Education

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Written by: Kristin Melcher

Published: 21 February 2016

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Up first is a report on our effort to show appreciation for those who take care of us.

Brianna Legg took responsibility for making three beautiful mugs to thank the ladies who run the Be Fresh program at our school.

Graduating senior Jasmine Heckard made a mug welcoming maintenance person Gary Oakes back to our staff at the school.

Our student council elected our new officers. They are Breanna Legg, president; Kayla Doyle, vice president; Andrew Astorga, secretary; Jason Conatser, treasurer. There are two more advisory reps on the council as well, Candice Safreno and Destiny Parlet.

Here is a list of all seniors who have already given their portfolio presentations: Gage Beck, Jose Beadana, Erik Fielden, Jasmine Heckard, Stevie Jones, Samuel Martinez, Robert McGraw, Nicholas McKay, Christopher Nuzzo, Maria Pineda, Alexus Stickel, Isis Terrell and Kelonie Vandiver. Congratulations! All your hard work paid off.

All of these students and more will be walking at the end of May at Carlé's unique graduation. All will be receiving plaques made by other students with titles given by the staff.

Carlé would like to give Jason Conatser and graduate Chris Nuzzo a big thanks for helping set up the silver level movie reward day on the last day of our grading period.

Those who have earned this movie privilege include Andrew Astorga, Anna Barnard, Kacy Barron, Jose Bendana, Destiny Blevins, Alica Burgos, Martin Ceja, Jason Conatser, Jasmine Heckerd, Zack Humphrey, Breanna Legg, Sam Martinez, Elliott McKay, Kristin Melcher, Chris Nuzzo, Cynthia Oakley, Ryan O’Bryan, Maria Pineda, Diana Reyes, Candice Safreno, Alexus Stickel and Isis Terell.

Most of you know we have six six-week grading periods and our fourth grading period ended last Friday, Feb. 19. We are now two-thirds of the way through the school year.

Finally, for the 10th year in a row our teacher Alan Siegel was selected by State Superintendent of Schools Tom Torlakson to be on the State Teacher of the Year Selection Committee.

Siegel traveled to Sacramento to help celebrate and host the gala that officially named the top 19 teachers chosen.

The top five were named State Teachers of the Year. The next five were called finalists and the final nine titled semi-finalists. Siegel was chosen as a mentor for one of the finalists and ran all the audio-visual presentations for the gala itself.

“It has been an honor to serve and work with some of the greatest teachers in California,” he said. “I am so proud of our committee in that we have selected a teacher of the year who has gone on to be a national finalist in six of the last nine years including Daniel Jocz, who is currently in the top four nationally.”

Kristin Melcher is a student at Carlé Continuation High School in Lower Lake, Calif.

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Written by: Editor

Published: 19 February 2016

California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Tuesday unveiled an online toolkit designed to help local leaders address California’s elementary school truancy crisis.

The toolkit, created in collaboration with the Ad Council and with the support of The California Endowment, provides school, community, and government leaders with resources to work with parents on their children’s elementary school absences and the long-term impact that chronic absence and truancy have on academic performance. 

Educators can use these tools to engage parents – including via text message – about their child’s attendance and how to reduce absences.

“Nearly a quarter of a million California elementary school students were chronically absent in the 2014-2015 school year, with sweeping implications for our state’s future,” said Attorney General Harris. “If we want to effectively address this crisis, we need to communicate to parents and teachers about how critical early attendance is to a child’s development. This toolkit will help teachers and community leaders discuss truancy with parents and help them to ensure their children are in class every day.”

The toolkit is the culmination of a statewide study conducted with parents of elementary school students and education experts to understand barriers to attendance and how best to address them.

It includes data compiled from interviews in which parents discussed their perceptions of early-grade absences and what messaging would have the greatest impact on them.

It also includes tips for school and community leaders on how to communicate the impact of early school absences to parents, as well as a letter that school and district administrators can send to teachers to help them improve communication with parents of students in their classrooms.

The study found that while parents have ambitious long-term dreams for their children, such as college admission, they often do not connect early-grade attendance to later achievement.

Combined with barriers to attendance such as lack of transportation or health issues, these misunderstandings can lead to children missing too many days of school and falling behind as early as kindergarten. 

The study also found that parents’ most trusted sources of information are teachers, who can best help them understand what is happening in the classroom and what resources are available to help families resolve barriers to attendance. 

The study found that texting is most parents’ preferred form of communication with their children’s school.

In September, Attorney General Harris issued her third annual report on elementary school truancy and chronic absenteeism in California, In School + On Track 2015.

The report found that California still faces a crisis in elementary school attendance: 230,000 California elementary school students are chronically absent – missing more than 10% of the school year – and more than 1 in 5 are truant, having three or more unexcused absences. Low-income students and students of color face even lower attendance rates.

