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ANSA program
moves to JMMS, minimum days adopted
By Lori Bledsoe
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE — Alpine Natural Science Academy is changing locations from Mountain View Learning Academy to Joan Mac Queen Middle School this coming 2006-2007 school year.
The move is expected to better accommodate the necessary breaks, student supervision, and preparatory time needed for ANSA teacher Bob Bordelon. The students are also expected to have better access to facilities and extracurricular activities at JMMS.
Last year, when ANSA was formed in an attempt to alleviate declining enrollment in the district, Superintendent Greg Ryan had to make a decision about where to place the program. He said his decision was based on the fact that this program was enrolling sixth and seventh grade students and would have to be housed in a school setting that also served those grade levels. He said, “It would be inappropriate to place this middle school program on an elementary campus.”
Originally, the district’s first choice of a location for ANSA was JMMS, but there wasn’t room at the middle school. Ryan decided to place it at his alternate choice of location, Mountain View Learning Academy because there was an available classroom. MVLA is an alternate education site at the back of the Shadow Hills Elementary School campus, which houses kindergarten through eighth grade.
Now that the current school year is coming to a close, and room is opening up at JMMS, the district is making the decision to move ANSA to its first choice location. Because ANSA in on the MVLA campus, it is distant from middle school activities and teacher support.
Ryan said at a PTSA meeting last Tuesday, “It’s time to put ANSA at JMMS as a program.”
During the school day, each teacher is usually allowed some time for preparation of class activities and is allotted, by teacher contract, two 10-minute breaks, and a 40-minute lunch break.
Bordelon, through this first experimental year for the ANSA program, has not had any daily prep time, nor is he able to fully appreciate his break time without the need to supervise students. To alleviate this problem, the district hired a supervision assistant for the lunch period to allow Bordelon his contractual breaks, but this still did not cover any necessary morning and afternoon break time, nor did it allow for student supervision before class time. Prep time is also still at issue.
Also, throughout this year, ANSA’s ability to participate in JMMS activities, such as school dances, sports events and even sixth grade camp has been on parents’ and students’ minds. ANSA students are welcomed to join in with the activities, but due to location, attending activities proved inconvenient.
In the move, all of the above concerns, such as student supervision, teacher preparatory time and teacher break time will be alleviated, and benefits to the program will increase, Ryan said. The ANSA students will be placed in close proximity to other students the same age and will have immediate access to all the middle school sports activities and social events.
During student physical education, Bordelon will have prep time and students will have regular breaks and lunchtimes. With the JMMS school supervision already in place, Bordelon will no longer feel responsible for providing it.
New minimum day schedule
Also on the slate for change is the schedule for the 2006-2007 school year. At the district's May 11 school board meeting, Ryan presented a proposal for a monthly minimum day to accommodate collaborative planning support and preparatory time for the teachers of our district.
Mark Price and Steve Hunyar were not in favor of cutting student seat time to accommodate the new minimum day schedule. Price said, “Everyone benefits from proper planning but not if it is taking away from instructional minutes.”
Scott Barr and Ann Pierce were both in favor of the new schedule. Pierce said, “It’s important for teachers to have collaborative time across all subjects. This time could make things a lot smoother.”
Mary Wiggins also supported the minimum day, saying that the school she had worked in always had one, and 95 percent of the teachers used it for collaboration.
During the discussion, it was proposed that the district limit minimum day schedule approval to a one-year trial period, and then review the benefits after that year. Ryan agreed. The new schedule will allow for the first Wednesday of every month to be a minimum day.
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