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.

As you know, the district has placed Proposition “S” on the November 4th ballot for the voters to decide on our $2.1 billion school facilities bond. This measure, if approved by 55% of the voters, will give the district funds for school facility repairs, upgrades and new instructional technology in our classrooms.

As I informed staff earlier, district employees are not permitted to advocate for a ballot measure on district time or use district resources to advocate for the passage or defeat of a ballot measure. The district is, however, permitted to provide non-advocacy information to the public about Proposition “S” and what it will factually do for the district. Employees are free to advocate for the passage or defeat of the measure on their own private time.

Therefore, the district is providing all of our staff and the public with factual information about Proposition “S.” We have met with school principals to provide information that they can share with teachers and parents. They now have the information needed to answer most questions they will be getting from the public about the measure. In the coming weeks, we will be sending an informational flyer to all schools that principals can send home with students to educate our parents.

Please direct questions that you receive about Proposition “S” to our informational webpage at www.sandi.net/PropS. This web page contains a map of all school sites that will receive bond funds and details about how the bond funds will be spent to improve our schools.

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to learn more about Proposition “S” and to inform our school community about the facts related to this bond measure.

The newly certified National Automotive Technical Education Foundation (NATEF) automotive program at the Invention Design Educational Academy (IDEA) on the Crawford Complex was featured last Friday, September 5, on Fox 5 CW6 News. Instructor Carl Kingsbury demonstrated the use of several new pieces of equipment required to meet the rigorous NATEF certification, which benefits both students and the local automotive industry by producing Automotive Service Excellence trained technicians. The Crawford IDEA auto program is articulated with the Miramar College Toyota/Honda automotive program where students can obtain an associate degree in advanced transportation and technology. Crawford IDEA and Clairemont High are the only two schools in the San Diego Unified School District to have obtained NATEF certification status. The auto programs at Morse and Madison high schools are currently preparing for this certification and hope to launch it next year. For more information, please contact Virginia Eves or Greg Quirin, Office of College, Career and Technical Education, at (858) 496-1777.

The history/social studies department at Pacific Beach Middle School is working on a plan to share the steps it took to prepare their eighth grade students for the California Standards Test in History last year. The school’s eighth grade test results showed an impressive 15% gain in the percentage of the students who achieved proficient or advanced proficient. Each student correctly answered approximately five more questions than in previous years. Successes included percentage gains by all students, including English Learners (2.1%), African Americans (27.7%), Hispanics (10.9%) and Economically Disadvantaged (13.9%). For more information, contact Matt Hayes at mhayes@sandi.net or Juliana Liebke at jliebke@sandi.net.

Math for America San Diego has appointed Dr. Mariam True, executive director of the Teacher Preparation and Student Support Division, to its Board of Directors. Math for America San Diego is a collaborative effort between the University of California San Diego, San Diego State University and California State University San Marcos. The initiative aims to improve student learning of mathematics by providing selected teachers with extensive professional support as they earn their credentials and during their first four years of teaching. Goals of the program include: 1) Improving retention rates of mathematics teachers in low-performing and urban secondary schools; 2) Improving the quality of mathematics teaching by increasing teacher content knowledge and pedagogical skills; and 3) Improving student learning and achievement in mathematics in identified schools or school clusters. For more information, please contact Miriam True at (619) 725-7136 or mtrue@sandi.net.

The Morse High School Academy of Engineering (AOE) Year of Implementation, one of three in San Diego Unified School District and only 13 in the county, has gotten off to a great start thanks to extensive team work during the summer. School staff worked together for two weeks during summer at both the National Academy Foundation Summer Institute and the district's Project Based Learning (PBL) workshop, sponsored by the Office of College, Career and Technical Education. At the PBL workshop, attendees were given the special opportunity to connect with SPAWAR engineers who are spearheading outreach programs.

AOE students are scheduled in the same core classes together and all AOE teachers have a common preparation period. The team meets every Friday to work on planning as well as engage in conversations about each student. Two San Diego State University student teachers are involved with the program, specifically to learn how to teach in Small Learning Communities and academies For more information, please contact Virginia Eves at (858) 496-1838, Virginia Davis at (619) 262-0763, or Kriste Herrington at (619) 262-0763.

The Food Services Department has already processed more than 33,000 Free and Reduced-Price Meal Applications for our families. The meal applications are used to determine whether a household is eligible for Free or Reduced-Price meals; qualifying students receive a ‘free’ breakfast and lunch daily. For each school, the total percentage of Free and Reduced-Price students is used in determining the Title 1 allocation, the E-Rate funding, and is also used to apply for numerous grants. Meal applications are processed throughout the school year. For information, please call Pam Kowalski, food services business coordinator, at (858) 627-7332, or Gary Petill, director of food services, at (858) 627-7301.

The start of school marks the end of Physical Plant Operation’s (PPO) summer season. Summer provides unique access opportunities at school sites district wide. Physical Plant Operations mobilized more than 300 scheduled projects, plus a few last minute additions. Facilities Planning/Construction and PPO worked hand in hand on several high profile projects, including Millennial Tech Middle School, Athletes and Scholars at Memorial, the Creative/Performing/Media Arts move to Kroc, and the Ellen Browning Scripps conversion. We are proud of our commitment to provide every student with a safe, clean learning environment upon returning to school. What’s next? PPO will be conducting Williams/SARC inspection (see below) support to all schools throughout the fall. For additional information, please call Tom Wright, manager, physical plant operations, support services, at (858) 573-5733.

