Lincoln High School ASB President Serves as Honorary SDUSD Student Board Representative

Phonisha Pruitt, the ASB President of Lincoln High School, recently served as a San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Student Board Representative. She joined the Board Members on the dais and provided a report about what has been happening at her school both socially and academically.

School Nurses: Keeping Students Healthy, In School, and On Track!

 Marshall Elementary School held an attendance challenge in February and students celebrated their good attendance at a special event with the theme “I Love School”. 

School success goes hand in hand with good attendance! As early as kindergarten, too many absences can cause a student to fall behind in basic academic skills that are hard to make up. As students get older, schoolwork becomes difficult, students lose interest in school, and frequent absences can become a habit. In addition, it is important to know that all absences – whether excused or unexcused – have the same effect: the loss of valuable learning time.

Missing just two days a month throughout the school year adds up to 10%, which identifies the student as “chronically absent”. By 6th grade, chronic absence is one of three signs that a student may drop out of high school, and by 9th grade, attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than 8th grade test scores. Building the habit of good attendance early develops an important life skill that will ultimately help your child to be successful in college and work career.

In 2016, the Nursing & Wellness Department adopted an Attendance Protocol to define school nurse work in the area of Attendance. Every day, school nurses work to ensure that individual health needs are met so students with health conditions can safely attend school. They monitor absence reports to identify students who have frequent absences due to illness, and work with students, parents and health providers to solve the issues and improve attendance. In addition, school nurses manage students who visit the health office to minimize time out of class and are available to advise parents about when a student is well enough (or too sick) to attend school.

School nurses participate on school Site Attendance Teams and support school-wide attendance activities such as incentive challenges and attendance celebrations. To promote a healthy and positive school environment, school nurses educate students, families, and staff about healthy habits to improve overall wellness.

For tips on helping to improve your child’s attendance click on these links:

https://attendanceworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AW_HS-flyer-1-pager.pdf

https://attendanceworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Attendance_ESP1PG_English_062614.pdf


If you have questions or concerns about your child’s health as it relates to school attendance, do not hesitate to contact your school nurse via the school office. She or he is eager to help you!

Patrick Henry PHAME Hosts Opera

Over the weekend of March 8-10, Patrick Henry High School’s PHAME auditorium was home to a production by the San Diego Opera. The chamber opera “Three Decembers” was part of the Opera’s dētour series, which their website describes as a combination of “the expressive nature of opera with the potency of intimate theater.” The opera featured a small cast of three singers, and a chamber orchestra of 11 players from the San Diego Symphony.

With this production on their campus, music students from the high school got an up-close-and-personal glimpse into the life of a professional musician. Advanced choral students were able to observe rehearsals and afterward participate in a talkback with the singers.

In this production, PHAME itself has had high praise from performers and audience members alike. In an interview with KPBS, soprano Kristin Clayton said, “This is amazing. I am just so impressed that San Diego had a theater like this built into a high school." Mezzo-soprano Frederica Von Stade echoed that sentiment in the same interview, saying, "This hall here is a dream. The acoustics are terrific.”

The run of performances was a success and practically sold out. While this may have been the first time PHAME at Patrick Henry was host to an opera production, it might not be the last.

https://www.sandiegounified.org/vapanews/patrick-henry-phame-hosts-opera

Cox Communications Offers Low-Cost, Home Internet with WiFi

Cox Communications and Connect2Compete 

For students and parents, having a computer and Internet service at home is no longer a luxury—it’s essential. Cox® understands this new reality and, through our partnership with EveryoneOn, works in the communities we serve to provide low-cost Internet and devices to low-income students and their families through the Cox® Connect2Compete program. This is a great opportunity for families to invest in their child's education. 

Find out if you are eligible by clicking here: https://www.cox.com/aboutus/connect2compete/low-cost-internet.html

Walker Elementary Celebrated Read Across America in True Dr. Seuss Fashion

The National Read Across America event is celebrated each year on Dr. Seuss' birthday with schools all over the country participating. This year Walker Elementary transformed into the "whimsical world of Walkerville" and had organized a week long schedule of activities. On Wednesday, February 27th they hosted several community leaders to come read to Walker students in grades TK-5th. The list of community leaders included District Attorney Summer Stephan, Channel 10 News morning team, Channel 7 Whitney Southwick, D6 staffer Luis Pallera, along with District staff from the Integrated Youth Services Division. Community Leaders were treated to breakfast and a school wide assembly and then were invited to read their favorite books to various classrooms.

Office of LGBTQIA+ Education & Advocacy Holds 3rd Annual GSA Student Leadership Academy

The Office of LGBTQIA+ Education and Advocacy was at Scripps Ranch to hold the 3rd annual GSA Leadership Academy. With over 80 participants, the academy was a huge success! 

Students arrived at Scripps Ranch and engaged in workshops around identity, diversity, intersectionality, consent, toxic masculinity, and GSA leadership. We hosted resource tables, raffled off LGBTQIA+-focused texts, and networked with GSA students and advisors across the district. 

