SCHOOL BOARD MEETS WITH SUPPORTIVE CROWD

By Mrs. Erickson

The gymnasium was full Monday night, March 5^th as parents, grandparents and other concerned citizens packed in to discuss the possibility that the Alexander Elementary School may close down.

There were more than 100 people who attended to voice their support of keeping the small community school open. When asked by one resident for a show of hands in support of raising taxes to keep the school afloat, approximately 99 per cent of those in attendance said they would favor the increase.

More than $100,000 needs to be raised through local property taxes this year to keep the school open and staffed as is. There are currently 66 students that attend AES and these students receive a quality education that has placed its graduates at the top of local high school’s high honors lists, said Principal Silk.

The meeting began at 7:00 p.m. and went on past 10:00. Many questions were asked and when it came time to discuss the school’s possible closure, School Committee Chair Ted Carter asked the crowd if they favored the board pursuing options to keep the school rented should it close in the fall.

Negotiations with Calais’ Alternative Education were to be discussed. The alternative ed program had expressed interest in renting the school should it shut down. When Carter asked if the crowd favored entering into negotiations with alternative ed, all in attendance but one, said they did not want the board to engage in negotiations.

AES parent Paula Brown ended the discussions by telling the crowd that they needed to stay positive about the school. The school will stay open only if you want it to, she said.

A town meeting is scheduled for March 26^th at the school to elect school board officials and to discuss the school budget. Alexander citizens are encouraged to attend.

FEBRUARY SCHOOL BOARD NEWS

BY ALEX HENRY

On February 5^th, 2001, at 7:00 p.m. chairman Ted Carter at the Alexander Elementary School to discuss textbooks and the school budget called the Alexander School Committee meeting to order.

The first order of business was to approve the minutes of the January meeting and they were unanimously approved.

Principal Mrs. Silk then started the discussions when she gave an update on the plan to purchase new literacy and math textbooks.

The 2000-2001 budget was discussed next. Discussions included proposed state allocation funding, expected student enrollment, different classroom scenarios and the implementation of the four-year old program. Superintendent Dr. Bouchard then said she did not expect the school to receive a hardship cushion this year to help with the budget problems.

The school’s harassment policy was then discussed and reviewed so the rules would be clear.

ALEXANDER PTG GROUP SEEKS GRANT HELP

By Laura Jean Knowles

The Alexander Parent Teacher Group is currently looking for grants along with other options, to help minimize the tax burden for our town. We will be holding a public beans and casseroles supper on March 24^th with the proceeds going towards school supplies.

The current school budget situation is of great concern to our community and the PTG is willing to work very hard to find ways to lessen the burden for our town without minimizing the quality of education our children currently receive.

Any suggestions that could be presented will be taken with much enthusiasm, and be explored to the best of our ability as a group.

Along with commitment comes work and the more manpower we have to research our options, the better our chance of timely results. If you are interested, please contact Laura Jean Knowles 454-8773 (PTG President), BJ Wallace (PTG secretary/treasurer) 454-7258 or Kathy Blake (PTG vice president) 454-8438.

PTG NEWS

By Adam Knowles

At a special Parent teacher Group meeting on Feb. 15^th, the PTG discussed actions they could take to alert the public about the budget situation at the school and rumors of it closing.

More than 25 people attended the meeting and they talked about sending letters to tax payers about having the townspeople to come to meetings and help support the school so that it doesn’t close down.

James Davis made the motion to send the letters to the taxpayers and Carol Pollock seconded the motion. Everyone was in favor.

The PTG also discussed buying the stamps to send the letters to the taxpayers using PTG funds. Heather Erickson made the motion to do this and Brenda McDonough seconded it. Everyone was in favor.

The next PTG meeting is scheduled for March 7^th at 6:30 p.m. The PTG would like to see more parents attend these meetings that are usually held the first Thursday of each month at the school at 6:30 p.m.

RHONDA OAKES – LIBRARY VOLUNTEER EXTRAORDINAIRE

By Mrs. Renaud

Rhonda Oakes spends many hours each week volunteering in the library. She has duties including processing and cataloging books, helping students select books for projects, book reviews, and reports, and preparing new books for the shelves.

