BOARD REPORT for Board of Trustees Meeting March 7, 2006
*******************************************************************
Regular Meeting of the Governing Board was held at Fremont High School,
1279 Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road, Sunnyvale, CA 94087

STUDY SESSION ON MODERN LANGUAGE PROGRAM
Kate Jamentz, Associate Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, presented an update on the issues the District faces in determining modern language course offerings at all five high schools. She stated that the District is committed to continuing to strengthen existing language offerings in Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish. But due to fixed resources of both time and money as well as student interest, combination classes of different language levels may be necessary at some schools to maintain staffing ratios. Data also show that our smaller schools may not be able to offer all four languages. Jamentz stated that staff will be assessing students’ interest in which language to take as they look at data gathered through student course requests for the 2006-07 school year (although all interests cannot be met). Jamentz also reported that staff is developing placement tests to help with correct level placement of heritage language speakers (Chinese and Spanish). Staff and the Board acknowledged that which languages are offered at our feeder middle schools is extremely important in students’ continuing in the same language in high school. Dialogue around this issues has begun in both the Cupertino Union and Sunnyvale School Districts. The District, through its Chinese Language Committee (co-chaired by Dr. Michael Chang, Professor of Asian Studies at DeAnza College, and Jamentz), has developed a brochure for parents and students entitled: ‘Are You Thinking About Taking Chinese? A Guide for Novice, Intermediate and Advanced Students of Chinese.” The brochure is designed to answer questions about the District’s Mandarin language program. The committee was made up of District leaders and administrators from the Chinese Schools serving District high schools.

COMMUNICATIONS
Four community members spoke about their support of the District offering a robust Chinese language program.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
Superintendent Dr. Steve Rowley expressed his deep appreciation for the work done by the Chinese Language Committee these past several months. He thanked committee members for appreciating the tough issues the District faces in staffing its modern language program as well as in all other curricular area. • Fremont Union High Schools Foundation Co-Presidents Kathee Kraker and Laurie Dean introduced the Foundation’s new Executive Director Erica Headley. •

Fremont High School Principal Peggy Raun-Linde enthusiastically announced that five Fremont High School wrestlers led Fremont to THIRD PLACE out of 100 schools in the CIF State Wrestling Championships. Fremont High seniors Filip Novachkov and Greg Crane, along with junior Boris Novachkov, earned state championships and wrestlers

FREMONT HIGH SCHOOL REPORT
Principal Peggy Raun-Linde stated that the new format for the annual school report worked very well and that she is excited to discuss it with the School Site Council next week. For an overview of the Fremont High School Report, see District Bulletin. School Plans are online at www.fuhsd.org.

BOARD APPROVES OPTION FOR STUDENTS
IN THE CLASS OF 2006 WHO HAVE NOT PASSED CAHSEE
Motion passed to grant for ONE YEAR ONLY a certificate of completion and the right to participate in senior and graduation activities to students who do not pass the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), but who meet the District’s other list of specified graduation requirements. This option is for one year only (2006). HISTORY: Beginning this school year, students who have not passed the California High School Exit Exam will NOT be granted a high school diploma, despite the fact that they may have completed the District’s graduation requirements. In past Board meetings, Board members have discussed the pros and cons of providing some sort of alternative certification for those students. This was being considered due to the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 517, which provides a one-year exemption of the requirement to pass the CAHSEE for certain Special Education students in the class of 2006.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES...

• Authorized staff to File Notice of Completion for the Parking Lot Expansion Project at Adult Education
• Appointed Vavrinek, Trine, Day & C0., Certified Public Accountants, as the District’s independent auditor for fiscal years ending 2006, 2007, and 2008
• Voted for Tanya Freudenberger, Rudy Nasol, Nancy Newkirk, and Kathleen Sullivan to the 2006 California School Boards Delegate Assembly, Region 20

FUTURE BOARD MEETINGS
TUESDAY, March 14, 2006 — Board Study Session at 5pm at Blackberry Farm
TUESDAY, March 21, 2006 at Monta Vista High School — Study Session on Multi-Year Financial Projections/Second Interim Report 5pm; Closed Session 6pm, Open Session 7pm

EDUCATING CAPABLE, CARING, CONTRIBUTING CITIZENS FOR LIFE