When Kevin Daily isn’t driving a school bus, he is a scuba diver and environmentalist. Preserving our oceans is his life commitment. One of the projects that Kevin is involved with is The La Jolla Shores Lithocrete Map Project, a new attraction and educational opportunity for children of all ages. When schools take field trips to La Jolla Shores, a sight they should not miss the realistic Lithocrete map of the La Jolla Ecological Reserve. The artist Wyland has committed to donating his time to make a life-size (14 ft) bronze sculpture of J.J. the Gray Whale. Thanks to Kevin Daily for making the school bus a true extension of the classroom. For field trip information, please contact Alex Robinson, director of transportation, at arobinson@sandi.net

The Mingei International Museum is hosting a free Educator Open House  on Wednesday, October 1, from 4-6 p.m. The Open House will include refreshments, free admission to the museum, special tours of the new India Adorned and Forms in Wood and Fiber exhibitions, and a raffle for a complimentary year-long museum membership. RSVP at education@mingei.org or (619) 239-0003, ext. 107. For more information, please call the Visual and Performing Arts office at (858) 539-5349.

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.

• Educators Attempt to Make Ninth Grade More Welcoming
  Just when teens' relationships with their peers and parents are shifting and hormones are flooding their bodies, they historically have been moved from more intimate middle schools into huge, often impersonal high schools. But more districts are trying to change that via small learning communities or separate freshman campuses. "We really wanted to make sure our freshmen have a strong, solid foundation and are able to bond with the school," said Edwin Diaz, a Pasadena, Calif., superintendent. "If they don't connect well in ninth grade, they tend to disappear in 10th." Read more.
  
  
• Chicago Finds Big Jump in AP Enrollments Across Ethnic Groups
  The number of Chicago Public Schools students taking Advanced Placement tests for college has risen by 108 percent during the past four years, says the Chicago Tribune. Moreover, reports Arne Duncan, the district's chief executive officer, students enrolled in AP classes and receiving a passing score on the exams increased across all ethnic groups. In the last eight years, Latino students scoring a 3 or better on the tests rose by more than 243 percent, while the proportion increased by 169 percent for African-American students, 161 percent for white students, and 109 percent for Asian students. Says Duncan: We're strengthening the core curriculum in high schools across the city and really raising the bar." Read more.
  
  
• Middle-School Years Called Optimal Time for Teaching Critical Thinking
  The notion that the middle-school years may be the best time to train people in complex reasoning and critical thinking has been borne out in initial studies by researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas's University Center for BrainHealth, writes Robert Miller, a columnist at the Dallas Morning News. "High-level reasoning and critical thinking are skills that have to be learned and practiced," says Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, BrainHealth's chief director. "If teens do not acquire the ability to learn strategically during this developmental period, they might never do so." Researchers at the center have created a program called SMART-- Strategic Memory and Reasoning Training -- to teach teens how to think critically. Special benefits are seen for those with attention deficit disorder. Read more.
  
  
• Report: Maryland Urges Troubled Schools to Fire Principals, Teachers
  As 38 Maryland schools are close to having to enter restructuring, the state's education officials are pushing for more dramatic reforms, according to a Center on Education Policy report. "We are very comfortable being more aggressive about this," said state Superintendent Nancy Grasmick. "We have seen much better results" when staff is overhauled, she said. The Sun (Baltimore)
  
  
• Report: High Schools Don't Prepare Students for College Challenges
  One in three college students need remedial classes, costing colleges and taxpayers more than $2 billion annually, according to a Strong American Schools report released today. "These students come out of high school really misled. They think they're prepared. They got a 3.0 and got through the curriculum they needed to get admitted, but they find what they learned wasn't adequate," said former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, who chairs the group. The New York Times/Associated Press
  
  
• Moving Beyond "Horserace and Gotcha Politics"
  Donna Brazile, political strategist and CNN political commentator, came out swinging during Sunday night's kickoff session with participants at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) LEAP Institute, the association’s annual advocacy conference. An ASCD blog post describes how Brazile charged attendees to elevate education as a national priority during this presidential election cycle. She said education should not be a partisan issue and added that politicians need to stop the "blame game" and, instead, sit down to broker solutions to problems affecting our education system. The post asks readers what educators can do to convince politicians to work together on improving this country's education system. View the post.
  
  
• Teachers Union Initiates School Reform Plan
  USA Today, Sept. 11, 2008
  The American Federation of Teachers—the nation’s second-largest teachers union—is shelling out $1 million and seeking philanthropic funding in a plan to help school systems try innovative teacher reform projects, developed by AFT teachers. The money will support key efforts like peer-review teacher evaluations; union-run charter schools; and pay-for-performance plans. Read more.
  
  
• Idaho Elementaries Use Chess to Improve Reading, Math
  Second- and third-graders at 200 Idaho schools are learning to play chess in hopes that the game will help students develop critical-thinking skills that will ultimately help with reading and math. "If we're going to encourage innovation and new ideas," said Idaho state superintendent Tom Luna, "we have to give those new ideas time to produce results." Read more.
  
  
• Report: Popular Reading Text Doesn't Comport with What Works
  A popular elementary reading textbook, "Houghton Mifflin Reading," was denied a What Works Clearinghouse effectiveness rating due to insufficient evidence of its effect on children's learning, per a report recently released by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. The text is the latest of several oft-used elementary reading textbooks that have failed to meet the review standards. Read more.