March 17: St. Patrick's Day. Learn more about the history of St. Patrick's Day.

March 17: North Junior High School will host the first-ever Idaho Battle of the Books Tournament from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is a new and growing program across all of Idaho, started last year at North. This year's event will feature student teams from North, Riverglen, East and Fairmont junior high schools, competing in teams of 4 students each in a reading-based program that uses competition to encourage students to read more books! This is the second year of the program at North, but the first year at the other schools, and next year the plan is to add several West Ada schools, as well as schools from other parts of Idaho. Author Jennifer A. Nielsen will be the guest of honor. Rediscovered Books will be selling books that day (Nielsen will be signing), and Scotty's Hot Dog cart will available for those in attendance. 

March 20: The Boise High School Choirs Present:  Songs of Peace & Justice, 7 p.m. Boise First Presbyterian (corner of 9th and State, Boise). Public is invited. Come and share an evening of reflection and inspiration with the BHS Choirs. The music was selected to look at difficult times and events that we as a human family have faced. Rather than focusing on hatred and division, the music teaches us to choose love, peace and hope. We will be joined by two choirs from the community, sharing in the message of unity and connection. We will also be collecting donations for local charities that support human rights and social justice issues right here in Boise.

March 21: Boise High School’s 5th Annual Summit - “Justice for All”, 8:20 a.m. to 3:07 p.m., Boise High School, 1010 W. Washington St., Boise. Boise High School Summits are student led, project-based, inquiry-driven learning experiences occurring annually for the past four years. The theme of this year’s summit, voted on by Boise High School students, is “social justice”. The summit consists of three main characteristics; student presenters, student led workshops, and a keynote speaker - Cherie Buckner-Webb. Ms. Buckner-Webb is a graduate of Boise High and a District 19 Legislative Representative. Boise High students will be presenting on self-selected topics ranging from Empowering Women, to How to Become a Youth Activist (led by the organizers of the Women’s March), to Racial Segregation in American Schools.  For more information contact: Robb Thompson, Principal, Boise High School, 208-854-4270, [email protected]

March 23: End of third quarter - Early release K-6.

March 26 - 30: Spring break - No school K-12.

April 1: On Sunday, April 1, 2018, online registration opens for Community Education's popular Spring session of personal enrichment classes.

On April 1, log on to www.boiselearns.org to review all of the wonderful, affordable and intriguing Community ED classes (a total of more than 200) and then register online.

Review our Spring 2018 Community Education course catalog now and then remember to register online beginning Sunday, April 1, 2018 at www.boiselearns.org

April 7: Borah High School Choir will hold a Yard Sale at the school's auditorium from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. to benefit the school's choir program. Borah is located at 6001. W. Cassia in Boise.

April 21: Week of the Young Child Celebration featuring music & fun for the entire family! Idaho Botanical Garden, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This free event focuses on connecting you with quality community resources for young children. Enjoy live music and performances on the celebration stage. Learn more...

May 30: Grace Jordan and Morley Nelson elementary schools will each celebrate their 10 year anniversary on May 30! Both schools will celebrate these important milestones at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 30, 2018.  The public, including the local news media, are invited to attend these celebrations. All former students, staff and community members are welcome. We will be displaying pictures, notes, cards, short videos of the journey of our schools. Please consider submitting relevant school pictures to the principal at each school: Melanie Koch, principal, Morley Nelson Elementary School at [email protected] and Joan Bigelow, principal, Grace Jordan Elementary School at [email protected]

National Merit Finalists Announced: Officials from National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) have announced the names of Boise School District students selected as Finalists in the 63rd Annual National Merit Scholarship Program. A total of 28 students from Boise School District have been selected for this national honor. 

Boise School District's National Merit Finalists were chosen from a list of 30 National Merit Semi-Finalists announced this past fall, which represents 35% of Idaho's total number of 2018 National Merit Semifinalists (86). The Boise School District enrolls about 9% of the students in the state of Idaho.

"Less than one percent of students nationwide achieve National Merit Finalist status. The hard work and diligence of these students is paying off. Congratulations to each of our award winners and their families," said Boise Schools Superintendent Don Coberly. "The Boise School District is committed to providing the advanced, rigorous coursework and highly skilled teachers students need to earn this recognition." 

