Back to School Letter - Attachments sent to Email Addresses

August 20, 2010

Dear Telluride High School Parents and Students;

It is hard to believe that we are only 4 days from the start of school! Where has the summer gone? I hope that each of you has found time to relax and rejuvenate as we head into the new year of growth and learning. I am excited to welcome students back to THS for this school year, one that I anticipate will be the best our school has ever had.

Attached to this e-mail is the Telluride High School Student Handbook and you have received other important back-to-school forms from the high school registrar and administrative assistant, Sharon Broady (sbroady@telluride.k12.co.us). It is important that both students and parents review these documents carefully, as they contain great information about school policies, rules, and systems. The back-to-school forms are due to Sharon Broady at the front desk on the first day of school.

Attached to this is the lunch menu for the first six weeks of school. We are thrilled that our food service director, Chef Michael Goller, is back with us to start the new school year. You’ll remember that Chef Goller made huge strides last year in revamping and updating our school food services program. He has great plans to continue to serve local, organic, from scratch food as often as possible to provide nutritious, delicious food to the students and teachers of Telluride School District. I ask parents to look for a day where the food sounds especially good to you and invite you to come to school, check in at the front desk to get a visitor badge, and join your son or daughter for lunch in our cafeteria. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the quality and taste of our food offerings at school. I know that Chef Goller and Executive Director Kurt Shugars would love to hear your feedback about our school lunch program.

We will end the month of August with school pictures on the 31st. School picture forms will be a little bit different in the high school this year as we are changing companies. Picture forms were included in your back-to-school packet. Students should bring the completed forms with them on picture day if you would like to receive school pictures this year.

The Telluride High School will host our Back-to-School Open House on Wednesday, September 1st. In response to feedback from parents and teachers from the past few years, we will be holding this Open House earlier in the day so there is still time to have dinner after the event. There will be a brief orientation in the Palm Theatre for our 9th grade parents from 4:30-5 PM, followed immediately by a general welcome and information session about this year’s ISPs in the Palm Theatre for ALL high school parents from 5 – 5:30 PM. This program will be immediately followed by a quick run-through of the daily schedule, with parents visiting each of their child’s classes for a quick 8 minute orientation from each of your child’s teachers. The evening will be all wrapped up before 7 PM, so there is still time for a late dinner that evening with your family.

In an effort to help all students in our building reach their highest academic potential, the faculty at Telluride High School is determined to help our students to use the “tutorial” period provided on Wednesdays more effectively. This year students are expected to remain in the high school engaged in appropriate learning activities during the entire tutorial period. We expect that every student will identify a faculty member or members from whom they need extra help and visit their class during this period, or visit the library for silent study. In the past, many students have opted to use this time as an “extended break”; however, we feel that this choice is unwise for even our most successful students. Thank you for your support in this important initiative.

Don’t forget that the fall athletic season is underway in all sports except for Competitive Cheer, which begins on August 24th. If you are interested in participating in any our sports programs, or if you simply want more information about extra-curricular activities here at Telluride High School, don’t hesitate to contact our highly esteemed and award-winning Director of Activities, Mr. Mike Hughes (mhughes@telluride.k12.co.us)

Also attached to this e-mail is the THS schedule for the first two weeks of school. Please review this so you know when school begins each day, what class periods will be meeting, and the “special event” we will be lucky to be a part of associated FilmFest.

I hope that each of you has a wonderful conclusion to your summer vacation. If you have any questions or concerns as we head into the new school year, please don’t hesitate to contact anyone at Telluride High School for assistance, including myself. My phone number is (970) 369-1211 and I can be reached at my school email (acarter@telluride.k12.co.us).

Wishing you a great weekend! Go Miners!

THS Now Has 16 Certified Wilderness First Responders...Thanks to the WFR ISP!

ISP 3 - 2010 Up and Running!

