Mission Statement: All San Diego students will graduate with the skills, motivation, curiosity and resilience to succeed in their choice of college and career in order to lead and participate in the society of tomorrow.

Within a few days, the district will begin the process of reassigning some teachers, district-wide, to balance class sizes. This is done every year but it is particularly important this year as we work within a more limited budget due to state funding reductions. As you know, the district recently cut $53 million from our budget because of a massive reduction in state revenue. And, we still have not received a final budget from the state so additional cuts are a possibility.

We use a projected student enrollment formula to help determine how many teachers to assign to a school prior to students actually arriving at the beginning of the school year. Many times, our projections match up with the number of students who actually enroll and attend a school. In these cases, we have no need to move teachers to balance class size across the district. However, in some cases fewer or more students enroll and attend a school than the number projected. When that occurs, we need to move teachers from an under-enrolled to an over-enrolled school to prevent schools from exceeding the class sizes established by the state and our teacher's contract.

Please know that we empathize with teachers, parents, and students who will find these moves disruptive. This is exactly why we are working to make these adjustments as soon as possible so that all of our students and teachers can get settled in their classrooms as early in the year as possible. To help minimize the disruptions these necessary adjustments may cause, we will be supporting all affected teachers with assistance in relocating their materials and supplies to their new locations.

We have had a great start to the new school year and completing these staffing adjustments will help us all move forward on our shared goal of helping all of our students prepare for successful futures. In a perfect world we would be able to avoid the adjustments to our classroom staffing but, unfortunately, we do not have the funds to simply add teachers to all over-enrolled schools across the district. Please call Chief Curriculum and Staff Development Officer Chuck Morris at (619) 725-8193, should you have questions.

In these early days of the new school year, I want to remind our teachers how important it is to take attendance every day. As you know, we receive state funding based on average daily attendance, and in today’s economic climate, every dollar counts. Accurate student attendance reporting also affects decisions about staffing as well as allocation of other resources. Most importantly, we know that students who have good attendance perform better academically than those who are not in school on a regular basis. Daily attendance records help us track and intervene early with students who may be running into problems.

The district Information Technology Department monitors attendance daily and is ready to assist wherever necessary. By working together, we will get to the point where 100 percent student attendance occurs each day, in each school, in every class. For more information, please contact Chief Information and Technology Officer Daryl LeGace at (619) 725-5512.

This week SDEA President Camille Zombro sent an e-mail to San Diego Unified teachers regarding recent district layoff processes. The e-mail contained several factual inaccuracies and conclusions. Chief Human Resources Officer Sam Wong sent a response, clarifying the factual budget and staffing realities. Read the memo. 

The San Diego Union-Tribune recognized our district’s effort to get students back in school. This effort created by our superintendent, Terry Grier, is called Project Recovery. Project Recovery connects district support staff with school site staff in a joint effort to bring students back to school. Teams of San Diego Unified employees, community leaders, government officials and other volunteers went out to schools to help students reconnect and get in class. These teams focused on students who have not returned and who are at risk. High schools were assigned a cabinet-level leader who will develop strategies with their team to get our students in school and back on track. Duties include calling families, making personal visits, and creating support strategies to be used throughout the year. It is not too late to join a recovery team. For more information, please contact Nellie Meyer at (619) 725-7237 or Jeff Olivero at (619) 725-7302. Read the article.

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and California Department of Education (CDE) met with members of the Food Services team on Wednesday, September 10, to further develop the expansion of breakfast programs, such as Breakfast in the Classroom and morning nutrition breaks. National School Breakfast Week will launch in March 2009 with the purpose of getting more children to start their day off with a healthy breakfast. The SDUSD Food Services Department was selected as one of only twelve school districts throughout the nation to participate in this initiative. For additional information, please contact Gary Petill, Food Services director, at (858) 627-7301.

In August 2008, the administrative staff and teachers moved from the temporary Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary School site to the newly converted campus on the former Marshall Middle School site. The new site is located at 11778 Cypress Canyon Drive, San Diego, CA 92131.

The project awarded to Erickson Hall on August 7, 2007, with a value of $4,259,000, began on August 27, 2007, with the task of converting the existing Thurgood Marshall Middle School to an elementary school. A substantial amount of time and effort was put into improving the interior and exterior structures, landscape, as well as new access ramps, retaining walls and a new kindergarten playground compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The site also received new flooring and casework as well as upgraded power, data and multimedia systems. Separate contracts included changes to the off-sites, drop-off and sidewalk areas and added flashing beacons ahead of the cross walks and landscape improvements in the frontage of the school. Physical Plant Operations replaced old perimeter gates, old or damaged ceiling tiles and restored the landscape throughout the site. The school is projected to accommodate a maximum of 950 students. Staff and community are excited about the stimulating environment provided by their completely refurbished school. For additional information, please contact Julio J. Ramos, senior project manager, at (858) 637-3502 or jramos2@sandi.net.

When you think of the San Diego Unified Transportation Services Department, the color yellow and diesel fuel come to mind, but behind the scenes and off the clock there is more than meets the eye. For example, did you know…

• More than 17 languages are spoken by Transportation staff.
• 70% of employees have college degrees – 30% of those hold graduate degrees.
• There are at least 50 employees with teaching and administrative credentials as well as professional certifications.
• Transportation employees volunteer their time as student tutors and engage in many community activities, such as foster parenting, animal rescue, ocean recovery, scuba diving, sky diving, National Guard duties, AIDS coalition and breast cancer research.
• Chess is the game of choice – so much so that employees have created a youth program to keep kids playing chess and off the streets.
• Retired/decorated military, police officers, firefighters, college professors, psychologists, champion surfers, professional musicians, artists, fitness instructors and behavioral counselors are all part of the Transportation team.

