Calgary Science School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Calgary Science School | |
 |
|
| Address | |
| 5915 Lewis Drive SW Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
|
| Information | |
| Principal | Ron Sweet |
| Vice principal | Darrell Lonsberry |
| Administrator | Gordon Welch |
| School type | Charter |
| Grades | 4-9 |
| Language | English |
| Team name | Lasers |
| Enrollment | 600 (January 8th, 2007) |
| Homepage | CSS |
The Calgary Science School (CSS) is a Canadian public charter school in Calgary, Alberta; which teaches grades four through nine.
Contents |
[edit] History
Clem Gardner School was built in 1991 from the same blueprint as Willow Park Elementary, with the same brick, door, and windowsill colors. Also, its name followed the setup. There is a garden outside the school that grows raspberries, strawberries, silverberries, and much more.
In 2002 the public board finally closed Clem Gardner Elementary School after bitter disputes that went to court.On closing day in June, there were about 78 students in a school designed for 500+.
After the Clem Gardener School was closed, CSS moved to the Clem Gardener building, in order to have a second floor, and room for 600 students.This is the third building for the Science School.
CSS was first rejected by the Catholic board as a charter. Approaches to the public board were also rebuffed, although the board has never confirmed this. After leasing space from the Catholic board, the Science School immediately showed it could attract students, even through the two disruptive moves that followed.
In 2002, the school officially opened in its current location, having Premier Ralph Klein there to cut the ribbon.
In 2003, Principal Ron Sweet said the enrollment would soon go to 450 or even 500, the predicted full capacity of the old Clem Gardner building. However, 600 students now go to school in the same building. They're attending the Calgary Science School, an independent charter that leases the space from the CBE.
Mr. Sweet worked for 29 years at the public board before retiring and then signing on as the Science School's principal. Also, Mr. Sweet is going to resign as the principal at the end of the 2006-2007 schoolyear. The next principal is yet to be announced.
[edit] Today
Over the 2006 summer break, the school's storage room was emptied, and turned into the art room, and the old art room was turned into a classroom. The drama room was also moved, into the old board room. At the time of writing, there are 100 students each in grades 4-9.
Due to a technology grant from the Alberta Government, in the current 2006-2007 school year, each and every grade 6 student will receive their own Apple MacBook. The laptop will be theirs until grade 9 and they will then pay a $75, and keep the laptop until it is rendered useless, it breaks, or they get a new one. The laptops are complete with built in video camera, 1280x800 widescreen 13.3" glossy LCD screen, Apple's AirPort Extreme, and up to 5 hours of battery life.
Ten buses, owned and operated by Southland Bussing of Calgary service CSS, taking the majority of the kids to and from school every schoolday. They operate from the far north of Calgary to the far south. Some morning stop times are as early as 7:00 AM, and school starts at 8:45. One of the current drivers is a highly decorated World War 2 veteran.
As of October 26th, 2006, Mr. Dean Tickles moved to New York and was replaced temporarily by a substitute, Mr. Stillwell. Dean Tickles was one of two CSS gym teachers. Many students enjoyed his supportive and fun classes. Mr. Stillwell left at the end of November and was replaced by another teacher, Dean Schmeichel. Currently, CSS has over 30 staff, not including the CSS board, janitorial staff, technical staff, office staff, or those in charge of publications.
Many CSS classes are equipped with SMART board technology, and every classroom has a NEC projector and a screen. Those classes with SMART boards, use them for creative math and science debates/discussions. Recently, some more classrooms, as well as the music room were outfitted with the most recent smart board version. CSS also houses a lab of 26 Apple G5 desktops, another lab of 26 Apple eMac desktops, and 100 Apple iBook G4s on carts of 25 around the school. All teachers have been given Macintosh laptops when they started working at CSS, and depending on when they came, some teachers have Apple PowerBook G4s, and some, those who joined in the 2006-2007 schoolyear, have Apple Macbook Pros.