In addition to all these responsibilities, Rhonda has created a unique opportunity for students to learn these skills. The program is called " book buddies." Students in grades 5&6 can opt to spend their recess time learning about the library and the responsibilities of being a librarians. Many students take advantage of this opportunity. Lesliann Howard says, " It’s very fun because we get to help put the books away. And we get to write who donated the books."

Also, Rhonda assists Mrs. Renaud in teaching research skills to students in grades 2-6 twice a week. This team working experience has provided an opportunity for students to become self-sufficient and confident in their use of the library.

Thank you Rhonda for all you do for this school.

BUS RULES REVIEWED

By Nick Provencher

How safe is the student’s bus ride? Based on the rules given by the student handbook, the bus is a fairly safe place. To keep students safe from outside objects (other motorists) the students are required to keep all limbs or body parts inside, unless the bus has come to a complete stop and the student is exciting.

Students shall also not fiddle or tamper with any emergency equipment. Students shall refrain from talking to the bus driver unless it is an emergency. Students will not damage the bus in any way. The pupil will be responsible for the cost of any damages that he or she incurs.

To prevent any student from being attacked by another, the bus policy strongly enforces that no student shall scuffle or fight on the bus. Students shall not shout to the pedestrians on the sidewalk or other occupants of other vehicles. They also will not be allowed to throw anything outside or within the bus.

To keep students from any physical injuries, students and passengers may not stand when the bus is in motion and they will sit without pushing or shoving their way into their seats.

Students shall not bring video games, cd players, walkmans, or radios on the bus. There will be an exception during field trips, although it would be totally up to the teacher or the adult supervisor.

"I think that the bus driver enforces the policies really well," said Ian Allen, one of the students that rides the bus.

But on the other side of the speed drum, Alex Henry (Alexander Elementary School student) said, "I don’t think that the bus policy is enforced enough." It can be argued both ways.

GIRL SCOUT COOKIES

Girl Scout cookies will be available for delivery after Saturday, March 3. The Brownie and Junior Troops in Alexander also enjoyed some skating over the February vacation.

ALEXANDER GRANGE NEWS

By Elizabeth McVicar

The grange is now Alexander’s service organization. It used to be strictly a farm organization. A woman started it, but because women couldn’t do things back then, she had to do it under the guise of her brother. It was organized to get fair prices for farmers in the market place. They also started the rural route mail delivery.

Our grange here used to have almost 500 members and 60 years ago, it was the only entertainment people had. They had dances while discussing agriculture. Now we are mostly a service organization.

These days, we have lunches during hunting season, we organize the annual 4^th of July parade, we help with school suppers. We have also adopted a lady in the nursing home and at Christmas time, we take gifts to patients in the nursing home that don’t have any families.

We have 24 active members now and more than 40 that are members. We meet the first and last Wednesday of each month and we could really use some new members. We meet at 7:00 pm at the Grange Hall on the Cooper Road in Alexander.

WINTER CARNIVAL IN REVIEW

By Jessica Cox

Winter Carnival week was a fun week. It was held the week before vacation in February.

We got dressed up on Monday. On Tuesday it was school spirit day, there were people who wore basketball uniforms, cheerleading uniforms and a combo of each. Wednesday was red and pink day. Thursday was backwards and inside out day. Friday was hat and shades day. We also had a picnic on Friday in the gym for lunch. ALL of the 5,6,7,8 grade girls sat in a circle in the middle of the gym and the boys did whatever.

Ice sculptures were supposed to be created, but the snow was too hard.

BOOK CHAIN CONTINUES

Librarian Mrs. Oakes has tallied February reading results. Grade Kindergarten and one in Mrs. Livingston’s class had two readers participate. Brianna Donovan read 44 books and Shawna McDonough read 21.

Mrs. Vining’s classes, grades 2,3, and 4 read seven books. Tim Linton, Philip Dow, John Hatt, Josh Hunnewell and Dylan Trioani participated with Josh Hunnewell reading the most with two books. John Hatt read the most pages with 309.

Mrs. Renaud’s grade five class read 10 books. Taking part were Courtney Ayers, Stephanie Donovan, Amanda McDonough, Tanika Niles, and Annessia Trioani. Tanika read the most books and Amanda read the most pages. Grade six only had one reader, Ashley Knowles who read six books and 1023 pages.

Grade seven was a no show this month and grade eight students Tom Tozier, Jessica Hunnewell and Cassie Oakes read eight books. Tom read 736 pages and Cassie and Jessica tied with three books each.

