Strasburg+School+District

Strasburg School District
Contact: Ed Vandertook ( 303) 622-9211  begin_of_the_skype_highlighting   (303) 622-9211  end_of_the_skype_highlighting

[|www.strasburg31j.co.k12us.com] **Program Descriptions:** This program, a joint venture between Strasburg, Bennett, Byers, Deer Trail, and Kiowa school districts, provides at-risk students with an alternative to the traditional high school learning experience. The program serves students in grades 9 – 12 in a full-time program. They attend for a half day at the charter schools and spend the remainder of each day either studying elective courses in their home-schools or in part-time employment. Enrollment is initiated by a referral from the home-school. A full slate of core courses are available that lead the student a diploma from the charter school.
 * Program 1: Prairie Creeks Charter School **

The charter school uses the Plato system for student learning Plato, which Strasburg SD hosts on their server, provides students with solid academic content in a self-paced mode, using text and multi-media courseware. Students have access to workstation and Internet from in-school computer labs.

Prairie Creek students have the support of a licensed, highly qualified teacher who provides learner support and, from time to time, presents classroom instruction. In addition to the teacher, PCCS employs a full-time therapist for student support. Strasburg District personnel provide technical support and the Superintendent oversees the program.

As a cooperative venture between the 5 districts, the costs are shared on a “slot basis.” That is, each of the five districts estimates how many student seats they will need for the year. Each district then uses State PPOR to purchase those seats. The revenue is used to support the learning system and the full-time teacher that supports the enrolled students. There are 24 seats available in the program.

Strasburg district, in cooperation with the Bennett and Byers districts, offers a credit recovery program to students as a summer school program. In exceptional circumstances, students may be enrolled during the school year, but the bias is in favor of keeping the student in his/her regular classes. The students, grades 9 – 12, participate in the program with the goal of graduating on time. All core courses are available to students in the A+ learning system. Starting next term (fall 2011) the A+ system will be replaced either with Plato or Odysseyware, hosted on the web. The expectation is that either of these systems will provide better quality learning materials and greater academic rigor.
 * Program 2: Strasburg 31 Online Summer School Credit Recovery Program **

This summer school program employs a full-time teacher for the summer school program.

Strasburg District, along with the other districts in the East Central BOCES, has access to the VNETS point-to-point video conferencing system. This allows the district schools to have video interaction between schools, with the Morgan Community College, and any other institution that has video dial-up capability. Classes, inter-school exchanges, virtual field trips, and staff meetings can be conducted on the system. Each of the VNET school districts has at least one video conference room from such meetings can be conducted. Strasburg District is experimenting with video and audio distribution of learning materials using iPods, iTouchs, iPads, and the Internet. The district has 20 iPods and will purchase an additional 20. The district is also purchasing a set of iPads and apps for special education students. Some of the experimental uses include: Also, the district has two iPad tablet computers that are being used by pre-school teachers to monitor class activities. The teachers are able to keep track of the children’s activities and progress while working with the children.
 * Program 3: East Central BOCES Video Networking for Education and Training Services (VNETS) **
 * Program 4: Strasburg District Experiments in Blended Learning **
 * Teachers are uploading passage from textual materials so that a student can carry that audio with him/her and listen to it at home. The student can then record his/her responses to material.
 * When students are absent from class, SSD science teachers are providing the student with a recording of the missed class.
 * High School counselors are creating podcasting information on college admissions and financial aid to help junior and senior students in their college applications processes.
 * Some teachers are using Blogs to post class information, to provide assistance on assignments, or for student-to-student discussions.