A West Contra Costa Unified School District e-update for staff

May 3, 2002 * PLEASE POST * No. 0102-23

State recognizes North Campus for quality program that serves students

North Campus Continuation High School was recently selected as one of 15 California schools to receive the 2002 Model Continuation High School Award. The award is given to schools for providing diverse instructional strategies, intensive support for students, flexible schedules, independent study time, and smaller class sizes.

Principal Doris Avalos said that schools, in order to be considered for the award, needed to show evidence of meeting 60 "quality indicators." Lacking just one indicator resulted in disqualification. The state review team that recommended selection of North Campus for the award cited the visionary leadership at North Campus, especially the role played by Ms. Avalos and her staff.

The Literacy Corne

What California looks for in its reading textbooks and materials (part 2)

Instructional materials for basic reading/language arts programs are required to provide for the following minimal daily time periods:

Kindergarten: 1 hour
Grades 1-3: 2.5 hours
Grades 4-5/6: 2 hours
Grades 6/7-8: 1 to 2 hours

In addition to the basic program, instructional materials for special populations of students are required to ensure that all students will participate successfully in the basic program and will achieve mastery of the English-Language Arts Standards. These materials include teacher and pupil editions of:

English language development support materials for English learners
Special education support materials for special education pupils,

Each of these additional components should provide for approximately 30 to 45 minutes per day to be used in addition to and connected to the basic instruction in the regular classroom.

To maximize the opportunities for all students to learn the skills and knowledge embodied in the standards, publishers may also submit instructional materials as indicated below for any or all of the following three special student populations:

A comprehensive, intensive, accelerated reading/language arts program designed for students in grades 4-8 whose reading achievement is significantly below grade level.
A comprehensive language arts program designed for English learners in grades 4-8 whose proficiency in English is at the beginning through intermediate levels. These programs should be designed to accelerate the learning of English and should address all of the English-language arts content standards by grade level.
A language arts program in languages other than English for those students on waiver, provided those programs are comprehensive, systematic and designed to transition students successfully to English. These programs must be consistent with the content of the Reading/Language Arts Framework.

All of the materials approved by the state adhered to the requirements mentioned above.

—Barbara Adams, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Accountability

In the Learning Village

West County Reads, the community literacy campaign organized by the Community Alliance for Public Education (CAPE), is sponsoring a poster art contest for students ages 5-12. The winning art will become a poster to publicize the literacy campaign. For guidelines and an application, contact the district communications office at 620-2245, or Terrance Cheung in County Supervisor John Gioia’s office at 374-3231. Deadline is May 31.
The 8^th Annual Nutrition, Health and Fitness Festival takes place on Friday, May 10 at Lincoln Elementary School. Activities include a Celebrity Breakfast, an awards presentation, entertainment, booths and games, a barbecue lunch, and fitness activities. This event is a production of the district Food Services Department.
The "Proud to be Bilingual" Awards Presentation will honor students who have been reclassified from "English Learner" to "Fluent English Proficient" status. It takes place on Saturday, May 11 in the Richmond High School Little Theatre, beginning at 1:00 p.m. The event is sponsored and presented by Bilingual/ELD Services, the Multilingual District Advisory Committee, and Project REEL.
The 14^th Annual Teaching Excellence Awards Banquet takes place on Friday, May 17, 2002 at the Richmond Convention Center. On this evening the community will recognize six of the many outstanding teachers in the West Contra Costa Unified School District: Olanrewaju Ajayi, Transition Learning Center; Lynne Dirk, Hercules Middle School; Ed Nesmith, Pinole Valley High School; Susan Peterson, Portola Middle School; Jolanta Walukiewicz, El Cerrito High School; and Paul Yonemura, Portola Middle School. In addition, Judy Sam of Project Read Aloud and Nancy Sugars, a volunteer at Lake Elementary School, will receive Distinguished Citizen awards.

School board meeting schedule through May, 2002

Tuesday, May 7: Board study session on the 2002-03 budget, 7:00 p.m. at Kennedy High School
Wednesday, May 15: Regular School Board meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Kennedy High School
June 5, 2002: Regular School Board meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Pinole Valley High School

Note: The study session on Measure M previously scheduled for May 20 has been cancelled. Beginning June 5, 2002, regularly-scheduled Board of Education meetings will be held at Pinole Valley High School.

Do you have an item for our next Friday FYI that’s related to one of our strategic priorities? E-mail it to: pehara@ wccusd.k12.ca.us. Of course, if you're on the district's GroupWise network, you can just send it to us that way.

Our strategic priorities are: 1) Student Achievement (attendance), 2) Safety (behavior), 3) Personnel Training and Professional Development, 4) Facilities, 5) Family and Community Partnerships, 6) Equity, and 7) Communication.

—Paul Ehara, managing editor