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.

This week, I had the pleasure of joining Hoover High School Vice Principal Angela Kinlaw and School Police Sgt. Alfonso Contreras as we visited the homes of four students who have not returned to school on a regular basis. We were able to locate three of the four students and all agreed to come back to school. Hoover High Principal Chuck Podhorsky, vice principals and counselors are working hard to establish educational opportunities that will meet these students’ needs. I would like to thank everyone who participated in the district’s new Project Recovery program this year. We have located and helped return thousands of students to school who did not show up during the first week of school. Please call the Office of the Superintendent at (619) 725-5506, should you have questions.

On September 22, contract negotiations began between the District and the San Diego Education Association (SDEA), the bargaining representative for the District’s certificated employees. The District's negotiating team is led by Sam Wong, Chief Human Resources Officer.

Throughout this process, the District will share factual and user-friendly information about key issues and developments in a number of different ways. Our negotiating team will also post regular and concise updates soon after every session through a dedicated web page at www.sandi.net/negotiations. The first "Negotiations Update" is now available.

On September 20, Theodosia Ballard, a fifth-grade teacher at Porter North Elementary School, was one of five local educators named 2008 County Teacher of the Year selected from a field of 43 nominees. Theodosia had been named San Diego Unified Elementary Teacher of the Year last May. A teacher for 14 years, she considers herself to be a “drum major for education.” She describes her classroom as organized chaos, where traditional desks are absent and students sit around round tables ready to become active, where effort rises above excuses and silence is not golden. Her involvement goes beyond the classroom. She has taken a role in organizing mathematics field days and family science nights at her school to promote parent participation. She has been certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree. Theodosia is now eligible to participate in the California Teacher of the Year program. For information, please contact Jennie Breister at (619) 725-5598.

DePortola Middle School physical education and media teacher Mike Tussey has been named the 2008 California No Child Left Behind (NCLB) American Star of Teaching. A teacher for 25 years, Tussey helped open De Portola Middle School more than 20 years ago. For more than two decades, he has inspired students and his fellow teachers at De Portola with his creative teaching style. He encourages students to challenge both their bodies and their minds to be at their very best. A committee of former teachers at the U.S. Department of Education selected the American Stars from among 5,000 nominations based on their success in improving academic performance and making a difference in their students’ lives. Read more.

Mary Lanyon Fay Elementary School, San Diego Unified School District’s newest school, was completed and opened on September 2, 2008. Fay Elementary held its Grand Opening and Back-to-School Night on Wednesday, September 24. The school is named for a well-known civic leader and one of the longest serving Board of Education members. Fay was appointed in 1937, served as president and vice president for 18 years, and advocated for the hiring of the first African-American teachers.

The Fay campus, located at 4080 52nd Street, features 61,000 square feet of K-5 school facilities on 6.3 acres including: 32 classrooms, multipurpose room, library/media center, lunch shelter, elevator and accessibility features, kitchen, faculty lounge, workroom, administrative center, outdoor amphitheater,58 parking spaces, extensive landscaping including 65 trees and a 2-acre, joint-use playfield for soccer and baseball. The vibrant campus integrates state-of-the-art technology along with many energy-efficient design features. For more information, please contact Lee Dulgeroff, director, project management at (858) 637-6280 or ldulgeroff@sandi.net.

Mentoring A Girl In Construction (MAGIC) Camp is a unique hands-on training camp that teaches the basic skills of carpentry, electrical, plumbing, sheet metal, masonry, landscaping and big equipment. The young women from the District who participated in MAGIC camp during the summer of 2008 received basic safety skills, as well as instruction using hand and power tools. Each day the ladies were exposed to a different construction trade. Skills training, combined with fun projects, made with their own hands, kept their interest and focus throughout each day. They wired and decorated small lamps for their night stands at home, learned to construct a picture frame out of pipe, and built masonry planters for the school. Students also learned about landscaping, maneuvered large machinery, constructed metal trays out of sheet metal, and wooden tool boxes were made to carry their pink custom tools. Throughout the week, several industry professionals mentored the girls as they learned about careers in the trades. The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), along with the SB 70 Strengthening Careers in Construction Grant and the 21st Century Grant, supported this event. The completed projects were displayed throughout the classroom for staff, parents and guests to see while attending the girls’ graduation ceremony on the final day of the camp. For more information please contact Virginia Eves at (858) 496-1838 or Kathy Thompson at (858) 496-8370, ext. 4302. You may also access the Union Tribune article at: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080628/news_1cz28build.html

