What an amazing year the 2018-19 school year is continuing to be as we prepare Today’s Learners to be Tomorrow’s Leaders! As we celebrate student success in so many ways, I can’t help but show my pride in the excellent staff we have as well as the many programs available to our students. We’re proud of our continuing focus on the implementation of our new English Language Arts/English Language Development program, taking a ‘deeper dive’ into data to drive the instructional program and our continuing commitment to STEM-Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics! A combination of a rich, well-rounded curriculum, highly qualified and caring staff and a long-standing commitment to excellence is continuing to prepare our students to be successful 21st Century citizens. Our dedication to integrating STEM across the curriculum ensures we provide students with real-life applications to meet the demands of an ever-changing global society as we create the workforce of tomorrow.
Our students and teachers have embraced the Next Generation Science Standards as they’ve engaged in a variety of hands-on science lessons. From lessons on erosion to designing and flying their own paper airplane, working together to analyze their flight data to determine the best designs for getting planes to travel the farthest distance, students are excited about science! Our second graders have created hats to protect them from the sun and absorb sweat while sixth graders are designing mechanical hands! It is clear that Today’s Learners will become Tomorrow’s Leaders as they engage in hands-on science through building projects that will make our world more sustainable and designing tools that will help future generations in a myriad of ways. We invite you to follow the excitement of learning on our FaceBook page where you will be able to see the many ways students and staff are engaged in educational activities and celebrating accomplishments on a daily basis! Just click on the FaceBook link above to see the variety of learning activities students are engaged in daily.
We’re excited to provide academic enrichment programs for students, further ensuring that Today’s Learners will become Tomorrow’s Leaders. Now in its sixth year, our regularly scheduled Saturday Academy program provides reinforcement and enrichment programs for students. Attendance at Saturday Academy provides the opportunity for a student to make up absences and to receive additional academic support. Knowing that good attendance at the elementary school level is the responsibility of parents, Saturday Academy is NOT punitive. Instead, students are exposed to engaging lessons as well as have the opportunity to participate in hands-on academic activities. Exact lessons will vary from week to week with a strong emphasis in the areas of reading, writing, science and technology. In partnership with Cal Poly University, Pomona, we were able to provide a Summer Academy with a focus on STEM, with technology infused across the curriculum. Through Summer Academy, we were able to provide academic support and enrichment programs not otherwise possible for the nearly 300 students in attendance; the staff and student teachers did an outstanding job of ensuring that we’re helping Today’s Learners to become Tomorrow’s Leaders. Summer Academy staff hosted a delegation of 44 educators from the Jiangsu Province of China who were on site to learn about American schools and see our program in action. It was so interesting to hear both groups of teachers comparing the differences (such as classroom sizes and pedagogy) in Chinese and American education systems. They left with new ideas and an excitement for how teachers in America teach.
Because student and staff safety are paramount, we are continually assessing the safety and security needs of our campuses and are proud of the systems we have in place. We have consistently undertaken measures to ensure the safety of our schools in the past and will continue to do so. Furthering our commitment to student and staff safety, additional cameras have been added in a variety of areas throughout the District. In addition, we’ve worked toward the implementation of NaviGate Prepared which will provide staff with immediate, real-time access to all the information and tools they need to help ensure the safety of students and staff in an emergency situation. We are extremely grateful that we’ve been able to complete much-needed enhancements that will provide students and staff with safe, secure facilities to meet the demands of 21st Century learning. These projects and more will impact our children's education and our community for generations to come.
When I reflect on what makes a good school district a GREAT school district, I recognize that it is “people;” people like our staff who are committed to what they do each day to ensure student success that we can be proud of; people like our parents who provide the home support for our students so that they can reach their potential; and people like all those in our community who have contributed to our successes in so many ways. Because of all of the support from a wide variety of people in our community, the 2018-19 year is continuing to be a successful one in which we take tremendous pride; it is through these successes that we believe today’s learners will be amazing future leaders!