October – 2017

What we are most proud of…

1. Technology
Currently we are still working to expand our social media footprint. We have added two Instagram accounts to reach a wider net of people, one for our student council and one for general school information.
At parent teacher conferences, WB has Student Council students at a table to assist parents with downloading the district app so that we can improve our total number who have this application on their phone. Our goal is to have 100% of our parents get the app so that we can begin to utilize PUSH Notifications that will reach all of our families. The push notification feature will assist us with using less paper and provide us the opportunity to give immediate notices for families whenever something comes up.
We also have an office team member available in the front office to assist parents with accesses Parent View. We have changed our Synergy letter which prints for each student showing their parent their access code for their child’s grades. The letter now gives directions for downloading the District App first (assisting us with push notifications) and then accessing Parent View for grades.
Our goal is to try and go paperless by January 2018 for progress and report cards.
2. Vertically Articulated Extra-Curricular Engagement
Our baseball and softball teams both had great seasons. Our baseball team made it to the championship game this season, unfortunately their three year run as district champions came to an end against the Magma Mustangs. Softball worked hard and made it a competitive game in the first round of playoffs before losing to Skyline Ranch. We hosted our sports banquet, a slow pitch softball game between students and parents on Tuesday September 19th.
Walker Butte has submitted 2 grants this month with the Diamondbacks Foundation to support our garden club and elective class which will help us to fund a sprinkler system which can be put on a timer to help our plants over the intersession breaks and weekends. The funds will also help our program grow and be able to plant more areas around our courtyard. The grant opportunity is up to 5,000 dollars. We are anxious for the results which will be announced in October/November. Walker Butte Garden Class has organized themselves as a club too. The class is working together with the University of Arizona and the Pinal County Extension office to bring in the 4H gardening curriculum. They are using the Junior Master Gardener program. The program requires the students to complete nine gardening Labs to receive the Junior Master Gardener Certificate. The class has completed the first lab and is in progress with the second lab. The Garden Class will be on social media at (#walkerbuttegardens) which is their official club name. They will be working on three different aspects of gardening in three groups about 10-11 students per group: The past with a Native American Three Sisters Garden, The present with raised beds and square foot gardening, and the future of food production with indoor hydroponics.
3. Effective Leadership
We are continuing to fine tune our emergency procedures at Walker Butte. The installation of the new intercom system just began and will continue into fall break. An intercom and bell system was desperately needed at WB! Upon returning from fall break, our junior high team will now have a working bell system, and our entire campus will be accessible using the intercom system. When we do a lockdown drill or have an emergency, we have the capability of communicating effectively with all staff members and students now.
Dr. Smith and Mrs. Hendry hosted our first Leadership 101 District Class as part of a new initiative to introduce current FUSD teachers with many components of leadership and administrator responsibilities. We are seeking district employees that want to explore what skills are needed to become leaders in our district and provide a quarterly meeting so they can meet FUSD District Leaders and ask questions. The focus of our first meeting was showing them the new FUSD Strategic Plan and discussing the FUSD Vision that we strive to support and build at our schools and in our district. We also gave the participants time for on the spot leadership scenarios and ask them to articulate the steps they would go through if in a similar situation. The group gives feedback and we took questions at the end.
4. Quality Teaching & Learning
Title I:
For the month of September, the only thing that took place for Title I was “Progress Monitoring” on the 1st for K-3. Upcoming for October is “Progress Monitoring” on the 20th for K-3. There are now two part-time Para-Professionals that are assisting Ms. Conte with Title I students so that we can maximize the number of students that we service for Reading Intervention.
All of the Cross Cat students love their specials that they go to this year and are having very positive experiences. Music, Art, PE, and Library are the specific specials they attend each week.In addition to a daily special, they also have a 30 minute class in the new sensory room where students rotate in centers with adult support for various sensory activities and some OT/PT support embedded as well. Cross Cat teachers and students say “Thank you!!!” to our elective teachers for making this part of their day so fun!
Math teachers are continuing to work hard on the implementation of Eureka Math at Walker Butte. The curriculum is very challenging but our teachers are staying committed. The rigor is much higher than what our students are used to and we have to include supplementary resources to fill in gaps for specific concepts and lessons. We know if we stick with it, that our students will progress and it will benefit their learning. They are already using higher math vocabulary as a result of Eureka Math. Some of the teacher challenges that we are monitoring is the prep and collaboration time that Eureka requires. We certainly did not allocate enough time for this and found out quickly that we will need to plan for more time as we continue.
TAP Rubric training was completed and reviewed with all teachers at Walker Butte this month. Andrea Querry spent much time introducing the indicators to our new teachers and cluster time reviewing the rubric with our returning teachers. She also included a school wide survey for teachers asking which areas of the rubric they feel they need to most support with. She will use that feedback during quarter 2 to plan appropriate PD in services and provide walk through feedback for teachers.
5. Culture of Continuous Improvement
In the September, we had 30 referrals resulting in 6 off campus suspensions. The administration team is planning and prepping for the WB team to begin working on the PBIS plan and implementation school wide during second quarter. It is very evident that a school wide discipline plan and positive behavior incentive plan is a priority item for our school. Teachers, students and parents will be included and asked for input throughout the process.
The staff also completed the Continuous Needs Assessment from ADE which was used to compose the school wide improvement plan. Teachers have identified smart goals at each grade level and we have included those in our improvement plan. Our smart goals were created using our AzMerit Percent Passing rates. Overall, Walker Butte showed a decline in percent passing across all grade levels and subject areas except for 2. We are hopeful with our new math curriculum and focused approach, our students will be able to perform at a high level on AzMerit this year and our scores will go up.
6. Clear & Collaborative Relationships
Walker Butte is excited to announce that we have formed a PTO which will begin Oct. 11th when we return from break. Also, Mr. Christ hosted the first annual Parent/Student Softball Game for our fall athletes as a celebration for the end of first quarter sports. The parents and kids had a great time and we received lots of positive feedback.

