Holiday Bazaar Tomorrow night!

NEW CENTURY CHARTER SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL HOLIDAY BAZAAR
Tuesday, December 8th 4 PM – 8 PM
1000 5th Ave SE, Hutchinson, MN

New Century Charter School is sponsoring its fifth annual International Holiday Bazaar in December. It will be held Tuesday, December 8th from 4 PM – 8 PM.

We will be hosting a variety of activities ranging from display tables with foods, crafts, and information about various countries such as Germany, Japan, Mexico and France. Food samples will be offered and there will be crafts for sale.

A unique attraction is our authentic Old World Santa. Parents may purchase a keepsake photo of their child with Santa.

Ethnic baked goods will be offered for sale along with holiday favorites. Entertainment will be provided on the half hour with a variety of musical groups, soloists, and entertainers.

Come and enjoy a cup of homemade Chili along with a Grilled Cheese Sandwich and beverage for only $6.00 per person. Students and children are only $4.00. Call the school to purchase tickets for the luncheon at 320-234-3660.

There is no admission fee. Come and get your holiday shopping and festivities off to a wonderful start!

Glencoe H1N1 Vaccination Clinic

McLeod County Public Health will be offering a H1N1 Vaccination Clinic on Saturday, November 21st, 2009 from 9am-12pm.

The clinic will take place at the Health and Human Services Building at 1805 Ford Ave., Glencoe, MN 55336

There will be no charge for the H1N1 vaccination.

These are the groups that vaccine will be available for:
Children age 6 months through 9 years.
10-18 year olds with chronic medical conditions.
Parents/primary caregivers of infants less than 6 months of age.

All “healthy” persons in the groups above will be receiving Flu Mist.
Children age 6 months up to age 2 years and those with chronic medical conditions will receive the H1N1 shot.

We will also offer Seasonal Flu Vaccine. Seasonal Flu Vaccine is $20.00 per shot.

Our vaccines will be given on a “First Come, First Serve” basis. Forms will be available at the clinic and on the McLeod County Website under Public Health/H1N1 Resources.

Please call McLeod County Public Health at 320-864-3185 if you have questions or concerns.

e-term 2009 symposium offerings

Students should all be registered for their fall e-term classes by this time - we have some great offerings! Payment is due for those symposiums that had fees. e-term is November 16 - 21 and we will have another week in February and 2 weeks in May.

Here are some of the exciting symposiums available for students this time: Tourist!, Games by Woodworking, Doodles, A Healthier You, Recreational Skating and Hockey, Multicultural Art, Power Volleyball, Exercise Science, Lego Creations, Sinister Minds, Yoga, Brrrrrave the Cold, Pearl Harbor, Criminal Justice, Environmental Science, Reading Seminars, Journalish, and a Firearms class.

Volunteer symposium leaders are always welcome - just give us a call!

H1N1 Vaccination Clinic

McLeod County Public Health will be offering a H1N1 Vaccination Clinic on Monday, November 9th, 2009 from 3pm-6pm.

The clinic will take place at the Health and Human Services Building at 1805 Ford Ave., Glencoe, MN 55336

There will be no charge for the H1N1 vaccination.

These are the groups that the vaccine will be available for at this time:

H1N1 shots:

6 months-2 years of age

2-4 years old with chronic medical conditions

H1N1 Flu Mist-

Healthy 2-4 year olds

Parents/Caregivers (primary caregivers) of children less than 6 months old.

Our vaccines will be given on a “First Come, First Serve” basis. Numbers will start being distributed at 1:00pm. Forms will be available on the McLeod County Website under Public Health/H1N1 Resources.

I will keep you informed of the next H1N1 flu clinic which will target K-4th grades.

Also, remember if you have not yet recieved the "seasonal" flu vaccine, it is availble at McLeod County Public Health for $20.

Thanks and stay healthy!

Update with the Director -

Dear NCCS Families,

The kids are doing great and we are making progress here at New Century! We are already gearing up for initial NWEA assessments to analyze where our kids are at in reading and math, and then will break down that student data in teacher teams to drive our instruction for individuals and the school as a whole.

