Principal

Lisa Zelenkov
Assistant Principal

Carrie Sumner
Within the last month of school there will be a lot of activities happening at Central, so I encourage families to participate on field trips, interact with Science Intensives and come into see us for daily activities.  We need and want your presence to help create a smooth ending to the year.  Families have been so supportive to our program this year, and we couldn't have done so much with your children without your support.  Email your child's team teachers to find out what's happening or call us any time!

The Newsletter is full of summer enrichment and academic remediation opportunities for families looking for daytime activities for your kids. Our students heading off to high school are even able to take vocational courses at the King Career Center to get some credits under their belt before school starts - it's a chance to do something hands-on while getting ahead with high school! I encourage all students to check out the programs and find one that peaks your interest!

With the school year coming to a close, I would like to reflect with you on all of the accomplishments our school community has achieved.  Our students were state and city finalists in the Wild About Anchorage Trivia Contest, Math Counts, and the State Science Fair.  Our teachers were presented with awards: Michael Warren won the Milken Award, Craig Kasemodel was granted a position on the PolarTrek Expedition Experience, Laura Fitzgerald won Advisor of the Year from Jostens for Yearbook and Gin Crawford won a Resiliency Award from the American School Psychologists Association.  The Argon Team was honored by the ASD for their work on the Spirit Bears, which were placed in a position of honor at the entrance doors to the Ed Center.

One of the best accomplishments our community has achieved is the increase in teacher training with differentiation of curriculum through new reading materials on the teams.  We were able to meet the instructional needs of our students at a higher level because of progress monitoring, support from the ASD with more instructional materials and because many of our staff continuously participated in professional development from attending conferences, to being presenters to adult learners to taking Pre-AP (Advanced Placement) Courses together.  Overall, everyone worked so well together and did an excellent job for our kids.  I hope you work and play hard this summer so that you're as excited to return in the fall as we are!

Your Principal, 

Lisa Zelenkov

zelenkov_lisa@asdk12.org

Spring is in the air and we are gearing up for the end of our year.  We plan to end with many great activities for students, such as field trips and year-end celebrations.  Track has gotten off the ground, and we hope that the weather will start to cooperate with us.  Speaking of the track, during the last four weeks of spring, we are allowing students to go outside and walk the track during lunch.  It is a great way for students to get outside and enjoy the weather.

May 19 is Camera Day and students will have “sign and smile” time for Yearbook signing. May 19 will be our 8th Grade Celebration day.  In the morning, we will have our awards ceremony, followed by a dance, during school hours, for all 8th graders.  May 19 will also be the day that we do our final locker clean out of the year.  No backpacks will be allowed after this date.

May 20-22 is our big three-day Science Intensives.  Students and staff have started to gear up for these big events and we are all excited.  If your student is attending an Intensive that requires him/her to travel outside of the school, he/she will be allowed to bring a backpack.  If students do bring a backpack for the trip, it will be searched as they come into the school.

 If you would like to volunteer to help during Intensives, we have many activities that need additional help from parents.  Some of the fun things you could help with are hiking, biking, planet walk, GPS usage, fishing, golfing, sports science, and the creation of the garden mural.

Please contact the front office to volunteer, and a happy Team will call you back with the details.

It is important that during these last few weeks we continue to follow school guidelines.  Even though it looks like summer out, we all need to stay focused and keep working hard right up to May 22.  It is unfortunate when a student receives discipline at the end of the school year, as those suspensions will carry over into the beginning of the next school year.

Parents, we thank you all for your hard work and support this year with both the students and our staff.  It is a joy to work with the students at Central.  They are kind, considerate and hard working.  Those attributes come from the support and work that you put into them every day.  We will miss your 8th graders as they go on to high school and we wish them all the best.

 Thank you to Platinum Jaxx Restaurant for sponsoring the Central Middle School’s Girl Conference attendees by providing lunch.

Carrie Sumner

sumner_carrie@asdk12.org