Issue: #60                                                        
August 2015
In This Issue
Attendance Awareness Month
New and Familiar Faces
New Superintendents
Achievement Gap Summit
ECET2 Conference Returns
Education Update
We're on Facebook
Featured Article
ECET2, a conference elevating and celebrating teachers, returns to SMCOE in November for the second year.
September is Attendance Awareness Month


For the third year in a row, along with 50 national organizations, the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), is promoting September as Attendance Awareness Month in recognition of the important connection between regular school attendance and academic achievement. The goal is to mobilize schools and communities to promote the value of good attendance and to take concrete steps toward reducing chronic absence.

SMCOE is providing targeted toolkits of resources to elementary, middle and high schools. These toolkits contain prepared messages for parents, PowerPoints for parent meetings and bookmarks for students, all highlighting the importance of attendance.

Studies have shown that students who are chronically absent in the early grades (missing 10 percent or more of school days) are less likely to read at grade level by third grade and if chronic absence
continues, they are less likely to graduate from high school.

In addition to promoting Attendance Awareness Month, SMCOE, as part of The Big Lift, is participating in the Attendance Matters Project, a joint research project with a team from Harvard University, led by Todd Rogers, associate professor of public policy at the Kennedy School of Government. Through this project, Harvard researchers will analyze school attendance data in 15 districts, including four districts that are grantees of The Big Lift and send out targeted information to parents about their students. So, for example, if a fifth grader has missed more school days than other students in the class or school, the parent will receive a message specific to that rather than a generic letter geared to all parents. At the end of the school year, Rogers and his team
will produce a report for San Mateo County analyzing the effect of these messaging campaigns on attendance and academic achievement.

"This continues to be a great learning experience for our SMCOE team and the participating school districts," notes Nancy Magee, Associate Superintendent, Student Services Division. "By looking at data differently and responding with targeted messages, we hope to continue using this low-cost and effective intervention to improve school attendance."

 
 

New Face, Familiar Faces
New Roles at SMCOE
 

It's been a summer of transitions at the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE). This fall there are some familiar faces in new roles, and a new face heading up the Personnel Commission as longtime employee Glenn Siegel heads off into retirement.

Nancy Magee, formerly Administrator, Board Support and Community Relations, is now Associate Superintendent, Student Services Division. Marco
Nancy Magee assumed the role of Associate Superintendent, Student Services Division at SMCOE on July 1, 2015.
Chavez, formerly Director of Networks for Success, has assumed Nancy's prior position. And with the retirement of Glenn Siegel, new employee Franklin Felizardo will assume the role of Administrator, Personnel Commission Services on September 1, 2015.

Siegel began his career 36 years ago at SMCOE as a graduate student intern and never left. Under the mentoring wing of Personnel Analyst Mario Bertucci, Siegel thrived at SMCOE, "escalating up the chain," he says, and discovered he really liked human resources work. "I never thought I'd be at the same place but nothing beats what I've got," he adds. Siegel worked with five county superintendents and numerous board members, and enjoyed working with all of them. Now, upon his retirement, he is looking forward to traveling more with his wife, beginning with a road trip up the Pacific Coast, and visiting family members in Oregon and Washington along the way.

For Felizardo, who was born and raised in Santa Clara County and spent the last 10 years in public sector human resources work in Oregon, working at SMCOE means coming home to the Bay
Franklin Felizardo is the new Administrator, Personnel Commission Services at SMCOE.
Area and reuniting with his extended family here. Felizardo served as Senior Human Resources Management Analyst with the City of Salem, Ore., and most recently as Employee Relations Manager for the University of Portland. "I'll have big shoes to fill with Glenn's departure, but I'm excited for this opportunity to honor the past while bringing fresh ideas," he notes. "I view human resources as a resource to employees. I believe that it's best to be fair, transparent and do things the right way to build trust with our constituents. And I'll be looking for ways to improve customer service and add value to this organization."

For Magee her new role taps into 25 years of experience as a site administrator and direct service to students and their parents. "I'm really thrilled to have this new job; it brings me back to a place where I can use my full instructional skill set. Joan Rosas did an amazing job and I plan to take what she did as a foundation and move forward."