COMMUNITY NEWS

By Shane Brown

The 2001 annual cribbage tournament at Randy’s Variety has now ended, but I have the top four winners which include : First place – David Tozier; Second Place – Joline Thornton; Third Place – Carl Perkins and Fourth Place – Charlie Bass.

Trophies were given to 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place winners.

You can sign up for the Double Tournament at the store.

There are a lot of rumors going around town about the school possibly closing. Letters were mailed out to inform the town of the situation. If you would like get a letter, they are located at Randy’s variety.

AES STUDENTS WIN COUNTY DENTAL POSTER CONTEST

Every student at AES participated in the school-wide dental poster contest last month. Those posters were then forwarded on to a county dental poster contest in Machias where schools from across Washington County participated. Mrs. Erickson is pleased to announce that three Alexander health students won at the county level.

Kindergarten student Sabrina Clarke, third grader Lindsay Jundt and eighth grader Amanda Dupuis all won and their posters will be forwarded to the state level contest.

All students are busy working on science fair projects. Mrs. Erickson is in charge of the 7^th and 8^th grade students. Mrs. Vining is teaching the 2-6 grade students how to write research papers. Mrs. Renaud is assisting 2-6 students in visual displays, charts and graphs.

Please attend our science fair on March 21^st at AES.

Mrs. Erickson’s students are putting the finishing touches on their research papers and projects for the science fair. The papers are due Friday, March 9^th and projects are due Friday, March 16^th. There will be some great entries in this year’s fair that is scheduled fro March 21^st at the school. Chemistry, colors, rockets, motors, solar panels, hot air balloons, hurricanes and health are just some of the topics that will be covered by the 7^th and 8^th grade students.

When the students are not working on their science fair projects they are making their own compasses and magnets as part of the new electricity and magnetism unit they just started. There is a lot of interest in this topic and it is hard to keep the batteries and wires away from the class. Instead of working on their algebra, they have been found making series and parallel circuits under their desks.

When they do focus on their math, they are learning about algebraic properties and geometry.

A Poem By Nicole Magoon

What if you realize

You are like a candle

Fragrant, Beautiful, Mystic

But, slowly the blaze melts away your layers

Spilling your secrets across the table

Dripping onto the carpet

Pooling into puddles of memories

Thick, molten, experiences

Which dry and harden into patterns

When it’s over, we’re really tiny black wicks

Who burn themselves out

All that really matters is if our experiences have bled into others

To create something far greater

Otherwise, we are nothing but a puddle of ourselves

 During the February vacation three of our local girls, Courtney Ayers, Annessia Trioani-Lincoln and Amanda McDonough all went to Saint John, New Brunswick and participated in the Funfest Skating Competition. They all skated well and came home with ribbons fo0r their efforts.

If you would like to see these girls and others in the surrounding towns skate, they will be skating at the Annual Ice Show March 31^st at 7:00 p.m. Canadian time at the Border Arena in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. Tickets are available at the door.

PEEWEE BASKETBALL

By Ian Allen

Pee Wee basketball has just come to an end. It was a successful season with the Blue Jays and the Leprechauns. The Blue Jay players included Jordan Ayers, Lindsay Jundt, Shawna McDonough, Hillary Provencher, Tyler Provencher, Blaine Silk and Heath Thompson. Adam Knowles, David Silk and Chris Wallace coached them.

The Leprechauns had players Rebecca Blake, Patrick Gardner, Zachery Newman, Natasha Lawless, Josh Hunnewell, Dylan Lord and when players were absent, Gage Thompson helped out and played. Bryan Blake and Jessica Hunnewell coached this team.

Referees were Ian Allen, Shane Brown and Thomas Tozier

The Blue Jays won four out of the five games, but Pee Wee basketball isn’t about winning, it is about having fun.

AES GIRLS BASKETBALL

By Jessica Hunnewell

The girls basketball is doing great so far this year. The first game was against Pleasant Point at Alexander. The Alexander girls were doing well during the first and second quarter, but that didn’t win them the game. The final score was 15 to 20 with Pleasant Point coming out on top.

The girls played Robbinston next, a hard team to beat. The final score of this game was 42 to 27 and the Alexander girls lost again.

AES played Charlotte last week and we won this game by a score of 19 to 31. We felt bad about winning because the Charlotte team is such a young team, but happy too to have finally won a game.