Intensive Study Periods: ISP3 is well under way. We are running 4 concurrent ISPs and the Intensive AP Review. The ISPs are:
a. The Art and Science of Cuisine: This ISP is in its 3rd iteration and is, as always, very popular. Students will be exposed to the elements of flavor, basic to advanced kitchen skills and techniques, and the development of a menu item for the Grand Banquet scheduled for next Thursday.
b. Rock and Roll Music ISP: This ISP introduces students to music theory, band development, song arrangement, and performance. Students with no experience through veteran, experienced rockers were welcomed into this ISP.
c. Service Learning “Poverty” ISP: This is the first of the ISPs that will meet the Service Learning requirement for graduation. The students will do an in-depth study of poverty and the cycle of poverty that exists locally, regionally, state, nationally, and world-wide. Students will work closely with several non-profits that work with people who live in poverty and then will design and implement their own service project to impact this condition.
d. Wilderness First Responder Certification: This is an incredible opportunity for our students to work with First Lead, LLC trainer Peter Muckerman. The students have been joined by four adult learners from the Telluride Ski Patrol in this course. At the end of the course the students will have the opportunity to qualify for a 3-year Wilderness First Responder Certification and a 1-year American Red Cross CPR certification.
e. Intensive AP Review: Students who are in 2 or more AP classes are spending these two weeks in intensive review in preparation for the national AP examinations in early May.

New ISP Promo - Check It Out!

Winter ISPs in Full Swing!

Happy New Year to all in the THS community!

The winter ISPs are in full swing! Our students are actively engaged in high-interest, student centered learning all over the school. I will soon post pictures of all ISPs in action, including the Cuisine ISP - Baking, the Film Production ISP, the Snow Science ISP, and the Fashion Design ISP. Also, our AP students are hard at work in their AP intensives.

Please ask our students about their ISP experiences and let us know what you think!

Go Miners!

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Back to School 2009-2010

August 14, 2009

Dear Telluride High School Community,

I hope this message finds each and every one of you enjoying the final weeks of the summer. I have enjoyed seeing many of our students back at school on the soccer pitch or in the gym practicing digs, spikes, and blocks for the fall Volleyball season. I have even heard rumor that our cheerleaders are once again honing another outstanding routine that will help us reclaim the state title in Competition Cheer. I have talked with students who have returned from educational and inspiring internships in Central and South America, not to mention far away parts of our own nation. I know heralding in the end of summer is not always the most popular message to send, but let’s face it –Telluride High School is an incredible school and, deep down, you really are getting excited to come back for another great year of growth, learning, and fun at THS.

I want to take this opportunity to introduce a few people who you might already know, but now you will see more often in class. Firstly, I am excited to welcome Ms. Jennifer Manhoff, who will be taking over as our Spanish teacher for the coming year. Ms. Manhoff has taught Spanish the last four years at the Telluride Mountain School and comes to us with a great reputation and with great ideas to make our already excellent Spanish program even better. Second, I am happy to welcome Ms. Mariah Checketts officially to the THS faculty. You’ll remember Ms. Checketts as the teacher who worked closely with Ms. Moore in Health and Ms. Nelson in Spanish in the fall semester, 2008. She is coming on staff to work with our English language learners this year. Finally, for those of you who have been around for a while, we are happy to welcome Ms. Erica Heltner back to the THS faculty. This veteran teacher will be teaching our English 11 class and two Language Arts electives this year at THS. Please graciously welcome each of these new faculty to our community in the coming weeks.

The first day of school is, as you know, Monday, August 31st , 2009. Our teachers are going to “hit the ground running” that day – so come ready to learn. As we have in the past, we will have the Telluride Film Festival organizers in our building preparing for the festival that weekend. Please note that we will have a half-day on Friday, September 4th. High School students will be dismissed at 12:05 PM that day and there will be no lunch served. As a special treat for our students and faculty, the Telluride Film Festival organizers have offered to screen one of their best selections on Wednesday, September 2nd in an after-school show. The movie will begin promptly at 3:30 PM.

Posted on my page on the school website are several memos that I would like you to take a look at. The first is a memo reviewing our attendance policy for this school year. Although this policy is very similar to the one we used last year, I would like everyone to know that we have committed to be more vigilant and focused on this issue this year. The second memo explains our new policy regarding the Advanced Placement program at THS this year. Please review both of these memos, and if you have any questions please contact me directly to discuss them.

Again, I hope everyone is safe, happy, healthy, and re-energized. I can’t wait to see all of you as you return to THS for another great school year.

Best regards,
ABCarter
Alex Carter, Principal