instead was instead hired as a history teacher at Salt Lake City's Murray High School in Murray School District, and says she is happy there. She says she has access to technology in computers, a multi-media center, CD Rom and soon will have access to the Internet. LeBaron feels finances are the main draw of Park City schools. "There is a great deal of money funneled in to the district," she said. "With money, just about anything can be achieved in education." Shift money for college, advisors say If your child is planning to enter college in the fall of 1996 or 1997, you may be able to increase the amount of financial aid he or she receives by making some strategic moves before the end of the year, according to American Express financial advisors. This is because the standard formula for-mula for determining the family's ability to contribute toward the cost of college is based on a family's income and assets in the year preceding pre-ceding aid. If the expected family, contribution is less than the amount it costs to attend College X, the difference dif-ference may be made up in financial finan-cial aid typically a package of loans, grants, and work study. The X'1 standard formula is based on four major factors: Parental income. This includes taxable and nontaxable income in.l" the year preceding the award year,1" minus an allowance for living expenses ($17,150 for a family of four), as well ds taxes,. Social Security, and an employment expense allowance for working parents par-ents (up to $2,500). "Available income" is multiplied by between 22 percent to 47 percent (the higher your available income the higher the percentage). Parental assets. This includes stocks, bonds, savings accounts, and business assets minus an asset-protection asset-protection allowance. The older you are, the larger the allowance. The result is multiplied by 5.6 percent. per-cent. Parental assets are not counted count-ed for families with adjusted gross incomes below $50,000. Student income. The student is expected to contribute 50 percent of available income. Student assets. Unlike the parental factor, there is no asset-protection asset-protection allowance and the student stu-dent is expected to contribute 35 percent of the value of the assets. Adjustments are made for families fami-lies in divorce or separated situations situa-tions or if more than one child is in college. With these factors in mind, consider the following strategies: If possible and appropriate, postpone the receipt of income, such as bonuses, into 1996 if you're applying for aid in 1996. Consider accelerating ' income into 1995 if you're applying for aid for 1997. .' . If it makes investment sense, consider accelerating or postponing the sale of profitable assets, depending on the year of aid. If money is in a custodial account (thus in the child's name and counted as student assets), consider con-sider spending some of that money on other needed non-college expenses for the child, such as . orthodontic work, soccer camp, or a computer. This lowers the student's assets (which are counted more heavily than the parents') and frees up more parental money. Kick in extra money into qualified quali-fied retirement accounts. It's always a good' idea to-sae for retirement anyway, and these assets may not be counted in the parental asset calculation, except for contributions contri-butions made the year before receiving aid. While one or more of these strategies may be useful, remember that most of the aid students receive is in the form of loans that must be repaid. Saving as much as possible before college, even if it reduces the amount of available aid, may still be the best option for many families. 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