BOARD REPORT for Board of Trustees Meeting May 2, 2006
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CERTIFICATED EMPLOYEES OF THE YEAR RECOGNITION
A special recognition ceremony was held before the Board meeting to honor teachers of the year chosen at each site and an administrator from the District’s leadership team. See District Bulletin and Press Releases.

PUBLIC HEARING
Proposed Conveyance of Easement Pursuant to Education Code section 17556, et seq., the Governing Board adopted a Resolution of Intention to convey to PG&E an easement for installing and maintaining underground electrical transmission facilities. No comments.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
Superintendent Dr. Steve Rowley introduced Shelby Spain, Director of Guidance, Attendance, and Alternative programs, who gave an update on the District’s open enrollment lottery for Lynbrook High School (LHS). Spain reported the District received 178 applications from parents of primarily incoming 9th graders for the declared 50 open slots at LHS. Thirty-five of the 178 parents attended the lottery with 29 (104) slots awarded to Cupertino High School students, 15 (56) to Fremont High School students, 5 (16) to Homestead High School students, and 1 (2) to a Monta Vista student (number of applications per school in parenthesis). Spain also reported that the District mailed 557 letters to parents who have not verified their residence to register their students for next school year and that as of today, 251 still have not done so. The District has made five separate attempts to contact these families (mostly incoming 9th graders). • The Board reviewed the dates of the STAFF APPRECIATION PIZZA PARTIES scheduled in honor of California Day of The Teacher (May 10th) and Classified School Employees Week (May 21-27).

UPDATE ON ALGEBRA INITIATIVE INCLUDING SUMMER SCHOOL PLAN
Associate Superintendent of Teaching & Learning Kate Jamentz reported that the District has launched for the 2006-07 school year an aggressive “10 component plan” to help students who are struggling to learn Algebra...

1. Pilot an intensive double-block one year course equivalent to two traditional 45-minute math periods a day. This course will be designed to help teachers and students explore concepts deeply and for students to get guided practice and immediate feedback that will help them improve their work.
2. Develop/revise a district-written curriculum scope and sequence document (Algebra Curriculum Guidelines) to provide teachers with a framework that emphasizes connection between and among core concepts in Algebra, prioritizes California content standards and illustrates connection between them, recommends options for use of instructional resources, and delineates how core concepts and standards should be assessed.
3. Provide resources for schools to plan for in-school and cross-school collaboration time for Algebra teachers involved in pilot.
4. Integrate a variety of instructional materials such as College Preparatory Mathematics and AgileMind along with approved Algebra textbooks. These materials are designed to help students see real-world applications of Algebra and explore concepts in depth.
5. Develop classroom observation protocol to guide peer and administrative feedback.
6. Administer periodic curriculum embedded assessments and a common final for the purpose of evaluating impact and monitoring direction of the Algebra initiative.
7. Provide teachers in pilot program access to professional development from publishers of new materials such as CPM or AgileMind.
8. Run three-week Algebra Allies program in summer school 2006. This hand-picked group of incoming 9th graders will explore a core unit of Algebra and learn a set of “learning to learn” strategies that they will use in the fall. The goal is to change the culture of the Algebra classroom from “kids expecting that they will fail” to “kids believing they can learn math.”
9. Assign Algebra Allies students to Algebra classes with teachers who will be piloting new Algebra curriculum this fall. The Allies WILL NOT tutor others, but will model the strategies they learn during their summer program. Their role will be to help other students believe they too can be successful.
10. Build awareness among teachers of higher level math courses (Geometry, Algebra II) so that these students experience a coherent program over the years.

Jamentz added that the Board will receive periodic updates throughout the year on the progress of the pilot program but true assessment results will not be available until summer 2007.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES...

• Approved Monta Vista High School One-Year Waiver Request to move the end of the First Semester for the 2006-2007 School Year to December 15, 2006
• Adopted Resolution #056-20, Dedication of Easement dated May 2, 2006
• Adopted Resolution #056-18, Recognizing “Day of the Teacher” May 10, 2006
• Adopted Resolution #056-19, Recognizing “Classified School Employee Week” May 21-27, 2006
• Reviewed Quarterly Report on Williams Uniform Complaints – January 1 through March 31, 2006

FUTURE BOARD MEETINGS
TUESDAY, May 16, 2006 at ESC — Student Recognition 4:30pm, Budget Study Session 5:30pm, Closed Session 6:30pm, Open Session 7:30pm
TUESDAY, June 6, 2006 at ESC — Retiree Reception 4pm,
Closed Session 5pm, Open Session 7pm

EDUCATING CAPABLE, CARING, CONTRIBUTING CITIZENS FOR LIFE