One of her goals is to explore fully integrating project-based personalized learning into the curriculum for court and community school students. She also plans to continue moving forward with recommendations from the recent state task force on special education, better facilitating students participating in their home districts and upgrading SMCOE facilities for severely autistic students at El Portal and Palos Verdes Schools in San Bruno.

Having worked previously providing direct service, professional development and technical assistance to schools in Program Improvement in his former post, Chavez says he is "very excited to learn the other side--policy, regulations and implementation. This role offers the opportunity to develop and lead initiatives." Chavez says he is getting up to speed on county initiatives, including The Big Lift, and working with the County Committee on School District Organization and County Board of Education trustees. 






New Superintendents Take the Helm In San Mateo County 


Seven school districts in San Mateo County are starting off the school year with new superintendents. Some have risen up through the ranks in their districts while others are newcomers.

New superintendents Dr. Shawnterra Moore in South San Francisco Unified, Dr. John Baker in Redwood City, Vahn Phayprasert 
Dr. Joan Rosas, formerly at SMCOE, is now superintendent of the San Mateo-Foster City School District.

(pronounced von FAY-pra-sert) in Millbrae all held administrative roles in their respective districts.

Dr. Joan Rosas, who had been associate superintendent for student services at the San Mateo County Office of Education, returns to the San Mateo Foster City School District where she had worked as a teacher and administrator for many years.  Cheryl Olson in San Bruno Park, Jane Yuster in the Cabrillo Unified School District and Dr. Kevin Skelly in the San Mateo Union High School District are all new to their districts.

For the near future Phayprasert plans to honor the priorities that the
Vahn Phayprasert is now superintendent of the Millbrae School District.
Millbrae community set out in their district's LCAP. "The LCAP is our blueprint," he notes. "We have a solid plan in place and we will continue to focus on it." He'll also be taking a close look at enrollment projections and planning for growth of their facilities.

While Yuster and Skelly have lived and worked for school districts in the Bay Area, Olson comes to San Bruno Park from the Enterprise School District in Redding, where she served as assistant principal, principal and most recently as assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. What drew her to San Bruno Park, she says, is "the small town feel, the loyal commitment of staff, board members and families in the community." In July she met with the school board to develop six initial priorities for the district: fiscal solvency, refining the district's mission and vision, working on implementation 
of the LCAP, special education and serving more students with special needs within the district, attracting and retaining highly qualified teachers and staff, and community relations.

Yuster, who previously worked in the Redwood City School District in a number of administrative roles,  has lived in Half Moon Bay since
Jane Yuster is superintendent of the Cabrillo Unified School District.
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2000, and is "absolutely thrilled" to be superintendent in her home community. Before coming to her career in education, Yuster worked as a chief executive officer in the biotech industry in Arizona for 20 years. She says that business background has grounded her in understanding finance, and how to communicate and advocate for schools with the business community.  "We have a unique opportunity with this K-12 district," she says, "to create a vision that takes a child through their formative years to becoming young adults. Our job is to get them ready to pursue whatever their passions might be after high school."

Skelly served as principal of Saratoga High School in Santa Clara County and as superintendent of the Palo Alto Unified School District. He was most recently the interim superintendent of the Mountain View Whisman School District. With children in San Francisco and Palo Alto, and his
wife's parents in Oakland, the San Mateo Union High School District is a good geographic location for his family. "I've been a high school person in terms of my work for most of my adult life, as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and superintendent. This age, this formative time in a student's life is tremendously appealing to me," he says." I was also attracted by the kinds of professional development and work with instructional coaches and teacher evaluation that this district is doing."
   
  




Achievement Gap Summit 
In October at SMCOE
 

Plans are in the making for the Achievement Gap Summit sponsored by the San Mateo County Office of Education and hosted by Oracle at the Oracle Conference Center in Belmont, Calif. on October 15, 2015.

"There is no more critical work facing our community in the coming years than addressing the achievement gap.  We know that we have the ingenuity, vision, and passion to raise the achievement of all students in San Mateo County," notes San Mateo County Deputy Superintendent Dr. Gary Waddell.  schoolbus-line.jpg "This event is designed to inform and inspire community leaders, policy makers, elected officials, superintendents, school leaders and school board members to bring them up to speed on the latest issues around the achievement gap and what we can do about it as a community."

