May 2012

NUSD Tackles Bullying

Bullying is a very serious problem nationwide and we are pleased to let our school community know that NUSD is actively addressing this issue at all school campuses. The Novato Unified School district has teamed with the Healthy Novato Project and the Novato Blue Ribbon Coalition for Youth to work toward achieving the goal of reducing the incidence of bullying and harassment in our schools. The great news is that we have already begun seeing results!

In an effort to achieve this goal, NUSD has implemented the No Bully Solution Team process, a non-punitive approach to stopping bullying. This year a total of 40 staff members representing all thirteen school sites were trained to "coach" these student-driven, solution-focused meetings to help students who have been bullied. Since October, over 50 Solution Teams have been held and over 300 students have participated. Many school administrators report that they are seeing a decrease in the amount of bullying on campuses and therefore, less disciplinary action has been needed.  

In the school year ahead, NUSD will continue to place an emphasis on reducing bullying. Additionally, parent workshops will be held and the district will focus on addressing cyberbullying and internet safety. Further strategies to reduce bullying on the high school campuses will be explored as well.

NUSD has a strong commitment to eliminate bullying from our schools and in doing so, building more respectful and safe school communities. Among school districts in the Bay Area, Novato leads the way in raised awareness and intervention and prevention of bullying in our schools. The efforts will continue until bullying is a thing of the past!

For more information about these efforts to make NUSD schools bully-free and to find out how you can get involved, please contact Lori O'Connor, Healthy Novato Project Coordinator at (415) 798-5327 or loconnor@nusd.org.

NFT and NUSD Reach Agreement

On April 18, the Novato Federation of Teachers and the Novato Unified School District jointly announced a tentative agreement to settle the 2009-2012 certificated employee contract.

Negotiations resumed in early April with a true spirit of openness and collaboration between the NFT and NUSD negotiation teams, including Dr. Cunningham.  Not only was the final terms of compensation discussed, but also the teams addressed and agreed to establish a relationship that focuses on professional collaboration, trust and communication among teachers, administrators, and school board trustees.

Tentatively, NUSD and NFT have agreed to the following for the 2009-2012 certificated contract changes:

• 2% salary increase, retroactive to July 1, 2011
• Expansion of the salary schedule to include steps 20 and 22 in 2012-13 and step 24 in 2013-2014
• Article 9 Class Size Exhibit K has been revised to reflect a 1.5 multiplication factor

This tentative agreement will go into effect upon school board approval and NFT ratification. 

Karen Maloney, CFO, and Ben Lang, IT Director

Visit Olive Elementary School

At the invitation of Fran Rozoff,

4th grade teacher at Olive Elementary School, Karen Maloney and Ben Lang visited Olive Elementary School and taught a group of Mrs. Rozoff's 4th graders how to use Excel and count in Japanese!

Facebook Smart Card

Congratulations to Chuxi Pan and Laila Smith -

both Novato High School Students

The California Department of Education (CDE) announced this week that Chuxi Pan has been selected as the first alternate to attend the prestigious 2012 National Youth Science Camp. The National Youth Science Camp is a residential science education program that honors and challenges two graduating high school students from each state. The CDE selected four California students, two as delegates and two as alternates. The alternates serve if the delegates are unable to participate. All four students were selected because of their superior academic proficiency in math and the sciences, leadership abilities, and social maturity.  CDE Press Release  

In addition, the U.S. Department of Education announced the 48th class of Presidential Scholars, recognizing 141 high school seniors for their accomplishments in the academics or the arts. One of those students is Laila Smith, who is also one of 20 students across the nation to be named a Presidential Scholar of the Arts. 

The 2012 ceremony will be held on June 16, when each honoree will receive a Presidential Scholar Medallion.  USDE press release.

GATE - Gifted and Talented Education

This month, Loma Verde and Olive are highlighted with examples of their GATE program. As mentioned last month, all NUSD elementary schools offer GATE instruction to meet the learning needs of gifted students.  They use a variety of strategies and programming options to differentiate curriculum for all students and provide learning environments that promote the development of talents and abilities.

Olive

Students who are identified as GATE qualified are placed into a straight grade level class; this is a GATE Cluster Class Model. Students are clustered so that the learning needs of the students can be met in differentiated instruction and compacting curriculum. Examples from the classroom include:

• Math Compacting - Students are provided a math skill lesson, preceded by a pretest, then work on the skill they need or move more in depth with the skill. This involves problem solving with story problems, a project, or in a game.
• Projects - Students are given a menu of choices for demonstrating what they know about a topic; project choices include but are not limited to PowerPoints, movies, dioramas, one-act shows, songs, Prezi Presentations, pop-up books.
• Choice Menu/Workshop - The classes provide time for students to work in small groups and on various activities that match their need. This time allows for skill building as well as skill depth or synthesis.
• Global Themes - Students who qualify for GATE are expected to connect what is being learned to a theme. For example, all of the students in a grade may learn about the Mission Period of California, however the qualifiers will also be asked to identify how this time period demonstrates "ethnogenesis". This is learning how the groups of people involved were changed by the interactions between the groups, like the Spanish and the Native Americans.
• MAPS Goal Setting - Students collaborate with the teacher to make goals using data from MAPS. This provides students with the opportunity to push him/herself at his/her level.
• Flexible Grouping - Students are placed in different groups for different reasons. This provides the student with opportunities to feel the push intellectually, creatively, socially, and develop the skills to work with a variety of students. It also allows their assets to shine at different points.