Additionally, some important dates are coming up - this Wednesday, October 7, we will have a late start where students report to school at 9:45 AM, then a teacher workshop day this Friday, October 9(no students), conferences next Tuesday evening, October 13, and Wednesday morning/afternoon, October 14(no students), and finally, MEA break with no school next Thursday and Friday, October 15, 16.

During this professional development time allocated above, our staff will be working on our MCAII reading and math preparation, book studies, and revisiting our mission/vision/purpose. We look forward to another great month in October, and appreciate all NCCS students and families greatly!

Sincerely,

JJ Vold

ACT Test Dates - sign up online!

All Juniors and Seniors should be thinking about taking the ACT test - this is required for college entrance. You can register online at www.actstudent.org. It is a simple procedure.

Tests are offered every month at different locations such as Hutchinson High School, Willmar, New Germany. See the online site for more details.

Here's where to find the info you need: www.newcenturycharter.com Click on "school life"

Area Health Clinics

Hi Everyone -

Our Nurse, Heidi Tydlacka is encouraging everyone to get their flu shot! Here is a list of local area clinics:

Glencoe Regional Health Services Seasonal Flu Clinics

Tuesday, September 29th 4:30-7:30pm Glencoe Clinic
Thursday, October 1st 4:30-7:30pm Glencoe Clinic
Tuesday, October 6th 4:30-7:30pm Glencoe Clinic
Wednesday, October 7th 3:30-7:00pm Stewart Clinic
Thursday, October 8th 4:00-7:30pm Lester Prairie Clinic
Tuesday, October 27th 4:30-7:30pm Glencoe Clinic
Thursday, October 29th 4:30-7:30pm Glencoe Clinic
Tuesday, November 3rd 4:30-7:30pm Glencoe Clinic
Wednesday, November 4th 3:30-7:00pm Stewart Clinic
Thursday, November 5th 4:00-7:30pm Lester Prairie Clinic

In partnership with Hutchinson Medical Center, ISD 423 will be offering flu shot clinics during Parent-Teacher conferences. These clinics will provide the regular seasonal influenza or flu vaccination and will be open to anyone in the community ages 6 months and above. Here are the dates, times and locations for the clinics:

Park Elementary
October 8, 2009
4:00 pm to 5:00 pm, clinic open to the community

Middle School
October 12, 2009

4:00 pm to 5:00 pm, clinic open to the community

High School
October 13, 2009
4:00 pm to 5:00 pm, clinic open to the community

West Elementary
December 3, 2009
4:00 pm to 5:00 pm, shots available to the community

Most health plans cover the 100% of the cost of the flu shot. In order for Hutchinson Medical Center to bill your insurance, you must bring your insurance card with you to the clinic. If you are not covered by a health plan, the out of pocket cost will be $53. There will be posters, flyers and newspaper ads letting the community know about these opportunities. You can still go to your primary health care provider to receive your flu shot(s) if that is your preference. You do not need to sign up ahead of time to attend the clinics, just show up!

At this time, it is unknown when H1N1 novel influenza vaccine will be available. Stay tuned for more information on H1N1 vaccine.

Hutchinson Medical Center
Wednesday, September 23
Tuesday, September 29
8 AM - 4:30 PM

Welcome Back to School!

Dear NCCS Families,

The students are working hard and we had an excellent first week of school here at New Century! For Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors, we will be presenting assessments and opportunities for all high school students to prepare for the ACT exam. Also, in preparation for college applications, we will get out information on actual ACT exams within the coming week. We encourage all high school students to take the ACT, as they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Additionally, MCAII tests will be given in April to all seventh and eighth graders in reading and math, tenth graders in reading, and eleventh graders in math. The Science MCAII will be given to all grades throughout the end of April and early May. More information will follow closer to the assessment, but every day is an important learning and growth opportunity for all. Further, students have shown excitement to enroll in various clubs/intramural sports/etc. as extra-curricular activities, and we promote this as it is healthy and compliments learning. Look for more information on that within the coming weeks as well. Thank you all kindly for everything, we appreciate all of you as New Century families.

