October 2002 News Archive

Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Harding School to Celebrate 75th Anniversary

Built in 1927, on the site of the former Kentia Nursery, Harding Elementary School will celebrate its 75th anniversary on Friday, November 8, 2002. Alumni, former staff members, neighbors, and friends of Harding Elementary School are invited to participate in the school’s anniversary celebration, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Alumni are encouraged to bring memorabilia, pictures, and stories to the gathering, which will take place in the auditorium at 1625 Robbins Street. The celebration will include campus tours and refreshments.

Among the honored guests will be students from Harding’s early days. Patricia Abbott Kohrs and Harriet Rees Azlein were members of Harding’s first first-grade class when the school opened its doors. According to Mrs. Kohrs, there were two promotions each year, in January and June. The entire 6th grade class was made up of 25-30 students. When asked about her favorite memories, Mrs. Kohrs promptly responded, "Bank Day." According to the "Harding School Record" of 1928, Wednesday was Bank Day and students took their little bank-issued passbooks and money to school to be deposited in the local Bank of Italy. Mrs. Kohrs reported that another favored activity was participation in baseball games against other local elementary schools.

Classmate Harriet Rees Azlein, spoke fondly of working on her Dr. Doolittle writing assignment and attending the same school where her father worked (Mr. Rees served as Harding’s custodian for 30 years). Mrs. Azlein graduated from Harding 1932 and from 1968-1983, served her alma mater as a third-grade teacher. Additionally, her two children attended Harding.

Paula Lopez, KEYT anchor and Harding graduate, is also expected to be in attendance.

For more information on the anniversary celebration or to RSVP, please call (805) 965-8994

Tuesday, October 22, 2002

GATE Testing for Elementary School Children

The Santa Barbara Elementary School District will be testing referred students in grades 2-5 for Gifted And Talented Education (GATE) identification. Identified students participate in the District’s GATE program. This testing is also for students who are not currently enrolled in the Santa Barbara Elementary School District but whose families live within the Elementary District’s attendance boundaries and will be enrolling their children in the District in the the fall of 2003. At this time, District teachers are completing referrals for students in their classrooms.

Parent referral forms can be obtained from any District elementary school office during the period of November 6-18, 2002. By November 18, 2002, the completed parent referral form must be returned to the GATE Office, Santa Barbara School Districts, 720 Santa Barbara Street (between Ortega and De La Guerra streets). Late forms cannot be accepted.

Private testing is not accepted.

Elementary GATE testing will be conducted from January through March 2003. Test results will be mailed to parents in mid-April.

For further information, call Barbie Evans at (805) 963-4338, extension 315.

Tuesday, October 15, 2002

Diversity Day at Goleta Valley Junior High School

On Wednesday, October 16, beginning at 8:30 a.m., in the school’s auditorium, the entire 8th grade class at Goleta Valley Junior High School will participate in Diversity Day activities.

Schedule
8:30 a.m. – 8:40 a.m.	Homeroom classes report to the auditorium
8:45 a.m. – 9:10 a.m.	Welcome and introductions Marine Color Guard leads the Pledge of Allegiance
9:10 a.m. – 10:10 a.m.	"Tak for Alt" video of Holocaust survivor Judith Meisel
10:10 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.	Break
10:20 a.m. -10:45 a.m.	Judy Meisel, guest speaker
10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.	Break
11:00 a.m. -11:15 a.m.	"Without Pity" video on a child with disabilities
11:15 a.m. – 11:55 a.m.	Terry Boisot, Carlos Gomes, and Tony Paulson, guest speakers on disabilities
11:55 a.m. – 12:35 p.m.	Lunch
12:35 p.m. – 1:05 p.m.	W. Mitchell, guest speaker, "Making the Most of It"
1:05 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.	Leadership video, students return to homeroom classes for a breakout activity, call to action commitment opportunity.
1:45 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.	Mitch Torina, guest speaker, "Erasism, Concept of isms"
2:40 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.	Closing remarks
2:45 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.	PTA-sponsored root beer floats

Diversity and tolerance are woven in to the curriculum at the 7th-grade level as well. This school year, all 7th graders at Goleta Valley Junior High School will take a Facing History elective class. This class is taught by Marie Andreasen.

Thursday, October 10, 2002

Sandra Robertson Elected to State Board

Sandra Robertson, longtime 7th grade English teacher at Santa Barbara Junior High School, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the California Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (CASCD). CASCD is an affiliate of the national Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), an organization of professional educators who share a profound commitment to excellence in education. Founded in 1943, ASCD’s mission is to forge covenants in teaching and learning for the success of all learners. The California ASCD is committed to promoting exemplary teaching practices to ensure that all learners reach their fullest potential.

As a Board member, Mrs. Robertson helps to promote exemplary teaching practices, and to provide professional development opportunities so that teachers may reach their fullest potential as educators.

