Welcome Superintendent Parvin Ahmadi
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At the May 28th board meeting, the
Board of Education selected Parvin Ahmadi as the district's next superintendent. She has been the Superintendent of the Pleasanton Unified School District for the past five years. Prior to becoming superintendent, Ahmadi served as the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction for the Fremont Unified School District.
CVUSD Board of Education President John Barbieri stated that, "The Castro Valley Board of Education is proud that after a long and extensive search, which included approximately twenty highly qualified candidates of both current superintendents and assistant superintendents, we narrowed them down to six. Candidates were interviewed in depth as to their strengths, commitment to education, high student achievement for all students, an understanding of a kindergarten to adult education system, the ability to articulate a clear vision, and work effectively with well-educated and dedicated teachers, administrators, classified employees, parents, and community members. From the final two candidates, we found a new superintendent who meets and surpasses the above said qualifications." Read the full press release here.
On a personal note: I have had the pleasure of working with Superintendent Ahmadi for the past five years through the Alameda County Superintendents Council and the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). I have always found her to be an outstanding educational leader who is very knowledgeable. She will build upon the great foundation that already exists in the district and take the district to new heights. I know that you will warmly welcome her to Castro Valley.
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Board Approves the 2015-2018 LCAP
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On June 11th, the Board of Education approved the 2015-2016 Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). Since this year is the second year of the LCAP, the plan included an assessment of how the 2014-2015 plan was implemented as well as implementation plans with budgets for 2015-2016 through 2017-2018. The LCAP focuses on four goals in Section 2 (Goals, Actions, Expenditures, and Progress Indicators):
- Goal #1 (Instruction & Learning): Ensure that ALL students graduate "college and career ready" through the full implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
- Goal #2 (Williams Act Facilities, Instructional Materials, and Highly Qualified Teachers): Ensure a positive learning environment with properly certificated teachers, adequate materials, and appropriate facilities to support high quality teaching and student learning.
- Goal #3 (Empowering Parents): Empower ALL parents (including those speaking a primary language other than English) to be actively engaged in their students' education and decision-making processes by providing timely information and encouraging parents to demonstrate their support for student learning and for the importance of graduating "college and career ready".
- Goal #4 (Engaging Students): Ensure that ALL students are actively engaged and supported through a safe, healthy, culturally responsive, and rigorous learning environment.
The adopted 2015-2016 district budget must align with the implementation plans in the LCAP with the Supplemental Funding used to improve the achievement of students in the following groups: English Learners, Socio-Economically Disadvantaged; Foster Youth; Special Needs; African-American; and Hispanic-Latino.
Mary Boyle, Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services, coordinated the development of LCAP. During the course of the year, she held numerous meetings with parents, staff, students and community members to provide input and feedback on each draft of the LCAP. Mary worked closely with Teresa Fiscus, Director of Business Services, to align the budget sections of the LCAP with the district budget. The LCAP also aligns other district plans into one document that will be the guiding document for the district. The final 129-page LCAP, which is Draft #14, that the board approved is available here.
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Board Adopts the 2015-2016 Budget
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On June 11th, the Board of Education approved the 2015-2016 Budget, after a Budget Workshop on May 21st, and the Public Hearing and presentation of the 2015-2016 Preliminary Budget on May 28 by Dr. Candi Clark, Assistant Superintendent for Business Services, and Teresa Fiscus, Director of Business Services. The budget is based on the Governor's May Budget Revision that increased funding to the K-12 schools by increasing revenues to close the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) funding gap and providing one-time funding. The expenditure of LCFF revenue must be aligned with the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). Based on current projections, the district will receive $88.8M in revenues in 2015-2016 and spend only $84.2M leaving $4.6M in the fund balance at the end of the year. This number includes the 5% ongoing, salary increase given to all employee in 2014-2015. It will be the first time in many years that the district will not be deficit spending.
When the board adopted the district budget, the state had not yet finalized the state budget. The Legislature has until June 15th to approve the budget and the Governor has until June 30th to sign the budget. There are still differences between the Governor's May Revise and the proposal under consideration by the Legislature. Once the Governor signs the budget, the board will have 45 days to make any budget adjustments.
