12 Great Schools Serving Students in South San Diego and Imperial Beach
VIP Village Preschool
Bayside (K-6)
Berry (K-6)
Central (TK-6)
Emory (K-6)
Mendoza (K-6)
Nicoloff (TK-6)
Oneonta (TK-6)
Pence (K-6)
Sunnyslope (K-6)
Imperial Beach
Charter School (K-8)
Nestor Language Academy Charter School (K-8) |
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Enrollment:
Enrollment - 7,635
Important Dates:
January 20
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Holiday
January 23
Board Meeting
February 13
Board Meeting
February 14
President Lincoln
Holiday
February 17
President Washington
Holiday
March 4
Board Meeting
March 24-April 4
Spring Break
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Every Day Counts!
The South Bay Union School District recognizes the positive impact that regular school attendance has on student achievement.
When students are not in class they miss important information and instruction.
For students to have a great school experience and an increased chance of educational success, they need to be in school, and ready to learn, every day.
Regular attendance benefits the student, the class, the school and the community.
Together we must encourage good attendance! |
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Board of Trustees:
Melanie Ellsworth, President
Chris Brown, Vice President
Barbara Elliott-Sanders, Clerk
Nicholas Inzunza, Member
Elvia Aguilar, Member
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Superintendent's Message
Dear SBUSD Parents, Guardians and Community Members, As part of my ongoing introduction to South Bay Union School District, I will be visiting our schools to conduct Community Meetings to meet parents, hear questions and learn your thoughts and feelings about our District. The following is my schedule of visits, but you may attend any meeting you wish. Thursday, January 16 9:00 Pence and Sunnyslope at Pence 12:30 Nicoloff at Nicoloff Wednesday, January 22 10:30 Nestor and Berry at Nestor 12:30 Emory and Mendoza at Mendoza Monday, February 3 9:00 Central and Oneonta at Central Friday, February 7 9:00 Bayside and Imperial Beach at Imperial Beach The heart of our school district are the students. I also plan to have conversations with students and will be asking the following questions: - What do you love about school?
- What do you wish you had more of at school?
- How do you use technology at school and at home?
- What do you want to be when you grow up?
Students will be selected at random for each site visit. Should your child be selected, you will receive a permission slip requesting approval for your child to spend a few minutes with me so that we can discuss the above questions. Thank you for entrusting us with your children and their education. I look forward to meeting you and to continuing our partnership on behalf of your children and the South Bay community.  Sincerely,
Katie McNamara Katie McNamara, Ed.D. District Superintendent |
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Common Core State Standards
 For many years, educators have used standards to determine what students should know and be able to do. As you have heard, most states in the United States have adopted new standards for both English Language Arts and Mathematics, called the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). South Bay has begun a full implementation of the English Language Arts CCSS this year. We are ahead of many other districts within San Diego County and are proud of the hard work of our teachers, staff members, and students. Implementing new standards takes hours of planning and collaboration and our teams have been hard at work learning their new standards since last spring. Our staff will continue to collaborate on the English Language Arts Standards while beginning to learn more about the Mathematics Common Core State Standards in the coming months. During the 2014-2015 school year we will implement the new Mathematics CCSS.
All of the Common Core State Standards call for a higher level of thinking, talking, and writing to be done by our students. We are all working hard to prepare our students to be independent, critical readers, writers, and thinkers. Our students need practice speaking and writing using academic language. They also need practice justifying their thinking by using evidence from whatever they have read or viewed. We build that practice into our classroom activities as well as Performance Tasks that students are taking across the district three times a year. The South Bay Performance Tasks have been modeled off of the tasks that students will be doing as part of our future state assessment system, through Smarter Balanced. We are moving beyond multiple choice tests and into a different way to determine what our students have learned. We encourage parents and community members to visit our informational Website to learn more about the Common Core State Standards and to visit the Smarter Balanced Website to learn more about the future assessments our students will take beginning in the 2015-2016 school year. |
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School Spotlight - Nicoloff
 Mikeys Feed the People is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that assists the underprivileged in our community with food. Mikeys was founded by Gerri Pennerman in honor of her grandson, Michael Pennerman Jr. Nicoloff hosts a mobile food pantry at 8:00 AM the third Wednesday of each month to distribute food to 100 families. We are very grateful for the support of Mikeys and the generosity of our community partners.
As part of continued efforts to build community and promote wellness, Nicoloff is currently offering Zumba classes after hours from 5:00-6:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The classes are free and are available to community members throughout the district. The classes are sponsored by Healthy Families.
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Local Control Funding Formula
 The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) is the central feature of Assembly Bill 97 and is currently being implemented in every California school district. The goals of the new law are to improve academic outcomes by providing more money to school districts that serve high-needs students and to give local school districts more authority to decide how to spend education dollars.
