Clara Barton Open School

Artists Under Eighteen Opening

Several current and former Barton students will be celebrating their unique talents at the 4th Annual Artists Under Eighteen Show from Sept. 29th through Oct. 15th.  Come support our young artists at the opening reception featuring painting, magnets, wire art, pottery, photography, dolls, multimedia, jewelry, and music:

Saturday, September 29, 5 – 9:00 PM

Color Wheel Gallery

(46^th and Grand)

Featuring Les Ananas, a musical group of 17-year olds performing live acoustic music at 7:30 pm

The event is free and open to the public.  All artwork will be for sale.

Farrington Asberry-Lindquist painting * Dominica Asberry-Lindquist painting * Gabe Renz sculpture * Eduardo Ortegon painting * Sebastian Ritacco pottery * Walker Renz  sculpture * Adelle Brooks hemp dolls * Julian Ortegon painting * Martha Megarry music * Salaam AlAmery-Novak painting * Zachary Shati painted tiles * Hannah Oscarson locker magnets * Paris Copeland wire art * Andrew Ronald oil pastel * Ruby Day drawing * Jake Richard drawing * Die Jones drawing * Ethan Oscarson bottle cap jewelry * Kelsy Larson multimedia * Andy Weihe multimedia * Samantha Richard multimedia * Josh Boucher photography * Kaite Mark pottery * Christopher Lyle drawing *

Welcome New Teachers!

We are pleased to welcome many new staff to Barton this year!  Here is a brief introduction to five of the new teachers.  In the next week or so we will profile the others.

Trish Clarke

Trish is our new Dean of Students.  Her broad range of responsibilities include addressing the social well-being of students, working with the Special Education team, supporting 8th graders in high school choice, and coordinating testing.  She was most recently at North Star and Shingle Creek Elementary schools.  She loves to go to movies and to read.  She and her twelve year old were very excited about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this past summer!

Trish is also teaching one of the uppers' Literature Circle classes. She thinks it will be a great way to help her get to know some of the students.  She is also looking forward to getting to know the teachers better and supporting their needs in the classroom.

   

Heidi Carlson

Heidi is teaching K-1 this year in room 108.  She is a recent graduate from the U of M after student teaching with Patrice's classroom last year.  She grew up in south Minneapolis and has always wanted to be a teacher here.  Heidi feels so happy and lucky to be at Barton and admires its student centered focus.  She is looking forward to getting to know her students and figuring out how to help every one of them learn!  She is already amazed and inspired by them!  She loves the outdoors (especially kayaking) and running with her dog Sadie.

Matt Linman

Matt is new to our middles team, teaching 5th and 6th grade in room 208.  He loves being here!  He has lived in Minneapolis his whole life and has taught middle school and technology at Sheridan Global Arts and Communications School in NE Minneapolis for the last ten years.  He loves music (he plays guitar for fun), dance and literature.  He does yoga and runs to stay active.  His family includes two sons, a new granddaughter, and two Staffordshire Terriers.

Flory Sommers

Flory is teaching 7 and 8^th grade language arts and Spanish I, II and III this year.  She has a quarter of a century of teaching including bilingual programs and teaching language arts, social studies, science and math primarily to middle school students.  She was most recently at Emerson Spanish Immersion School.  Flory's passion is working with adolescents.  A major goal for this year is to help students to find their voices in writing and she also hopes to have students speaking Spanish by the end of the year. 

Flory’s family includes her husband (a teacher at Edison), a 7^th grader and 4^th grader (at Barton), a two year old, and a brand new black lab.  Flory has coached girls’ basketball and plans to have her students do a Shakespeare performance this year.

Heather Bivans

Heather is our new media specialist.  She recently moved here from North Carolina with her husband, who is working on his PhD in Medieval History at the U of M.  She loves history too!  When she was little, her favorite thing was to watch the “Tell-A-Story” lady on local TV before the cartoons on a Saturday morning.  After growing up, graduating from college, and job hunting, she was thrilled when her interviewer at the public library turned out to be the “Tell-A-Story” lady!  She was hired and the rest is history.  She has worked in public and academic libraries and in media, and she loves them all!  She thinks Dr. Seuss’ books are her favorites!  She admires his technique: if you’re stuck – just make up a new word!

Visiting Barton

To Prospective Parents:

You are welcome to visit Barton Open School at any time.  Our school day starts at 7:30 AM.  Students are dismissed at 1:45 PM.  Morning kindergarten is scheduled from 7:30 to 10:15 AM.  The afternoon kindergarten session runs from 11:00 AM to 1:45 PM. 

There are parent-led tours arranged for you starting in November.  If the school tour times don’t fit your schedule, please come when you can.  If you visit outside the tour times, you are asked to check-in through the main office.  We will give you a name tag and a map of the school.  You are welcome to visit as many classrooms and grade levels as you want.  The advantage of the tour is that you will have time to ask questions.  If you visit on your own, you are always welcome to call the principal after your visit if you have unanswered questions about the open school program.

The Barton School tour schedule is as follows:

Thursday, November 8 (8:30 AM)

Tuesday, November 13 (8:30 AM)

Thursday, November 29 (8:30 AM)

Thursday, December 6 (8:30 AM)

Tuesday, December 11 (8:30 AM)

Saturday, January 12 (9 AM to 2 PM)           MPS K-8 School Information Fair

Tuesday, January 15 (8:30 AM)

Thursday, January 17 (8:30 AM)

Tuesday, January 29 (8:30 AM)

Thursday, January 31 (8:30 AM)

Tuesday, February 5 (8:30 AM)

Thursday, February 7 (8:30 AM)

Tuesday, February 12 (8:30 AM)

Thursday, February 21 (8:30 AM)

You are encouraged to contact the school at 612-668-3580 to let us know what day you would like to visit and/or what day you would like to join a school tour. If there are any schedule changes that could influence your visitation, we would let you know at that time.