Mrs. Robertson’s commitment to high teaching standards was recently acknowledged by her appointment to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards’ (NBPTS) Adolescence and Young Adulthood/English Language Arts Standards Committee. She, and fellow appointee Santa Barbara Junior High Principal Gerrie Fausett, are serving on a committee whose purpose is to define the critical aspects of accomplished teaching in the field. The committee is responsible for the revision of existing English language arts standards that serve as the basis for National Board Certification.

"Standards committee members serve as strong ambassadors for the standards they are developing and are valuable resources for school reform initiatives," stated Kate Woodward, NBPTS’s Director of Certification Standards. The NBPTS appointment represents a valuable professional development opportunity for committee members and permits them to make important contributions to their field.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is based in Arlington, VA.

Wednesday, October 9, 2002

Crystal Apple Winners for 2002

This evening, the Board of Education recognized Jeanne Palmer, the third of three Santa Barbara County 2002 Crystal Apple Educator Award winners from the Santa Barbara School Districts. Previously, the Board recognized fellow District honorees Haide Balster and Michael Gonzalez. Information on the three District recipients of the 2002 Crystal Apple Awards is as follows:

Jeanne Palmer
Jeanne Palmer was recognized in the category of South County classified employee.

Mrs. Palmer is a six-hour bilingual special education instructional assistant, working with learning disabled students in grades 3-6. She provides support in remedial education and gives real-life instruction in basic living skills at McKinley Elementary School, a job she has held since 1987.

Mrs. Palmer’s colleagues at McKinley had a great deal to say about her in their nomination form, several excerpts are noted below:

"Jeanne usually arrives an hour or more earlier than her scheduled start time in order to have all her extra activities, materials, and games ready to go. You’ll never see her sitting down or just standing, she is always working, preparing for the next day, or week, or season. She is recognized for making learning fun. At McKinley, they call her a one-woman ‘sunshine committee.’"

"Jeanne is so concerned about student learning that she goes above and beyond in so many ways. Once, when a student missed the bus and was going to stay home, she stopped there to pick him up so he wouldn’t miss learning that day."

"Jeanne is a fundraiser extraordinaire. She gets donations from local merchants because she goes to the top and won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Fundraisers are held on her lunch hour or afterschool, after her work day has ended. The funds are used for field trips that provide first-hand knowledge of the value of education in providing skills for a variety of career opportunities." Further, "For a recent fundraiser and lesson on money, she baked 72 dozen cupcakes and had the children frost and decorate them at school. This gave them the chance to handle and make change and boosted the students’ self-esteem. That was a pretty formidable challenge, made even more so because she did this project at 10:00 p.m., after her shift ended on her second job at Ralph’s Supermarket on Carrillo Street."

Haide Balster
Haide Balster was recognized in the category of South County secondary teacher.

Mrs. Balster is an Advanced Placement Spanish teacher at Dos Pueblos High School, a position she has held for the past 17 years. She began her service in the High School District in 1971, when she joined the staff of Santa Barbara Junior High. Then, in 1981, she spent three years at La Cumbre. From La Cumbre, she went on to Dos Pueblos High School.

Mrs. Balster has served as a department chair at Dos Pueblos. She is recognized as a dedicated teacher and an advocate for her fellow teachers.

Michael Gonzalez
Michael Gonzalez, La Cumbre Middle School principal, was recognized in the category of South County administrator.

Principal Gonzalez began his career in education in 1972 as a high school counselor at Santa Paula High School. In 1993, he joined the Santa Barbara High School District as an assistant principal at Dos Pueblos High School. Then, in the fall of 1997, he accepted the principal position at La Cumbre Middle School.

The academic success of La Cumbre students, especially the school’s Hispanic learners, is his top priority. Once designated as an Underperforming School, Mr. Gonzalez worked with his school community to develop a successful three-year academic program which changed the school’s status.

In 2001 his school’s API was 651, 22 points over their 2000 base. When compared to schools with like demographics, La Cumbre’s similar schools rank was 10. Principal Gonzalez and his team have implemented a successful Renaissance program and a Civil War Day. These hands-on events make learning fun and support the social studies curriculum. This year, his school received a $5,000 Cesar Chavez grant, which was used to teach students about Cesar Chavez, the Farm Workers Union, and an environmental awareness project.

Monday, October 7, 2002

National Merit Semifinalists and Commended Students

The 2003 National Merit Scholarship Program’s semifinalists and commended students have been announced. The students were selected from a pool of more than 1.3 million juniors in more than 20,000 U.S. high schools who took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The Preliminary SAT is a verbal, math, and writing assessment.