• Daniel Walker Howe, the winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in History, led workshops attended by 25 students and 50 educators on August 28. Jim Giardina, a teacher at Morse High School, has written a review  of Howe’s award-winning book, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848. The review will be published in the California Council for Social Studies journal this fall.
  
  
• On September 8, 55 teachers and 15 students participated in the 2008 Presidential Election Workshop featuring Clairemont High teacher Jim Fletcher, San Diego High School of International Studies teacher Stan Murphy, Mesa College political science professor Carl Luna and noted presidential historian Robert Dallek. For more information, contact Kirk Ankeney, History/Social Studies Department, at (619) 725-7335 or kankeney@sandi.net.

The History/Social Studies Department partnered with the San Diego County Office of Education to put on this year’s Constitution Day Showcase on September 4. Teachers from city and county schools attended workshops, including sessions led by Micheline Wagner (Vista Grande Elementary), Stephani Hayes (Clay Elementary), Jim Fletcher (Clairemont High) and Kirk Ankeney (central office). For more information, please contact Kirk Ankeney, History/Social Studies Department, at (619) 725-7335 or kankeney@sandi.net.

Four students from the ROP Health Essentials Class at Crawford High Community Health and Medical Practices (CHAMPS) program were chosen to participate in clinical internships last summer at Scripps Memorial and Kaiser Permanente hospitals. Two students, Linda Ochoa and Iliana Salas, were chosen to participate in a pilot program for Scripps Memorial Hospital. Miguel Sanchez and Isabelle Berreucos were placed with Kaiser Permanente. The students were paid minimum wage and had the experience of a lifetime. They were assigned to different departments, including Emergency, Nursing, Physical Therapy, Surgery and Imaging, and received hands-on experience in a hospital environment. Three of the students are currently attending school to study nursing. One student is studying to be an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Based on this experience, other students will be placed on a preference list for employment as they pursue successful careers in health care. For more information, please contact Ellie Vandiver, registered nurse/ROP teacher at CHAMPs, at (619) 583-2500, or Virginia Eves at (858) 496-8719.

Vivek Vishwanath, 2008 promoted 8th grader from Thurgood Marshall Middle School, has been selected as a semifinalist for the 2008 Society for Science and the Public Middle School Program. More than 7,500 students were nominated for the competition from 253 affiliated fairs representing 47 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Vivek was selected to the top 300 out of the 1,946 entries received. Finalists will be named next week and will be honored in Washington, D.C. in late October. For more information, contact Michelle Irwin, principal, Thurgood Marshall Middle School, at (858) 549-5400.

California Student Opportunity and Access Program (Cal-SOAP), in partnership with San Diego Unified, will host the annual Senior Jumpstart Conference on Saturday, September 20, from 9 a.m. – noon, at Madison High School. This free conference is dedicated to 12th grade students and their families and provides information on the college admission process, federal and state financial aid, scholarship searches and more. For information, please contact Melissa Janak at (858) 503-3180. Online registration is available at http://www.sandiegocalsoap.com/star/events.php?eventid=108.

Start Smart, an initiative established by local golf champion Phil Mickelson and his wife Amy, has contributed nearly $750,000 to San Diego area grade 1-4 students for new school clothes and supplies. The Mickelsons have also contributed another $40,000 over the last three years to local school districts to pay for student bus transportation to the event.

This year’s fourth annual Back-to-School event is scheduled for Saturday, September 13, at the Murphy Canyon Wal*Mart store. Each participating student will receive the same shopping list of clothing items and be invited to find everything on the list (app. $200). Participating San Diego Unified schools this year include, Audubon, Cherokee Point, Field and Valencia Park elementary schools. For information, please contact Public Information Officer Jim Esterbrooks, San Diego County of Education, at (858) 292-3719.

Discover all the exciting events happening around the district. A complete list of San Diego Unified School District Upcoming Events is posted on www.sandi.net.

• Math Grades Tied to Primitive "Number Sense"
  Students with good "number sense" -- the innate ability to rapidly estimate the number of items in a group -- tend to earn better math grades across their academic careers, according to new research published online in the journal Nature. "The link between math achievement and number sense is really stunning," said one expert. "The potential here could be very important." Read More.
  
  
• How Radical Innovation will Change the Way We Teach and Kids Learn
  By Clayton M. Christensen & Michael B. Horn
  In a classroom of the future, students are learning Mandarin Chinese grammar. The students wear noise-canceling headphones and work with laptop computers. One student is directing the work of a brick mason on his computer screen by having him assemble a sentence in the same way that he would construct a wall -- block by block. There are stacks of blocks with words on them in the background of the screen; each is colored for its potential role in the sentence. Read Article.
  
  
• Rochester Considers All-Boys School
  The Democrat and Chronicle.com, Sept. 11 ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Rochester schools Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard says he aims to open an all-boys public school by next September if he can find the right principal for the job. The move is a part of Brizard's efforts to revamp the portfolio of city schools, which will involve closing some schools and opening or expanding others. Already Brizard is making plans to expand World of Inquiry School 58 based on a proposal by the principal, Elizabeth Mascitti-Miller, and Expeditionary Learning Schools, a nonprofit organization based in New York City. Read more.