News

RETURNING AOS STUDENTS:

Registration for returning AOS students will be held on the following dates:

• Tuesday, August 15th: 7:00 am-11:00 am, 12:00 pm-4:00 pm
• Wednesday, August 16th: 10:00 am-1:00 pm, 3:00 pm-6:30 pm
• Thursday, August 17th: 10:00 am -1:00 pm, 3:00 pm-6:30 pm

NEW AOS STUDENTS:

Registration for new AOS students will be by appointment only. You will receive a phone call to schedule your appointment; these will occur the week of August 21st-25th.

PARENTS/GUARDIANS:

Please plan to attend registration with your student. If your student is over the age of 18 they may register on their own. If we do not hear from you, we will assume you have made other arrangements for your student’s educational opportunities.

Last night, the School Board approved bell schedules for each school. The times will be posted this week on school websites.

Find school start and end times for each school. 

Albany Options School introduced a mini term at the end of the school year, providing all students the opportunity to earn an additional .25 credits before the end of the year.

Seniors took their finals and were gone by the end of the day June 9th, leaving one week of classes before the end of the year. However, since half of the student population at AOS is made up of seniors, the teachers chose to give finals to all of the students at the same time as the seniors and try something new that final week.

For the final week of school students signed up for one of four classes being offered all day for the whole week. The classes were team-taught by our teachers. The classes included an Albany History social studies class, a Robotics Engineering science class, a Poetry English Language Arts class, and an Outdoor Hiking physical education class.

The week was rich with field trips and fun and engaging activities. Students hiked Silver Falls State Park, toured local museums, built robots, and wrote poetry.

Data shows that student attendance was higher during the mini sessions than the school has ever experienced the final week of school before, and 37 students earned credits from the week!

Albany Options School will be experiencing some staff changes for the 2017-2018 school year.

After many years of serving the district, Kevin DeCoster, the school counselor, is retiring. AOS has been very fortunate to have Mr. DeCoster as the counselor and he will be greatly missed, but we wish him all the best in his retirement.

Anna Harryman has been teaching English Language Arts and Social Studies at AOS, and will take over as the school counselor and will continue teaching the Family and Consumer Sciences classes. Mrs. Harryman is completing her Master’s in School Counseling at Northwest Christian University in Eugene.

AOS is very excited to announce that Lindsey Roundy has been hired as the new English Language Arts and Social Studies teacher. This past year Mrs. Roundy spent a trimester at AOS as the long-term substitute for Mrs. Harryman while she was on maternity leave. She spent the rest of the year as the primary substitute in the building. Mrs. Roundy earned her Social Studies Master in Education degree from the University of Georgia and her Bachelors in Social Sciences Education from Florida State University. She has been working at Oregon State University as a student mentor and BEST staff member.

Wendy Marks has accepted a position with the school district as the College Readiness Coordinator. Mrs. Marks spent six years at AOS and will be greatly missed. We are excited to continue working with her in her new capacity as she works with our students attending Linn-Benton Community College.

Deanna Kozak officially retired last year, but stayed on part-time this year to help with the transition of the Choices program. Ms. Kozak has been the longest serving educator in alternative education in our district and has made a huge impact on the lives of countless youth in our community. We wish her all the best in retirement. AOS will not be the same without her. 

We would like to welcome Mona Soot to the AOS family as a Special Education Assistant (SEA). Mrs. Soot earned her Master’s in Theology at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary and her Bachelor’s in Biology from Occidental College. In addition, she has taught parenting classes in our community and is the mother to two students at West Albany High School as well as five West Albany alumni.

On Wednesday, May 31st, fifteen Albany Options School students volunteered their day at the Youth Special Olympics held on the South Albany High School track.

For the sixth year in a row, AOS students have participated in this event. The students set up the events, ran the events and assisted the Olympians, and cleaned up afterwards.

The AOS students look forward to this event every year. Many comment on how meaningful and special it is to them and how fortunate they are to be able to participate in it.

Check out the article about the event in the Albany Democrat-Herald.

Photo by David Patton, Albany Democrat-Herald.