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FUSD Community eNewsletter |
New 2010-11 year underway for Fresno Unified School District students
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The Fresno Unified School District welcomed students to the start of a new
school year on August 16 with 30 air-friendly compressed natural gas (CNG)
busses, new principals at 23 campuses and renovations at several schools. The CNG buses were purchased with the help of a $5 million grant from the California Air Resources Board and San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. Renovations and new facilities at school sites this year included modernization at Starr Elementary School and 12 other elementary schools, as well as
at Tioga Middle School and Bullard High School.
Smaller projects in the district included more than 160 maintenance projects begun over the summer, with 95 percent of “curb appeal” appeal projects ready for the first day of the new school year; new libraries at Thomas and Vinland elementary schools; and gym upgrades at Edison High School, including new bleachers and renovated restrooms in the foyer.
The district also launched an innovative, best-practices pre-kindergarten at Duncan Polytechnical High School aimed at serving families in the Norseman Elementary School neighborhood. In addition, FUSD introduced several healthy new lunch options for students, including baked curly fries.
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ATLAS student information system launched throughout the district |
Fresno Unified’s new student information system, ATLAS, is being phased in throughout the district with the start of the new school year. ATLAS – Achievement, Technology, Learning and Assessment System – was developed by Fresno Unified and Microsoft to replace the existing PowerSchool and mainframe systems for tracking enrollment, scheduling, attendance, report cards, behavior, analytics and grades. Parents will be able to access the system to obtain timely information on their students, including data on grades and attendance. The new system will save money, more easily track student data, help with targeted intervention and combine the entire district’s student database. The system was designed by teachers and is student-centric with easy-to-use functions and key indicators.
 View Atlas video - opens in external Windows Media Player
View Atlas Fact Sheet (.docx)
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Students steadily progress on CST, show growth in subgroups |
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California named finalist for RTTT, could receive $700 million
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California was recently named as a finalist in round two of the competition for Race to the Top (RTTT) funds. California is one of 18 states and the District of Columbia competing for $3.75 billion in federal school improvement money. California could receive $700 million and Fresno Unified has the potential of receiving approximately $20 million. Fresno Unified was one of seven districts leading California’s effort to land RTTT funding through the development of the most comprehensive reform plan for schools the state has ever undertaken. Reform measures that Fresno Unified has developed to lift student achievement were incorporated into the funding application. Superintendent Michael Hanson was part of a five-member team that traveled to Washington D.C. during the summer to present in support of the application.
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Pyle Elementary conducted demonstration pre-k and kindergarten
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Summer was a busy time at many Fresno Unified campuses! Pyle Elementary School was one of those sites. Pyle hosted an exemplary Demonstration Summer School serving pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students, with a focus on reading, writing and math. Teachers were provided professional learning through observation, small group instruction and one-on-one support. A parent of a student stated,
"Is this teacher using new techniques and will all teachers be using these strategies? My son came home yesterday and was counting the syllables in names and other words! It was great! He has never been so interested in school and in learning."
Play Video (goes to vimeo.com)
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Addicott receives grant for special-needs medical supplies |
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Kaiser Permanente Hospital awarded a $7,500 grant to Addicott Elementary School for nursing and medical supplies for special-needs students. The grant money will be used to purchase a hydraulic lift, slings for the lift, thermo focus professional thermometers, wedge mats for positioning, suction machine, nebulizer machine, IV poles for students that are G-tube fed, pulse oximeter, and other nursing and medical supplies to support the Addicotts’s medically fragile students.
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Schools in FUSD helped smash Guinness world record for skipping |
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California has broken the Guinness World Record for the most people jumping/skipping rope at the same time – with the help of Fresno Unified students. Students from 11 FUSD schools participated in the record-breaking event, with 70,880 participants in all jumping or skipping rope at the same time on Feb. 1. Fresno Unified schools participating were Carver Academy, Edison High School, Fort Miller Middle School, Fresno High School, Kings Canyon Middle School, Pyle Elementary School, Scandinavian Middle School, Sunset Elementary School, Terronez Middle School, Wawona Middle School and Wolters Elementary School. The fitness-promoting effort was led by the California Association for Health, Physical Education & Dance and the Jamba Juice Co.
Play Jumping Over the Record Video
(goes to vimeo.com)
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Measure Q school bond measure addresses facility needs of district |
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 Measure Q, a $280 million local school bond measure approved by the Board of Education for the November 2 ballot, would fund priority projects identified in the Facilities Master Plan with:
 $79 million to upgrade and improve elementary schools
$46 million to improve middle schools
$98 million to upgrade all high schools
$12 million for career and technical education facilities
$16 million for school maintenance/repair and technology
$8 million for alternative/continuing education to address the dropout issue
Funds for special education, joint use, site acquisition and supplemental construction costs
The identified Measure Q projects resulted from the work of the Facilities Ad hoc Advisory Committee (FAAC), community leaders commissioned by the district to plan for the district’s future facilities needs through a Facilities Master Plan. The FAAC spent two years analyzing data on facilities use and condition, enrollment trends and the educational needs of students and the district. The committee held more than 20 public meetings to gather input for the Facilities Master Plan.
Among many other issues, the Facilities Master Plan addresses major facilities issues including:
The lack of clear school feeder patterns throughout the district
Excessive use of portable buildings
Wide variability in school size across the district
Schools not meeting facility condition and educational suitability standards
The limited availability of choice programs and special education in some areas of the district
Last November, the FAAC recommended to the Board of Education that it consider a bond to fund priority projects in the Facilities Master Plan. While the plan identifies $940 million in facilities needs, the $280 million bond would address the top-priority projects. Measure K, the last bond measure passed in the district, raised $199 million to fund new school construction and facility improvements. As that source of funds runs out and school building needs remain, the Board of Education took action on June 16 to place the bond on the ballot.
The new bond would maintain the current authorized tax rate.
Measure Q is designed to upgrade and improve all Fresno Unified schools, support the district’s work preparing career-ready graduates, invest in renovation and repair of schools, continue to upgrade classroom technology and attack the dropout issue through alternative and continuing education facilities.
Measure Q Fact Sheet (.doc)
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