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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. |  |
Teachers "Race to the Top” |
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will conduct a competition among states for a $4.35 billion state incentive “Race to the Top” fund. This fund provides states with opportunities to enact smart, immediate projects that have potential for long-term benefits. ARRA funds will be disbursed in a few cycles, beginning in spring 2009, through both formulae and applications processes. In a meeting with urban superintendents and school board members last week in Washington, DC, Secretary Duncan said that he would give “Race to the Top” priority funding to school districts that:
- Focused the “Race to the Top” funds on their lowest performing schools.
- Provided students in these schools with significantly more learning time—longer school day/school year; keeping schools open on weekends, etc.
- Strengthened their teacher recruiting and evaluating systems.
- Balanced teaching talent.
- Gave all staff the opportunity to apply to teach in schools that elongated the school year and paid teachers more to work in these impacted schools.
Secretary Duncan told the group that one of his measures of school success would be improvements made in cohort graduation rates. Please call me at (619) 725-5506, should you have questions.
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State of the District Address |
 Hundreds of attendees filled the Lincoln High School Center for the Arts last night to hear the 2009 State of the District address, delivered by Board President Shelia Jackson. State Superintendent of Public Education Jack O’Connell introduced the board president. Read the address  . Watch the video. |
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On Thursday and Friday of this week, Chief Finance Officer James Masias and his staff hosted the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT). Our goal is to have FCMAT analyze the financial information included in the 2nd Interim Report that the district submitted to the San Diego County Office of Education on March 17. In these difficult financial times, it is important to have a California-based, third-party organization review our calculations. FCMAT will offer an independent opinion on whether or not our financial projections are both accurate and reasonable.
Once FCMAT completes its analysis, the team will provide a written report of its findings to the district. Please call James Masias at (619) 725-7561 should you have questions. |
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Budget Action: What Can You Do? |
The Obama Administration is sending stimulus money to California for education. It will not fill our district’s $150 million budget deficit hole for the 2009/10 school year, but it may help mitigate some of the cuts. The State, however, may try to hold up sending out the stimulus funds to local school districts because they are worried about the need to make more cuts to the state budget. Learn what you can do to ensure more school funding by visiting the Budget Action website. |
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California's Financial Outlook |
A recent edition of Finance Bulletin from the California Department of Finance paints a bleak picture of the state’s financial future. Areas of particular note:
- January was the ninth consecutive month of declining employment
- For January the unemployment rate is 10.1%, the highest since May 1983
- New home construction is stalled
- Personal income tax revenues to the general fund were $437 million below the month's adjusted forecast of $3.183 billion
- Sales and use tax receipts were $334 million below the month's forecast of $2.688 billion
- Corporation tax revenues were $138 million below the month's adjusted estimate of $199 million
- Revenues from insurance, estate, alcoholic beverage, and tobacco taxes were $3 million below the month's forecast of $54 million
For more information, please call Chief Financial Officer James Masias at (619) 725-7561.
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Homeless Student Enrollment |
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This past week I asked our Instructional Technology Department to determine the number of homeless students enrolled at San Diego Unified. They ran a “one-day count” of students using the following criteria:
• The four residence codes that qualify for homeless under McKinney Vento (doubling up, sheltered, unsheltered, hotel/motel)
• Address matches for all the shelters, and qualifying motel/hotel within our district boundaries
The one-day count was 734 students. Staff believes that this number under-represents the actual number of homeless students enrolled in our district as the identification process was just instituted this school year. For more information, please contact Pamela Hosmer at (619) 725-7652.