What started as a partnership with Morse High School’s auto body program, Tiger Paw Automotive, has blossomed into a full school partnership, serving the Morse community. For the past five years, State Farm Insurance has been a strong advocate for making high school curriculum relevant and rigorous, and keeping students in school. As the Tiger Paw Advisory Committee Chairperson, State Farm’s Tom Howlett, has developed relationships with over sixty automotive companies to serve on the board, provide in-kind donations and donations of equipment and instructional supplies. In addition, they provide service learning and summer internship opportunities for students and professional development for students and teachers. Donated vehicles are completely refurbished by students and given back to the community. For the past two years, State Farm has supported the “Every 15 Minutes” event at the high school by donating the vehicles used, providing staff to organize and attend the event, and working with the public service units and judges that participate in the event. For more information, please contact Greg Quirin or Virginia Eves at College, Career and Technical Education at (858) 496-1838.

Twenty-two Scripps Ranch High School students have been named as Commended Students in the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program. There are approximately 34,000 Commended Students who placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2009 competition by taking the 2007 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Congratulations to Shilpa Argade, Elena Caceres, Bryce Caputo, Hailey Cunningham, Linda Dai, Vinh Diep, Megan Fay, Greg Frederickson, Courtney Heck, Wendy Hu, Jean Lee, Jennifer Lee, Vincent Lee, Joshua Lin, Cody Mills, Leah Palmer, Steven Parada, Adam Philips, Christopher Principe, Jessica Severn, Haiyun Weng, and Soo Yeem. For more information contact Principal Kurt Madden at (858) 621-9020 x1103 or kmadden2@sandi.net or Nellie Meyer, Chief High School Improvement Officer at the High School Office at 619.725.7237.

Students from Dewey, Cherokee Point, and Oak Park elementary schools kicked off the 2008-09 season of the Patriot Program on board the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum, USS Midway this past week. Three hundred students completed standards-based lessons before embarking on this educational field trip, which is funded through a partnership between the school district and the museum. Fore more information, contact Tim Betteridge at tbetteridge@sandi.net.

Principal Cheryl Seelos at Mission Bay High School has already begun to take advantage of the new data director program. She worked with her staff in September during their prep periods to review data and collaborate on how to infuse literacy across the curriculum as well as how to analyze student data. This new program helps teachers look at individual student work and scores on achievement data to enable them to adjust instruction according to student need. Teachers reviewed achievement from last year’s students as well as their current students. For more information, please call Principal Cheryl Seelos at 858-273-1313 x108 or Nellie Meyer, Chief High School Improvement Officer at the High School Office at 619-725-7237.

Encanto Elementary School became the latest location to add the new Breakfast in the Classroom Program option on Tuesday, September 23, 2008. More than 800 students enjoyed a tasty meal right at their desk on the program’s first day. The Breakfast in the Classroom Program improves attendance and tardiness, reduces visits to the nurse, and helps boost student test scores. For more information, please contact the Gary Petill, director, food services division at (858) 627-7301.

The long overdue replacement of the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) has begun this week with a new system provided by TMA Systems. TMA Systems is project managing our software upgrade, and has implemented more the 300 TMA Systems. One of the many new features and improvements includes iService Desk, a web work request feature, which will make it possible for schools to request work at their site. For PPO this system will integrate Maximo, a work order system, Comet, a facility condition assessment program and various stand alone databases. This software replacement has been needed for five years and the new CMMS will greatly improve PPO services to sites with one complete management system for use by both PPO staff and their customers. For additional information, please contact Drew Rowlands, director, physical plant operations division at (858) 627-7120.

The California Urban Water Conservation Council recommends the use of a new high pressure spray valve to reduce water and energy expenses by using 50% less water. Because of this, Physical Plant Operations (PPO) was on a mission to install 65 pre-rinse valves and materials contributed by San Diego County Water Authority and Pacific Plumbing Specialties at 65 San Diego Unified District kitchens. The average annual savings of $500 per valve is estimated at a total of $32,500 in district savings. Additionally, Food Services personnel like the valves because they are more user-friendly. That’s what PPO Support Services considers a mission successfully completed! This project satisfies requirements for State and City guidelines while reducing costs and saving staff time. For additional information please contact Jim Cunningham, lead planner / estimator / inspector, support services at (858) 496-1766.