Be Well,

JJ Vold

NCCS Director

Kudos for Students

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We recently have had a lot of reasons to celebrate! Our students are receiving many honors and awards as we come to the end of the school year. It's so nice to see their involvement in various activities and we're proud of how well they do.

• Congratulations to Dylan Mulenburg for receiving a Merit Award at a recent Math Competition at Minnesota State University in Mankato.
• 6 Students advanced to the State Competition of National History Day after receiving medals at the regional in Marshall, Minnesota. Rita Allen, Micalie Kempfert, Tyler Hruby, Kirsten Akkerman, Colby Richards, and Luke Bobier all entered the performance category this year.
• Taylor Nordin was inducted into New Century’s National Honor Society last Thursday at our town meeting. Congratulations Taylor! She joins Luke Jensen, Marshall Kohls, Tiffani Espinosa, Kelsey Michel, Heather Sickmann, and Maia Coyle as this year’s inductees.
• We had our first round of Senior Presentations on Thursday, April 30^th. The students did a wonderful job! This is a great opportunity for our younger students to see some exemplary projects being presented – our second Senior Presentation Night will be on May 14^th starting at 6:00 PM. All are welcome!
• Tiffani Espinosa recently received an Honorable Mention for her Digital Photography at the Ridgewater Art Exhibit – congratulations Tiffani!
• Congratulations to our Senior Students of the Month! (Considerations are made in the following areas - respect and attitude, project process, growth and progress in academic areas, responsibility and ownership to school and community. All areas are considered when nominations are made. Faculty selects monthly – student is recognized at Town Meeting and with a certificate.)
• Rita Allen – October Senior Student of the Month
• Micalie Kempfert – November Senior Student of the Month
• Leah Olinger – December Senior Student of the Month
• Jill Field – January Senior Student of the Month
• Bekah Conrad – February Senior Student of the Month
• Alex Larson – March Senior Student of the Month

Cell Phone Second Thoughts - Nancy Gibbs

How many parents insisted after Columbine and Sept. 11 that their children be reachable at all times? How comforting to give kids cell phones, so that urgent reassurances were never more than 10 digits away. And how handy, as we juggled jobs and meetings and soccer matches, to be able to rearrange deployments on the fly. Their phones served our needs so well; too bad we didn't factor in adolescent ingenuity.

Unfortunately it's too late to legislate that no one should be allowed a cell phone until he or she is at least 18 and fully licensed to use it. Every parent understands that handing over the car keys marks a fateful passage, so much more freedom and possibility, so much more risk and temptation. But cell phones took us by surprise: so small, so innocent, so powerful in the hands of a bored or twisted teen who now has an extremely efficient tool for wasting time, cheating on tests, organizing fights, bullying classmates, phoning in bomb threats, arranging drug deals and, more commonly, vamping in a junior-varsity version of Girls Gone Wild.

Is this the dark side of the parental imagination? Yes. But a study released last December found that one in five teens had sent or posted a naked picture of themselves, and a third had received such a picture or video by text message or e-mail. One school principal suspects that a random ransacking of the phones in his school would find indecent pictures on half to two-thirds of them. Three out of four teens say posting suggestive stuff "can have serious negative consequences," which means they know it's dumb--and they do it anyway.

But there's nothing quite like the image of your child on a registry of sex offenders to concentrate the parental mind. It now has a catchy new label, but "sexting" has been around, as a prank and a problem, for years: in 2004 a 15-year-old Pittsburgh, Pa., girl was charged with sexual abuse of children and dissemination of child pornography when she posted nude pictures of herself online. This seemed like a confounding twist in prosecutorial philosophy, since the victim and the villain in this case were the same child. But just in the past year, more than a dozen states have followed suit, arresting kids as young as 13 for sending or receiving smutty pictures on their phones. For parents, these cases have suddenly raised the prospect of retirement savings melted down to pay legal bills, college dreams deferred, scholarships lost--all because their kids were caught doing what kids do, and were prosecuted aggressively in hopes that others would notice and clean up their act.

