FRIDAY FOLDER: June 5, 2009

Information session for D-20 Board

Residents who are interested in serving on the Academy School District 20 Board of Education are invited to a candidate information session 6:30 p.m. June 16 at the district's Education and Administration Center, 1110 Chapel Hills Drive. Three seats on the board will be up for election this fall. Current board members whose terms end in November are Linda Van Matre, Doug Lundberg and Ann Elrod.

The 90-minute candidate information night topics will include: legal duties and responsibilities, fair campaign practices, policy governance, and lessons learned by current board members. There will be time for questions, and information packets will be available. Academy School District 20 is led by a five-member board, and directors are elected from the district at-large and not from specific geographical areas. To make sure there are enough information packets available, prospective candidates who plan to attend are asked to notify the board secretary, Paula Buczak, at 234-1215.

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D-11 summer classes for the community

Colorado Springs School District 11 is taking registrations for summer community education classes. The offerings for adults and teens include dance, rental property management, computers, quilting, writing, Spanish and exercise classes. Children's classes include exploring dinosaurs, detectives and spies, Spanish and drama, dance and music during our "Summer of Seuss." Call 520-2384 for more information or visit the District 11 Community Education Web site at www.d11.org/communityed.

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Aerospace Institute wraps up at Mitchell

Mitchell High School this week hosted a Summer Aerospace Institute in partnership with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation, U.S. Northern Command, Project Lead The Way and the Challenger Learning Center. The students used a NASA curriculum and worked with aerospace engineers, used the latest Satellite Took Kit software, toured U.S. Northern Command, and learned about career opportunities in the aerospace industry. Those who successfully completed the Summer Aerospace Institute earned two elective physics credits from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

The students wrap up today with a simulated space station mission and an awards ceremony.

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12 D-11 schools win library award

Twelve schools in Colorado Springs School District 11 recently were awarded Power Library status by the Colorado Department of Education and the Colorado State Library.

The competitive selection process identifies schools that exemplify the traits of a high-quality school library media program that emphasizes teacher collaboration and student achievement. The schools that earned the designation are: Chipeta, Keller, Midland, Penrose, Rudy, Scott, Steele, McAuliffe and Grant elementary schools, and Doherty, Wasson and Mitchell high schools. All Power Library schools must commit to a year-long partnership to increase collaborative teaching and learning, to share instructional ideas and best practices, to develop an action plan for continued improvement, and to commit to ongoing professional growth.

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McIntosh chosen as state assessment director

Jim McIntosh, current assessment data operations supervisor for the Colorado Department of Education, has been selected to replace Beth Celva as state assessment director, effective July 1. Celva, who held the position for six years, is retiring. McIntosh will help shape Colorado's new assessment system, which is to be in place by 2012. He was hired in 2003 as a principal consultant for testing and data management in CDE's assessment division. He has more than 15 years' experience in data and research, including university and government work.

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CC professor wins Creativity in Motion Prize

David Mason, an English professor at Colorado College, recently received the 2009 Thatcher Hoffman Smith Creativity in Motion Prize. Given by the University of Oklahoma's College of Arts and Sciences, the biennial award honors the creative process and is worth $40,000.

Mason will use the award to create the libretto for the opera adaptation of his verse novel "Ludlow," which tells the story of immigrants caught in a labor struggle in southern Colorado, culminating in the Ludlow Massacre of April 1914.