From the Superintendent: Enrollment, Budget Challenges and Impacts to Classrooms

In the first few weeks of each school year, class sizes and staffing are adjusted to balance the numbers of students in each grade across each campus. Even with the best projections, this planning is not a precise science and adjustments must be made in response to enrollment growth and decline. This year has been especially challenging. Due to state budget requirements and contractual obligations, we had to submit a budget and reduce teachers based on projections made last Spring. Our official 2011 enrollment numbers, released today, indicate that the district has experienced an enrollment decline of about 1,700 students, slightly more than projected.

Starting today, our principals will be working with the Education Center team to make adjustments at schools to ensure the right teacher with the proper qualifications is in a classroom with the correct number of students. This will result in changes to classes at some campuses, which we know can be difficult for staff and students. In making the adjustments, a number of teachers will be recalled from layoff status and rejoin the district. We are working to get them fully reinstated and in the proper classroom as soon as possible. Our area superintendents, principals, and teachers are working to make these transitions as smooth as possible for all campus stakeholders.

As always, our top priority is our students. We are committed to making these changes with as little impact on the learning process as possible. Your patience and understanding with this very difficult and complicated transition is very much appreciated.

Bill Kowba
Superintendent

IN THE NEWS: Big Bang to Twitter: A 13.7-billion-year curriculum could change history big time

Thanks to Principal Kirk Ankeney’s obsession with history, the School of International Studies at San Diego High School was selected to join a roster of five public and private schools — one in Washington state, two in Michigan, another in Massachusetts — to class-test the online big-history curriculum. Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune.»

IN THE NEWS: Whooping Cough Booster Deadline Approaching For San Diego Schools

The deadline for San Diego Unified seventh through 12th graders to submit proof of a whooping cough booster is October 6. After that, unvaccinated students will be told to stay home. The district is holding vaccination clinics to make sure as many students as possible make the deadline. Read more from KPBS»

Barona Donates $5,000 to Language Academy

Assemblyman Marty Block (left), Principal Veronika
Lopez-Mendez, teacher Shauna Dreyfuss, Barona
Chairman Edwin Thorpe Romero and San Diego
City Council Member Marti Emerald accept check.

The Language Academy has received a $5,000 education grant from the Barona Band of Mission Indians.

New lab equipment and supplies for middle-school grades will be purchased with the funds.

The Barona Band of Mission Indians is proud to help make a difference for schools throughout California. Through the endorsement of locally-elected state representatives, schools receive Barona educational funding to purchase much-needed supplies and materials such as books and computers.

Each grant awarded by the Barona Education Grant Program is $5,000.

For more information, contact Veronika Lopez-Mendez, principal, at (619) 287-1182.

IN THE NEWS: San Diego High Principal Talks Attendance

Students need to be in school and parents have the responsibility to make sure, Consuelo Manriquez, principal of San Diego High and LEADS told the Despierta San Diego audience on KBNT-TV. The Tdap immunization deadline is also coming up. In Español. Watch video»

IN THE NEWS: Kindergarten: Little kids, big jobs

Courtesy San Diego Union-Tribune

In this brave new educational world of endless standardized tests, increased scrutiny and escalating academic demands, what is the school day like for our youngest students? After spending some time in a kindergarten class at McKinley Elementary School in North Park, I discovered that academics are in, naps are out and Jack and Jill are still reporting for duty. And animal crackers are even more delicious than I remember. Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune»

Montgomery Middle School Students Welcome Emergency Medical Techs

Montgomery Middle School students got an up close look at careers in emergency medicine recently when they were visited by local emergency medical technicians.

With the students researching health careers, the recent visit by San Diego Project Heart Beat, which provides community education about careers in the health sector, was especially timely.

The students enthusiastically asked the EMTs questions about their profession and were given a firsthand look at the environment inside an ambulance.

Before the EMTs visit, students in the career class tirelessly worked to understand the importance of first aid response and cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). They learned that, by being well prepared for emergency situations, they have the potential to make the difference between life and death.

In each week of the course, which is being piloted at Montgomery, students learn about a different specialized career in health or technology and discover what skills and education are necessary to become a professional in that area. Montgomery Middle is committed to inspiring its students to be the leaders of tomorrow by learning more about careers in science today.

For more information on the program, contact Pamela Schmidt, teacher, at pschmidt@sandi.net.