The rush of prosecutions, however, just reminds us that the law makes a lousy parent. A legal system naturally depends on deterrence; you make an example of those you manage to catch, so that potential offenders think twice. But to many a teen, danger is as likely to feed desire as to frustrate it. The qualities required to shape their behavior, the humor and patience mixed just a certain way with clarity and resolve, are too much to expect from laws written to apply equally to everyone. Don't we need to exempt them from prosecution for being idiots and to find some better way to punish conduct that we didn't manage to prevent?

Especially since sexting might actually be the least of our worries. Compared with what they are actually doing, teenagers' virtual sex lives may be less a mirror than a mirage, an image of how they see themselves that vanishes as you get up close. The research suggests that even as they get more electronically immodest, they are delaying actual sex, having fewer partners and generally behaving more responsibly than many of their parents did. By all means, come down hard on the kid who uses a phone to cheat or bully or harass or cause harm. But when it comes to baring all, remind them that even if they escape the law they'll never erase the trail, when they decide to apply for college or a job or run for President: indiscretion lives forever, their naked teenage ghost in cyberspace.

Just don't imagine that you can prevail by brute force. You can block websites, limit time online, screen e-mail, unplug the webcam. But kids are more nimble than wise; they will find a work-around. Teachers know that students can text under the desk without glancing down, their phones set with a ringtone pitched too high for adults to hear. We are fighting on their turf. They are up in the trees and underground and in caves while we march around in our bright red uniforms trying to defend their dignity and virtue. Not a fair fight.

This article was published in TIME Magazine March 16, 2009

Statewide Assessments

The statewide assessments will be taking place on Tuesday 14 April and Wednesday April 15th. The 9th graders will be taking the writing test required for high school graduation. The 10th graders will be taking the reading test required for graduation, and the 11th graders will be taking the math test required for graduation. These are what we call ‘high stakes’ meaning that they must be passed in order to graduate. There will be other opportunities should someone not pass this month, but we would like to get all of our students through this process the first time. Parents can help by making sure that all students are in school and well rested on these days. Thank you very much for helping our students understand the importance of these state assessments.

Hutchinson kids worked valiantly to fend off flood

Reader Letters - Praise, criticism, and other insights - Hutchinson Leader, April 2, 2009.

From Tony Cain
Oxbow, N.D.

On behalf of all the residents of Oxbow, N.D., we would like to send a truly heartfelt thank you to the bus load of high school kids from Hutchinson that left home at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 30, to come to our aid during the recent flood fight.

Oxbow is a small community of about 125 homes, 15 miles south of Fargo. On Wednesday morning, all of us were up against some pretty long odds. At the same time, the Coast Guard showed up with three air boats to rescue the 10 families of the homes already lost. The national Guard showed up with heavy equipment and a busload of your kids showed up. It was 19 degrees with 15-mph winds and snowing. With the combination of people from Oxbow, college kids and your kids, they worked outside, without rest, filling, delivering and stacking 20,000 sandbags.

When the flood levels finally leveled off at 4 a.m. the next morning, we had lost only one more house. That entire day was pure madness, but at no time did one of your kids complain about anything and believe me there was plenty to complain about.

Today is Saturday morning and we are completely surrounded by a frozen lake of ice, mud and snow but we are relatively safe as the flood bears down on Fargo today. Many, many times yesterday comments were made on what would have happened if the help including your kids had not arrived exactly when it did. We did not get your names, your ages or how your little bus got from there to here, but we do remember the smiles, the effort, and most of all the character of those kids to decide on their own that they wanted to help people that they did not know and get on a bus at 5:30 in the morning and head north.

I can't say what the kids are like in a lot of other towns around, but I can say that you have some really good ones in Hutchinson with parents who have obviously brought them up the right way. If you know one of those kids please tell them how grateful we are.

Thanks again from all the residents of Oxbow, N.D.

