|
|
|
|
Back To School Edition
 |
The Las Lomitas School District is dedicated to providing an
exemplary comprehensive, and continually improving educational program
that meets the cognitive and social-emotional needs of each student.
|
|
|
1011 Altschul Ave
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650-854-6311
http://www.llesd.k12.ca.us
|
|
Dear LLESD Families and Friends,
Welcome back to a new school year. I'm happy to report that we got our schools open with zero glitches or surprises. Students arrived eager and ready to learn and staff were still feeling some of the residual benefits of summer vacation.
Our enrollments are up a bit over last year, with Las Lomitas coming in at 674 students and La Entrada enrolling 693, for a district total of 1,367. Last year our total enrollment averaged
1,340 so it's a good thing that we added two new portable classrooms to La Entrada (affectionately known as "The West Wing,") and four at Las Lomitas ("The Village"). The additional rooms, which were generously furnished through our Foundation, allowed us to also add additional teachers so that class sizes would go down.
I am sure that you've noticed that our Foundation-funded additional teachers have enabled us to lower class sizes for the first time in several years. Las Lomitas' classes are averaging 22-23 (with some lower) which will be one or two fewer students per class, and La Entrada's are averaging 24-24, which in some cases is a reduction of 4 or 5 students per class.
We are looking forward to an exciting year of "looking inward" while also "looking forward;" I'm referring, of course, to our Strategic Plan initiative and our 21st Century Education Series. Both of these efforts promise to infuse our district with a high level of activity and ultimately inspiring new opportunities for our students.
Have a great Labor Day weekend....it looks like we're in for a mini-summer!
Yours,
Eric Hartwig
Superintendent
|
|
|
 |
Please Welcome our New Staff
After several years of holding steady while experiencing rising enrollments, we were able to add quite a few new teachers and support staff this year. Some of the new teachers are replacing teachers who are on leave, and some of them are helping reduce class sizes. Our sincere thanks go out to the Foundation whose over-the-top successful fundraising enabled us to turn the tide on class sizes:
- At La Entrada School we welcome: Cynthia Chiu, who is teaching Mandarin; Emily McDonough who is replacing Erika Lowe as Counselor; Christine Evans, who is teaching 8th grade Science; Tracey Pinto, who is teaching Special Education; Mark Jones, who is teaching Physical Education; David Pickett, who is teaching 6th and 7th grade Core; and Caroline Lucas, who is teaching 8th grade Spanish.
We also welcome new paraprofessionals to La Entrada: David Rider and Chris Nichols
- At Las Lomitas School we welcome: Ashley Button, who is teaching Kindergarten; Michelle Donecho, who is teaching 1st Grade; Kristyn Hyres and Kristina Rodriguez, who are teaching 2nd Grade; and Robbie Christensen, Judith Harney, and Nicole Montre, who are teaching 3rd Grade.
New paraprofessionals at Las Lomitas are: Kaitlin McGhee, Grete Santucci, and Joanna Dagum.
We were exceptionally fortunate to have many, many qualified applicants for the positions and as I visit the schools I can already sense the energy and new ideas that our new staff bring to our district. |
|
Looking Inward, Looking Forward...
- Strategic Planning: While we assembled our committees and mapped out our activities last spring, the actual work of developing a new Strategic Plan begins this fall. Members of the Strategic Planning Committee have read Tony Wagner's "Global Achievement Gap" as a way of opening our minds to the challenges of the future. Our first Committee meeting is next week and a Parent Forum is scheduled for September 26th at 7:00 pm in Cano Hall. I am very excited to join with our talented and motivated parents and staff in re-thinking what our district can be. For more information about the Strategic Plan process and timeline, click here.
- 21st Century Education Series: The series begins on September 13th at 7:00 pm in Cano Hall with a lecture by Stanford Professor Ira Lit. Prof. Lit is the Director of Teacher Education for Elementary Education and is at the cutting edge of developing teachers who can address today's challenges. For more information about the series, click here.
- Facilities Master Plan: Another important project to accomplish this year is developing the best approach to housing our growing student body. Current demographic projections have us growing slowly for the next several years and then leveling off at about 1,500 students. We need to determine where and how to add permanent classrooms or whether to become a three-campus district. These decisions require close examination of many variables, with the bottom line being a solution that promises the optimal long-term benefit for our students. Stay tuned.
|
|
|
Las Lomitas District Students Ace Tests
Once again, Las Lomitas District students have demonstrated that they're in command of the multi-faceted curriculum standards that are tested each year as part of the STAR program. While successful test-taking has never been the be-all and end-all of education in our district, it is still quite satisfying to know that our children are mastering "the basics" as they've been defined by our state's education experts and as adopted by districts throughout the state.
In the near future, however, California and we in Las Lomitas will be moving towards a more authentic and comprehensive assessment system, one based on the Common Core State Standards. The first of the new tests will be in 2014, so we are now working on understanding the new standards and incorporating them into our curricula. As an example, the new CCSS will emphasize, in addition to factual knowledge of "the basics," students' ability to apply critical thinking, develop "constructed responses," and to use information from a variety of sources.
While our students continue to perform well on state-mandated testing, the District looks forward to providing our students with a more vibrant education as a result of the on-going strategic planning process.
For more information about our district's STAR scores and API ranking, click here. The information is quite technical but interesting to review, and the take-away is: by these state standards, LLESD schools continue to rank in the top 3% while experiencing predictable variation from year to year.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