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The Economic Impact of Dropouts |
The urgency to focus on dropout prevention was further underscored last week by a new study from the California Dropout Research Project (CDRP) showing that each year’s group of school dropouts costs the city of San Diego $532 million in lost revenue and higher expenses. Russell Rumberger, director of the project, released his findings at our Superintendent’s Speaker Series event on March 20. Board President Shelia Jackson and Mayor Jerry Sanders joined in addressing the clear implication: dropouts are everyone’s problem. The audience included many community leaders, and we look forward to working with them and strengthening our collaborative efforts to make sure that all of our students stay in school and on track to graduate. Read the summary of CDRP findings and learn more about SDUSD dropout prevention programs at http://www.sandi.net/dropout/ . For more information, please contact Joan McRobbie, at (619) 725-7388 or jmcrobbie@sandi.net. |
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District Middle Schools Chosen to Pilot Citizenship Materials |
 Middle School Instructional Support Director Kim Hall (left) and teacher Julia Liebke (right) were the guests of Citizenship Counts at a naturalization ceremony this past Monday. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor administered the oath of allegiance to 50 new American citizens. O’Connor also talked with Hall and Liebke about the prospect of implementing the civics-based materials in selected San Diego middle school classrooms this spring. For more information, please contact Kim Hall at 619-725-7301 or khall@sandi.net . |
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High School Students Begin Menu Development |
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Food Services is conducting a district-wide High School Focus Group with selected students to identify possible menu items for the new school year. Suggestions include Orange, Kung Pao, Teriyaki, Sesame and Spicy Sichuan chicken bowls, along with different noodle products. Other items include Chipotle, Oriental, Tropical and Santa Fe turkey wraps. New entrées would also include pasta bowls and hand-rolled burritos. Additional fresh products for the salad bars are also being explored, including Oriental, Mediterranean, and Southwest salads. Student input is vital to the success of the menus. The goal is to offer healthy fresh foods ‘fast’ that students like to eat as we continue the fight against childhood obesity and potential health problems. For more information, please contact Sally Spero, food services planning supervisor at (858) 627-7306. |
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Buy Padres Tickets Cheap to Benefit SDUSD Arts Programs |
San Diego Unified is participating in a special fundraising program sponsored by the San Diego Padres. The program offers SDUSD employees and parents discounted baseball ticket prices for six selected home games while raising funds for the district’s Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Department. Employees and parents will have access to group sales prices without being required to purchase a large number of tickets, and can select from four different reserved seating levels including Toyota Terrace Reserved, Field Reserved, “All-You-Can-Eat” Field Reserved and Left Field Reserved. Ticket prices range from $15 to $30 per ticket. At the end of the six scheduled games, the San Diego Padres will write a check to SDUSD for the amount of funds raised by this partnership. Visit www.padres.com/grouppromo and enter the promo code: SDUSD for a list of games and ticket prices. For more information, please contact Aly Evans at (619) 725-5582 or aevans2@sandi.net . |
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Activities Build Community, Raise Spirit of Giving and Hope |
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On March 27, Physical Plant Operations Center (PPO) hosted one of its favorite fundraising events, a Chili Cook-Off, to benefit the "Holiday Hope" fund. PPO employees entered their favorite chili creations for judging and donated prizes were awarded to the first, second and third place winning chefs. After the judging, the chili was served to raise funds for the "Holiday Hope" food basket drive. Each year, a PPO committee works with school site representatives to identify district families who will receive the food baskets, which contain a turkey and ham dinner complete with all the trimmings. This year's goal is to provide 100 baskets to school district families in need. For more information, please contact Leslie Ladd, program assistant, at (858) 627-7190, or Martin Perez, custodial crew leader, at (858) 627-7213. |
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My Dream Project Receives More Funding for Middle School Career Exploration |
The Office of College, Career and Technical Education recently received notification of $90,000 in new grant money to continue and expand the work of the My Dream Project . The money will be used to expand and improve the written materials and website currently used in all of our middle schools. This SB70 grant, written in collaboration with the San Diego Community College District, ensures continued funding of the project until June 2010. For more information, please contact Lance Larson, program specialist, at (858) 503-1756 or llarson@sandi.net . |
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Six elementary students will represent San Diego Unified at the California History Day competition on May 1 in Sacramento. The students are Vista Grande fifth graders Joshua Moran, Steven Agosto, Kylie Bartolome and Corinn Walker in the Group Poster category; and Hearst fourth grader Elijah Rosen and Vista Grande fifth grader Noah Wagner in the Individual Poster category. For more information, please contact Linda Gohlke, director, elementary school instructional support, at (619) 725-7253 or lgohlke@sandi.net .
