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.

I wish all of you and your families a safe and peaceful holiday season. Thank you again for all you do.

Eleven district schools have received Title I Academic Achievement Awards for the 2008-09 school year. To receive this prestigious award, Title I schools must show that their students are making significant progress toward proficiency in California’s academic standards, doubling achievement targets for two years. Schools receiving awards are: grades 9-12, Schools of Digital Media and Design, and School of International Business at the Kearny High School Complex; and elementary schools Dewey, Fletcher, Florence, Hancock, Jones, Ocean Beach, and Perry. District charter schools receiving the honor are Preuss School, UCSD (6-12), and King/Chavez Primary Academy (K-2). Repeat winners include: Dewey, Fletcher, Florence, Jones and Perry elementary schools; and the School of Digital Media and Design, and School of International Business at the Kearny High School Complex. Honorees for four consecutive years are Dewey, Fletcher, Florence and Perry elementary schools. For more information, please contact Dr. Chuck Morris, deputy superintendent, at (619) 725- 7104.

Congratulations to Hoover High School teacher Ellen Towers, who was selected as the California League of High Schools Region 9 Educator of the Year. She will compete for California League of High School State Educator of the Year at the CLHS annual conference in Monterey, California, January 2009. Ellen established the Academy of Information Technology at Hoover High School and was one of the writers of the district Personal Financial Literacy curriculum. For information, please contact Virginia Eves, director, Office of College, Career and Technical Education, at (858) 496-8719 or veves@sandi.net; or Angela Croce, program specialist, Office of College, Career and Technical Education, at (858) 496-1850 or acroce@sandi.net.

San Diego Unified Police Officer William Corado has been selected the STAR/PAL “2008 Volunteer Officer of the Year.”  STAR/PAL is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing free youth programs that involve law enforcement officers and firefighters. Officer Corado has donated more than 100 hours of his time to help provide free programs to inner city youths. His dedication embodies our mission to serve children and the community. He was recognized at half-time during the November 20 Chargers game.

The SDUSD Police Department is also partnering with STAR/PAL and the San Diego Police Department to deliver gifts to more than 50 families in need on December 22 and 23. School Police have been busy collecting and wrapping gifts in preparation for these eventful days. For more information, please contact Sergeant Alfonso Contreras at (619) 725-7000.

The California State Allocation Board has approved $13.3M for the construction and modernization of eight district high school Career Technical Education facilities, including Clairemont Automotive Tech, $ 2,039,114; Hoover Construction Tech, $2,008,576; Madison Multi-Media, $1,651,933; Morse Child Development, $1,793,663; Point Loma Motion Picture, $1,397,522; San Diego Culinary Arts, $945,145; San Diego Finance Academy, $538,840; and Scripps Ranch Renewable Energy, $2,993,400. The board also approved emergency repair projects at Clairemont High School totaling $62,140 that include graffiti removal and electrical, plumbing, paving, fire detection/alarm, windows/doors/gates and HVAC repairs. For more information, please contact Elvie Adriano, administrative assistant II, Facilities Planning & Construction, at (858) 627-7298.

Congratulations to Clairemont, Hoover, Lincoln, Madison, Mission Bay, Morse and Serra high schools for receiving $1,800 in grant funding for their respective instrumental music programs. The awards will be presented at the Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium on Tuesday, December 23. Representatives from each high school will be present at the Poinsettia Bowl to receive the awards. Thanks to Qualcomm and the Poinsettia Bowl administration for making these grants available to our students and for supporting our instrumental music programs. For more information, please contact Karen Childress-Evans, Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Department, at (858) 539-5349 or kchildressevans@sandi.net.

Fay Elementary student attendance has improved by more than 1% each month for the first three months of this school year compared to 2007-08.  Month 3 is closing in on a 2% increase with a 97.13% attendance rate.  Fay’s success can be attributed to an attendance program that stresses consistent attendance monitoring; face-to-face or phone contact with families by the counselor, nurse, and/or principal; and constant communication between Fay’s teachers, counselor, nurse and principal.  The staff identified seven problems around student absences and then developed specific actions as solutions to the problems.  Congratulations to the Fay staff for its ongoing efforts in promoting consistent student attendance.  For further information, please contact Eileen Moreno, principal, at 619-624-2600.