Social Studies Students of the Block

We are proud to announce our Social Studies Students of the Block for Block 3. Here are Mr. Kraft's selections.

Taylor Nordin: Having had the opportunity to evaluate Taylor on numerous projects I have consistently been impressed with her passion and depth of knowledge regarding her topics of choice. From a social science perspective Taylor specifically invites her audience into her projects as she raises questions about the logistical significance of each. Students such as Taylor are always rewarding to work with.

Kelsey Michel: Kelsey stands out as a natural student leader who always puts her best foot forward. Most recently I have been impressed with the level of knowledge that Kelsey has demonstrated during her Westward Expansion project. This multi-part project drove deeply into the interlocking connections and issues that past leaders/explorers had to juggle while strengthening and expanding the United States. It is always a pleasure to learn from students such as Kelsey and I am looking forward to what the future will bring for all of us here at NCCS.

Here are the students selected by Mrs. Moore:

Cody Freyholtz - 7^th/8^th Social Studies:

Cody improved his pre and post test scores by over 48%. He improved his work and study skills immensely during this block, and was really a leader in the class.

Aisha Fernandez - Government:

Aisha always puts her top effort into the work in Government. I can always look forward to some very intellectual insight and observations on her papers. She is quiet, but when she does have something to add to discussions, it is always profound. I appreciate her work ethic and her willingness to go above and beyond what is required!

Megan Hofteig – Government: Megan improved dramatically during this block in Government. She is a very deep thinker and could be counted on to add depth and clarity to our Paedeia Seminars. She has a gentle way of getting her own points across, while also respecting the opinions of others. I appreciate her willingness to share her thoughts and to bring others into the discussion!

12 students and two staff members from our school traveled to Moorhead yesterday (Tuesday) to help with flood relief. They were called to help a private homeowner to form a line and stack sandbags to keep the rising river from flooding their yard.

Today a whole bus load of students and adults left at 5:30 AM to help with the effort. They arrived at 9:30 - driving through a blizzard to get there. When they arrived at the coordination point, a representative asked "Are you the group from Hutchinson?" and gave Sheila Hendricks a big hug. They are so glad we are there. They are heading to an area near Shanley High School in South Fargo to begin sandbagging.

We are so proud of these volunteers who are so willing to give their time and energy to help those in need.

New Century Community Open House

We will be hosting a community Open House on Thursday, April 2nd from 6 PM - 8 PM. The public is encouraged to attend and see what Project-based learning is all about! Our Faculty and students will be on hand to give school tours, do project and video presentations and answer any questions you may have. Please come and enjoy some refreshments while taking a look at our school.

Cooperative Agreement

On Thursday evening, the 5th of March, the NCCS board of directors had a special board meeting in order to gather input on the upcoming decision as to whether or not to continue with the cooperative agreement which allows NCCS students to participate in extra curricular activities through the Hutchinson Public Schools. The cost of this program has grown considerably over the years. It is based on a formula which takes into consideration the actual costs to provide these services and then determines a per participant cost. This is then applied to the number of students in NCCS, assuming that all could participate. There is no cost for 7/8 graders. The individuals who attended Thursday's meeting provided valuable testimony for both continuing and severing the relationship. The NCCS board is very desirous of hearing input from all individuals connected with NCCS prior to a decision being made at the 18 March board of director's meeting. Please take the time to contact a board member. Your input is necessary in order for the board to make an informed decision.

Thursday Performance cancelled due to weather

Our evening performance of Into the Woods tonight (Thursday, February 26) is cancelled due to weather. We will have additional performances on the dates and times listed below - thank you for your consideration!

Into the Woods - Theater Production

New Century Charter School will present our production of Into the Woods - a 2-act Broadway Musical by Stephen Sonheim on the following dates - the public is invited to attend! Performances will take place at Maplewood Academy Auditorium at 700 Main Street North in Hutchinson, MN.

Thursday, February 26 - CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER

Friday, February 27 - 11:00 AM Matinee - public is welcome.

