Enjoy the Break

So here we are on the last day before Spring Break.  It would seem that all are ready for the short respite as it has been busy and intense.  My thanks and kudos to all staff as they continue to do a great job even in the face of difficult times in public education.  I hope that you all have a restful break and re-energize for the return and final race to graduation.

Representative of the great work that our folks are doing is the recognition notice that we received yesterday that John F Kennedy Elementary has been recognized as a California Distinguished School for 2012.  Congratulations to staff, parents, leadership, and students that made that happen.

I should also note that our mascot has been making the rounds with his new name (was named through a student contest).  He will complete his tour of the winners (for naming) this morning at Jefferson.  His name is Rus D. Owl.

Again, best wishes to all for a restful week of R&R next week. 

Best regards,
Rick

Hidden Treasures

I was privileged last night to be involved in two “hidden” programs that are representative of the great things that go on in this community and school district.  My first visit was to a celebration of the HOPE conference that was put together with the local efforts of:  Ofelia Valdez-Yeager, Esther Velez-Andrews, and Gabriela Plascencia (counselor at Central).  Through this program 20 young Latinas went to downtown LA for a daylong conference to be encouraged by those that have gone before them and been successful.  The Latinas represented the 4 HS of Arlington, North, Ramona, Norte Vista, and Lincoln.  They dressed professionally and gave a public account of themselves.  All good.  Additionally, there were another 4 from Ramona HS that had the privilege of engaging in a year-long program that culminates with a trip to Sacramento to speak to Legislators. 

The second engagement of the evening was the graduation of parents at JW North HS from the PIQE (Parent Institute for Quality Education) academy that lasts for 9 weeks.  It was Standing Room Only in the Multipurpose Room and attended by families, parents, and students.  82 parents graduated from a program that informed and encouraged university readiness and matriculation.  Other than great and committed parents the highlight of the evening was a speech by an AEL student, Tanya, who gave her speech in Spanish and English.  In a 21^st century culture, being bilingual is an ASSET not a liability.

Again, these programs are “quiet” and somewhat unnoticed – but oh so powerful.

Congratulations JW North HS

Certainly a highlight of this past week was the Girls Basketball State Championship game held at the Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento.  After last Saturday’s game, we needed to get the girls and their supporters to Sacramento.  As such, we set about raising funds and raised something in the neighborhood of $4,000 in fairly short order from a very supportive community.

As to the game itself, it was a great game – though we came out of the bottom side of the scoring being down by two points when we finished.  Our team has nothing to "hang their head over" though, as they totally reversed their last season (from a 4-21 season to 30-6 this year).  They played a team that was very experienced in post-season playoffs and championship games.  Our team played hard, played well, and “left it all on the court.”  We received again very nice coverage (front page of Sports section and callout on front page) from the Press Enterprise as well as mention from the SacramentoBee and others.

What is probably most exciting is that they are only losing 2 seniors off of this team and there are 3 junior starters + 1 regular player (Junior) – all of whom are anticipated to return to next year’s team. 

What is also of interest, but not a huge surprise is the article/statements in the Sacramento Bee regarding the basic unfairness of private and parochial schools in the CIF competition – weather it be for football, basketball, etc.  While taking nothing away from the performance of Archbishop Mitty, this has been a long-standing problem in the CIF.

Great job JW North and Girls Basketball team!!

JW North Champions

I had the great opportunity to attend the Regional Championship (Southern California) for Girls Basketball on Saturday and got to see the JW North team beat Foothill HS (from Tustin).  It was a great game and a great win.  The girls are now on their way to Sacramento to play in the California State Championship game on Friday at 6 p.m.

At the beginning of the game, I was a little bit nervous as the Foothill girls were much taller (which can matter in BB).  Not to worry, our girls had speed, agility and a game plan.  With their full court press they confused and pulled away from the Foothill team and never looked back.  Great performance by these athletes, Coach De Coud, and JW North HS.