The District Wide K-8 School Information Fair is scheduled for Saturday, January 12, 2008, at the Hyatt Regency downtown Minneapolis.  The school fair runs from 9 AM to 2 PM.

School Request Cards for the 2008-2009 school year are due on February 29, 2008.  The cards will be available at any Minneapolis School following the School Information Fair and should be mailed directly to the district’s Student Placement Center.

PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT IS ON!!!!!!

IF YOU ARE ABLE TO GET TO BARTON SAFELY, PLEASE COME !!!

Parent Information Night is tonight!

Here is the schedule for tonight's Parent Information Night.

THURSDAY - SEPTEMBER 20 (6:30 - 8:00 PM)

6:30 - 7:00 PM  Program in Commons

• Principal Comments & Introductions

7:05 - 7:30 PM  Round #1 Presentations

• Grades K-6 and AM Kindergarten
• Specialists / Support Staff in Front Hallway
• Uppers First Period Class

7:35 - 8:00 PM  Round #2 Presentations

• Grades K-6 and PM Kindergarten
• Specialists / Support Staff in Front Hallway
• Uppers 3rd Period Class (7:35 - 7:50 PM)
• Uppers 4th Period Class (7:50 - 8:05 PM)

Childcare in Room 14 (Art Room) and Room 12 (Science Room)

Mark Loesch Memorial Fund

A memorial fund has been set up by Mark's employer for the Loesch family.  Donations can be sent to:

Mark Loesch Memorial Fund
Associated Bank
C/O Mary Cisewski
5353 Wayzata Blvd
St. Louis Park, MN   55416

High School Transformation Plan

At the September 10th District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) meeting, Superintendent Green and Board Chair Pam Costain acknowledged that high school transformation was front and center on the list of pressing issues, along with strategic planning and facilities reuse.  They will be seeking parent advice on the High School Transformation Plan at our DPAC meeting on October 22, and the administration will be presenting several options for Board consideration on October 23.  There may be substantive changes for 08-09 beyond the elimination of entrance requirements and clarified placement processes for oversubscribed small learning communities (SLC's), with the primary goal a reduction in inequities in high school offerings.  Ideas generated at the September and October Area C Parent Forums could be included in the discussion DPAC has with the Superintendent on October 22nd. Although the Board presentation occurs on October 23, it may be several weeks after that before a decision is rendered.

The two high school s in Area C, Southwest and Washburn, have both citywide and attendance area SLC's.  In addition, many Barton students attend South Liberal Arts or Open, which is in Area B.  For more information on SLC's available to your child, see the this site for SLC's available and a map (SEE MAP), or this site that identifies high school attendance area by street address.  We currently have three oversubscribed high school programs popular with Area C students: Southwest IB, South Open, and South Liberal Arts.  Craig Vana is scheduled to address placement policies in these programs at the upcoming Area C Parent Forums. So, please take the opportunity to attend an area council parent forum this year:

Weds, Sept 19 -- Anthony Middle School
Thurs, Oct 11 -- Lake Harriet Upper
Thurs, Nov 8 -- Anwatin Middle School
Thurs, Dec 6 -- Ramsey Fine Arts

All meetings are 6:30-8:30, child care is provided, and translation is available upon request.

Click to view the Plan for High School Transformation - Phase 2.  This document was developed after the June 28, 2007 Supreme Court decision that race cannot be used by public school districts in making student placements to balance school demographics.  DPAC members received this handout at the August meeting.  The time line is somewhat outdated.  School choice materials will be developed after the Board's decision on high school programming in late October or early November.  We expect to hear specific dates of open houses and choice material due dates presented at the September 19 meeting.

Leadership Council Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the first Leadership Council meeting of the year have been posted to this site.  Look for them throughout the year on the right hand side of this page under Council Minutes.

The longest discussion concerned the council budget for the 07-08 school year.  The 07-08 council budget will allocate the proceeds from last year's fund-raising events and donations.  A few high priority, immediate needs were approved, however the bulk of the budget will be decided at the next meeting on Thursday, September 27th. 

Area C Parent Forum

Please join us for an Area C Parent Forum on:

Wednesday, September 19
at Anthony Middle School (5757 Irving Avenue South)
6:30 - 8:30 pm in the Media Center

The Agenda will include:

• Introductions, explanation of what DPAC (District Parent Advisory Council) is
• Upcoming elections planned for October 11 at Lake Harriet Community School
• Craig Vana, interim Area C Superintendent, speaking about the High School Transformation Plan, the elimination of entrance requirements to Small Learning Communities (SLC's) for 08-09 and the student selection processes for oversubscribed programs, followed by Q & A
• McKinsey staff and/or Royce Holladay from MPS will give an update on where the strategic planning process is, what they are learning, and the projected time line for completion, followed by Q & A

If you have questions, please call Peggy Clark @ 612.247.2632 or email @ clarkpeggy@comcast.net.

Correction for Somali Parent Information Night

The Somali Parent Information Night, scheduled for Monday, September 10, will start at 5 PM in the media center (not 6:30 PM as published elsewhere).