Nationally, 16,000 semifinalists were identified. According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation,"These 16,000 academically talented students come from every state and, although they represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, they are excellent representatives of our nation’s youth." The semifinalists are seniors who will continue in the competition for some 8,000 Merit Scholarship awards. Only those students who advance to finalist standing will be eligible for the awards. In order to advance to finalist standing, semifinalists are required to have an outstanding high school academic record, be endorsed and recommended by their school principal, and submit SAT scores that confirm their Preliminary SAT performance. This year, the Merit Scholarship awards are expected to total more than $30 million. The awards will be announced in the spring. Santa Barbara High School District semifinalists are listed below.

Dos Pueblos High School (semifinalists): Adda Birnir; Andrew Cox; Nora Desruisseaux; Erin Gaines; Alexander Georgakis; Aalka Keller; Deborah Lowe; James Pinney

San Marcos High School (semifinalists): Genevieve DuBois; Erin Finney; Elisha Gross-Schaefer; Andrew Johnson; Hugh Myers; Jeffrey Simon

Santa Barbara High School (semifinalists): Laura Beckerman; Gene Robertson-Dwore

Commended students were also recognized in the 2003 National Merit competition. The following Santa Barbara High School District students were on the commended list.

Dos Pueblos High School (commended): Kimberly Barnett; Dekker Deacon; Mark Duell; John Faulkner; Julia Forgie; Kate Forrest; Ellena Kleinman; Dawn Lohnas; Jennifer McGibbon; Colin Murray; Caytlin Payne; Nicholas Rattray; Stephanie Smith; Steve Stormoen; Elijah Wolfson

San Marcos High School (commended): Jenny Arch; Madeleine Beebe; Douglas DiCicco; Ryan Moore; Walker Newell; Cecilia O’Donnell

Santa Barbara High School (commended): Erin Feeney; Walker Johnson; Quinn Yowell

Wednesday, October 2, 2002

Four Dos Pueblos Students Have the Write Stuff

Earlier this week, Dos Pueblos High School English teacher Charles Clouse was notified that the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) included four students from that school as winners of the 2002 NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing. NCTE, based in Urbana, Illinois, sponsors an annual competition for high school juniors. The competition is open to students in public and private schools. Winners are announced in the fall. The following Dos Pueblos students, now seniors, were selected as recipients of this prestigious award: Nora Desruisseaux, John Faulkner, James Pinney, and Elizabeth Romero.

"This is unbelievable! The last winner we had was three years ago. This recognition is a tremendous accomplishment for these students," stated Principal David Cash. Mr. Clouse, English teacher, enthusiastically added, "It is a great honor for a school to have one winner at all. It is absolutely unheard of to have four winners from one school!" Mr. Clouse noted that this is about the 25th year that Dos Pueblos has entered the competition. Throughout those years, Dos Pueblos has had approximately 16 NCTE winners.

More than 2,000 juniors were nominated for the 2002 Achievement Awards in Writing and approximately 600 winners were selected. Schools are allowed to nominate a certain number of students, based on their enrollment for grades 10-12. Dos Pueblos High School was permitted to nominate four entrants. According to Mr. Clouse, who nominated the four entrants, students submit two examples of their writing; one example of their work* is prepared and polished, usually from a previous class assignment, and the second written under time constraint in response to an NCTE topic/prompt. (*Students are permitted to submit their best work, which could be a collection of poems, short stories, editorials, or academic essays.) Each piece is read and evaluated by two judges, one high school and one college English teacher. A third judge reviews differences between evaluations to help produce the final list of students. Sanda Gibbs, NCTE’s Associate Executive Director, Federal Relations and Urban Education, noted that the winners "are among the best student writers in the country."

Winners receive a certificate, national recognition, and the right to include this academic accomplishment on their college applications.

Tuesday, October 1, 2002

Progress Report (10/2/02): California High School Exit Exam

A state graduation requirement for June 2004+ graduates is passage of the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). The exam, first administered in spring 2001, consists of two tests: English-language arts and mathematics. Students who pass a test do not need to retake the test. Annually, there will be three opportunities for students to retake the High School Exit Exam: July, November, and March. The next testing opportunity for students who have not passed the High School Exit Exam is November 5-7, 2002.

The spring 2002 testing session was for tenth-grade students (Class of 2004) who did not pass the High School Exit Exam during the ninth grade. In spring 2002, 437 students took the English-language arts section of the High School Exit Exam and 223 students passed. During the same test period, 537 students took the mathematics section of the High School Exit Exam and 215 students passed.

Class of 2004	# Passed Spring 2001	# Passed Spring 2002	# Students needing to pass the CAHSEE*
Dos Pueblos High School
English-language arts	448	55	58
Mathematics	388	71	89
San Marcos High School
English-language arts	410	44	55
Mathematics	316	56	68
Santa Barbara High School
English-language arts	356	98	85
Mathematics	283	78	136
La Cuesta Continuation High School
English-language arts		26	16
Mathematics		10	29

*Did not pass or did not attempt the California High School Exit Exam.