SLLIS Superintendent's November Updates AWS
SLLIS Superintendent's November Updates Campaign Preview
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SUPERINTENDENT’S NOVEMBER UPDATES Dear SLLIS Learning Community, I would like to take a moment to wish the SLLIS Board, staff and parents a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday. Despite th h ll h h d t th l ll l
the challenges we have had at the local level (and continue to face), we do have a lot for which to be grateful. We have an involved Board that seeks to ensure equitable access and opportunity for all students. We have dedicated staff members who renew their commitment to serve all students on a daily basis. We have an ever-strengthening allSLLIS PTO that is working in many different ways to support our school. We also cannot forget UMSL, SLLIS sponsor. UMSL supports SLLIS in ways many of you do not get to experience personally like I do. All SLLIS stakeholder groups’ combined efforts truly benefit our children. Thank you! THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE SPONSORS AMEREN CORPORATION CHARITABLE TRUST AND WELLS FARGO We are grateful that both Ameren Corporation Charitable Trust and Wells Fargo are providing support for our personalized learning program in English and Math, iReady. Ameren Corporation Charitable Trust awarded SLLIS a $10,000 donation towards our new iReady personalized learning platform. Wells Fargo awarded SLLIS a $5,000 grant towards iReady. Donations like these help us reach our mission of developing bilingual students.
THRILLSHARE WEBSITE/APP UPDATE – DELAY Due to data migration taking longer than anticipated, our new website and app will not be rolled out until early January 2018. Thank you for your patience as we perfect what will be our new interactive technology and notification system!
S
IS IS I
O I S
SLLIS IS IN THE MOVIES! SLLIS purchased an ad campaign currently running at three different movie theaters: The Moolah Theater, The Galleria 6 Cinemas, and the Chase Park Plaza. The goal is to boost our visibility with parents of preschool aged children and generate increased interest in SLLIS.
BEGINNING PREPARATIONS FOR 2018-2019 SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR Welfare and SLLIS Council will begin to provide input for the initial draft of the 2018-2019 calendar over the next few weeks. Please make sure to give any of your suggestions to either your SLLIS Staff Welfare Representative or SLLIS Council Parent Representative. I am interested in feedback regarding the extended school day hours and school year, the time allotted for teacher preparation days for report cards and professional development days, as well as the beginning of the year structures for both staff and parents.
NOVEMBER BOARD MEETING UPDATE Due to a lower than projected enrollment for 17-18, we have had to adjust our ADA numbers with DESE. As a result, state revenue will be reduced over the next several months. We expect to be running a deficit beginning in November and lasting at least until March, when federal monies are “trued up”. We will continue to monitor the budget closely. We still currently have an achievable goal of preserving our fund balance from June 30, 2017. The Bus Transportation Study with First Student revealed that we have 165 students who are “ghostriders”—meaning, that they do not take the bus at all. As a result of this finding, First Student will be able to re-route buses and decrease our total buses from 11 to 9 this school year. Once this occurs, SLLIS will have a monthly cost savings of $12,000. The next steps for the re-routing will be to send letters home to all 165 students identified as riding buses zero times but with an assigned stop. Parents will have the opportunity to appeal the elimination of their bus
stop before they are removed from the ridership list. Then, if parents appeal and are kept on the ridership lists, SLLIS will continue to verify with First Student if ridership is occurring. However, if SLLIS determines that those students still do not take the bus, SLLIS will then move to eliminate the bus stop entirely and will send final notification to parents. The full dataset for the 2017 Missouri MAP standardized test was released this week. I prepared an initial drill-down of student data for grades 3-5 in English and Math across the language programs, analyzing several student subgroups. A general overall conclusion: while there are pockets of student achievement, the overwhelming majority of our students are scoring at the Below Basic and Basic levels. This is, in a word, unacceptable, especially in light of the fact that skills (or lack thereof) in L1 (i.e., English) impact acquisition of L2 (i.e., target language). If we compare Missouri MAP student achievement to student growth data results from one year to the next, we can also make a general conclusion that we are not “growing” all students as much as we could be. We also know that we have our work cut out for us from kindergarten. An average of 81% of our kindergartners --from across the three language programs--are reading below grade level in English, as measured by iReady. In addition, an average of 78% of kindergarteners are below grade level in Math. There are serious decisions that will have to be made in the coming months regarding our instructional program. Internally, we are going to begin identifying ways to structure our program so that it meets the needs of all children in L1 and L2. I do want to reassure all stakeholders that SLLIS remains committed to ensuring that all students succeed academically and become bilingual and biliterate in their chosen target language.