The San Diego County Office of Education conducts annual visits to verify school sites in the Williams Cohort 2 are: providing sufficient textbooks, or other instructional materials, for all students in core subject areas; that the school facility is maintained in a manner that assures it is clean, safe and functional; and that classroom notices are posted as required by Williams Legislation. This year, nearly 70 District employees from many central office departments volunteered to directly serve our schools by conducting Williams Cohort 2 “Mock” Site Visits. Volunteers attended an orientation and training conducted by the Instructional Materials Department that prepared them to provide each school a rehearsal for the official Williams inspection by the San Diego County Office of Education team. Beginning September 10, each of the 41 participating Williams schools was reviewed by a team of these volunteers. These “mock” visits helped familiarize teachers and students with the process of verifying all Williams requirements and identified any areas of concern. The experience was valuable not only for site administrators and staff but for the volunteers as well. Thus far, the County Office of Education has visited 20 schools and has found all to be in compliance. For additional information, contact Denise Hankins, Williams Coordinator, at 858-627-7564.

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.

• Teachers' Words Can Shape Students' Lives
  The language teachers use can inspire or discourage students for the rest of their lives, writes Paula Denton, who has developed techniques to help teachers encourage students with their words. "Our language can lift students to their highest potential or tear them down. It can help them build positive relationships or encourage discord and distrust. It shapes how students think and act and, ultimately, how they learn," she says. Educational Leadership
  
  
• Online Remediation Lets Students Catch Up at their Own Pace
  As more high school graduates require remediation in math, some colleges are using online programs that allow students to focus on weak areas without taking up the time of full-time faculty. Some educators fear, however, that many students may lack the motivation to do the work without greater supervision. Read more.
  
  
• Guilford Mission Possible Review
  Recently, the John Locke Foundation released a report that analyzes a North Carolina school district’s differentiated pay plan. Several years ago, Guilford County Schools implemented a plan that included paying reading and math teachers bonuses for teaching in hard to staff schools. Read more.
  
  
• Differentiated Instruction Helps Individuals Learn
  In an interview with Teacher Magazine, Carol Ann Tomlinson, who has studied differentiated instruction extensively as a University of Virginia education professor, says she believes differentiated instruction is a more positive approach to student learning, and offers advice on the method. "The reason I think differentiated instruction is important is that students do vary in so many ways, and our student populations are becoming more academically diverse," she says. Read more.
  
  
• Thousands in over their heads as schools push advanced math
  What happens when you try to challenge more students by placing them in advanced eighth-grade math classes? "Unintended and damaging consequences," says the Brookings Institution in releasing a report by Tom Loveless, director of the think tank's Brown Center on Education Policy. In a hard look at the nationwide trend to teach algebra to eighth graders, USA Today notes, the Brookings study found that about 120,000 middle-schoolers have been struggling in advanced classes for which they were seriously unprepared. Based on data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Loveless estimates that among the lowest-scoring 10 percent of students, nearly 29 percent have been taking advanced math, despite having the math skills of a typical second-grader. The idea may be to level the playing field among students, but Loveless thinks the practice is doing kids a disservice. "It's really counterfeit equity," he says. The report's title: "The Misplaced Math Student: Lost in Eighth-Grade Algebra."
  Read more at http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-09-21-algebra_N.htm
  Read the press release at http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/0922_education_loveless.aspx
  
  
• Survey: Some minority parents feel less welcome at school
  Urban parents in general feel that their schools are safe, respectful places, but black parents agreed with these statements less than those parents of students of other ethnic backgrounds, according to a Council of Urban Boards of Education survey of 10,270 parents at 112 schools. Black parents were significantly more likely to say that teachers did not respect their child or were not fair. Hispanic, Native American and black parents also reported feeling less welcome at school than their white and Asian peers. Educational Leadership
  
  
• Praise hard work, not smarts, to motivate students
  Students who believe their intelligence is fixed seek out praise and will avoid challenging tasks, hide their mistakes or confusion and even consider cheating out of the fear that they will be seen as less intelligent. Praise from teachers can unintentionally feed such a mindset, writes Stanford University professor of psychology Carol S. Dweck. Praising student effort rather than intelligence, however, can shift students into the correct mindset that intelligence is fluid, encouraging them to work hard and eagerly take on new challenges with confidence. Educational Leadership