Date of 2015 prom

Question: What is the date for prom this year?

Answer: The 2015 junior/senior prom is scheduled for Saturday, May 30.

- answered by Michele Kelley, district communications specialist

Delay in opening Virtual AP lab

Question: Wasn't the Virtual AP lab supposed to be open by the first day of school? What's the hold up?

Answer: Broadalbin-Perth is fortunate to be one of only nine school districts in the state piloting a Virtual Advanced Placement program this year. However, because it is a pilot program, there are invariably issues and "bugs" to be worked out along the way.

The Virtual AP lab in the high school will be open to students in the Virtual AP program soon, hopefully before the end of September. We only recently finalized the installation of several hundred-thousand dollars worth of advanced technology. Because of the value of the equipment in the room, starting this week, each Virtual AP student will be issued a swipe card that they will use to access the room. For security reasons, we are not able to provide students with access to the room until they have their swipe cards.

Thankfully, the delay in opening the Virtual AP lab should not negatively affect the success of the students in our Virtual AP pilot program. Students received their Google Chromebooks in August, before they returned to school -- these devices, not the Virtual AP lab, are essential to the students completing their virtual coursework.
- answered by Stephen Tomlinson, superintendent of schools

Eligibility for Virtual AP classes

Question: Who can be in Virtual AP classes?

Answer: Students interested in taking a Virtual Advanced Placement class must obtain a recommendation from their current teacher in the same subject area as the Virtual AP class they wish to take. During the 2013-14 school year, B-P will offer one Virtual AP course for sophomores and several courses for juniors and/or seniors. Ninth-grade students are not eligible to take any Virtual AP classes.

If you have any questions about your child's eligibility to take a Virtual AP class, please contact the high school counseling office at 954-2620.
- answered by Charla Simonson, high school counselor and Virtual AP program co-coordinator

Summer information about AP World History

Question: Mr. Jennings said that the students taking AP Global (AP World History) would be getting a letter in the mail from him by the end of July to go in and meet with him. I was wondering if there was any word on when that is happening. Thanks!

Answer: Originally we wanted to meet with students and parents before school let out in June. But since supplies have been slow to arrive, it looks like the letter won't be going out until early August, and the meeting will be scheduled for sometime in mid- to late-August. During the meeting, students will receive their laptops.
- answered by Jeff Jennings, AP World History teacher

Graduation kudos

Comment: Another fantastic graduation ceremony! Congratulations to all the new graduates and their families. Have a safe graduation season.

Air conditioning

Question: Why is it that at the high school you don't have the air conditioning on? My daughter says that some of the rooms upstairs feels like they are 90 degrees. After getting all these grants and the budget passing, I would think we could afford to run the air.

Answer: Thank you for the question! First, regarding grants, grant funds must be used to pay for specific programs -- they can't be used to supplement regular district operating costs (click here for more details). As for the budget passing last week, that's the budget for the 2013-14 school year, which begins July 1, and therefore doesn't influence whether the air conditioner runs during the current school year.

Now, to the heart of your question. Turning on the air conditioner at the high school is nothing like turning on the air conditioner at your home. The 40-ton unit that sits on the roof above the high school media center takes two full days to get up and running at full capacity, and it costs a lot of money every time we turn it on and off. In fact, it costs more than $11,000 to run the air conditioner at the high school for a month.

Classroom news in HS newsletter

Question: Why is it that the high school newsletter never has any information about what is going on in the classroom? The other three buildings don't seem to have a problem with this. The general public may want to see what is going on in the school.

Answer: Unlike teachers in the elementary and middle schools, high school teachers teach as many as six different courses involving up to 150 different students. To require high school teachers to submit monthly reports on each of their classes for the high school newsletter would create a significant time commitment for them -- time I would rather see them spending on lesson planning, grading and educating our students.

Our high school newsletter does feature classroom news from time to time. In addition, whenever our teachers are doing something new or innovative in their classrooms, we encourage them to share those experiences with the community, and we often publish news from high school classrooms on our district website and Facebook page. (Learn about two of our newest classes, Design and Drawing for Production and Introduction to Engineering, at our Re-Imagining webpage.)

Any parents who are interested in learning more about what is happening in their children's high school classrooms should contact their children's teachers -- click here for our high school directory. They should also talk to their children directly to find out what their children are learning, what areas they're excelling in and where they could use additional help. Parents should call the counseling center at 954-2620 with any questions or concerns.

- answered by Robin Blowers, high school principal

A/B day schedule at the high school

Question: Is it possible to include on the high school website or the calendar the current letter day (A day or B day)? Sometimes it is changed on certain days such as test days and not always communicated well enough.

Answer: The high school schedule runs on alternating A and B days. At the beginning of the daily morning announcements, we begin with, "Good morning. Today is a(n) [A/B] day," to remind everyone in the building what schedule we're following. We also have a sign in the main office that indicates which day it is, and post the day on the written announcements.

In January and June, days on which midterm or Regents exams are administered are always run on A day schedules. We announce this several times prior to the exam days. Prior to the January exams, we also announce contingency plans in case of inclement weather.

If there is a snow day and, for instance, school is cancelled on an B day, then the next day school is in session will be an B day -- we won't skip an B day just because it was a snow day. We do this in order to maintain a balance in the schedule, especially for students taking science labs.