The transition to the LCFF begins this year and will be phased in gradually. It is estimated that districts will reach full funding in 2020-21. Until full funding is reached, each year districts will get additional funds based on student attendance and the percentage of a district's students who are low-income, English learners, and foster youth.
The new law effectively eliminates 32 "categorical" programs that dedicated funding to very specific needs. Elimination of categorical dollars does not mean the elimination of programs, instead funding is more flexible and it is anticipated that local school boards will have more discretion to use funding sources more strategically.
The new law requires that information on how funds are spent be provided to the public. SBUSD will establish a Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) that will detail goals and priorities, with special attention to high-needs students. The LCAP will be a three-year plan, which will be updated annually. LCFF requires that district spending be aligned with eight state priority areas, including student achievement, Common Core State Standards implementation, parent involvement, school climate, and student engagement. The LCAP provides opportunities for input from community members, including parents and students. Please look for meetings over the next few months that will include opportunities for you to provide input.
Adapted from Ed Source
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Construction Update
Our Construction team has been busy with Proposition X Modernization projects at several schools. Work at Pence and Sunnyslope
was completed in the fall and work at Nicoloff was completed during Winter Break.
The comprehensive scope of work for the renovations in the District includes:
- Making health and safety improvements, including removing hazardous materials.
- Upgrading electrical and fire alarm systems.
- Installing PA systems with clocks.
- Improving student access to computers and modern technology; installing Promethean white boards in each classroom.
 - Making accessibility (ADA) upgrades and improvements to school sites, including restrooms, classrooms and playgrounds.
- Repairing and replacing old and deteriorating plumbing and sewer systems.
- Renovating and repairing outdated restrooms.
- Making repairs and improvements to classrooms and school facilities, including auditoriums.
- Upgrading windows.
- Making upgrades to kitchen facilities.
- Improving student safety by installing additional fencing.
- Making general site improvements, including replacing deteriorating concrete sidewalks and steps.
 In addition to the Modernization work, the District is also performing upgrades at Bayside and Oneonta to ensure earthquake safety. Roof systems and walls have been strengthened to provide additional strength and safety.
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Technology Update
 Under the guidance of the Integrated Learning Development Team, the District has begun an initiative to bring more technology to our classrooms. Chromebooks were selected to support instruction and assessment aligned to the Common Core State Standards. Chromebooks provide access to the Internet and a wide variety of instructional resources chosen specifically for students.
For the 2013-14 school year, approximately 1550 Samsung Chromebooks were issued to 4th, 5th and 6th grade students in each of our K-6 elementary schools. In this first year of implementation eleven schools chose to provide Chromebooks to every fourth grader, and six schools decided to provide them to either fourth or fifth graders.
In each of the coming two school years, an additional grade level will be added so that by the start of 2015-2016 all fourth through sixth graders will have a Chromebook for daily use. We will have 4400 Chromebooks in our schools!
Currently, Chromebooks remain in the classroom and are not distributed to students for use at home, however students will have electronic access to documents that they create at school.
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Please Update Contact Information
Communication is key to your child's educational success! This is particularly important if you move or get a new phone number. Please ensure that your school has correct contact information, including:
- Home Address
- Phone Numbers (including cell phone numbers)
- Emergency Contact Information
- Email Address
If you think you may need to update information, contact your school office immediately.
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Education Foundation
What is the Education Foundation? The Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation organized and operated for the benefit of District students.
What is the Mission of the Education Foundation? The Foundation solicits, manages and disburses voluntary contributions to provide financial support for educational enrichment programs for the students in the SBUSD community.
Who is the Education Foundation? The Foundation's Board includes parents, educators and community leaders who volunteer their time and knowledge.
Who benefits from the work of the Education Foundation? Everyone! Students are provided with special programs and learning materials that wouldn't normally be available. Preschool, Parent Education and Teacher Scholarships are designed to maximize students' learning opportunities.
How can you get involved with the Education Foundation? You can support the Foundation through donations, volunteering your time, promoting fundraising activities or joining the Board!
When are the Foundation events?
The Foundation has several events throughout the school year. On Saturday, January 25, they are hosting an event at the Boys and Girls Club of Imperial Beach.
For more information about events and the Education Foundation, please visit their Website.
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Quick Notes
The Kiwanis and Optimist Clubs of Imperial Beach are sponsoring a "That's Amore" Karaoke event on Saturday, February 15 from 6:00-10:00 PM at the IB Boys & Girls Club. The event will include hosted Karaoke, food, and raffle prizes. All proceeds will fund youth scholarships provided by both organizations to our students in South Bay. More information on tickets will be available soon. Treat your valentine to a night out and help our students! Save the date!
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