Archive for January, 2007

Friday, February 2 • 1/2 Day School - 1/2 Day Staff Development

Posted by Bryan Rossi on January 31st, 2007

Friday, February 2, High School for Recording Arts has an early release student schedule to accommodate a ˝ day of Staff Development and Training.

Students will follow a modified schedule that day with Pick Me Up at 11:00 and Lunch at 12:00. Students will be dismissed after lunch at 12:30.

This letter is being given to students and mailed home also.

Second Semester Begins Monday, January 29

Posted by Bryan Rossi on January 29th, 2007

First day of second semester begins Monday, January 29, 2007. For important test dates coming up, check the posting below. Other dates of note include:
February 13 & 14 - St. Paul Public School Charter Sponsor Review Visit
February 16 - Staff Development; NO SCHOOL
February 19 - Presidents Day; NO SCHOOL
February 22 - Parent Night - Conferences and Project Presentations

Testing, Testing, Testing? 1, 2, 3

Posted by Bryan Rossi on January 23rd, 2007

BST retakes! (anyone in 8th grade 2004-2005 or earlier)
If your student hasn’t yet passed their Basic Skills Tests, retakes will be held January 23rd through February 9th.

Testing will start at 10 am on the dates below: (For anyone not testing, School starts at 12:30pm.)

January 23 BST Retests Written Composition (grades 10-12)
February 6 BST Retests Mathematics
February 8 BST Retests Reading

Please call your student’s advisor at 651-287-0890 with any questions related to why your student must take the test. If you have questions specific to testing you can call Barbara at 651-294-3002.

GRAD Writing test! (anyone in 8th grade 2005-2006)
If your student needs to take their GRAD test, this will be held in April.

April 10 GRAD Writing test (grade 9)

Two Jazz Greats visit HSRA

Posted by Tony Simmons on January 15th, 2007

Jazz greats Delfeayo Marsalis and Ricky Gordon recently visited High School for Recording Arts and shared with our students the virtues of knowing and appreciating America’s only true musical art form, jazz. Both jazz greats were in town for a two-night, sold-out gig at the renowned Dakota Jazz Club. While in town, Delfeayo also began plans for instituting a jazz series starting this June at the Minnesota Orchestra. Plans are underway for HSRA students to be involved in this great program.

After producing his first recording at age 17, Delfeayo Marsalis attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music, majoring in both performance and audio production. He has since produced over 75 major-label recordings–several of which have received Grammy awards and nominations–including works by his brothers, Branford and Wynton Marsalis and dad Ellis, Harry Connick, jr., Marcus Roberts, and Spike Lee. His production skills earned a 3M Visionary Award in 1996 and a cover article for the industry source, Mix magazine in 1997.

As a trombonist, Mr. Marsalis has toured internationally with legendary jazz artists Art Blakey, Abdullah Ibrahim, Elvin Jones, Slide Hampton and Max Roach, as well as touring with his own modern jazz ensemble. During a tour with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, he was filmed as part of the Ken Burns documentary, ” Jazz.” He has released two solo albums to critical acclaim, Pontius Pilate’s Decision in 1992 and Musashi in 1997 and is a mainstay on the New Orleans modern jazz scene. Along with late trombone master J.J. Johnson, several music reviewers have labeled Mr. Marsalis as one of the freshest modern voices on the instrument to arrive in the 90’s.

Ricky Gordon is a great percussionist who has toured with many notable jazz greats including Delfeayo and his brother Wynton. Additionally, he is a great composer and has written music for Spike Lee. Ricky has also been an active member of the High School for Recording Arts in New York planning team.

HSRA Participates in Hamline Conference

Posted by Bryan Rossi on January 4th, 2007

HSRA Graduate Codie Wilson was among current students and recent graduates of Minnesota chartered schools say they may have dropped out had they not left conventional schools to attend new and different schools. While all of the students appreciated improved relationships with teachers and peers, their different schools, in different ways, enhanced the students’ ability and motivation to learn. Read more in these notes from a panel of students at “The Changing Definition of ‘School’ and ‘Schooling’”, a national leadership conversation hosted by Education/Evolving. For more infor go to: http://www.educationevolving.org/studentvoices/student_opinion_papers.asp