News

Retiring South Albany High School Principal Brent Belveal will transfer leadership to one of the school leaders he hired. Assistant Principal Nate Munoz will take over as interim principal for the 2018-19 school year, starting in July.

Munoz has been at South Albany for two years, coming from Redmond High School. He has been an educator for more than 12 years and has two masters degrees — one in educational assessment and one in educational leadership.

He said he accepted the position at SAHS and chose to move his family to Albany, in part, to work with Brent, whom he now considers a mentor but did not know before he was hired. “Brent was a big reason I came here,” he said. “I’m not trying to fill his shoes — they are massive shoes to fill. My goal is to serve the South community by being communicative, transparent, collaborative, highly energetic and, above all, passionate about helping kids.”

His appointment will allow the school to maintain consistency in vision and leadership to continue making progress toward student achievement goals. He said he is glad to be part of the South Albany team that is working to serve kids.

“At the end of the day, I’m humbled and excited about the opportunity to continue all of the great work we’ve been doing to support the South Albany High School family.”

South Albany High School has been making gains in student achievement in the last few years, and on Tuesday, they had a chance to share their strategies for success with other schools.

The school hosted about 100 educators from other schools around the state for an AVID program showcase. AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a national college and career preparation program that includes elective programs and strategies to improve critical thinking and study habits.

“It was a huge honor to have been chosen to host the showcase and it went extremely well,” said AVID coordinator Ben Sell.

There are currently 252 kids in AVID elective classes at SAHS, but AVID is a schoolwide program. Sell said they showcased teachers utilizing AVID strategies in their non-AVID classes as well. “All our students benefit from it,” he said.

Sell said, “There were two really great things about yesterday.  It was amazing to see our AVID students acting as tour guides and leaders.  They did a fantastic job fielding questions from educators all day long and represented the school and the AVID program extremely well. The other awesome thing was just getting the opportunity to share all the great work the teachers in our building are doing with fellow educators and to receive such glowing feedback on our schoolwide implementation from AVID state leadership.”

Read the story in the Democrat-Herald

If you ran in the iRun fundraiser for Albany Public Schools Foundation last weekend — or if you supported a runner — you will likely find your photo in the event gallery from Jodi B. Herrling Photography.

Dozens of photos are available. Check out the gallery.

A vacancy has opened on the GAPS Budget Committee. Applications for this volunteer position are now being accepted to complete the three-year term, ending on June 30, 2019.

Applications are due by March 23.

Budget Committee Vacancy Timeline

March 12:  Vacancy during new business agenda. Vacancy declared.

March 13:  Vacancy is publicly announced. Applications are available online.

March 23:  Applications due to the District Office.

April 2:  Completed applications are emailed to Board members.

April 9:  Board work session to interview applicants, 5 p.m.

April 9: Regular Board meeting. Board members select new Budget Committee member, 7 p.m.

April 16:  Budget Committee meeting. New committee member participates.

If you have questions, please email Jim Haggart.