December 14, 2010

Study session

High schools facilities expansion
Steve Holmes presented information about plans for expansion of high school facilities. Goals for the new construction are to develop freshman academies at both Desert View and Sunnyside high schools and create personalized, orderly learning environments; expand Career and Technical Education(CTE)/Joint Technological Education District (JTED) course offerings; and help relieve the space-stressed facilities at both high schools. The School Facilities Board funding would not be used for construction at S.T.A.R. Academic Center.

Regular meeting

Recognitions
The Governing Board honored:

• The Qwest Foundation, which funded a $10,000 innovative technology grant to the Cinematic Books project at Sunnyside High School, and a $15,000 grant to fund snack packs for 200 homeless students that are being distributed every other Friday through May 2011.
• the Arizona Technology in Education Association, which coordinated Qwest’s innovative technology grants.
• Sunnyside High School teacher Rich Mayorga, who was named recipient of a Distinguished Service Award from the College Board Western Regional Assembly. He will receive the award in February in San Francisco.
• Esperanza kindergarten teacher Susan Gamez, a Rodel Exemplary Teacher finalist. Finalists Kim Valdez of Gallego and Adriana Gallego of Esperanza were honored as finalists at the Nov. 23 Board meeting. Ms. Valdez was named a Rodel Exemplary teacher at the end of November.
• Tucson Association of Realtors Green Committee, which established the Sustainability Composition Contest for students to write essays to promote environmental sustainability. Green Committee co-chairs Nicole Brule-Fisher and Jonna Douglas presented $500 and $250 prizes to Desert View senior Burgundy Houk, who won first place, and to Desert View freshman Cherria Martin, who won second place.
• Eric Giffin for his 12 years of service as a Governing Board member and for his long-time service to the Sunnyside community. Mr. Giffin received a standing ovation. Board President Louie Gonzales made him honorary Board president for his last meeting as a Board member.

Superintendent’s report
Superintendent Dr. Manuel Isquierdo reported to the Board that (view Powerpoint):

• the Sunnyside District Governing Board will receive the Lou Ella Kleinz Award for Excellence from the Arizona School Boards Association (ASBA) Dec. 16 at the ASBA/Arizona School Administrators annual conference. The award honors the most outstanding educational leadership by a school board in the state of Arizona, and is the ASBA’s highest honor.
• to help launch a new era of Parent Connect, 28 parent members of District Parent Council who did not already own computers were awarded loaner netbook computers on December 8. 
• Sunnyside High Academic Decathlon brought home 10 awards at the Canyon del Oro full scrimmage, including first-place finishes by Julio Chavez (Interview) and Carlos Sanchez (Speech). Additionally, Sunnyside had the highest team score for Speech. Their advisors are Valerie Heller and Geoff Thames.
• in November, 70 Sunnyside High DECA students attended the Southern Area DECA Conference in Tucson, 50 students and six chaperones traveled to New York City, and DECA students coordinated a food drive to provide Thanksgiving dinner for five families in need. Their advisor is Clif Extract.
• On November 26, S.T.A.R. Academic Center’s 3.0 Club, begun by teacher Ellen Hezlep, culminated in the celebration of 30 students who earned a 3.0 or higher in their second block (S.T.A.R.’s year is divided into six blocks).
• the University of Arizona Southwest Environmental Health Services Center is working with SUSD to provide high school teachers an opportunity to receive training on the TCE Contamination and Cleanup Curriculum which was presented at the National Science Teachers Association meeting in March 2009. The training takes place January 20 at the University of Arizona.
• beginning in January, Ocotillo Early Learning Center is partnering with Pima Community College to offer an on-site course in early childhood development.
• The Kino Rotary Club of South Tucson presented its first Character Awards to high school students from five local high schools who exemplify Rotary International’s Four-Way Test. Honorees included Nayeli Acosta of STAR Academic Center, Aaliyah Tovar of Sunnyside High and Suzette Rodriguez  of Desert View.
• Los Amigos Elementary School, in partnership with Raytheon, hosted a Star Party December 9. Amateur astronomers donated their time and telescopes. 

Highlights of General Functions

High school facilities expansion
The Board approved moving ahead with expansion of high school facilities to develop freshman academies at Desert View and Sunnyside high schools and to use 50 percent of the new space to expand CTE/ JTED programs. The Board approved that the expansion be limited to Desert View and Sunnyside, leaving S.T.A.R. Academic Center out of the current plans.

Use of premises agreement with Sunnyside Foundation
The Board approved an agreement between SUSD and the Sunnyside Foundation to provide office space to be used by the Foundation’s executive director.

CM at-risk contractor for high school additions
The Board approved awarding the contract for the new high school facilities construction to Lloyd Construction.

Award of contract for Investment Grade Audit
The Board approved proceeding with an audit to confirm that energy savings would be realized by a proposed grant for the installation of energy savings improvements at Desert View and Challenger Middle School.  The cost of the improvements would be paid for from energy savings, Tucson Electric Power rebates and a School Facilities Board grant.

Technology facilitator positions
Executive Director of Information Technologies Javier Baca presented the district’s plan to expand technology support at the schools by adding 20.5 positions to be filled by current teachers. In order to provide a smooth transition, facilitators will serve 4/5 and for 1/5 of their time they will be in the classroom with the teachers replacing them. Funding of $1.3 million from the federal EdJobs program will cover 1.5 years. The Board approved the plan to hire 20.5 technology facilitators.

Technology initiative update
Classroom management software is being adopted for use districtwide, which makes it possible for teachers to view what students are working on in real time.

The PD360 online professional development system is being implemented districtwide. All teachers will complete two PD360 modules by the end of the school year – one is the Rigor and Relevance module and one will be a site-based module to be determined by the school leadership team.

Parent engagement through technology
Parent Engagement Coordinator Andrea Foster presented information on Parent Connect and the ParentLink messaging system. Parent Connect helps parents view student academic, attendance and discipline  information via the Internet. The information is contained in Infinite Campus. The goal is for all teachers to provide information in Infinite Campus by February 2011. The district is piloting providing  usernames and passwords to parents of students in grades 5, 8 and 9. 
 
Appointments
Following executive session, the Board approved the following appointments:

• Steve Holmes as assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. Mr. Holmes will continue to be responsible for secondary schools and Project Graduation.
• NJ Utter as director of college readiness.
• Julia Lindberg as coordinator of Language Acquisition and Development.
• Frank McCormick, currently a teacher at Lauffer Middle School, and Mario Castro, currently a teacher at Sunnyside High School, as technology coaches in Information Technologies.
• Michele Weiler and Francisco Lizarraga as technology trainers in Information Technologies.
• Charles Tafoya as administrator on special assignment.
• Andrew Ordover as director of professional development. Mr. Ordover comes to the Sunnyside District from Kaplan Virtual Learning, where he is director of sales, support and training.