Herald
Englewood 5-31-13
Englewood
May 31, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourenglewoodnews.com
Arapahoe County, Colorado ⢠Volume 93, Issue 15
Schools to hand out iPads this fall Fourth- through eighth-graders will receive digital notebooks By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com Technology comes to Englewood classrooms in a big way in September as each fourth- through eighth-grader will be issued an iPad they can use in school or at home. âWe have been discussing this program for about three years and last year, we ran a pilot program as we issued an iPad to every Englewood Leadership Academy student,â said Brian Ewert, school superintendent. âThe pilot program was a great success. Some teachers were skeptical in the beginning but found the system worked well for them and for the students. We issued 72 iPads and got every one of them back undamaged.â To implement the program, the school district is purchasing about 2,000 iPads at
a cost of about $1.1 million. The project was assisted by a $100,000 donation from the Morgridge Family Foundation, plus the foundation will pay the cost of renewing the license for the next three years for myON reader, a literacy program that will be installed on each studentâs computer. âThis program will help create literacy experience access for our students,â said Mike Porter, school technology director. âThe devices allow each student access to about 3,000 different high-quality childrenâs publications.â Porter said the program will extend the availability of technology beyond the walls of the school. âWhen school is done for the day, the computers sit there unused until the next school day,â he said. âThis way, through the Internet, the student can do research, read and write compositions on the iPad at home. This program has been used in other districts and indicates, on the average, students are on the computer at home about iPads continues on Page 7
Mike Porter, Englewood Schoolsâ director of information technology, works with one of the newly received iPads. Fourth- through eighth-graders will receive iPads when they return to school in September. Photo by Tom Munds
Summer meal plan changes Clayton Elementary to be site for free food By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com
The All Veterans Honor Guard fires a 21-gun salute during the May 27 Memorial Day ceremonies at Fort Logan National Cemetery. The honor guard was made up of members of VFW Post 9644 in Sheridan. Photos by Tom Munds
Fallen heroes remembered at Fort Logan Visitors mark holiday with public, private ceremonies By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com The Memorial Day event at Fort Logan National Cemetery followed a traditional agenda, but many at the cemetery that day observed their private ceremony honoring those military members who gave their lives in service to our country. âThe speeches and things are fine, but I
Lance Cpl. Xander Tamblyn of the Mountain View Young Marines hands out programs at the Memorial Day ceremonies at Fort Logan National Cemetery. About 2,500 attended the event.
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usually do get over by there for the 21-gun salute and playing of `Tapsâ because they have meaning for me,â Sean Savage said on May 27. âI rode my motorcycle up from Raton, N.M., to pay tribute to two guys from my unit in Desert Storm. That is important, so I donât care about the speeches and ceremonies, but I feel they are firing the salute and playing `Tapsâ again for my friends.â Not far away, Sharon Mecham and her son Adam Chartier placed flowers near a headstone. âThis is the grave of Adamâs grandfather who is a World War II veteran,â Sharon said. âWe come out to Fort Logan when we can but we always come on Memorial Day because we want to remember all those people who fought and died for our country.â Adam agreed. âThis is a very special day for us,â he said. âWe want to pay tribute to my grandfather and, at the same time, pay tribute to all those people who lost their lives fighting for our country.â The traditional Memorial Day ceremonies drew a crowd of about 2,500 that included retired Air Force Master Sgt. Christian Poeppel and his dad Al, a Korean War veteran. âI think each of us has attended a Memorial Day ceremony but this is the first time we have come together,â Christian said. Heroes continues on Page 7
Instead of talking about combating child hunger, Allan and Hannah Levy took action three years ago by launching the Lunchbox Express program in Englewood and using a small school bus to make stops and hand out free meals to all comers 18 and younger. Last yearâs program followed basically the same format, but this year the buses will be serving different areas in Denver and Aurora. Hannah Levy said Lunchbox Express will still continue to provide meals for Englewood children but, instead of a bus going from place to place, the lunches will be handed out at Clayton Elementary School. From May 28 until Aug. 2, each day from 11 a.m. until noon Monday through Friday, free lunches will be handed out in the parking lot of the school at 4600 S. Fox St. In addition, Lunchbox Express teamed up with the Clayton summer KidQuest program to offer a free breakfast to school-age children. Breakfast will be served from 8 to 9 a.m. in the Clayton cafeteria. There will also be a similar program at Bishop Elementary School for two weeks starting June 3, plus the breakfast and lunch program will be available for the four-week summer class session that starts at Clayton in late July. âOur goal has always been to get meals to the children of needy families,â Hannah Levy said. âWe were shown that there are areas in Denver and Aurora where there are more needy families who needed to be served. Also, we got some help, so this year, weâll have three buses that will be serving areas in West Denver and along East Colfax in Denver and in Aurora. Our first year, we served about 5,000 meals at four sites and the second year, we served about 20,000 meals. Estimates are our new system will probably serve about 45,000 meals this summer.â She said she was a little surprised by the fact that there are so many children of needy families. With the information, the decision was made to expand the Lunchbox Express service to areas where 95 percent of schoolchildren get a free lunch or pay a much-reduced cost for lunch. Lunch continues on Page 7