When classes resume in January, the district will begin another phase of Project Recovery. Launched in September, Project Recovery partners central office teams with every high school to collaborate quarterly with school staff to identify and bring back students who are not showing up at school. Teams begin with phone calls and home visits, if needed, then provide multiple kinds of student support, including connecting them to the appropriate choices among the district’s portfolio of second-chance options. Some students have fallen far behind and need to recover credits. Others may need alternative kinds of schedules due to family circumstances. Still others who’ve given up on their regular school may reconnect if they know they can attend a high school on a community college campus. Project Recovery is one of a number of new SDUSD initiatives aimed at making sure all students earn a diploma and graduate ready for college and career. For information, please contact Joan McRobbie, interim chief of staff, at (619) 725-7388 or jmcrobbie@sandi.net.

This week, Board Member John de Beck and I met with a delegation of educators from Russia, including the Vladivostok superintendent of schools, three high school administrators and a high school history teacher. The group spent two days studying programs and policies at the School of International Studies at San Diego High, and visited Point Loma, Mission Bay and La Jolla high schools. For more information, please contact Kirk Ankeney, executive director, Curriculum and Instruction, at (619) 725-7224 or kankeney@sandi.net.

Last week, Crawford High students Noe Mendoza and Jose Jacobs, along with their ROP automotive instructor Carl Kingsbury and program specialist Greg Quirin, attended the Green Schools Summit in Anaheim. Students heard first-hand from State Superintendent Jack O’Connell about his vision for green schools and relevant career technical education programs. The Crawford students were selected to represent the district and to learn more about the new emerging green technologies. Noe and Jose are team leaders for a unique, innovative green project currently underway, in which Crawford IDEA automotive students are converting a riding lawnmower from gas-powered to propane. San Diego Unified will be among the first districts in the state to offer a sequence of green career technical education classes preparing students for sustainable careers in green technologies. For more information about green technical education, please contact Greg Quirin, program specialist, Office of College, Career and Technical Education, at (858) 496-1777 or gquirin@sandi.net. Read more about the Green Schools Summit.

Students from eight district high schools, in conjunction with Junior Achievement, participated in the Titans of Industry Challenge held at National University on Friday, December 12.  A total of twenty-four teams competed in this interactive, web-based simulation where they were judged on decisions made regarding economics and business management.  A team from Patrick Henry High School took first place, receiving VAIO laptop computers donated by Sony. Clairemont, Kearny and Mira Mesa high school students placed second, third and fourth respectively, and were awarded savings bonds donated by Junior Achievement. In addition to the competition, students heard from Jack in the Box President and COO Paul Schultz and motivational speaker Willie G., owner of Diamond Star Entertainment. Congratulations to all the students who participated in this on-hands learning project. For more information, please contact Dean Darley, program specialist, Office of College, Career and Technical Education, at (858) 496-8719 or ddarley@sandi.net.

Students from Morse High School’s Education and Social Services Academy prepared 200 boxes filled with toiletries, games and personal items for homeless teenagers at San Diego Youth and Community Services, and boxes of stuffed animals, games, toys, clothing and toiletries for families at the San Diego Rescue Mission. The students delivered the boxes after school on December 17, just in time for the holidays.  For more information, please contact Mary Doan, Morse High School, at (619) 262-0763, or Angela Croce at (858) 503-1750.

The topic of hunger in San Diego will be the focus of the December 23 SignOn Radio, UT in The Community program and will feature a discussion with Mitch Mitchell, board president of the San Diego Food Bank, and Bernie Rhinerson, chief district relations officer. The internet radio program is hosted by Drew Schlosberg, community and public relations manager for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Mitchell highlighted the growing need for hunger programs in our region and the efforts of the Food Bank to partner with other organizations and businesses to launch food drives during these difficult economic times. Rhinerson highlighted the district’s free and reduced meal program and the Breakfast in the Classroom program.  Bernie and Mitch also discussed a new program being launched by the Food Bank to involve high school students in hunger awareness projects. Samantha Stone, a Scripps Ranch High graduate and UC Santa Barbara student, also participated in the interview adding her perspectives from a student viewpoint. To tune into this interview, visit the SignOn Radio website on Tuesday, December 23, at 1 p.m. For more information, please contact Bernie Rhinerson, chief district relations officer, at (619) 725-5578.