[edit] Teachers and Staff
[edit] Math/Science/Humanities
| Carolyn Armstrong (4.1 & 4.2 Math/Sci) | Dan McWilliam (4.1 & 4.2 Humanities) |
| Valerie Barnes (4.3 & 4.4 Math/Sci) | Jacquie Moir (4.3 & 4.4 Humanities) |
| Emily Brown (5.1 & 5.2 Math/Sci.) | Chris Dittmann (5.1 & 5.2 Humanities) |
| Nicole Anderson (5.3 & 5.4 Math/Sci.) | Lana Friesen (5.3 & 5.4 Humanities) |
| Cathy Kurio (6.1 & 6.2 Math/Sci.) | Mike Neufeld (6.1 & 6.2 Humanities) |
| Gwen Fisher (6.3 & 6.4 Math/Sci.) | Neil Stephenson (6.3 & 6.4 Humanities) |
| Adrian Textor (7.1 & 7.2 Math/Sci.) | Natalie Powell (Formerly Natalie Graham) (7.1 & 7.2 Humanities) |
| Jon Hoyt-Hallett (7.3 & 7.4 Math/Sci) | Heather Mayer (7.3 & 7.4 Humanities) |
| Kevin Sonico (8.1 & 8.2 Math/Sci) | Jennifer Wiebe (8.1 & 8.2 Humanities) |
| Jeff Krar (8.3 & 8.4 Math/Sci) | Amy Hamilton (8.3 & 8.4 Humanities) |
| Scott Doehler (9.1 & 9.2 Math/Sci.) | Jennifer Woodard (9.1 & 9.2 Humanities) |
| David Hogg (9.3 & 9.4 Math/Sci.) | Karrie Peace (Formerly Karrie Cawston) (9.3 & 9.4 Humanities) |
| Tammy Olson (Phys Ed) | Dean Schmeichel (Phys Ed) |
[edit] Extras
Andrew Bolen (Music)
Steve Szabo (Art)
Sheila Humphrey (Drama)
[edit] Other
Donna Alden (Librarian)
Scott Petronech (Educational Technologist)
Phil Butterfield (Student Services)
[edit] Office and Administration
Kathy Babiuk (Receptionist)
Susan Miller (Office)
Nola Shewfelt (Administration Secretary)
Fern White (Secretary Treasurer)
Darrell Lonsberry (Assistant Principal)
Ron Sweet (Principal)
Gordon Welch (Superintendent)
[edit] School events
- Laserband: Groups of students or single students take a piece of music, and dance and lipsync for it. They try out for the show, and the best ones perform in front of the whole school and a panel of professional judges. Originally created for Dean Tickles 40th birthday in 2002 the tradition has carried on.
- Laser Idol: Students use their stunning voices to sing just like in Canadian Idol, but the age requirement is between Grades 4 and 9, rather than between 16 and 28, just like on the show. Just like Laserband, the best singers are picked from the pack and put up on stage to perform for the school.
- Peace Festival: Students enter the gym and circle to many different stations that have different meaning. Since CSS has many different races and religions within the walls, most of the stations represent just that. There are stations where you pinpoint on a world map where your from, there are stations where you get your face painted, and even one where you can go into a closed space and fling paint on the floor, walls, and ceiling to relieve stress.
- Lego League The Calgary Science School is participating in FIRST Lego League, as they have since the 2003 lego league, Mission Mars. Students are invited to participate either at lunch times or in electives.
[edit] Courses
From its first creation in 1999, Science Alberta School enforced a compulsory course known as SAS Quest. When the school was renamed as Calgary Science School, the program became Quest. The objective of this course was to familiarize students with everyday problems in the world and how to solve them. This program was removed in the 2004 school year.
For electives (options) there is a choice between Rocketry, Robotics (FIRST Lego Robotics)See Lego League above, Film Making, 3d Design and Modeling, Claymation, Film study, Book club, Outdoor Pursuits, and many others.
Students in some classes have the option to do "Explorer Projects". They are able to pick any topic of their liking, and explore the question until answered. Some students have programming abilities, and used them to test the true randomness of the Eye Color Generator.
The ECG is by Hunter Spink and Arden Shibley; It uses a mother's and father's eye color genes to detect the random probability of the different possible colors in a child's eyes. The ECG was originally just to help out with class work on genes in the grade 5 Science curriculum, because the original by Athro was flawed and not very useful. The source code was improved repeatedly, and the students kept working on the generator. It then turned into a hobby to make the generator truly random.
Recently, the plant room was turned into a woodworking shop, and now for grades 6 through 9, there is an elective started by Mr. Petronech called C02 Powered Cars. Students carve and sand wooden cars, load them with C02 canisters, and race them.
[edit] References
- Stephen, Cindy, "School shares peace message", Calgary Herald', December 16, 2004. pg. N.1.Fro.
- Lewington, Nancy, "Alberta has 'best-kept secret' in schooling", The Spectator (Hamilton, Ontario). September 25, 2004, pg. F.08.
[edit] External link
