Jefferson County Public Schools
2008–09 School Year

• First day for schools following the regular calendar is Tuesday, August 12, 2008.
• Projected 2008–09 enrollment is 99,142 students in preschool to grade 12,
  about 650 more than last year.
• 834 buses transport more than 60,000 students.
• JCPS has hired approximately 525 new teachers and had filled 10 of 13 vacancies for principals.

School Lunch Prices
For Elementary students, lunch costs $2.25 and for High School students, lunch costs $2.35.
Breakfast is available in Elementary schools for $1.75 and in High School for $1.85. A la carte milk is $.35.

Free or reduced-price meals available to students who qualify. Call 495-7080 for application information. A new application is required each school year. Reduced price breakfast is $.30; lunch, $.40.

School Hours
For most schools, hours are 9:05 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. for elementary students and 7:40 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. for middle and high school students. Call your child's school to confirm the hours because a few schools adjust them slightly.

Important Telephone Numbers
FACTLINE: 485-3228

Transportation: 485-3470

Parent Assistance Center/Student Assignment: 485-6250

Early Childhood Education Programs: 485-3919

Health Services: 485-3387

Optional, Magnet, and Advance Programs: 485-3323

Exceptional Child Education: 485-3215

Overview

• New Ramsey Middle School opens
• District opens first single-gender schools at Olmsted Academies North and South
• Every 1 Reads literacy initiative continues
• CARE for Kids launches in 52 elementary and middle schools to teach social responsibility
• Implementation of new math program begins in 76 elementary schools
• District launches pilot redesign project at elementaries
• Over half of high schools move to trimester scheduling
• Freshmen get new civic course, “Facing History and Ourselves”
• Pyramid Power Lunch Pack offers new option for elementary students
• Parent Portal to be launched
• Tablet PC technology reaches every teacher
• Work continues toward implementation of new 2009-10 student assignment plan

New Principals and Principal Transfers

Cochrane Elementary School
Susan Haynes

Crums Lane Elementary School
Julie Buckner

DuPont Manual High School
TBD

Kennedy Metro Middle School
Don Reid

Medora Elementary School
Betsy Pickup

Meyzeek Middle School
TBD

Moore Traditional School
Vicki Lete

Noe Middle School
TBD

Ramsey Middle School
*Jennifer Colley

Shawnee High School MCA
*Dr. Keith Look

Stonestreet Elementary School
Barbara Harris

Stuart Middle School
Delena Alexander

Western MST Magnet High School
*David Mike

*Denotes Transfer

As of 07/22/08

2008–09 Back-to-School Highlights
Read all the highlights for the JCPS 2008-09 school year (PDF)

Ramsey Middle School Opens
The John L. Ramsey Middle School will open its doors for the first time at the beginning of the 2008–09 school year. The 129,000 square-foot building is located on 46 acres at 6409 Gellhaus Lane, adjacent to Farmer Elementary in southeastern Jefferson County. This new state-of-the art school cost $16.3 million to construct and sits on 46 acres. Designed to serve 950 students in grades 6-8, Ramsey will open with approximately 500 students. The building contains a large media center, cafeteria, nine science labs, two computer labs, and a suite for functionally mentally disabled students. There is a full-size gym and an adjacent multipurpose room connected by a stage. One end of the building is devoted to humanities with a large art room and a music suite including rooms for band, orchestra, and chorus.
Each music room has a practice room and office. There are multimedia projectors in every classroom, and the building is equipped with wireless technology throughout.
Energy conservation was an important design consideration. The building has solar water heating, additional wall insulation, and high performance windows. Motion sensors were installed in all rooms to shut off lights and turn down HVAC when the rooms are not occupied. In addition, JCPS is experimenting with several energy saving technologies such as a wind turbine and several different day lighting systems to use natural light in lieu of artificial light.

Sixth-grade students will be located in a separate wing in the building to ease the transition to middle school. Teachers will focus on providing differentiated instruction (instruction that meets individual learning needs), and an accelerated curriculum will be available for high potential learners.

District Opens First Single-Gender Schools
Frederick Law Olmsted Academies North and South, (formerly Southern Leadership Academy and Iroquois Middle respectively) will open as single-gender schools. Olmsted North will serve young men and Olmsted South will serve young women. Both schools previously offered single-gender classes as a means of improving student achievement. This year both schools will operate under a newly restructured plan with new staff, smaller class sizes, master teachers, additional student leadership opportunities, enhanced technology systems, and intensive teacher training. Both schools will become magnets that accept applications from students throughout the district for the 2009–10 school year. The schools have the same attendance area and serve many of the same families and will collaborate in many of their arts and humanities programs such as band, choir, and orchestra.

JCPS Launches Social Responsibility Effort for Grades K-8
The Care for Kids initiative helps students in kindergarten through grade 8 develop social responsibility and positive relationships with both classmates and adults. JCPS is launching the new school culture initiative at 28 elementary schools and 24 middle schools and programs as well as Early Childhood Education sites.

Each CARE for Kids school promotes social, emotional, ethical, and intellectual development in an inclusive, caring, respectful, and supportive learning community that is physically and emotionally safe for all students and engages them as active participants in the classroom, school, and in the larger community. Students are engaged as active participants in both their school and the community. Elementary components include the following:

• Daily morning meetings designed to set the tone for respectful learning and to establish a climate of trust.
• Regular class meetings to promote a team spirit and encourage students and teachers to get to know each other, to reflect, problem solve, and make group decisions.
• Buddy matches of every older student in the school with a younger student for a series of collaborative learning activities.
• Homeside activities to stimulate conversations between the students and their family members.
• Schoolwide community-building activities
• Developmental discipline that focuses on proactive and intervention strategies with emphasis on relationships, modeling skill development, moving students to self control and responsibility, and includes a hierarchy of responses to behavior.

At the middle school level, CARE for Kids meets four needs that must be fulfilled if young adolescents are to be fully engaged in social or academic learning: building relationships, developing autonomy, experiencing competence, and having fun. It is an approach designed to teach good behavior rather than punishment. Sixth-graders in the 24 schools—in addition to seventh- and eighth-graders in selected schools—will experience the following:

• Group meetings called Circle of Power and Respect
• Community-building activities
• Pathways to Self-Control with an emphasis on relationships, modeling skill development, and moving students to self-control and responsibility

Read all the highlights for the JCPS 2008-09 school year (PDF)