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Foundation for University Schools Receives $13,000 Grant |
The University City Foundation for Public Schools, also known as EdUCate!, recently received a grant from Las Patronas to purchase ten laptop computers, valued at $13,237. The laptop computers will be coupled with the document camera-digital projectors that EdUCate! has purchased for UC classrooms over the last two years. For more information, please visit http://www.uc-educate.org . |
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Open House for Pt. Loma Cluster Parents of Students with IEPs |
A Point Loma Cluster Schools Transitional Open House for parents of students with Individualized Education Program (IEPs) will be held on Wednesday, April 1, at 6 p.m., in the Dana Middle School Library. Staff from all Pt. Loma Cluster schools will present a 3-5 minute overview of the special education services at their respective sites, followed by a brief question and answer period. For more information, please contact Joe Fulcher at (619) 725-7700 or Christy Scadden at cscadden@cox.net . |
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Honor Theatre Production of Metamorphoses |
The Visual and Performing Arts Department presents an Honor Theatre Production of “Metamorphoses,” featuring top theatre students from nine high schools across the district. The production will be hosted by the Madison High School Theatre Department tomorrow, March 28, beginning at 1 p.m. with a gala reception, music, art show, and Proclamation presentation by City Councilmember Donna Frye. Curtain goes up at 2 p.m. Please RSVP to Marjorie Treger, theatre resource teacher, at mtreger1@sandi.net or (858) 539-5356. |
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- Marshall Middle School Instrumental Program Earns Top Honors
Thurgood Marshall Middle School earned top honors at the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association Festival held in Temecula, March 18-19. Students performed three songs for three judges and sight read one song for a fourth judge. All judges gave the Band and Orchestra the highest ratings. Both the Band and Orchestra won Unanimous Superior ratings. For more information, please contact Steve Steinberg at (858) 549-5400.
- Renowned Scientist to Speak at Patrick Henry High School
The San Diego Science Festival is hosting one of the “Nifty Fifty” speakers, Dr. Larry Smarr, founding director of Calit2, at Patrick Henry High School on Monday, March 30. Students will hear about Dr. Smarr's career as a mathematician, physicist, astrophysicist, astronomer and computer scientist. His projects include computer programs that recognize facial expressions, an Einstein robot, the Gizmo network robot, and forensic methods of analyzing paintings. For more information, please contact Kathy Schulze at (619) 286-7700.
- Granddaughter of Cesar E. Chavez Visits Hoover High School
On March 11, Hoover High School students and staff welcomed Julie Chavez Rodriguez, granddaughter of Cesar E. Chavez. As the director of the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation, she spoke to students and staff about her grandfather's legacy and encouraged students to join Hoover’s newly-formed Cesar Chavez Club. She also emphasized that Cesar Chavez Day, on March 31, is a day dedicated to service and learning. Her visit also inspired student leaders, who are currently working on developing a community garden on campus. For more information, please contact Norma Sandoval at (619) 283-6281, ext. 4301.
- ALBA Students Inspired by Member of Little Rock 9
On February 24, ALBA High School students, teachers and Principal Wendell Bass were privileged to hear Dr. Terrance Roberts address a standing-room-only crowd at Mira Costa College in Oceanside. Dr. Roberts, one of the Little Rock 9, recounted his story – how during the fall semester 1957, he and eight other brave African American high school students ignored the taunts and threats of those opposing integration at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. He stressed the importance of education and praised President Obama. An inspiration to everyone present, he has been invited to address the United Nations regarding non-violence. ALBA students had the opportunity to meet Dr. Roberts and thank him for making a difference in our American culture. For more information, please contact Wendell Bass at wbass@sandi.net .
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