Congratulations are in order!

Amidst all the continued chaos of state budget reductions, Race to the Top, etc. our teachers and District staff continue to do a great job. When things are tough, they keep shooting for the moon and making it. Once again, we have evidence of that effort with the initial nomination of four of our elementary schools to be recognized as California Distinguished Schools this year. Those four schools submitted their paperwork, and now have been notified that they will be having validation visits by the California Department of Education. We are not surprised with their performance in this process, and look forward to their ultimate recognition in the spring. The four schools are:

• Franklin Elementary
• Twain Elementary
• Washington Elementary
• Woodcrest Elementary

Congratulations to the staff members and principals of each of those schools. As one of our schools is recognized, it speaks well of all of our schools and staff as we are engaged in a system-wide race towards excellence and performance. On a related note, you might wonder why we don’t have some of our secondary schools being recognized? – the California Distinguished School program recognizes elementary schools in one year (this year) and secondary schools (i.e., middle and high school) in the next year.