The Boise School District students selected as National Merit Finalists now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered this spring. 

2018 Idaho State MathCounts Competition: On Saturday, March 10th at Boise State University, the 2018 Idaho State MathCounts Competition was held. 

These hard working Boise District students performed very strongly! Robin Betcher is their coach from Boise School District's Treasure Valley Math & Science Center. Each week since October, these students have been returning to TVMSC every Monday afternoon for practices.  

Their hard work paid off, with three students now qualifying to compete in Washington, D.C. for the National MathCounts Competition on May 14th. Below are the results from Saturday's state level competition:

Final standings after the Countdown Round were:

Wang, Bian and Fernandez made it to the National Competition that is May 14th in Washington, D.C.

Team Tators in Their 1st Event of 2018: On Saturday, March 10th, Boise School District's Team Tators Robotics Team competed in the Arizona North FIRST Robotics Regional Competition in Flagstaff, AZ. Competition was intense, as the team was competing against the team that took first place at the World Championships in 2017! By the end of the three days of competition, Team Tators finished as Finalists, leading the second place alliance.  

The Leader of the winning alliance was Paly Robotics out of Palo Alto. This team has been competing since 1996 and is sponsored by Google, Apple, Brin Wojcicki Foundation, NVIDIA, Intuitive Surgical, Webcor Builders and Landec. This team had already won a 2018 regional event thereby qualifying for the World Championships in April 2018. As a result, Team Tators caught a Wild Card and so earned a spot in the FIRST Championships that run from April 18 to April 21, 2018 in Houston, TX.  Team Tators is sponsored by Micron Technology, Inc., Hewlett Packard, J.C. Jeker Foundation, Monsanto Fund, Landmark Industrial, Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, Trinity Trailers, Boise Schools Educational Foundation, Pacific Steel, Pedersen & Company PLLC, Idaho Stem Action Center, Solidworks, Custom Fluid Power and the Treasure Valley Math & Science Center. 

Following links are to two videos from the Arizona North Regional in Flagstaff (Team Tators is in red #2122 and can be seen loading up the scale at the far side of the field):

 

https://frc-events.firstinspires.org/2018/AZFL/playoffs/18  

https://frc-events.firstinspires.org/2018/AZFL/playoffs/3

If you would like to watch Team Tators and other teams compete in person, consider attending the Idaho FIRST Robotics Regional Event that will be held here in Boise at Taco Bell Arena from March 29th - 31st (Spring Break). https://idahofrcregional.org/  The FRC events are free to attend and offer exciting entertainment for all ages! Remember to cheer on our team, 'Team Tators!'  

The team will also be completing in the Canadian Rockies Regional in Calgary, Alberta from April 4th - April 7th prior to heading down to Houston, TX for the 2018 FIRST Robotics World Championships on Wednesday, April 18 through Saturday, April 21, 2018.

Micron Math Meet Results: Math brains were thoroughly engaged at the Micron Math Meet on March 2nd and March 9th.  Over 200 5th and 6th graders from 13 different elementary schools participated, and Micron Technology graciously hosted the event. Teams competed in visual spatial and problem solving competitions. Individuals competed as well in math problem solving and calculation.   Review results from the 2018 Micron Math Meet.

Timberline High School Chamber Orchestra Earns Awards: This past weekend, the Timberline Chamber Orchestra participated in the Northwest Orchestra Festival in Gresham, Oregon.The Chamber Orchestra placed 1st in the large school Chamber Orchestra event. The Tablerock String Quartet placed 2nd in the small ensemble division. Quartet members are: Reiko Tachibana, Leyandra Snyder, Camille Bryner, Lewis Garner.

West Student Sets U.S. Track Record: West Junior High School 9th grade student Nathan Green (pictured) recently participated in the indoor New Balance Nationals and set a new personal record that is also now the U.S. record for freshman boys 1 mile at 4:24.75. Watch Nathan set the new record.

West Junior High School Students Earn Awards: West Junior High School students received medals at the state Technology Student Association Conference held in Twin Falls last week. The medals are in recognition of the students' performance at the state technology championships. West Junior High returned for its third year and again took 2nd place overall. The West students are all members of TSA and the event offers up to 60 individual and team events, including Career Preparation, CO2 Dragsters, Problem-Solving, Computer Aided Drawing, Video Game Design, Computer Animation, and many others. A total of 13 West students participated in the conference and every student that participated, won at least one medal.

