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When
we speak of public education, too often the conversation is about the
challenges that haven’t been overcome or the dilemmas we still face.
As we end another school year in the
Sacramento
City
Unified School District, I want to share some of our accomplishments.
I don’t want to
diminish the hard work we still have ahead. We have a long way to go
to close the achievement gap for Black, Latino and English Learner
students. There are still three to five years of budget difficulties
to weather. Too many of our children face hostile environments when
they leave the safety of our campuses.
Despite these
challenges, I am gratified by the tremendous accomplishments and
dedication of our employees and the partnerships our district enjoys
across the Sacramento region and the nation. The commitment and
successes of our employees speak of their talent and commitment to
students. Our partnerships speak to the good will and credibility that
our district has established.
In order to make
real our vision of creating a world-class educational system that
enables all students to excel, we have embarked on a mission to
provide all students the knowledge, skills and educational
opportunities to achieve high academic standards and be successful in
a changing global society. As we make our push toward those goals, we
strive to follow our guiding principles each and every day. Those
principles—personal responsibility for every member of our Learning
Support Units; honoring, valuing and including all stakeholders in the
design, implementation and monitoring of work around essential areas
and issues; analyzing agreed upon data to measure outcomes and revise
practices; and basing budget decision and program strategies on the
academic, social and emotional needs of all students—have served us
well as we have tackled a number of important issues during this past
academic year.
This year we faced
additional budget cuts of $10 million. We were able to balance our
budget without taking drastic measures. By making cuts in some areas
and tightening our fiscal belt in others, we saved class size
reductions in K-3 and 9th grades and kept non-mandated
busing. Unfortunately this is an ongoing struggle for the district and
the state. I am proud that we followed our guiding principles. We were
able to include voices representing all stakeholders—students,
parents, community members, our bargaining units and staff—in this
important process and base our decisions on the needs of our students.
Even as we wrestled
with financial matters, our students moved forward on many fronts.
Five secondary schools—John F. Kennedy High School, C.K. McClatchy
High School, Albert Einstein Middle School, Sam Brannan Middle School
and Sutter Middle School—earned the coveted California Distinguished
School honor and three sites—Isador Cohen Elementary School, Camellia
Basic School and Albert Einstein Middle School—received the Title I
Academic Achievement Award. Camellia also won the National Title I
Distinguished Schools Award.
Our students have
also excelled in academic and athletic competitions. Dozens of SCUSD
students were among the youngsters honored with the 2004-05 Youth
Inspire! Award. C.K. McClatchy senior Kelley Harris won third
place in the Intel Science Talent Search contest. Hiram Johnson High
School’s Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement students made big
splashes at regional competitions. The John F. Kennedy speech and
debate team qualified several students for the state tournament. The
boys soccer team at Kennedy won the Metro League title, while
McClatchy’s came in second. The Kennedy boys basketball team won the
Metro league title for the second consecutive year. At Burbank, the
girls basketball team didn’t repeat as section champions, but they
made the third round of the playoffs . The
West Campus
High School
girls softball team won their league championship.
As our students
continue to make us proud, we continue the focus on adding rigor and
relevance to our high school curriculum. Luther Burbank High School
has started offering the academically rigorous International
Baccalaureate program to its students. Thanks to our Career and
Technical Preparation department, we offered 123 Career and Technical
Education classes during this school year. That brings a 300 percent
increase in these offerings since 2001-02. Many of the classes also
meet college entrance requirements.
One of the keys to
continuing our academic gains is the analysis of data to measure
outcomes and revise practices. In order to help us do this better, we
have joined Just for the Kids-California, an education/business
partnership aimed at improving school performance and providing
community accountability. JFTK-CA provides free, easy to understand
data on the performance of every school in California and promotes
identified, proven teaching practices that get results. This is
another tool for us to use data to target students’ instructional
needs and help school principals and teachers make decisions about
boosting performance at their sites and closing achievement gaps among
diverse student populations.
Another important
initiative undertaken by the district is our work to rally Sacramento
in a partnership to stop youth violence. At our first forum we had
more than 300 people from all walks of life join us in an effort to
create an action plan to create safer teaching and learning
environments and safer communities. We were heartened and encouraged
by the response.
Relationships and
trust are built on communication, and we took a major step forward in
enhancing our communication with the use of Connect-ED. The principals
throughout the District and I are engaged in more frequent sharing of
information with parents in their own language. The response to this
new tool has been terrific. We nearly doubled the attendance at our
annual Passport to Success Family Festival through the use of this
resource. Student attendance also promises to increase with out use of
Connect-ED.
This year we began
to create systems that will help us improve. Our board of education
worked together to set clear priorities for the work of the district.
We began by holding the mirror up and undertaking a comprehensive
study of how we at the central office can improve and support schools
and students in more effective ways. The findings of that study will
be released this month. My cabinet and I have been working to create a
new three-year strategic plan for the District based on the board
priorities. We will begin the process of sharing that work with our
principals, parents, unions and other partners over the coming weeks
to seek their input.
Finally, I would
like to recognize our most valuable resource—our employees. The
district has been honored with great teachers, classified workers and
administrators. In this issue of The Connection you will find stories
about our Teachers of the Year, Michael Holt from California Middle
School and Jennifer Hughes from John Bidwell Elementary School. These
two exemplify the hard-working, dedicated teachers to whom we entrust
the education of our children.
The 32 classified
champions work just as hard to help our children succeed. They ensure
that our children are ready to learn, whether its by making sure they
get breakfast and lunch or making sure the buses run on time or that
the right books and supplies are ordered. Their stories are also in
this edition of The Connection.
Many of our
employees have been recognized by their peers and outside evaluators
for their work. John Bidwell teacher Asa Salley was named one of two
Sacramento County Teachers of the Year, C.K. McClatchy music teacher
Kendall Yee was named Teacher of the Year by the California Music
Educators Association-Capitol Section, psychologist Kelly Ballard was
named as Outstanding School Psychologist in the inland Northern
California Region by the California Association of School
Psychologists, Robin Wilmer from Rosemont High School was named a
Sacramento area Teacher of the Year by Wal-Mart, and there are others.
As we move forward
it is important to realize that we still have work to do. I want us
all to look at the accomplishments of the past year and use them as
building blocks for future success.
I wish you all a
healthy and happy summer. |