At this time, we are not considering posting the A/B day schedule to the district website. Our students are in high school and we expect them to be responsible enough to utilize the resources we provide in order to keep themselves organized and on schedule. This includes listening to the morning announcements every day.

- answered by Robin Blowers, high school principal

Public information about school safety

Question: We appreciate Mr. Tomlinson's posts when the bomb threat came in and the subsequent information that it was resolved. Since then, we have heard things about several other safety issues up at the high school. We do trust the administration to handle safety concerns and we don't need names, etc., but how can we we figure out truth from rumors about safety issues with our schools? How do you decide what to make public and what you don't regarding threats to the students' safety?

Answer: In general, Broadalbin-Perth tries to be as transparent as possible with our community, giving residents as much information as we can about all topics affecting our schools and our students. However, regarding the safety and security of our schools, there is certain information that would be counterproductive for us to make public. Revealing details of our emergency plans could actually hurt our efforts to keep our students, faculty and staff safe since those details could be used by someone who wishes to do harm in our schools.

Please visit our website, www.bpcsd.org, for information on the school safety forum that was held on Jan. 9. A PDF of the PowerPoint that we presented that evening is available; during the presentation, we outlined our key safety and security procedures.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact our director of operations and safety, Mike Carney, at 954-2500 or carneym@bpcsd.org.
- answered by Stephen Tomlinson, Superintendent of Schools

Changing the middle school and high school schedules for Edinburg?

Question: I have a question about the possibility of students from Edinburg coming to Broadalbin-Perth. Will the middle school and high school be starting an hour later to accommodate these students if they do come to B-P?

Answer: I assume you're referring to the proposal that Broadalbin-Perth submitted to the Edinburg Board of Education to educate approximately 50 of their secondary students at Broadalbin-Perth's middle and high schools.

Regardless of where Edinburg decides to send its secondary students, I have long believed that our secondary students should be starting their day later and our elementary students would start their day earlier than our current practice. There is much research about child and adolescent development to support this theory.

Three at a table during Learning Lab

Question: Why is it that we have to sit three to a table during study halls in the cafeteria? Especially during 8th period? We are not bad kids and we do not cause trouble so I was just wondering why we have to sit three to a table, especially when we are doing homework most of the time. Thanks.

Answer: Over the years, Mr. Barnhart and I have observed the study habits of students in the Learning Labs. It was clear to us that when more than three students were at a table, there tended to be less work going on. However, if you have a specific need for more than three people to be at your table during a Learning Lab, you should ask Mr. Barnhart directly.
- answered by Robin Blowers, high school principal

When is the senior prom?

Question: What is the date of senior prom for 2011? I was planning on attending two this year and I just wanted to make sure they are not on the same date. I have asked a few people but have been givin several different answers. So when exactly is the senior prom for 2011?

Answer: The senior prom will be held on May 14, 2011, at the Great Escape Lodge. Details to follow.
-answered by Robin Blowers, High School Principal

Why are building lights on at night?

Question: Many evenings, when driving by both schools, we notice many lights on. Couldn’t we save some money and energy by eliminating the number of lights that are being left on day and night or by utilizing motion sensor lights or energy efficient lighting?


Answer: Several rooms in our buildings do have lights that turn on or off depending whether or not there is movement in the room. These lights do save energy. In addition, the lighting in our Middle School gym is being upgraded as part of the EXCEL capital project, and will be having energy-efficient, motion-sensor lights installed.

Overall, about 90 percent of the building’s lights are off when school is not in session. I believe the lights you are seeing are emergency lighting that is required by the state to be on to ensure safety and security. These lights never go off; however, they are using less energy than lights during the day. I think they appear brighter than they are because they illuminate the dark hill. If our schools were completely dark, it would be a security issue.

You may have also noticed lights on near our parking lots and bus garages. These lights are also on to ensure safety and security. We have security cameras set up to monitor the area and we need to have lights to properly monitor the area through the tape.
-answered by Stephen Tomlinson, District Superintendent

Electronic message board in front of TLC

Question: I've noticed that there have been many misspellings on the large sign in front of the elementary school. Is there any way this can be rectified? After all, Broadalbin-Perth is a school and students should learn the importance of spelling words correctly.

Answer: A high school student volunteers his time to maintain the message board in front of The Learning Community. He is given the messages and types them into the system. Although I haven't noticed any misspellings, that doesn't mean there haven't been. And although I agree with you that spelling on this sign is important, I also acknowledge that we all make mistakes -- even adults misspell words.
- answered by Stephen Tomlinson, District Superintendent

Honor roll information

Question: Does B-P post honor roll information for the Middle School and High School? If so, where is it located?

Answer: Both the middle school and high school send the names of their honor roll students to the Gloversville Leader-Herald and the Amsterdam Recorder each quarter. In addition, the middle school posts the names of its honor roll students on a bulletin board in its dining room.
- answered by Robin Blowers, High School Principal, and Wayne Bell, Middle School Principal

Soccer game location

Question: What is the address for today's South Glens Falls JV soccer game?

Answer: Directions to all local schools, as well as links to the Web sites of all schools in the Foothills Council, can be found on the district Web site under "Athletics."
- answered by Adam Barnhart, Director of Athletics and High School Assistant Principal

Homecoming Theme

Question: What's the theme for homecoming this year?

Answer: This year's homecoming theme, in honor of The Learning Community, is
"B-P is full of TLC!"
- answered by Robin Blowers, High School Principal