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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. |  |
Message from Interim Superintendent Bill Kowba |
As I finish my first week as Interim Superintendent, I want to thank you all for your support and continued focus on our students and our schools.
Friday Notes has become a valuable communications vehicle for the Superintendent’s Office to keep our staff and school communities updated about our successes and challenges as a district. I plan to continue to use Friday Notes as a way to provide timely updates about our schools and programs as well as information about board deliberations on our budget and other issues. This month we are updating the Friday Notes subscriber’s list to include new parent emails from this school year. We now have more than 40,000 emails on our distribution list and we welcome our new subscribers.
I have spent this first week in my new role reviewing staffing and logistical issues related to the new school year to make sure we continue on a positive path for our students. I have also initiated planning with our senior staff to prepare for budget workshops with the Board of Education in October. We are projecting significant budget deficits again next year and it is critical that we begin presenting budget options to the Board so that decisions can be made in time for the next budget year cycle. As always, we welcome and encourage suggestions and input from our employees, parents, students and the community. Please visit our website for updates about the budget deliberations during the coming weeks and feel free to email me at superintendent@sandi.net with your suggestions or comments.
There are great things happening with our students everyday at San Diego Unified. We look forward to sharing these stories with you each week as we work together for our common goal, the success of our students.
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On Tuesday, Sept. 22, Morse High School athletes and coaches were joined by the San Diego Chargers, Local Initiatives Support Corporation and Morse High alumni City Councilman Tony Young in celebrating the school’s new synthetic turf football field and all-weather running track. Chargers safety Clinton Hart was among the guest speakers.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation awarded $200,000 in funding for construction of Morse’s artificial turf playing field as part of the “Grassroots Program,” a partnership with the National Football League Youth Football Fund. The Grassroots Program provides nonprofit, neighborhood-based organizations with financial and technical assistance to improve the quality, safety and accessibility of local football fields.
Thanks to the donation, the installation of the track and field took place earlier than planned. Using Prop. S funds, San Diego Unified has begun refurbishing all high school athletic facilities, either installing new synthetic turf football fields and all-weather running tracks, or refurbishing existing synthetic football fields that are approaching their useful service lives. For more information, please contact the Prop. S Communications Office at (619) 725-7252, e-mail PropSinfo@sandi.net or visit the website at www.sandi.net/PropS .
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EdCAST: H1N1 Prevention Rap Video |
 In July, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a video Public Service Announcement (PSA) contest on flu prevention. Americans were called to create a 15, 30, or 60 second video to inform people about the flu and motivate them to take steps that help prevent the spread of the flu. Dr. John Clarke of Baldwin, New York was named the winner on September 22 for his video entitled H1N1 Rap by Dr. Clarke. Watch the video. For more information, please visit the district H1N1 website.
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Breakfast in the Classroom Expands to Middle School |
Memorial Prep Middle School has the distinction of being the district’s first middle school to be part of the highly-successful Breakfast in the Classroom program. Each morning 617 middle school students receive a complete and nutritious breakfast at the beginning of the school day. Additional elementary and middle schools are scheduled to begin the program this school year. For more information, please contact Gary Petill, director, food services, at (858) 627-7301 or gpetill@sandi.net .
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Statewide Earthquake Drill Set for October 15 |
 At 10:15 a.m. on Thursday, October 15, San Diego Unified will join millions of Californians and participate in the 2009 Shake-out Earthquake Drill. Students, staff and visitors at both schools and central office work sites will practice “Drop, Cover and Hold On” and other aspects of site emergency plans. For more information about the district drill, see Administrative Procedure 22  . For information on the statewide “Shake-out”, go to www.shakeout.org .
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Annual Facilities Inspections in Progress |
The annual Williams Legislation and School Accountability Report Card (SARC) facility surveys are taking place across the district. The surveys inspect eight major areas, including plumbing, electrical, heating and ventilation systems, and overall site cleanliness and safety. Williams inspections are conducted by an independent, third-party; SARC inspections are conducted by Physical Plant Operations (PPO) staff. PPO will use the Williams and SARC facility inspection results to determine where change needs to occur. Comparisons from previous year's Williams/SARC facilities inspection results will be analyzed to help focus our business practices and improve our customer service model. For more information, please contact Tracy Higgins, support services supervisor, at (858) 627-7151 or thiggins@sandi.net .
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Mission Bay Student Athlete Selected to Play in the All American Bowl
Mission Bay High School student athlete, Dillon Baxter, has been selected to play in the 10th annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl football game on January 9, 2010, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The bowl game draws outstanding high school football players from across the U.S. In its ten-year history, the game has featured some of the nation’s most elite young football players, including college and NFL stars Adrian Peterson, Reggie Bush, Vince Young, Tim Tebow and Terrelle Pryor. On Wednesday, September 30, Dillon will receive his bowl game uniform at a special event hosted by the U.S. Army. Scheduled to appear at the event are the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team and Paul Rudy, host of KUSI’s Prep Pigskin Report. The U.S. Army will also provide its Fitness for Life tour for Mission Bay High students. This interactive experience includes a technology pod with robotics, flight simulators and a climbing wall. For more information, please contact Kathy Agosto at (858) 273-1313.
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Kearny’s JROTC Presents US Colors at Mexico Consulate Ceremony
The color guard from the JROTC program at Kearny High School participated in a bit of international diplomacy on September 16 as it joined a color guard from Tijuana’s Lazaro Cardenas Preparatory School in a ceremony honoring the 199th birthday of Mexico. More than 200 people attended the ceremony, hosted by the Consulate of Mexico at La Jolla’s Museum of Contemporary Art. In attendance were the Consul General of Mexico, Remedios Gómez Arnau, and Lori Holt Pfeiler, mayor of Escondido. The Kearny students presented the US colors, while the Cardenas school students presented Mexico’s colors. For more information, please contact Col. Harry Ridge Jr. at (858) 496-8203 or hridgejr@sandi.net, or 1SG Theodore Jenkins at (858) 496-8204 or tjenkins@sandi.net.
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