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Show Thursday, August 16, 2007 Page 4 WS AND IDEAS FROM CLASSROOMS AND EDUCATORS Alnin AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN W(mmMW we chool Dennis Powell stuck some cheese in fie freezer at the Alpine prepare for ii s Cathy Allred Parents and teachers ;ircn't the only ones getting leads' for the first day of school. It's the Inisiest week of the year for Alpine School District Dis-trict Warehouse employees in Findon and, yes. there will he overtime. "The week before school starts, it's crazy around here," said C lark Ksteban, warehouse manager and purchaser. The second busiest week of the year for the warehouse ware-house begins next Monday. Built on approximately 5 acres, the :?().)(() sq. ft. building build-ing stores and provides the district's (i7 schools with all its dry and frozen USUA food, all the school, athletic, first aid and janitorial supplies. sup-plies. W hether a student sneezes in ( 'edar Valley or in south Orem. the warehouse and its seven workers supply the tissue. With more than 1.01)0 different items and 1.5 million mil-lion total items in inventory recorded on (10 pages, the warehouse at 4!0 N. State St. is a hoarder's dream. "We have everything the schools need to survive," Esteban said. "We strive to serve the teachers and students." notes All schools The first day of school is Tuesday. American Fork High School Student packets Student Stu-dent schedules and information informa-tion packets were mailed to each student last week. The packets contained information regarding paying pay-ing school fees, picking up books as well as class schedules. In order for students to receive their books and be prepared for the first day of school, all student fees must be paid. Books will not be checked out without a receipt showing payment of all class fees. Deadline for fees Today To-day is the last day to pay ! 1"- l ull of USDA cheese, the refrigerator is nearly the size of a three-car garage. The freezer, a small warehouse ware-house in its own right, stores carrots, ground beef, eggs, chicken, ham and more. Outside Out-side the large freezer door, big enough for a fork lift to drive through, are magnetic identification cards letting staff know what is stocked and which aisle it is located on. Aisle upon aisle stocks boxes of paper and office supplies and other items such as garbage can liners. For erasers alone, there are five different varieties pink pearl erasers, pencil tip erasers, eras-ers, kneaded rubber erasers, eras-ers, art gum erasers and, of course, chalk erasers. Paper products take up four rows of shelving nearly 30 feet high, each row more than 100 feet long spanning the width of the warehouse. Construction paper in all the colors of the rainbow and more, butcher paper, tracing trac-ing paper, printer paper, you name it, the warehouse has it. Haeh morning they load trucks with orders for the schools, in the afternoons it's getting the next day's orders ready. They also receive suppliers' loads and take a shipment from FedEx and UPS dailv. fees in person before school starts. Fees may be paid at the school between 8 a.m. and 2"p.m. The finance and office personnel will be involved in meetings on Friday Fri-day and Monday so the of- , fice will be open on a very limited basis. However, the book depository will be closed Friday. Fees may still be paid online w ith a credit card using us-ing MySchooIFees. The link is available at the school's Web site http:www.afhs. alpine. k 12. ut. us. Students will then be able to print a receipt for textbook checkout check-out from the school's book depository. Textbook checkout Today To-day is the last day to check out textbooks from the school's book depository until the first day of school. The book depository will not be open tomorrow but School District Wan-house. f ? L 1 ' I ' J itt $ i The first of 16 rows of shelves in District. Esteban's crew delivers to each school every week making 10-14 deliveries a day. Often there is a need that needs immediate attention at a school such as a principal needing furniture moved from one classroom to another. an-other. "Every once in a while we have a circumstance when will be open on Monday. Students who do not pick up their books by Monday will have to do so before and after school or during class. Students will not be allowed to check out books during class. Pictures and handbooks Student pictures, activity card pictures and student handbooks will all be taken care of the second week of school. Parking permits Parking Park-ing permits must be purchased pur-chased for students to park at AFHS. Permits may be purchased through the fee payment process and can be picked up from the book depository through today or again beginning the first day of school. Sophomore students may purchase a reduced re-duced parking pass for $2.50 and must park in the driving range. The driving range is open from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p m. each day. Juniors and seniors may park in designated desig-nated student parking with a $5 parking pass. Students parking in areas designated for faculty and staff, visitors, emergency vehicles and restricted f r ,411 is nr cmmNMi t, s V , -jus .a 1- -tlv' -(T 5 BARBARA CHRISTIANSENNorth County the main section of the warehouse of the Alpine School we need to pull away from another project and help them," Esteban said. "We usually send three guys out and drop what we're doing." Each year, they take three weeks