Education

Entrepreneurs looking for the ideal place to locate their business, need to look no further than the Los Alamos Public Schools. Some might not know the LAPS has a number of properties around town that are suitable for residents who might be looking to open a business.

Currently the Los Alamos Public School District has at least two properties for lease, The “L” section of a building at 3540 Orange St. and two suites, “S” and “T” at 2101 Trinity Dr. And though they aren’t giving the properties away for free, the leases can be pretty reasonable. According to the district’s assets manager, Joan Ahlers, the process is pretty straightforward.

“If somebody wants to lease from the school district, whether it’s vacant land or actual office space, they come through my office,” she said. “We then do a needs analysis and find out what may work for them.”

After a price is negotiated, a three-step approval process then begins. First, the lease has to be approved by either the Public Education Department or the State Board of Finance. From there, the school board then approves the lease, before it moves on to planning and zoning at the county.

At a time when funding for public schools is stretched, Smith’s Food & Drug Stores will donate $47,152.48 to Los Alamos and White Rock public and private K-12 schools through its Earn & Learn Program.
A check presentation will be Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 5:30 pm in the speech theater at Los Alamos High School, 1300 Diamond Dr.  Smith’s Store Managers John Roberts from Los Alamos, and Boyd Moffett from White Rock will represent Smith’s.
Local schools receiving a portion of the funds in undesignated cash contributions based upon their level of support in the program include: Los Alamos Middle School $5,066.60; Los Alamos High School $4,728.38; Mountain Elementary $4,380.14; Barranca Mesa Elementary $4,157.33; Aspen Elementary $3,665.20; Los Alamos Public Schools Foundation $3,099.73; and Los Alamos Band Boosters $2,927.88. Chamisa Elementary School in White Rock received $4,786.26.
Since 2006, Smith’s has gifted $448,665 to Los Alamos area schools. The donation from Smith’s is unrestricted and schools may select the most appropriate use for the funds. Eligible schools must be a qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofit, state-accredited, K-12 school located within Smith’s operating areas in New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming and Montana.

Mornings for students, parents and middle school officials just got a little less hectic this week, as the “bus loop” at the Los Alamos Middle School became open for business.

Los Alamos Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Gene Schmidt said he was there the day the loop opened, because he didn’t want to miss it.

“It was a very special moment for us, I’m very proud of what we accomplished,”
Schmidt said, adding that it was one of many planned improvements to the infrastructure of the Los Alamos School District.

“What we’re trying to do whenever possible is separate parent drop-offs, student/pedestrian walks and bus drop-offs,” Schmidt said.

Not only will it increase safety, Schmidt said, but having a dedicated pick-up and drop-off area for buses will cut down on the confusion at peak parking times. “It avoids a lot of confusion in terms of right-of-way, when you have cars coming in, buses coming in, staff and kids walking through, it does a nice job of organizing the traffic flow pattern,” Schmidt said.

Now that the bus loop is open, parents and pedestrians will have their own entrance to the school while the 13 buses used to transport students from Los Alamos and White Rock will have their own drop-off site from Hawk Drive.

If you ever attend teacher Justin Black’s “math” class, don’t stand in the middle of the room.

You’re liable to get trampled.

That’s because Black, who was recently chosen as “Physical Education Teacher of the Year” by the New Mexico Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, has a unique way of exercising the muscles and brains of Chamisa Elementary students, all at the same time.  

It’s something you have to see to understand. For each history section of the class, Black posts images of  historical figures and places all around the walls of the gym at Chamisa Elementary, which is Black’s classroom. Black calls out the name of said figure or place, and the students are expected to run to the correct picture. It makes for an exciting class, as a lot of students get it right, and some don’t. Either way, everyone wins as the physical experience of winning or losing reinforces the right answer in their heads.

Math is set up like a relay race. Black divides his class in two, and each “team” forms a line facing one of the inside walls of Chamisa’s gym. On the walls are large sets of cross hairs with numbers in each of the crosshair’s sections.