Several other budget factors still in play are negotiations with CVTA and CSEA for 2015-2016, and a reclassification study for classified employees. Once these factors are settled, the budget will be adjusted to reflect any new costs or savings. The User Friendly Budget and the full budget is available here.
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The first day of the 2015-2016 school year is August 26, 2015. The 2015-2016 Instructional Year Calendar is available here. Please be sure to complete enrollment and registration issues as soon as possible for your student can start school on the first day of the year. Enrollment information is available here.
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Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Awards
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ACSA represents California school administrators throughout the state. Castro Valley USD belongs to ACSA Region 6, which serves Alameda and Contra Costa County. ACSA recognizes the contributions of outstanding administrators in more than 20 categories. The nomination process starts at the district level, then moves to the regional level before moving to the state level. Castro Valley nominated five individuals/organizations this year:
- Denise Hohn - ACSA Region 6 Elementary School Principal Award Nominee
- Walter Lewis - ACSA Region 6 Secondary Principal Award Nominee
- Castro Valley Education Foundation - ACSA Region Regional Winner for Partners in Education Excellence Award Winner
- Leslie Rothwell - ACSA Region 6 Regional Winner for the Robert E. Kelly Award for a retired ACSA administrator who has given back to the community
- Susie Passeggi - ACSA Region 6 Regional Winner for the Adult Education Principal of the Year
The nominations for CVEF, Leslie and Susie have been forwarded to State ACSA for consideration.
Congratulations to all of the nominees.
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On June 30th, I will retire after 41 years in education, the last six as superintendent of the Castro Valley Unified School District. It has been my pleasure to serve the students, families and communities in six districts. I have countless wonderful memories and friends from every school and district in which I have worked. When you enjoy what you do, it is not work and time flies. Working with and for students -- the future - can never be considered work.
There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why...
I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?
This quote from Robert Kennedy has always guided my professional work. In whatever I do, I attempt to dream of what is best for students -- all students - and then act upon that dream. Am I always successful? No, but I have learned to be pick myself up and learn from my failures.
Over the years, I have been asked to describe my leadership style. The simple answer is Servant Leadership, which is described as when the leader makes sure other people's highest priorities needs are being served. As a teacher I served my students. As an administrator, I still serve students as well as staff, parents and the community. I am only successful when our students and schools are successful. Success is educating the whole child to ensure that every student graduates and becomes a contributing member in a global society. With your support and the support of a great staff -- certificated, classified, confidential and administrative - we have all worked hard to make Castro Valley a great district - a destination district.
I am forever grateful to the thousands of individuals who have supported, guided and befriended me on this 41-year journey - far too many to name. I only hope that I have been able to give back to others as much as they have given me.
As we head into summer break, I wish that you have a safe, relaxing and restful summer with family, and friends. Thank you for all that you do for the students and staff. It has been my pleasure to serve you during the past six years. I look forward to seeing you around Castro Valley in the future.
Sincerely,
Jim Negri
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New Elementary Principals
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At the May 28th board meeting, the Board of Education appointed Vivienne Paratore as principal of Chabot Elementary School to replace Terry Hoops, who is retiring at the end of the school year. Ms. Paratore is currently the Principal of Forest Park Elementary School in the Fremont Unified School District. Read the full press release here.
Jennifer Tomita, currently the principal of Stanton Elementary School, was appointed the principal of Palomares Elementary School, to replace Jessica Wrobleski, who is moving out of state. Dr. Tomita will also serve as the Director of Special Projects in the Educational Services division. Read the full press release here. The district is currently interviewing for the principal of Stanton Elementary School.
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Over the past few months, our students, staff, and schools have received a number of awards for their outstanding achievement. The following articles only highlight the great successes occurring throughout the district.
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Canyon and Creekside Middle Schools Named California Gold Ribbon Schools
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The California Gold Ribbon Schools Award was created to have a program focused on honoring schools while the California Distinguished Schools Program is on hiatus during the period of time required for California to transition to new assessment and accountability systems. The new award recognized middle and high schools in 2015.
