Hello Steller Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê
“Change is the end result of all true learning.” ~ Leo Buscaglia.
As a school community, Steller has been doing a lot of learning this year as we prepare for all the upcoming changes in the 2024-2025 school year. First, I want to thank our entire community for all your support this year. We could not have done it without you. In this email, I will be addressing all upcoming changes. Please take your time to read this email in its entirety, as it has a lot of information.
School Start Times & PLC Mondays
The Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê School Board voted and approved on May 9th, 2023, to change school start times for the 2023/2024 school year and beyond to allow for Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). All schools within the district will be required to provide time for PLCs. PLCs include dedicated time for professional development, so our teachers can collaborate, learn, and focus on improving the classroom experience for better student outcomes.
Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê has created a school start time page that provides more information and details /schoolstart2023 .
For the 2024/2025 school year at Steller
- Steller will align with the high school start times Monday 9:45am-3:15pm and Tuesday-Friday 8:45am-3:15pm.
- Steller will continue to work with our other high schools, such as West High and King Tech, to accommodate Steller students taking classes there.
- On Monday, doors will open at 9:00am due to PLC Mondays and students can wait in the student lounge until 9:25am before heading to class.
- Tuesday-Friday doors will open at 8:00am and students can wait in the student lounge until 8:25am before heading to class.
- Monday-Friday, students MUST be picked up/off campus by 3:30pm. Students will be asked to leave the building at that time as we do not have staff to supervise or keep doors open.
- Students are expected to be here until 3:15pm to meet the instructional times required under Alaska Statute Sec. 14.03.030 School term.
- Students taking King Tech must be scheduled in the PM session due to changes with KTH Bell Schedule.
- Self-Directed Learning Academy (formerly known as 7th hour), will be dedicated to Self-Directed Learning and all students are expected to attend. During this time students will attend Advisory, on clubs, receive homework help, work on Passages, and/or take online classes.
Scheduling and Orientation
We will be onboarding our new 6th and 7th graders in the coming weeks. So far, we have 104 new students that were accepted through the March lottery. We will most likely add an additional 10-15 students in the July Lottery.
New to Steller students are required to attend one of the following mandatory orientation meetings:
Friday, April 26th 4:00pm-5:00pm
Monday, April 29th 6:00pm-7:00pm
Thursday, May 2nd 2:30pm-3:30pm
For school start on August 15th & 16th, all students will go through Steller Orientation, with time for Advisory Group meetings, Grade Level meetings, and Steller expectations. Some grade level groups will be traveling to overnight activities to help build community.
Our current Steller students are in the process of choosing their schedules for next year. Updated course descriptions and Primary Course Schedule can be found on our website: /domain/5859
Schedule Course Requests are due by May 3rd and must be signed off by advisors and returned to Johanna. Current students will also be setting up their end of year conferences with their advisors in the coming weeks.
Steller will not be adopting anything related to College Career Life (CCL) Ready work for this coming school year until we create committees that include our three pillars: Students, Staff, and Families. We must identify what aspects of the CCL framework Steller will incorporate per our community vote on 11/02/2023.
I hope that this information provides clarity for the end of this school year and allows ample time for planning for the start of next year. As the 2024/2025 school year gets under way, we will be working with staff, Op Group, and Steller Parent Group to discuss changes to the schedule for 2025/2026 school year. These changes will incorporate aspects of the CCL framework, ensure that we have onboarded our 6th graders properly, and provide our students with access to the varied academic and career opportunities within Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê and our community.
As Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ês traditional programs change their schedules to accommodate for Academies of Anchorage, Steller will ensure we are staying true to our philosophy and expectations. We know these changes mean significant shifts for our families and we appreciate your support as our teachers and staff get to learn, create, innovate, and collaborate to provide the best educational experience for your children.
Thank you for your continued support of our Steller community. Go TEAM!!
Sincerely,
Maria Hernandez
Principal | Steller Secondary School
Home of the Steller Jays