after school is out for students and take inventory. After inventory, the cycle begins again. The rapid supply and demand help keep the ware parking areas will be ticketed. ticket-ed. Repeat offenders will be booted or towed. Students parking in handicapped parking will be towed. Yearbooks Students and parents are reminded that the cost of yearbooks will go up to $50 on Tuesday. Tues-day. Yearbooks can be purchased through the fee payment process at MySchooIFees or at the student finance window for $40 prior to Tuesday. Parents and students are reminded that office will be open on a very limited basis Friday and Monday due to meetings. Sophomore orientation Sophomore orientation invitations were mailed to every registered sophomore last week. Orientation will by Monday from 10-11 a.m. Sophomores will have the opportunity to become familiar with where their classes and locker will be and to meet their teachers. All sophomores are invited to attend. School pictures School pictures will not be taken during registration but rather Aug. 28-29 during BARBARA CHRISTIANSEN North County V1 house just big enough. "We purchase to fit the space we have," Marlin McKinney, director of purchasing pur-chasing and warehousing, said. His department not only provides school supplies but McKinney also oversees equipping new schools. He said he loves his job. "It constantly changes," McKinney said. English classes. Student handbooks will also be distributed dis-tributed at this time. American Fork Junior High School Yearbooks Yearbooks may be purchased for $30 through January. Beginning in February, the cost will go up to $40. Back to school night Back to school night will be tonight beginning at 6. Parents and students are in-, vited to come and meet with teachers and find out what will be happening in the various classes throughout the year. PE clothes, PTSA dues and lunch accounts may also be purchased at that time. Forbes Elementary School Open house The open house will be tomorrow from 4-6 p.m. Parents and students are invited to attend. at-tend. PTSA dues and lunch accounts may also be updated up-dated at that time. ' mi ; ;t X ; -- ' moves toA- blocks Mysti Santiago NORTH COUNTY STAFF Local middle schools will see a change in how students attend at-tend class this fall. Alpine School District held its first Middle Schools Professional Profes-sional Development Day at the Timberline Middle School in Alpine this Monday. The parking lot was over-1 flowing as teachers came to participate in the lectures and activities designed to prepare them for the coming school year. The district plans to hold the event each year. Officials announced a change for the middle schools this year with the conversion to the A-B block time throughout through-out the district, similar to high schools in the Alpine District. Now instead of seven periods in one day there will be four periods on the "A" day and four periods on the "B" day. Some schools had already made the conversion. . This changeover will allow students to take more electives and spend more time in class, but it does come with a price, said teachers. Some subjects, such as math, are better suited to daily learning, and the change has increased the class size in a system that already has an uncomfortably high student-to-teacher ratio. A : The keynote speaker for tithe general sessions was Jack ferckemeyer, assistant execu-tiveduWtor execu-tiveduWtor of the National MiddUe School Association. BerckenMyer started the daylong day-long conf essence with a speech that resembfied astand-upohv ic routine morle than a lecture.. He spread thfehtful and often hilarious ins&hts reminding remind-ing educators that t!ijey need ' to be "adult advocateVpr students," while drawing firS many teaching experiences with middle school students. He emphasized the need to be aware of the current culture of today and that it is easier to connect with the students if they understand the fads, fashions, fash-ions, trends and slang. Doug Finch, who is the curriculum cur-riculum coordinator and was on the conference planning committee, said the idea behind the professional development day was to bring teachers together so they could learn from each other, "congeal as a team" and kick off the school year with energy. The main advantages to working with other teachers from the same area are that they often face similar issues, speak the same cultural language lan-guage and therefore they are better able to help each other solve problems that they all face in the classroom. Across the nation, schools have had difficulty with a high teacher turnover rate. To combat this difficulty, Alpine School District has mentors embedded in the schools as well as a district wide curriculum cur-riculum mentor that assist new teachers during the first three years. Kevin Cox, Lehi Jr. High principal, told those attending the event that it is easy for middle school students to get distracted. Parents can help by making a dairy effort to stay involved and to emphasize the long term value of education. Stephanie Jones a media specialist from American Fork Jr. High, emphasized that because classroom sizes have gotten bigger, it is even more important for parents to be in involved and to take advantage advan-tage of programs that help parents par-ents play a positive role in their children's lives. Paula Bule, a counselor from Pleasant Grove Jr. High, echoed the need for parents to have daily conversations about school and what they are learning. 00 |