West students earned the following awards:

Under the direction of Technoogy Teacher Brian Johns, West continues to emphasize and excel in STEM education, be it in CO2 dragsters, robotics competitions, or at the annual TSA state technology championships!

Parents & Children Participate in Annual Kindergarten Registration/Open House: Hundreds of parents and children turned out for Boise School District's annual Kindergarten Registration and Open House held on Thursday, March 8, 2018. All 32 of the District's elementary schools participated in this event, holding Kindergarten screening activities and sharing summer learning opportunities with families, all in an effort to prepare children entering Kindergarten in the 2018-19 school year.

Families were greeted by dedicated and knowledgeable education professionals eager to serve our community's children, in this case the class of 2031!

If you missed Kindregarten Registration & Open House you can still register your incoming Kindergartner by visiting  Boise School District's new online Kindergarten enrollment system or visiting any of our neighborhood elementary schools. We are here to serve your needs to help your child succeed!  

Choose Boise School District - A nationally recognized, high-performing, comprehensive public school sytem. 

District Educator Nationally Recognized: French/World Studies 7 Teacher Paige Somoza (pictured), Riverglen Junior High School, has been selected as a PBS Digital All-Star Innovator. On March 14, 2018, PBS announced the educators selected for the first PBS Digital Innovator All-Star Program. Nominated by their local PBS stations, 30 educators were chosen from across the country, representing 28 states and Puerto Rico. Each of the Digital Innovator All-Stars was selected from a cohort of extraordinary educators who are doing innovative work in their schools and districts, and were previously recognized as part of the PBS Digital Innovator Program, which began in 2013. Learn more...

District Educator Recognized: On March 10, 2018 at the Audubon Society's Annual Banquet, Dr. Megan Jones (pictured), teacher, Taft Elementary School, English Language Learner Program, was awarded the Audubon Society's Educator of the Year for her program "New Roots" and her work of bringing nature into the lives of refugee children.

Borah High Athletic Director Recognized: Vince Mann, (pictured) athletic director, Borah High School, has been selected 5A, Athletic Director of the Year for the Southern Idaho Conference for 2017-2018. Mr. Mann will be recognized and honored at the Idaho Athletic Administrators Association Conference in April in Boise.

2018 High School Graduation Dates: Boise School District announces the following high school graduation dates for 2018:

2018 High School Graduation Dates

Taco Bell Arena at Boise State University, 7:00 p.m. (unless otherwise noted)

May 22, 2018, (Tuesday) - Boise High

May 23, 2018, (Wednesday) - Borah High

May 24, 2018, (Thursday) - Capital High

May 29, 2018, (Tuesday) - Timberline High

Frank Church High School:

Spring Graduation: May 31, 2018, (Thursday), 7:00 p.m. at Morrison Center

STEP Program: May 15, 2018, 9:30 a.m. at Boise Senior Center

Marian Pritchett School: May 24, 2018, 6:30 p.m. at Timberline High

  Parents - Sign-Up for Emergency Text Messaging: The Boise School District offers emergency text messaging for parents/guardians. To receive emergency text messages

sign-up on our emergency text messaging registration webpage. 

Non-Parents - Mobile App Available: Boise School District has a mobile app to improve communication to you. The app is available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. 

Note: Should you no longer wish to receive Constant Contact emails from the District, you may click on the SafeUnsubscribe link located at the bottom of this email. 

How You Can Help Keep Your School Safe: Are you concerned about someone’s behavior and the danger they may present to your child’s school? The following video explains how you can report suspicious activity anonymously. 

Working closely with local law enforcement agencies and media outlets, citizens just like you have helped Boise Area Crime Stoppers become an instrumental part in protecting the Treasure Valley. Thanks to this community support and the premise of anonymity, Crime Stoppers has been able to help solve seemingly impossible crimes with few or no leads all because of just one phone call - 208-343-COPS.

News Media Contact: 

Dan Hollar 

Public Affairs Administrator 

Boise School District 

(208) 854-4064 

[email protected] 

www.boiseschools.org