The game against Edmunds scheduled for Tuesday night was cancelled due to the storm that didn’t hit us.

Coach Ayers was asked what he thought about the games. "The girls were a little rusty in the beginning, but they’re doing well."

The girls are now 1 –2. Come out and see who wins the next game.

BOYS BASKETBALL UNDEEFEATED

By Chris Wallace

The boy’s basketball team has started off the year undefeated. They played Pleasant Point on Feb. 8^th and beat them 40-31. They also played Robbinston on Feb. 13^th and they beat them by a score of 53-32.

The boys played Charlotte on Feb. 26^th and beat them by a score of 41-8.

The Alexander boy’s team has been working well so far and hopefully they can keep it up.

Dear AES Parents,

I have taken on a new job that will result in me having to leave the Alexander Elementary School. As you may already know, there have been some budget problems within the school and it is possible that in the fall staffing changes will have to be made if the school is to stay open. This ultimately will be up to the town when it comes time to vote on the town budget.

Enrollment is down at Alexander Elementary School and as a courtesy I was notified in January, that there may not be a position for me to fill in September 2001. As the last one hired, I would be the first one let go so it was strongly suggested that I apply for another job should one open up.

The opportunity for a job arose soon thereafter and I hesitantly applied. I made it clear that I would prefer to teach, than to take on a non-teaching position.

I adore each and every child in my class and in the school and I want you to know that if it was a sure thing that I would be employed at AES in the fall, I would not have applied elsewhere.

Alexander Elementary is an exemplary school with exemplary staff that goes far above and beyond the call of duty for your children. It has been a great pleasure to work at this school and to work with the students and staff here.

My new job as Union 106 Health Coordinator begins March 15^th so my resignation at AES is effective March 14^th. I will now be working with area schools to implement a union-wide health curriculum and will be coordinating school events that will focus on tobacco prevention, nutrition and physical education.

I will however, work with the new teacher to aid in the transferring process. I will also assist in the organization of the science fair scheduled for March 21^st.

Sincerely,

Heather Erickson

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Dear Editor,

I want to thank all the people that have supported our basketball teams this year and I believe that it’s because of their support that we do so well.

David Silk
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Dear Editor,

My teacher is leaving March 14^th and I will miss her because she is funny and kind. She gives us lots of breaks and allows us to help each other with our work. She’s cool and these are only a few of the reason why I’ll miss her.

Sincerely,

Bryan Blake

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Dear Editor

A really good teacher is going to be leaving our school. Her name is Mrs. Erickson. She is very fun and very, very compassionate.

She has done a great job at the school during the short time she has been here. Mrs. Erickson came up with different fun projects to do in science and gym classes. Mrs. Erickson has done a lot of work for the school and she will be greatly missed. Thank you for being such an awesome teacher.

Sincerely,

Marie Duffy

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HI! Our names are Amy and Kelly and we are offering an advice column. We have extensive experience in the problem solving area as well as the ability to make people feel good. We hope to hear from you. If you would like to submit a question, you can e-mail it to us at advice05@hotmail.com

Dear Amy and Kelly

I had a dream I had the other day I got chased by a giant man eating grapefruit. What does this mean?

Johnny Knoxville

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Dear Johnny,

Your love life is going to clash with your business interest if you see grapefruit.

Amy and Kelly

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Dear Amy and Kelly,

In a dream, Brandon hit me with a chair. What does this mean?

~ Cowboy

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Dear Cowboy,

This all depends on the kind of chair that it is. An empty chair means that surprise news is on the way. A rocking chair means that you will gain from another’s hard work.

~Amy and Kelly

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Dear Amy and Kelly,

In a recent dream I had, my teeth were falling out. Does this mean something bad?

~ Toothless

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Dear Toothless,

Sorry but this is a bad omen… loose teeth- you are scared of loosing a loved one. Loose all teeth- you are full of anxieties about the future.

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Dear Amy and Kelly,

I dreamed that a panda ate my couch.

~ Mr. Cool

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Dear Mr. Cool,

Loveable pandas are a sure sign that you are worrying too much.

~ Amy and Kelly

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Dear Amy and Kelly,

The other day a kangaroo was jumping on my bed in my dream. What does this mean?

~ Kanga

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Dear Kanga,

When you see a kangaroo it predicts excitement.

~ Amy and Kelly.

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