Jill Habig, Special Assistant Attorney General, Executive Office of the Attorney General of California and head of the Bureau of Children's Justice, will be a keynote speaker. Panel discussions and speakers throughout the day will focus on numerous related topics including poverty in San Mateo County and how attendance affects  achievement, led by Hedy Chang, director of the national organization Attendance Works. There will also be panels on student-voice as well as one featuring community-based organizations. 

Attendees will be provided an opportunity to discuss the issues raised in role-alike groups. Each attendee will leave the conference with a toolkit which will help them engage constituents in their own communities, use social media to highlight the gap, and inspire action at the local level.

Community leaders may register here. For more information about the event contact Edna Letran at eletran@smcoe.org.  

  

 
ECET2 Conference Returns 
To San Mateo County
  

Once again, the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) will host the Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers (ECET2) conference. ECET2 Bay Area 2.0, with the theme "Innovation and Leadership,"is slated for November 7, 2015 at SMCOE. More than 120 teacher leaders from across the Bay Area will be invited to attend for this day of collaboration and inspiration.

The conference will feature one teacher giving a keynote "cultivating a calling" TED-style talk. At last year's conference, Burlingame Intermediate School language arts teacher Stefania Shaffer gave one of these talks and then was invited to present at the national ECET2 conference sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle this summer. (Check out her talk on YouTube here.) 

 At ECET2 Bay Area 2.0, teachers will have two opportunities to meet in colleague circles to share problems of practice and participate in teacher-led professional development breakout sessions. A new feature this year is the "APP-mazing race" tech challenge where teachers will work in teams throughout the day and use apps to accomplish specific goals.

Stacey Tachiki, SMCOE special education
Burlingame Intermediate School teacher Stefania Shaffer gave an inspirational talk at the national ECET2 Conference in Seatte this summer.

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teacher at Meadows Elementary School in Millbrae, helped plan last year's conference and is on the planning team again this year. She too had the opportunity to attend the national ECET2 conference this past summer and came away energized and excited to bring back ideas for planning the Bay Area event. "We'll be focusing on take-aways--learning something you can bring back to your classroom and use the next day," she says. "This is a great event for focusing on passionate teachers and developing their strengths."

"At the national ECET2, we got this overwhelming sense that there's this tribe of teachers equally taking pleasure in being in the classroom and building bridges through collaboration," adds Shaffer. "At our local conference it will be great to bring those enthusiastic teachers from our campuses together to share and brainstorm."

The planning team for the conference, coordinated by Mefula Fairley and Sue Wieser at SMCOE, is led by teachers. In addition to Stacey and Stefania, Lisa Reed (also from San Mateo County), Julie Maynard from San Francisco and Joe Young from Santa Clara County will  be participating. The conference is supported through a grant from the New Venture Fund.

For more information about ECET2 or to invite teachers to participate contact Mefula Fairley at mfairley@smcoe.org.





Assemblyman Gordon Plans Education Update in September
 
 

On Saturday, September 19, 2015, community members will have the opportunity to learn more about the first year's results of the statewide Smarter Balanced Assessments at an Education Update hosted by Assemblyman Rich Gordon. 

"What score would you give Common Core testing?" is the title of the event, which will be held from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. at the Hillview Elementary School Library, 1100 Elder Avenue in Menlo Park.

In September, the California Department of Education is scheduled to release results of the Smarter Balanced Assessments. Assemblyman Rich Gordon and education leaders will explore these results, delve into technical problems, opt-outs, whether there is evidence that kids are mastering Common Core concepts and what could be improved.

 Guest speakers will include: Dr. Michael Kirst, President, California State Board of Education; Brian Simmons, Director of Accountability, Innovation and Results at the San Mateo County Office of Education; and Josephine Lucey, Immediate Past President, California School Board Association.

For more information, call Assemblyman Gordon's district office at (650) 691-2121 or RSVP here.
  
  
 
Check Us Out on Facebook

   
The San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) now has a page on Facebook. We'll be providing frequent updfacebook logoates on SMCOE events and education news of interest, adding groups of interest, and linking to other education organizations. Check us out and "like" us today on Facebook!  
  
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About the San Mateo County Office of Education
  
The San Mateo County Office of Education provides a variety of instructional, business and consulting services to the County's 23 public school districts, charter schools, the Community College District and County Office of Education staff. 
  
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