Saturday, February 28 - 7:00 PM Evening Performance

Sunday, March 1 - 2:00 PM Matinee Performance

Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students. Refreshments, flowers, awards for the actors, etc. are all available at the auditorium for purchase during the performances. Thank you for supporting our Theatre group!

College Planning

In responding to parental input asking for more information on how to go about preparing for college, NCCS will be holding its second college night on Tuesday, 17 February. We will have a representative from Ridgewater who will spend some time on all of the things to think about and act on while juniors and seniors in high school. In addition, there will be information on PSEO presented. This is designed to help students understand what PSEO has been created to do and how to plan collaboratively with NCCS advisors so that this experience enhances the overall secondary educational experience. There is a 30 March deadline for participation in PSEO. By this date, PSEO participants for the 09-10 school year need to inform the secondary school of their desire to participate. Since PSEO is a cost to the district, this deadline has been imposed by the state to assist districts in budgeting for the upcoming school year. Parents of all sophomores and juniors please plan on attending this information session.

New Century Presents "Into the Woods"

You are invited to attend New Century's annual spring musical - our production this year is "INTO THE WOODS" - a two-act musical by Stephen Sonheim.

It is a delightful story intertwining the plots of several Fairy Tales including Little Red Riding Hood, Jack & the Beanstalk, Rapunzel and Cinderella - tied together by a more original story involving a Baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family. It also includes references to several other well-known tales.

There are 28 cast members and 20 additional students involved in the technical aspects of our production. Our student matinee is on Friday, February 27th.

Our performances will be at Maplewood Academy Auditorium at 700 Main Street North on Thursday, February 26th at 7:00 PM, Saturday, February 28th at 7:00 PM and Sunday, March 1st at 2:00 PM. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students.

Great Turnout - Charter School Day at Capitol

Tremendous Turnout for 3rd Annual Charter School Day at Capitol

Yesterday, over 350 parents, school administrators, board members, teachers and students from across the state participated in the 3rd Annual MACS Charter School Day at the Capitol. (This year's turnout was about a 50% increase over last year.)

Those who participated had over one hundred scheduled meetings with legislators - and there were a number of impromptu meetings that occurred as folks moved around the Capitol complex.

The response to our three key messages...

1. Charter Schools are Public Schools that make a difference in kids’ lives
2. Charter Schools Support Real Accountability and Enhancing Innovation
3. Lease Aid Reductions will mean cuts in funding for the classroom, as charters have no other funding source for facilities

...seemed to be well received by most legislators. In fact, a couple of legislators indicated that they wanted to sign on our bill - the Charter School Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2009.

I want to express my appreciation to everyone who participated, and also to our lobbying team - Peg Larsen, Lynne Osterman, and Bill Hoffman - and to our MACS staff - Margaret Uttke, Shad Cooper, and our volunteer interns Carolyn Westra, Stacy Lahr and Max Sirianni - for making the day a tremendous success.

While we have a long way to go in the session - and there will be up days and down days as the legislative process unfolds - yesterday was an up day. We heard good things from both legislators and legislative staff about the students and folks who participated; they did the individual schools and the charter school movement proud.

Everyone in the charter school movement shoul thank the participants for taking the day to come to the Capitol and to help tell the story of Minnesota's charter schools, especially in what is a critical session for the future of charter schools in Minnesota.

I am extraordinarily grateful for everyone's participation and work.

Gratefully,

Eugene Piccolo

Executive Director

09-10 Budget - These will be difficult times for the NCCS board as they structure a budget for the upcoming school year that is responsive to student needs while facing less funding from the state. While nobody, including the legislators themselves, know right now the outcome of the funding session in May, it is pretty well expected that there will not be a lot of new funding for education. All business organizations, including the one that NCCS employs, are recommending that the budget be built with no increase. While all of the unexpected expenses that came with a move into a new building will be slowing, and some of the expenses will now have a track record which will allow the board to be able to predict, money will still be tight. The NCCS board finance committee is hard at work looking at areas in which money can be saved and will be bringing various proposals to the full board over the next few months. A budget must be in place by June 30th as per state statute. Please feel free to contact NCCS board members with your thoughts.

