Exciting News for Sibley!

I hope that you had a wonderful and restful summer, and are looking forward to a great school year.  Last spring, our district made the decision to change our grade configurations in light of a number of things.  At Sibley, one reason for K-5 buildings, was our lack of space.  This year, art will be taught in a classroom, not our cafeteria.  Our ELL program will have a classroom, and not need to use a conference room.  In addition, our Learning Center support room will be in a space that will allow much more room for students to work.  Last year, our Learning Center was making the most of a space one-third the size of a regular room. This year, we will operate with four K-5 buildings, a 6-7 middle school, and an 8-12 high school.  Maximizing the learning space and facilities of both our middle and high schools was also accomplished with our district reconfiguration. 

In addition to some of the physical changes we underwent in our buildings, we also learned that we had received a grant from the state to support 5 FTE's known as ADSIS (Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services) teachers.  Our application was written to support a teacher at each elementary school and our middle school.  The goal for Albert Lea's ADSIS program is to provide research based interventions for students identified as being at risk for academic failure and possible referral for special education services in the areas of reading, math, and behavior.  We want students to remain in the general classroom receiving additional support and intervention as needed.

Sibley will once again be able to support a Title 1 program for students grades K-3 in reading and math.  Historically, buildings that dropped below the district's average of poverty have not had Title 1 services. At the Federal level, the district received much more Title 1 dollars than anticipated due to the 2010 census.  Because of this, an in depth analysis was done which determined that we can support a Title 1 program if we adhere to the 35% rule(As a district we are over the 35% poverty threshold).

It is going to be a fantastic year at Sibley as well as for the district.