The report also outlines significant progress made in the past year in increasing awareness of the importance of attendance within school districts, tracking attendance year over year, and rethinking discipline policies that remove students from the classroom.

The report is available in its entirety online at: https://oag.ca.gov/truancy/2015 .

In 2013, Attorney General Harris issued the first statewide statistics on California’s elementary school truancy crisis and directly linked public education to public safety and the economy. Students who are not reading at grade level by the end of third grade are statistically more likely to drop out of high school. Annually, dropouts cost California taxpayers an estimated $46.4 billion in incarceration, lost productivity and lost taxes.  The 2014 report released updated statewide data.

In February 2015, Attorney General Harris unveiled the Bureau of Children’s Justice, a unit within the California Department of Justice that works to ensure all of California’s children are on track to meet their full potential. The bureau enforces criminal and civil laws to hold those who prey on children accountable; works with a range of local, state, and national stakeholders to increase support and improve outcomes for vulnerable children; and identifies and pursues improvements to policies impacting children.

Attorney General Harris has worked to combat truancy since she was District Attorney of San Francisco.

In the course of investigating factors contributing to the city’s violent crime rate, she found that 94 percent of San Francisco homicide victims under age 25 were high school dropouts. Then-District Attorney Harris formed a partnership with the school district to inform parents about their legal duty to ensure that their children attended school, provide parents of chronically truant students with wrap-around services and school-based mediation, and prosecute parents in the most severe cases where other interventions did not work.

In addition to the Ad Council and The California Endowment, organizations that partnered with the Attorney General’s office on the attendance toolkit include the California Department of Education, California Department of Public Health, California Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers, California Alliance of African American Educators, Association of California School Administrators, California African American Administrators and Superintendents Association, California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators, California County Superintendents Education Services Association, California School Boards Association, California Charter Schools Association, California School Employees Association, California School Nurses Organization, California Association of School Counselors, LA Chamber of Commerce, Bay Area Council, Children Now, Fight Crime, Invest in Kids CA, La Opinion, School-Based Health Alliance, Campaign for Grade Level Reading, Keeping Kids in School and Out of Court Initiative, Partnership for Children and Youth, California Coalition for Youth, Communities in Schools-LA, LA Urban League, Youth Policy Institute, Community Coalition, Foster Ed-California, Parent Institute for Quality Education, Alliance for Children's Rights, Inter-Tribal Council of California, Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, California Family Resource Association, First 5 California, Los Angeles Education Partnership, Parent Advocate League, Children's Defense Fund, National Council of La Raza, and CDE Foundation.

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Written by: Editor

Published: 17 February 2016

SACRAMENTO – The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office on Tuesday announced the addition of Debra Connick to the role of chief information officer and vice chancellor of Technology, Research and Information Systems.

Tuesday was Connick’s first day in her new position.

“I am thrilled to welcome Ms. Connick to the Chancellor's Office,” said California Community Colleges Chancellor Brice W. Harris. “She comes to us with a wealth of experience in state government, along with a passion for information technology and how it can be implemented throughout the state. We couldn’t be happier to have such a highly qualified professional join our office.”

Connick began her career in state government with the Department of Motor Vehicles, where she spent 23 years devoted to instructional design and delivery, policy development and publication, and project management.

She also delivered more than 6,000 hours of platform instruction throughout California, and was a pioneer and early proponent of computer based training and distance learning opportunities.

Connick also served as a member of the statewide Internet standards committee, and contributed to the work of the first statewide portal.

She was the project manager for "Expediting the Sworn Hiring Process" which redesigned recruitment, hiring, retention and background investigations for sworn personnel throughout the state.

Following her time at the DMV, Connick spent four years doing data management and business/systems analysis for the Department of Public Health, Office of Systems Integration, and Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

In 2012, Connick joined the Department of Technology as a section chief for the IT Project Oversight Division where her team was responsible for oversight of the Transportation and General Government portfolios.

In 2013, she became the statewide IT strategic planner and has served in this position both in the Consulting and Planning Division and, most recently, External Affairs and Communications Division at the Department of Technology.

Connick will report to Theresa D. Tena, vice chancellor of Institutional Effectiveness for the California Community College Chancellor's Office.

The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation composed of 72 districts and 113 colleges serving 2.1 million students per year. Community colleges supply workforce training, basic skills education in English and math, and prepare students for transfer to four-year institutions.

The Chancellor’s Office provides leadership, advocacy and support under the direction of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges.

For more information about the community colleges, please visit http://californiacommunitycolleges.cccco.edu/ , https://www.facebook.com/CACommColleges or https://twitter.com/CalCommColleges .