FUSD Needs Your Help for Roadmap to Excellence

Fresno Unified is continuing to collect community suggestions and input on the District Improvement Action Plan to map out the school district’s future for the next three to five years. Superintendent Michael E. Hanson is sharing the draft plan at community forums. The District Improvement Action Plan is focused on five areas: student success; operational excellence; high-performance workforce; community engagement; and effective leadership. This is all part of an effort to transform Fresno Unified into a high-performing school district that is held up as the benchmark for others. Town hall meetings scheduled for Dec. 7 at Roosevelt High School, and on Dec. 11 at Hoover High School. Town Hall meetings begin at 6 p.m. The strategic plan will be further refined before being presented to the Board of Education in January for adoption. Those unable to attend community forums can offer expertise and ideas at excellence@fresno.k12.ca.us

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New Trustees Take Office Dec. 13

Two newly-elected trustees and two returning incumbent trustees will be sworn in at the Dec. 13 Board of Education meeting. Fresno Unified welcomes Michelle Arax Asadoorian and Cal Johnson and welcomes back Valerie Davis and Dr. Tony Vang.

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Two Teachers are Finalists for Special Education Award

Join Fresno Unified in congratulating Susan Kalpakoff, an autism behavior specialist, and Marilyn Marsh, a behavior specialist, for being among six finalists for the 2006 Carolyn Dobbs Special Education Teacher of the Year. The Dobbs award is presented by the Kremen School of Education and Human Development at California State University, Fresno, to recognize the important work of San Joaquin Valley special education professionals. This year’s nominees represent Fresno County, Merced County and Tulare County offices of education, and Clovis and Fresno unified school districts. Finalists will be honored at Thursday, Dec. 7, at a 6 p.m. banquet at Fresno State. For more information see: http://www.fresnostatenews.com/2006/11/specialedteacher.htm

Ten Schools Pilot Automated Calling System

Hoover PE Teacher Dennis Bardsley sent postcards and formal progress reports to no avail to get eight of his students to dress out for class. But Fresno Unified’s new automated calling system did the trick. Two phone call reminders to their parents and all but two are now dressing out, Bardsley said. One girl has even asked for another automated call home to tell her parents that she’s following class rules. Other teachers report effusive thank-you’s from parents and students excited about having their parents hear positive messages on their class work. Fresno Unified is trying out a new district-wide automated calling system through the end of the year, before signing a long-term contract Teleparent. About 2,600-3,400 calls go out on any given day from teachers at 10 pilot schools to notify families of homework assignments, student behavior and academic progress. Teleparent’s well-developed feature for teachers allows teachers to connect with individual families, or the entire class, in each family’s home language. The system will also allow us to immediately communicate with families about crisis, broadcast district-wide messages about academics and district events, and survey our community and get immediate computer tabulations of those survey results. This is an important part of the District’s goal to increase and improve family and community engagement to support student achievement.

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Schools Get Gardening Help to Beautify Campuses

Dailey Elementary, Ewing Elementary and Baird Middle School were chosen to participate in the Orchard Supply Hardware statewide School Gardens Program. OSH is providing gardening expertise and donating up to $1,000 in supplies, plants, tools and other materials to create and maintain school gardens. It’s an effort to beautify campuses and teach students about gardening. More than 300 California schools applied to participate in the program.

Birney Works to Send Student to World Leadership Conference

The fifth-graders in Room 37 at Birney Elementary are selling baked goods, running a student store and recycling to raise $3,000-4,000 to send classmate Alondra Aguilar to Washington DC next fall. Alondra has been invited to attend the World Leadership Forum, a project of the Eisenhower Foundation to bring students from 5th through 8th grades from 65 countries together to build bridges between cultures and teach about humanitarian service. Alondra was chosen for her academic achievement, leadership ability and interest in international affairs. Tuition for the week-long world forum is beyond most Birney students’ means, said Alondra’s fifth-grade teacher Karen Steed; 95% of Birney students qualify for free or reduced-price school meals. “This hardship, although a challenge, as been taken on by the fellow classmates of Alondra,” Steed said. For further information contact Steed at karensteed@hotmail.com

Winter Break Change for This Year

This is the first year traditional schools in Fresno Unified will be off for 3 weeks from Dec. 18 through Jan. 5. But all FUSD District offices will remain open during those days except for Dec. 22, Dec. 25 and Jan. 1. Hours will remain the same from 8:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Although all departments will remain open, many offices may be operating with minimal staff. Customer Service is a goal for Fresno Unified and we believe that having our employees available to serve employees, students, parents, and community members, will make a difference for our students..

CART ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

The Center for Advanced Research and Technology is now accepting applications for the 2007-2008 school year. Sophomores and juniors are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities to learn about the CART program by signing up with their counselors to visit CART or by speaking with CART representatives when they visit the school.

CART extends an invitation to all interested parents and students to attend the Annual CART SHOWCASE on January 11th. The focus is on learning as students showcase their projects. This is a good opportunity to see CART in action and talk to CART students about the program. Showcase hours are 8:30-10:00 am; 1:30-3:00 pm, and 6:00-8:00 in the evening.

In addition, CART is open, and all teachers are in attendance for the Parent Information nights. Interested parents are invited to see the facility, learn about the program, and meet the staff. This event will be held on Wednesday, January 24 from 6:30-7:30 pm and on Thursday, February 1 from 6:30-7:30 pm.

Students are encouraged to submit their applications by February 9 for priority placement. However, applications are accepted all year. Applications are available at each high school and at CART.