The time has come to register for the upcoming school year at Neil Armstrong Academy. Because this is the first year for our school, registration will look a little different than it will in future years. Ordinarily we will have kindergarten registration separate from the rest of the school. However, because all students are equally new this year, we will do a general registration for the whole school. The registration event will be held on ...
Class Assignments
With the most exciting (and critical) piece of the new school in place (the staff), we're a step closer to our opening. Now is still too early to be too concerned about class assignments for next year (we'll have registration in April and class lists posted on the website the first week of August), but I want to help everyone understand the procedure we will try to accomplish to put together fair, equitable, and compatible classes. Using all ...
We Have a Staff
After many weeks of interviewing and observing excellent teaching candidates, Neil Armstrong Academy now has its teachers. Together they bring 10* gifted-and-talented endorsements, 10* ESL endorsements, 5* education technology endorsements, 7* math endorsements, 2* reading endorsements, 13* master's degrees, and 2* doctorate degrees to the school. (*Either earned or in progress). Because of the direct connection to the students, the teachers ...
Initial PTA Meeting
Tonight Neil Armstrong Academy had its initial PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) meeting to establish its bylaws committee and nominating committee. Thank you to the wonderful parents who volunteered to serve on these committees and to get the ball rolling for the new Neil Armstrong Academy PTA. Both committees were put to work immediately. The nominating committee strategized an outreach plan to learn of individuals interested in serving on ...
Lots to Do!
While I was in the building-site trailer for a weekly meeting on Tuesday, I noticed an interesting poster on the wall. It was a timeline graph of the plans for each operation required to build the new school. The months were listed along the x axis. The y axis listed every activity that needed to take place to build the building including masonry, metal work, glass work, plumbing, drilling, etc. I was astonished to see that, although the ...
A New Secretary
Neil Armstrong Academy is thrilled to welcome a new person to the staff. Aleshia Stutz will begin the responsibilities of school secretary on Monday, March 11th. Mrs. Stutz has most recently worked as a secretary for Granite Peaks Adult Learning and comes to Neil Armstrong highly recommended. A former colleague of Mrs. Stutz describes her as "an absolute ray of sunshine" who you'll "never see without a smile." We feel lucky to have Mrs. ...
Permit Process
The letters of acceptance and denial for open-enrollment applications began reaching homes yesterday. We're so excited to have our student body defined more concretely, but, at the same time, my heart goes out to all those who are disappointed to not have a spot at the school at this time. Applicants who were not yet accepted were informed where they are in line. Because we had approximately 900 applicants for 350 spots, some disappointment ...
Tour of the GTI
Neil Armstrong Academy was invited on a tour of the Granite Technical Institute (GTI) on Friday afternoon. The GTI provides an opportunity for Granite District high school students to pursue a multitude of different fields and to move seamlessly to further training and employment. The GTI accentuates a STEM philosophy of authentic, project-based learning where students learn through inquiry, collaborative work, and practitioner experiences. GTI ...
Smash It With a Hammer?
During this weekend's Elementary Principals Math and Science Leadership Academy, I came across a quote that intrigued me quite a bit. This is by Phil Daro, Bill McCallum, and Jason Zimba, You have just purchased an expensive Grecian urn and asked the dealer to ship it to your house. He picks up a hammer, shatters it into pieces, and explains that he will send one piece a day in an envelope for the next year. You object; he says “don’t worry, ...
U.S.S. Hornet Apollo 11 Recovery Mission
Ray Robertson recently saw in the newspaper that Granite School District had named its new STEM elementary school Neil Armstrong Academy. The news was very exciting to him because of a personal connection to that name. Shortly after the famous "small step for man," Neil Armstrong and his crew splashed down in the South Pacific. The crew of the U.S.S. Hornet was given the task to recover the crew and their craft. A helicopter lifted the ...