The San Diego Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenting Program (SANDAPP) celebrated its annual holiday gift-giving event on Thursday, December 18. The pregnant and parenting teens chose toys for their children and received new books and small gifts for themselves. Thanks to the generosity of the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation and the University of California, San Diego Newman Center, toys were distributed to more than 100 young families residing throughout San Diego County. SANDAPP participants took photos with Santa, created frames and ornaments with the photos, shared cookies and cider, and enjoyed holiday music. For more information about SANDAPP, please contact Cindy Grossman at cgrossman@sandi.net  or (619) 235-5002.

Discover all the exciting events happening around the district. A complete list of San Diego Unified School District Upcoming Events is posted on www.sandi.net.

• GOP Budget Plan: Slash $10 Billion From Schools
  The San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 16
  SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Republican state lawmakers unveiled their answer Monday to the state's budget crisis -- a $22 billion plan that would avoid raising taxes, cut deeply into education spending and dip into voter-approved funds intended to pay for mental health services and children's health care.  The plan is the Republicans' first comprehensive proposal since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called a special legislative session last month to try to solve the state's fiscal crisis. That special session ended without any action by lawmakers, prompting Schwarzenegger to declare a fiscal emergency Dec. 1. Read more.
  

• Survey: Fewer teens lighting up
  Just 12.6% of U.S. teens said they'd had a cigarette in the past month, the lowest rate since the early 1990s, according to an annual youth survey conducted by University of Michigan researchers of more than 45,000 students. Most teens now view smoking negatively, with two out of three saying smoking is a sign of poor judgment. Read more.

• Obama Names Chicago Schools Chief as Education Secretary
  Veteran Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan, 44, is President-elect Barack Obama's choice for U.S. Secretary of Education. Duncan has pushed for major reforms in Chicago schools, but has done so without alienating teachers unions, educators say. "When it comes to school reform, Arne is the most hands-on of hands-on practitioners," Obama said in making the announcement. Chicago Tribune/The Associated Press (12/16)

• Board to Vote on Tougher Graduation Standards
  SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- If the San Francisco school board decides tonight to put all its high school students on the college track, it will kick off an emotional and arduous years-long process to get schools, teachers and students ready to clear a much higher academic bar.  Superintendent Carlos Garcia wants to increase high school graduation requirements to include the completion of the 15 college-preparatory courses required by the University of California and the California State University systems starting with San Francisco's class of 2014. Read more.

• Montgomery Schools Post All-Time High on AP Tests
  ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Montgomery County school officials today announced the school system's best results on college-level Advanced Placement testing, with gains for black students and the county as a whole.  Superintendent Jerry D. Weast cited competing magazine rankings as evidence Maryland's largest system, with 139,000 students, now offers arguably the premier AP program in the nation. Read more.

• Preschoolers Get Their Own Food Pyramid
  The U.S. Department of Agriculture has introduced MyPyramid for Preschoolers, a food pyramid that can help parents of young children, particularly picky eaters. "It's loaded with great ideas and suggestions for families so they can help their kids eat a more varied and nutritious diet," an official said. Yahoo!/HealthDay News (12/13)

• Middle School Key to College Success
  A report by ACT has found that fewer than 2 in 10 eighth-grade students are on track to be academically prepared for college and that performance in middle school is a leading predictor of college success. The report tracked 216,000 students who took the college entrance exam, as well as the earlier tests given in grades 8 and 10. The 2005 EXPLORE, PLAN, and ACT scores reveal that, on average, only the group of students who met the EXPLORE benchmark in the eighth grade were ultimately ready for college and career by grades 11 or 12. Read more.

• Innovation in the Workplace
  HMS Solutions recently shared an interesting and timely article about the importance of innovation in today's workplace.  It is easy to 'bridge' the ideas presented into today's classrooms; as teachers constantly search for ways to meet the diverse needs of their students.  The article argues that innovation can be the best return on investment that an organization can realize. Read more.