The Press Enterprise had a great set of articles and pictures on Sunday.  Here is the link:  http://www.pe.com/sports/high-school/hsg-sports/hsg-basketball/hsg-basketball-headlines/20120317-girls-basketball-north-wins-regional-title.ece

 

King HS Remembers

Friday was the 12th annual King High Remembers event. Once again John Corona and his Social Science Department (along with LOTS of other helpers) put on a great event with our veterans (275 of them) from a variety of wars. It was again essentially a standing room only affair that took up the entire gymnasium and the adjoining multipurpose room.

This event is so critical as it provides King HS students with the unique opportunity to meet with veterans and hear their particular stories and quiz them about the details.

The King Remembers event is important for several reasons:

1. These veterans and their brothers in arms need to understand we appreciate them and their service.
2. Students need to understand what this is all about and the importance of military service to our freedom and way of life. They are prompted beyond this event to discuss the military and related experiences with their families and those close to the family that have served.
3. This event is important for our entire community to celebrate the service of these veterans as well as remind each other about the price of our American freedom and values.
4. From a recent book I was reading, at the end of World War II there was 1 out of 10 citizens ACTIVELY engaged in the military. Which essentially represented 1 of the tables (which holds 10 people) in the main gymnasium. That is what used to be. According to more recent data, we now have 1 ACTIVELY engaged in the military out of 221 citizens (essentially 22 tables in that same gymnasium). Needless to say, unless we use a method like King HS Remembers, we forget what is involved in our freedom and the specific price involved AND our students/youth truly don't understand.

Thank you John, thank you King HS, thank you Riverside for helping us remember and learn on Friday.

Sacramento We Have a Problem!

Since money is in short supply, obviously our only other choice is to become far more creative.  I was reminded of the Apollo 13 movie scene (that was real life) where based on the emergency (which we are in) where the team on the ground needed to “invent a way to put a square peg in a round hole – rapidly.”  And they did!

I don’t know if square pegs and round holes have anything to do with public education in California at this moment – but probably the “rapidly” portion of the directive is relevant for us.  So it was interesting to me, when I recently was able to review a video clip of Dr. Sugata Mitra (Ph.D. in Solid State Physics) of the United Kingdom. 

While I certainly don’t advocate his particular research as the solution to California’s public education problem – it does cause one to think and reflect about the capacity of our students to learn well in a changing environment.  I would suggest that this video clip is not for those that may be faint of heart – as it challenges a lot of our assumptions and may be suggesting new ideas that are far beyond our California context.  But if you dare, you can find the video here.

National PI Day

Okay before the day gets totally away from me and you ...HAPPY PI DAY!!
Being a math focused District it is only appropriate to make sure we recognize this day and the significance of Pi.  The next recognition opportunity for Pi will be with Pi Approximation Day in July.

Third-world State?

Across the state we are all facing a difficult time as we once again make budget reductions in a public education system that has done nothing but take cuts for the last 5 years.  Five years ago, we would never have believed that, while being one of the least funded state systems in the nation, we would be required to operate without even the existing meager resources.  But so it has gone – we are now working on about 75 cents of those 2007 dollars.

This year’s budget is likely to be even scarier with state resources that are diminishing even now (from projections of the LAO’s and Controller’s offices).  Additionally, this is a year that makes a budget even more challenging.  The Governor’s budget (to date) is counting on passage of a November initiative to fund the budget and is using public education and schools to leverage the passage of such.  To make it all a bit more exciting there are 3 active tax initiatives – with at least 2 likely to be on the ballot.  So if these do not pass, we are to take a mid-year reduction followed by a further 2013-2014 budget?  Are we to lose a whole generation of students and ultimately a generation of citizens and workers?

For me all of this somehow seems to miss the point.  When are we in California going to begin to demand that our representatives and this state provide the same quality education that it did 40 years ago – when nationally we led the way?  Our state economy and relative economic development cannot do well unless we address these issues.  And for those of you that think I am talking about the K-12 system – I am but I am equally talking about the public higher education system which also has been disseminated.  From the funding (read state commitment) of public education we are on our way to becoming a "3^rd world state" in the national engagement.  Why would you want to move your company to California under the present circumstances?

It certainly does not have to be this way – but to do otherwise requires ACTION up and down and throughout our state.