Discipline & Behavior

Fights / Drugs/Alcohol / Hearing Requests / PBIS Tickets / Positive Referrals
1 / N/A / 1 / N/A
KINDERGARTEN / # STUDENTS
Dancer, KariLee / 23
Passante, Amy / 22
Ryba, Lisa / 24
GRADE 1 / #STUDENTS
Klotz, Tina / 18
Jones, Janae / 20
Lincoln, Stephanie / 19
GRADE 2 / # STUDENTS
Celestine, Katrina / 28
Moore, Lynn / 27
GRADE 3 / # STUDENTS
Newman, Jennifer / 22
Marquez, Veronica / 22
Wilson, Kimberly / 21
GRADE 4 / # STUDENTS
Gates, Lousie / 30
Meadows, William / 28
Hawkins, Valerie / 27
GRADE 5 / # STUDENTS
Karel, Anne Marie / 26
Kennedy, Kathy / 26
Stratton, LeMoyne / 27
GRADE 6 / # STUDENTS
Daly, Michelle / 27
Fant, Kelly / 26
GRADE 7-8 / # STUDENTS
Schutz, Lisa
Burton, James
Brown, Ellesha
Millaud, Mark
Barrett, Lannette
Grantier, Erica
Daly, Michael
TOTAL / 198
Cross Cat Special Programs / # STUDENTS
Burton, Julie / 8
Marquez, Tanya / 8
Graf, Karen / 10
Schow, Linda / 10
Raccuia, Alisha / 7
TOTALS / # STUDENTS
KINDER / 69
GRADE 1 / 57
GRADE 2 / 55
GRADE 3 / 65
GRADE 4 / 85
GRADE 5 / 79
GRADE 6 / 53
GRADE 7 / 103
GRADE 8 / 95
APOLLO / 443
GRADE TOTAL / 704