Districts celebrate CTE successes
  
Career Tech students February is National Career Technical Education (CTE) Month, and districts across the county have been showcasing their individual CTE programs and demonstrating how CTE prepares students for high-demand, high-wage careers.
 
This year's theme, Celebrate CTE Superheroes, emphasized the sharing of success stories by current and former CTE students, teachers, administrators, business owners and others who care about preparing youth for the future workforce.
 
CTE students Districts across Santa Clara County highlighted their unique CTE programs this month to ensure students are aware of these unique and rewarding opportunities. The schools in Mountain View Los Altos High School District focused on their engineering, construction, culinary, biotechnology and computer science programs this month, according to Superintendent Dr. Barry Groves.
 
"We believe that these options are crucial to our students and the community. For many of our students, the CTE courses have provided the opportunity and motivation to prepare themselves for college, career and beyond," he said.
 
Campbell Union High School District  (CUHSD) is part of a regional CTE consortium applying for state funding that would allow them to increase their CTE offerings. Currently operating programs in agriculture, manufacturing and the culinary arts, CUHSD is seeking to open a computer science pathway next.
  
Curriculum and Instruction Director Jivan Dhaliwal emphasized the rigor and relevance of CTE courses, which are aligned to the new Common Core State Standards. "CTE has never been more important. It's not the old vocational education of the past, but rather, one of the most important pathways for students to be college and career ready," said Dhaliwal.
 
As demonstrated by the wide range of opportunities offered by our county school districts, CTE has the ability to provide solutions to a myriad of workforce problems. CTE programs are investing in students' lives with the latest technology and skills that will prepare them to become successful citizens, employees and future leaders.

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Mock Trial competition heats up
  
Mock Trial participants Since November, more than 400 students from 20 schools in 13 districts across Santa Clara County have been preparing for competition in this year's annual Mock Trial Tournament that began Feb. 4 and will conclude in a final matchup on Feb. 25.
 
This program offers high school students the unique opportunity to put their analytical and problem-solving skills to work in the authentic and exciting environment of a criminal trial proceeding. Student attorneys are tasked with arguing a case at the Santa Clara Superior Court House in front of real judges, while other students participate as witnesses, bailiffs and clerks or compete as court-room journalists and artists.
 
This year's hypothetical case centers around two felony criminal charges against a high school student for selling prescription drugs at school, resulting in the death of a student.
 
In January, participants competed against out-of-county mock trial teams at a special invitational match designed to prepare them for the official competition this month.
 
The competition lasts for seven nights and culminates in a Champions Recognition event for the teams and their families to be held on Feb. 27 at the SCCOE. The winning team, along with the winning court-room artists and journalists, will advance to the California State Finals in March.
 

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Board renews Discovery Charter
 
Here's a summary of actions taken by the Board at its Feb. 5 and 19 meetings:
  • Held a public hearing on and approved a charter school petition renewal for Discovery Charter School 1 through 2019;
  • Recognized Brenda Brillantes, school office coordinator at Osborne School, as February's Employee of the Month;
  • Adopted a resolution recognizing March as Arts Education Month; and
  • Heard an update on the construction of the Seven Trees (Daniel Lairon) school project.

The Board of Education is the elected governing body of the SCCOE. Its seven members serve four-year terms and are elected by different regions of the county. Learn more about the members, and view their meeting schedule, agendas and minutes. 

 

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In This Issue
February is National Career Technical Education Month
County high schoolers compete for Mock Trial title
Board actions in February
Districts to meet with teachers at recruitment fair
Multilingual Education team highlights national conference
Reporting tool available for district salary requests

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Annual Teacher Recruitment Fair promotes career opportunities

Teacher Recruitment Fair

The 27th annual Teacher Recruitment Fair will be held on Saturday, March 22 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the SCCOE's Ridder Park office.

 

Over a thousand qualified credentialed candidates register for the fair each year, where more than 300 school district and charter administrators meet with prospective employees in the hopes of filling open teaching positions.

 

To attend, candidates must have a preliminary clear credential or have worked as an intern for one year. The event will feature on-site interviews, recruiters from multiple districts, credential specialists and a resource guide on Santa Clara County school districts and charter schools.

 

Teacher Recruitment FairAn average of more than 250 teachers are hired each year across the county, and there are estimated to be more openings for the 2014-15 school year. Jobs in high demand throughout the county include those for speech pathologists, special education teachers, bilingual educators and teachers in the subjects of math, science and foreign language.

 

The County Office of Education will be looking for teachers for students with severe disabilities and visual impairments, speech language pathologists, school psychologists, migrant education teachers and alternative education substitute teachers.

 

Pre register by March 18, or contact Karen Bacica at (408) 453-6503 for more information. Unregistered candidates must show their California teaching credential to be admitted.

 

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County Superintendent chairs NABE conference; SCCOE well represented
  

Superintendent with Multilingual Education Services staff Santa Clara County Superintendent Xavier De La Torre served as an honorary chair of the National Association for Bilingual Education's (NABE) 43rd annual conference, Sailing into the 21st Century: Multiple Languages, Multiple Paths, Lifelong Advantages, which was held Feb. 12-15 in San Diego.

 

In addition to the Superintendent, Dr. Yee Wan, Director of Multilingual Education Services and a Western Region Representative on the NABE Executive Board, led a team of SCCOE colleagues who served as conference presenters or provided support. Rhonda Beasley, Melissa Christie, Cecilio Dimas, Dr. Angelica Ramsey, Sylvia Solis, Lorena Tariba, Janet Welch and Sandra Yellenberg all played a role in making NABE 2014 a success

 

The conference featured more than 200 concurrent sessions for participants, as well as site visits to local schools that have successfully implemented bilingual education programs.

 

NABE 2014 conference

More than 2,000 educators were in attendance, taking in presentations on bilingual education, dual language enrichment education, second language acquisition, English as a Second Language (ESL) and multiculturalism.

 

NABE is one of the premier professional organizations at the national level wholly devoted to representing both Dual Language Learners (DLLs) and bilingual education professionals.

 

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QCC reporting feature available to school districts for salary requests
  

The SCCOE's Technology Services Branch (TSB) would like to remind school districts of the availability of a reporting feature in QCC that can assistance in responding to Public Records Act (PRA) requests for personnel salary information. This feature allows school districts to create a standard spreadsheet report for all employee salaries.

 

PRA requests for district salary and benefits information have become increasingly common, and the SCCOE has created this tool to help districts respond quickly and effectively to these inquiries from the media, community organizations and private citizens.

 

This reporting feature is available under the QCC Human Resources System Job Menu. If your district has any questions or needs technical assistance, please contact the TSB Help Desk at (408) 453-4357.

 

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Since 1852, the Santa Clara County Office of Education has provided vital services and resources to the county's 31 K-12 public school districts and more than 250,000 students. The COE strives to provide advocacy and leadership on education issues, student programs that are models of excellence and indispensable services to schools and community partners. The COE is commited to serving, inspiring and promoting student and public school success.

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