Drug Sweep

As many of you know, on Thursday 5 February we invited a team of law enforcement officers in to conduct a search of NCCS using a dog trained to uncover illegal substances. We are pleased to be able to report that while the dog showed interest in a few work stations, there were no illegal drugs discovered on the premises. While this is good news, we are not naive enough to believe that this means that our school is drug free and that none of our students are involved in this activity. We will continue to work in helping staff and students understand the importance of avoiding this type of destructive activity and will continue to implement procedures to eliminate this in our school. On the day before this took place, our staff were trained by county workers in the identification and detection of illegal substances and in effective ways to talk with students whom they suspect are involved in these activities. We had the same session for parents on the night of the search which unfortunately was not well attended. Parents, we need your help in this area. We as school employees have responsibilities to detect and eliminate this type of activity during students’ time at school, but as you all know, this activity takes place outside of the school doors as well. Please be vigilant and be willing to challenge your child if you see activity that would be indicative of illegal substance abuse. As partners we will be able to help our students better avoid the negative spiral that takes place when adolescents get involved in this type of destructive activity.

Cell phones and text messaging

We have been having an ever increasing amount of student use of cell phones during school hours. NCCS has a policy that prohibits students from using cell phones during school hours because of the distracting qualities inherent in their use. Added to this is the increase use of negative communication that takes place between students, at times referred to as cyber-bullying. We are seeing increased activity in this area and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to fulfill our responsibility of maintaining students’ safety while this happens so quickly and easily out of sight of a school employee. Quite often when we take phones away we hear that students want them returned or are in immediate need of their phone in order to keep in touch with parents using the text message component. While we recognize that there are times when parents and students need to communicate with each other during the day, we ask for your help in keeping these to times of actual emergency. When we take phones away and hear that we are depriving students of their need to communicate with parents, we let them know that they are free to use the school phones for this purpose at a time when it is not disruptive to the educational process. We need to be able to curtail cell phone use during school hours as it is our responsibility to maintain a safe and undisrupted educational setting. Please help us by refraining from text messaging your child during school hours and letting them know that they should follow school procedures to contact parents during the day.

New Century Presents "Into the Woods" - Spring Musical

NEW CENTURY CHARTER SCHOOL ANNOUNCES IT’S
SIXTH ANNUAL THEATRE PRODUCTION
“Into the Woods”
music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
and book by James Lapine

The students of New Century Charter School in Hutchinson, MN are presenting the musical “Into the Woods” at the Maplewood Academy Auditorium on Thursday, February 26th and Saturday, February 28th at 7:00 PM, and Sunday, March 1st at 2:00 PM.
“Into the Woods”, produced and directed by Sheila Hendricks & Terry Kempfert is starring 35 local 7th – 12th grade students. Inspired by Bruno Bettelheim's 1976 book, The Uses of Enchantment, the musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales and follows them further to explore the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from the stories of Little Red Ridinghood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and Cinderella, tied together by a more original story involving a Baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family, most likely taken from the original story of Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm. It also includes references to several other well-known tales.
Production of this sixth-annual theatrical experience for the school will not only challenge students’ drama and musical skills but also incorporate many additional roles in the design and creation of sets, costumes, props, lighting, sound, and additional tasks involved in producing a musical of this type.
Doors will open at 6:15 PM on performance nights and 1:15 PM on Sunday. Location is changed this year and all performances will be held at the Maplewood Academy, 700 Main St. N. in Hutchinson, MN. Tickets are available beginning February 9th at New Century Charter School, 1000 5th Ave SE. For more information please call the school at 234-3660.

Finance Award

New Century Charter School was recently awarded the Minnesota Department of Education Finance Award once again. This is given in recognition of having achieved excellence in financial oversight of the school's public funding. The criteria include a positive fund balance, responding to all state mandated reports in a timely manner, publicly reporting all financial statements and procedures in place that provide for responsible oversight of the school's finances. The NCCS board of directors deserves recognition for their commitment to responsible spending of public funds in the operation of the school.