We have over 140 middle school students registered for the next GSA Leadership Academy. If your school hasn’t signed up yet, contact us at youthadvocacy@sandi.net.

iMiddle Deaf & Hard of Hearing Teachers Connect with Students Through Empathy Interviews

Innovation Middle School Deaf & Hard of Hearing (DHH) Teachers recently conducted one-on-one empathy interviews with students to connect with them as people and to better understand them as learners. The empathy interviews were the starting point for the DHH teachers as they learned how to use the design thinking framework to find solutions to problems/needs. Through the interviews, the teachers collected student thoughts and perspectives on school-related topics and general interests. The teachers then analyzed the data for patterns and insights that might reveal problems that students are facing or needs students have. The number of problems/needs that the DHH teachers were able to define was surprising to them. With potential problems/needs to address, they ideated by brainstorming potential solutions and chose a few to prototype. With prototype models designed, they each shared their solutions to get feedback from one another. Many new ideas surfaced and they applied their revisions to their models. The teachers shared designs for a Deaf Field Day to connect the Deaf Community, Buddy Boxes to allow students to create a safe space to communicate with a friend, and to have students make “Life Through Deaf Eyes” videos to help teachers and students understand Deaf student needs and perspectives. 

Next, the teachers will test what they have designed by implementing their models with students. 

Having had no experience with design thinking, The DHH teachers modeled what it means to be a lifelong learner and being a risk-taker by their willingness to learn by doing. Now that they have a framework for problem-solving that they can use and integrate into their classrooms.

ITN Increasing Student Agency and Voice Through Technology

The San Diego Unified’s Innovative Teaching Network (ITN) is a community of educators that share, learn, and grow with and from each other. Educators experience motivational guest speakers and gain new insights and resources for innovation. Over forty educators attended our 4th meeting this year on February 26th at Roosevelt Middle School. Each meeting includes peer presentations about real classroom experiences and breakout sessions on innovative practices. In February, teachers learned about Design Thinking, Maker Spaces, and digital tools such as PearDeck and Canva. Participants leave inspired and excited to innovate their classrooms and build capacity at their sites.

CS for All!

What does it look like to make computer science education accessible for students with disabilities? Fred Hilgers at Clairemont high is tackling that issue in his Integrated 1 Math class. Using Bootstrap, a hybrid math / computer science curriculum, Fred is exploring ways that his two visually impaired students can code right along with their classmates. Working directly with Fred, and including the opinions of his students, Bootstrap is creating a visually impaired software that takes input of the student and verbally describes the shape and structure of the output. Not only is this a win for SDUSD students, but potentially has impact with thousands of visually impaired students nationally!

Anyone CAN Do the Rubik’s Cube . . . But Some Patrick Henry Students Are Exceptionally Fast!

Ten Patrick Henry students will be competing at the Rubik’s Cube Competition for the first time this year at CSU San Marcos. You CAN do the Rubik’s Cube is the educational outreach program of the world-famous Rubik’s Cube which brings mathematical, cooperative, and art concepts together while empowering anyone to solve the Rubik’s Cube. Henry’s club has existed for three years and meets once a week where students practice solving Rubik’s Cube and engage in other types of mechanical puzzles. In the competition, eight students must solve 25 scrambled Rubik’s Cubes as fast as possible. Henry’s club advisor, Tom Knapik, says “Our current record for solving 25 Rubik’s Cubes is 3 minutes and 23 seconds and a few students can solve a single cube in under 30 seconds!” Let’s see if they achieve a personal best at CSU San Marcos. Go Patriots!

Literacy Across the Curriculum

Taft teachers gathered with Carisa Barnes, Kearny cluster Gear Up coach, and Sarah Petersen, California Reading and Literature Project consultant, to practice ways to integrate literacy strategies into their curriculum. As math, history, English, world languages, science, and PE teachers came together, they explored what it means to incorporate more effective opportunities for reading, writing, speaking, and listening into their daily instruction. They discovered that strategies such as taking notes and looking for evidence during reading, participating in a listening protocol that encourages students to actively listen and paraphrase what their classmates say, and using graphic organizers to make connections between reading and thinking, can help equip students to be more mindful in their learning process. Throughout the training, teachers planned for ways to implement literacy strategies into their current and future teaching practices.

3 SDUSD Students Selected as “100 High School Students America Needs to Know About” by Workforce Career Readiness™

Workforce Career Readiness™ is celebrating “100 High School Students” across the United States. They are recognizing high school students who are on their way to taking the world by storm and they have found three right here in San Diego Unified. Congratulations to Sabrina Lee from Mt. Everest Academy, Jerry Yang from Scripps Ranch High School and Zachary Patterson from University City High School. These student leaders are making a positive difference and impact in our district, our schools and our community.

Peninsula Family YMCA swim classes make a big splash for Correia students in Point Loma/Ocean Beach

A partnership between the Peninsula Family YMCA and Correia Middle School is giving eighth-graders a chance to learn life-saving skills in the water — something a quarter of them have never experienced.

Click here: https://www.lajollalight.com/pointloma-obmonthly/profiles/places/sd-cm-pt-loma-swimming-correia-20181219-story.html