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and a restful break. I look forward to continuing our important work when we return. Sincerely, Lilith Werner, PhD Superintendent
Upcoming Dates November 22 – 26: THANKSGIVING BREAK November 29: SLLIS Council at Papin @ 6pm December 6: SLLIS PTO Meeting at Papin @ 6 pm Childcare for children K and above provided PLEASE NOTE THERE IS NO DECEMBER BOARD MEETING December 23 to WINTER BREAK January 7
Copyright © 2018 St. Louis Language Immersion School, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are interested in SLLIS. Our mailing address is: St. Louis Language Immersion School 3740 Marine Ave. St Louis, MO 63118 Add us to your address book
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
HTML Source
Plain-Text Email
Details
View this email in your browser
SUPERINTENDENT’S NOVEMBER UPDATES Dear SLLIS Learning Community, I would like to take a moment to wish the SLLIS Board, staff and parents a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday. Despite th h ll h h d t th l ll l
the challenges we have had at the local level (and continue to face), we do have a lot for which to be grateful. We have an involved Board that seeks to ensure equitable access and opportunity for all students. We have dedicated staff members who renew their commitment to serve all students on a daily basis. We have an ever-strengthening allSLLIS PTO that is working in many different ways to support our school. We also cannot forget UMSL, SLLIS sponsor. UMSL supports SLLIS in ways many of you do not get to experience personally like I do. All SLLIS stakeholder groups’ combined efforts truly benefit our children. Thank you! THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE SPONSORS AMEREN CORPORATION CHARITABLE TRUST AND WELLS FARGO We are grateful that both Ameren Corporation Charitable Trust and Wells Fargo are providing support for our personalized learning program in English and Math, iReady. Ameren Corporation Charitable Trust awarded SLLIS a $10,000 donation towards our new iReady personalized learning platform. Wells Fargo awarded SLLIS a $5,000 grant towards iReady. Donations like these help us reach our mission of developing bilingual students.
THRILLSHARE WEBSITE/APP UPDATE – DELAY Due to data migration taking longer than anticipated, our new website and app will not be rolled out until early January 2018. Thank you for your patience as we perfect what will be our new interactive technology and notification system!
S
IS IS I
O I S
SLLIS IS IN THE MOVIES! SLLIS purchased an ad campaign currently running at three different movie theaters: The Moolah Theater, The Galleria 6 Cinemas, and the Chase Park Plaza. The goal is to boost our visibility with parents of preschool aged children and generate increased interest in SLLIS.
BEGINNING PREPARATIONS FOR 2018-2019 SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR Welfare and SLLIS Council will begin to provide input for the initial draft of the 2018-2019 calendar over the next few weeks. Please make sure to give any of your suggestions to either your SLLIS Staff Welfare Representative or SLLIS Council Parent Representative. I am interested in feedback regarding the extended school day hours and school year, the time allotted for teacher preparation days for report cards and professional development days, as well as the beginning of the year structures for both staff and parents.
NOVEMBER BOARD MEETING UPDATE Due to a lower than projected enrollment for 17-18, we have had to adjust our ADA numbers with DESE. As a result, state revenue will be reduced over the next several months. We expect to be running a deficit beginning in November and lasting at least until March, when federal monies are “trued up”. We will continue to monitor the budget closely. We still currently have an achievable goal of preserving our fund balance from June 30, 2017. The Bus Transportation Study with First Student revealed that we have 165 students who are “ghostriders”—meaning, that they do not take the bus at all. As a result of this finding, First Student will be able to re-route buses and decrease our total buses from 11 to 9 this school year. Once this occurs, SLLIS will have a monthly cost savings of $12,000. The next steps for the re-routing will be to send letters home to all 165 students identified as riding buses zero times but with an assigned stop. Parents will have the opportunity to appeal the elimination of their bus
stop before they are removed from the ridership list. Then, if parents appeal and are kept on the ridership lists, SLLIS will continue to verify with First Student if ridership is occurring. However, if SLLIS determines that those students still do not take the bus, SLLIS will then move to eliminate the bus stop entirely and will send final notification to parents. The full dataset for the 2017 Missouri MAP standardized test was released this week. I prepared an initial drill-down of student data for grades 3-5 in English and Math across the language programs, analyzing several student subgroups. A general overall conclusion: while there are pockets of student achievement, the overwhelming majority of our students are scoring at the Below Basic and Basic levels. This is, in a word, unacceptable, especially in light of the fact that skills (or lack thereof) in L1 (i.e., English) impact acquisition of L2 (i.e., target language). If we compare Missouri MAP student achievement to student growth data results from one year to the next, we can also make a general conclusion that we are not “growing” all students as much as we could be. We also know that we have our work cut out for us from kindergarten. An average of 81% of our kindergartners --from across the three language programs--are reading below grade level in English, as measured by iReady. In addition, an average of 78% of kindergarteners are below grade level in Math. There are serious decisions that will have to be made in the coming months regarding our instructional program. Internally, we are going to begin identifying ways to structure our program so that it meets the needs of all children in L1 and L2. I do want to reassure all stakeholders that SLLIS remains committed to ensuring that all students succeed academically and become bilingual and biliterate in their chosen target language.
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and a restful break. I look forward to continuing our important work when we return. Sincerely, Lilith Werner, PhD Superintendent
Upcoming Dates November 22 – 26: THANKSGIVING BREAK November 29: SLLIS Council at Papin @ 6pm December 6: SLLIS PTO Meeting at Papin @ 6 pm Childcare for children K and above provided PLEASE NOTE THERE IS NO DECEMBER BOARD MEETING December 23 to WINTER BREAK January 7
Copyright © 2018 St. Louis Language Immersion School, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are interested in SLLIS. Our mailing address is: St. Louis Language Immersion School 3740 Marine Ave. St Louis, MO 63118 Add us to your address book
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
