District News and Accolades

Registration for extended day Kindergarten for the 2010-11 school year will begin on Feb. 22 and close on March 12. This is not a first-come-first-served registration process. If there are more applicants for students than we have space available, there will be a random lottery. Notification on acceptance will be made by March 19. Registration forms are found on our Extended Day Kindergarten page.

The Park City High School Music Department and Park City Education Foundation will present the Sixth Annual Sweetheart Gala on Friday, February 12, in the Grand Hall of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Doors will open at 6:00 p.m., with dinner served at 6:30 accompanied by a jazz combo. Then from 8:00 until 11:00 p.m., Park City High School's own Varsity Jazz Ensemble will provide great dance music ranging from early swing to contemporary big band charts. Opportunity drawings will be held throughout the evening. Everyone is welcome!

The event has become so popular that tickets are nearly sold out. To purchase tickets at $50 or $60 per person, or be placed on the waiting list, contact Mickey at 435-901-8421. To make a donation of goods or services for the drawings or for more information on the Sweetheart Gala, please call Lyn at 655-5457.

We have published some information regarding the upcoming budget process on our website:

• Budget Information

Park City School District will hold a town meeting January 14, 2009, at 6:00 pm in the lecture hall at the high school to preview the 2010 legislative session. School district officials will be discussing the implications of state budget shortfalls and legislative bills that may impact public education in Park City.

The Legislature is facing a budget deficit of $850 million or more. Such a huge shortfall is likely to reach all the way into Park City classrooms. District Business Administrator Patty Murphy will talk about the current District budget situation, how deep future cuts may be, and where they may have to be made.

Each year the Legislature considers on average about 100 bills dealing with education in the State of Utah. Many of those bills fine tune public school operations and don’t have a major impact on day-to-day teaching. Others, however, can and do affect our children’s learning. Superintendent Ray Timothy will review some of the more important bills of this year’s session.

Of particular concern to Summit County schools is Representative Merlynn Newbold’s bill Amendments to Education Financing (not yet numbered). The bill has the potential to force schools in Summit County to reduce their budget or increase their taxes by close to $1,000,000 each year. School Finance Specialist Patrick Ogden will explain the bill.

The District will also explain ways citizens can track bills, follow the legislative session, and contact legislators.

School board members and district officials will be following the upcoming law making session closely. They encourage Park City school district residents and taxpayers to stay informed of the issues and impacts of the upcoming legislative session.

A team of students representing Parley's Park Elementary School recently won highest honors in the WordMasters Challenge -- a national language arts competition entered by approximately 220,000 students annually, which consists of three separate meets held at intervals during the school year.

Competing in the difficult Blue Division of the Challenge, supported through the Gifted and Talented Program, and coached by the 4th grade teachers, Jennifer Shane, Kimberlee Goryl, John Howard, Leann Rocchi, and Gera Clinton the school’s fourth graders tied for ninth place in the year’s first meet. The meet, held in December, had 689 school teams competing at this grade level and in this division.

One of the school’s students won highest honors for individual achievement as well: Fourth grader Christian Plasso earned a perfect score in the meet, where nationwide only 39 fourth graders did so.

Other students at the school who also achieved outstanding results in the meets for their grade levels included third graders Christian Lambson and Henry Silverman; fourth graders Jillian Graham, Maggie Haynes, Bryce Doughman, Amy Liar, William Martz, Sam Mason, Brooke Mitchell and David Reko; and fifth grader Daniel Tabin.

The WordMasters Challenge is an exercise in critical thinking that first encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new words (considerably harder than grade level), and then challenges them to use those words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of logical relationships. Working to solve the Challenge analogies helps students learn to think both analytically and metaphorically. Though most vocabulary-boosting and analogy-solving activities have been created for high school students, the WordMasters materials have been specifically designed for younger students, in grades three through eight. They are particularly well suited for able and interested children, who rise to the challenge of learning new words and enjoy the logical puzzles posed by analogies.

The WordMasters Challenge has been administered for the past 23 years by a company based in Allendale, New Jersey, which is dedicated to inspiring high achievement in American Schools. The students will participate in two more meets during the coming months, and medals and certificates will be awarded in June to those who achieve and/or improve the most in the course of the year.

The following 6th grade Ecker Hill students were recognized in the Salt Lake Tribune for their submissions to the annual Thanksgiving poetry contest:

• Ellie Agnew: 1st place, best elementary
• Micaela Berglund: 2nd place secondary
• Hana Gottlieb: 2nd place elementary

Honorable mentions to:

• Jackson Burton
• Collin Kenny
• Alison Vernon

More information is available on the Salt Lake Tribune's website:

Mason Johnson has been cast as Ralphie the star of the Pioneer Theatre Company’s production of the holiday classic A Christmas Story. Mason is a veteran actor whose career includes playing Winthrop in the Egyptian Theatre’s professional production of The Music Man.

A Christmas Story, made famous by the movie of the same name, is about a boy who dreams of finding "an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time." Suspense builds as every adult Ralphie encounters, including Santa, throws snow on his dream by invoking the universal parental warning of “You’ll put your eye out!”

The show plays December 4 through December 19 at the Pioneer Memorial Theatre on the University of Utah Campus.

For ticket and other information see:
ww2.pioneertheatre.org/2009-2010-season/a-christmas-story/

Four students from Parley's Park Elementary won the Kimball Art Center's LEGO Building Contest this past weekend as well as the People's Choice Award. The students were Tanner Higman 8, Wyatt Pike 8, Shane Huling 10 and Reese Adams 11. They created a Lego Sculpture of the Delicate Arch. Congratulations Tanner, Wyatt, Shane, and Reese!

Photos are available on the Kimball Art Center website.

Seasonal Flu shots will be available FREE of charge to benefits eligible employees, spouses and adult dependents insured with Altius at the following times:

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

• EHIMS Auditorium Foyer, 7:30 am - 11:30 am
• TMIS Library, 12:30 pm - 4:00 pm

There will be representatives on hand from Altius, Delta Dental, Opticare, URS and more. We will also have a variety of free health screenings open to all employees including; glaucoma, blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, bmi, bone density and new this year, massages! Give-aways! Let’s get fit together!

Flu shots will not be administered to children under the age of 18.

The Park City Schools Music Department's Fall Concert Series will kick off on Monday, October 19 with a guest performance from the Orchestra of Sandy. They will be performing the Dvorak New World Symphony and Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre. That concert starts at 8:00 PM in the Eccles Center. On Wednesday, October 21 at 7:00 PM the PCHS Wind Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra will perform. The following week will feature concerts on Wednesday, October 28 starring the Jazz Ensembles from TMIS and PCHS, and will conclude with performances on Thursday, October 29 from the TMIS Band, Orchestra, and Choir as well as the PCHS Symphonic Band, Symphony Orchestra, and Choir. All concerts will be held in the Eccles Center and are free to the public. Start times are 7:00 PM except for the Orchestra of Sandy which will begin at 8:00 PM.