The focus of the California Gold Ribbon Schools Award is to recognize California schools that have made tremendous gains in implementing the academic content and performance standards adopted by the State Board of Education for all students, including English learners. Canyon Middle School was honored for its Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program. For more information about PBIS, which many district schools are implementing, go to the FAQ.
Creekside Middle School was honored for implementing a "Pyramid of Interventions" that guarantees that each student will receive extra time and support during the school day to meet every standard. Students needing extra assistance can receive tutoring and students needing extra challenges can participate in a variety of classes.
Congratulations to the staffs of Canyon and Creekside for their commitment to the success of every student!
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The Campaign for Business & Education Excellence (CB&EE) recently announced that the following elementary schools have been named as one of 1851 public schools in California to receive the title of 2014 Honor Roll school:
Castro Valley, Independent, Jensen Ranch, Stanton and Vannoy Elementary Schools. Schools receiving this distinction from the California business community have demonstrated consistent high levels of student academic achievement, improvement in achievement levels over time and reduction in achievement gaps among student populations. The Honor Roll is a school recognition program that uses only academic achievement data showing improved academic growth over time and a closing of the achievement gap. The CBEE Honor Roll is comprised of two different awards, the "Star Schools" Award (1328 schools) and "Scholar Schools" Award (523 schools).
CBEE Star Schools are those with significant populations of socio-economically disadvantaged students that have shown a significant increase in grade-level proficiency over time. Castro Valley and Stanton are Star Schools. CBEE Scholar Schools are schools that are showing significant levels of academic achievement, but do not have a significant socio-economically disadvantaged student population. Independent, Jensen Ranch and Vannoy are Scholar Schools.
"The American education system has a secret. Many schools are doing well... the Honor Roll proves it. Students are achieving at higher levels than anyone admits and more students than ever are succeeding when given the opportunity." said Jim Lanich, CBEE president. "All schools, no matter what zip code they are in, can achieve this kind of success and leadership from the business community is critical to ensuring successes for all students."
A full list of the Honor Roll schools and the selection process can be found at http://ca.edresults.org/HonorRoll/.
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Elizabeth Ingram of Creekside Middle School was recognized as the Alameda County Teacher of the Year Nominee. The County Program will be held in October. Read her recognition here.
Aimee Johnson of Stanton Elementary School was recognized as the Masonic Elementary Teacher of the Year. Read her recognitions
As part of the process to select the Alameda County and Masonic Teachers of the Year, each school nominated an outstanding teacher for consideration. The nominees were:
- Keith Brazil - Castro Valley Elementary School
- Bridgette Emanuele - Chabot Elementary School
- Pam Johnson - Jensen Ranch Elementary School
- Lisa Shoffner - Marshall Elementary School
- Sandy Chidester - Palomares Elementary School
- Maura Chermack - Proctor Elementary School
- Debbie Laris - Vannoy Elementary School
- Kim Alcaraz - Canyon Middle School
- Carmelina Frasca - Castro Valley High School
Congratulations to these teachers for their outstanding work on behalf of their students.
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Alameda County Classified Employee of the Year
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The California Department of Education (CDE) annually sponsors the 2015 Classified School Employees of the Year (CSEY) Program. The CSEY Program highlights the contributions of classified school employees who support the education of California's public school students in preschool through grade twelve. The program's goals are to identify six (6) exemplary classified school employees throughout California for the CSEY award. The 2015 CSEY Program will identify and honor classified employees working in the following categories: Child Nutrition; Maintenance, Operations, and Facilities; Office and Technical; Para-Educator and Instructional Assistance; Support Services and Security; and Transportation.
Nominees from the Castro Valley Unified School District to the Alameda County Office of Education included:
- Lauretta Mazur (Support Services and Security) - Creekside Middle School
- Bonnie Bryne (Child Nutrition Lead Cafeteria Worker) - Marshall Elementary School
- Colleen Friery (Instructional Assistant) - Canyon Middle School
- Manuel Pita (Building and Grounds) - Maintenance, Operations, and Transportation
- Sharon Bailey (Student Computer Service Coordinator) - District Office
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Wes Feucht, who was nominated for his work in the Purchasing and Warehouse department for the District was selected as the Alameda County Classified Employee in this category and his nomination was forwarded to the California Department of Education for the state award.
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