Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Tolenas Elementary School-PBIS

Mr. Soler met JP a second time to go over Tier 2 progress. The survey was handed out to teachers at the April staff meeting and results are being compiled. A report will be shared with teachers through the Staff Update. Next steps include refining Tier 1 and 2 interventions and preparing for Tier 3.

Tolenas Elementary School RTI Survey Completed.

The RTI Intervention Survey was completed on 5/2/2016.

Tolenas Elementary School Attendance Plan

Tolenas Elementary School will do the following to increase school attendance in the 2016-2017 school year:

1. Provide engaging lessons which include academic conversations, project based learning and writing.

2, Reward students for attending regularly through incentives such as perfect attendance pencils and certificates handed out at the Month Tiger Spin Assemblies.

3. Placard the standing item: Attendance Matters! on all communication between the school and home.

4. Provide assistance through the School's Attendance Liaison to families with habitual truancy issues.

Monday, May 2, 2016

Community Engagement: Cleo Gordon

On April 25, Sandie Lawler the director of The Leaven program came to visit Cleo Gordon. She provides after school tutoring to many of our students. She was very excited to see how engaged students were in their classrooms.  Cleo students were very happy to see Sandie and show off  their work.

Attendance and Honor Roll at GVMS

All students who have perfect attendance for the third quarter are posted on the windows in the library!  There are over 400 students who reached this goal!  We are so proud and have a plan to acknowledge them next year in a more effective way!



All certificates for Honor Roll will be given on Friday May 6th and pictures will be posted to all GVMS Social media sights.  For 16-17, we are going to have three different categories:  Principal's Award (4.0), Honor Roll (3.5-3.9) and Honorable Mention (3.0-3.4).  We plan to have more than just certificates for students as well!



Parent Engagement at GVMS




Thank you SO MUCH to all of our families and supporters for making the Spring Fling an AWESOME event!  It was SO MUCH fun and we are still working to calculate all of the money raised for our kids!  Thank you SO much again and again!  A special shout out to all of the people, families, and companies that came to support our students!

We have Sport O Rama coming up on May 20th from 5:30-7:30 and hope that all of our families will come out to support our students!

Parent Engagement

Sem Yeto is continually looking for ways to foster an environment of parent engagement. In the month of March, Sem Yeto Satellite put on a Family Art night for parents and relatives of our students. There was a student art competition as well as art classes for the entire family. The event was a huge success for our campus.



Task Force Tasks from Grange

Attendance: We will reach out to families of chronically absent students over summer and also send a letter to all students at the start of 16-17 about the importance of attendance (using the letters from Count Us In!). We will also continue our mentoring groups, check ins, and incentives for our chronically absent students.

Community Engagement: We have been working with Celebrations Church next door. We have tried to arrange a couple site visits but due to unforeseen circumstances had to reschedule. We look forward to a site visit from one of their youth pastors soon!.

We had Ernie from Solano County Office of Education come to walk our campus and interview one of our students who will be receiving an "Every Student Succeeds" award. We were thrilled to have him here.


Customer Service: It was a pleasure to see our customer service results. We shared the positive comments with our front office staff and discussed ways to improve our service.

PBIS: Teachers completed the School Assessment Survey during our staff meeting. Additionally, we are working on developing a PBIS handbook for teachers. Initially we were thinking flip chart of resources but then decided to try a blog to share this information!

Teach for Success: Data was shared at our March staff meeting with teachers. We decided to continue in our focus areas for next year. We also mad a draft action step in our SPSA.



T4S Instructional Practice

The PSA Sweeps results showed growth in almost every area during the 2015-2016 school year.  One of the areas of focus for our staff this year was Academic Discussions.  There was an overall increase in the number of Academic Discussions that were observed.  The staff has chosen to continue working on this instructional practice, with the plan of increasing the DOK level of conversations.  An action step is funding/release time for additional professional development, as well as release time for teachers to observe other classes on site and at other schools.

Writing Rubrics

PSA teachers are submitting samples of rubrics used to teach various forms of writing.  Several samples have been uploaded to the shared folder.  We will continue to add samples.

Attendance Incentive, and Plan for Improving Attendance Next Year

Attendance is a primary concern at Sem Yeto satellite. In an effort to encourage students to attend on a more frequent basis; any student attaining over a 90% attendance rate for a quarter is rewarded with a quarterly award party.

For the 2016/2017 school year, we will endeavor to improve on our attendance rates at both campuses by allotting a portion of our beginning of the school year orientation to talking with parents and students about the importance of attending school.  Any student identified by our staff as having attendance issues from the prior year (whether a returning  or incoming student), will receive a letter in the mail about the importance of attendance. We are in the process of designing an orientation checklist that must be completely filled out in order for students to receive their schedules.

During our orientation, identified students will meet with our attendance liaison, counselor, college and career technician, and mental health clinician to develop a plan for attending school everyday and charting a course for success in school and in life before receiving their schedule.


Customer Service at Sem Yeto

During a staff meeting, Sem Yeto administration discussed the results/findings of our customer service survey given out to parents who came in to our campus offices.  Overall, we had an 85% positive rating on the surveys taken at both campuses.  After reviewing the information, the staff shared the fact that they do not always see or hear about the positives interactions taking place on our campuses with families. 

Below are some of the comments parents and visitors stated on their survey's:


"Everyone from staff to students were polite and friendly. I didn't know what to expect but I was delighted."

"The staff has made every attempt to get my student on track. You can't help someone who doesn't want it! Thank you for all your efforts."

"Yes I am so happy. They help my son it mean the world to me. Thank you to everyone."

"Always get the info I need from staff!"

"I really appreciate how friendly the staff was and happy to sit down with me right away to work with my son."

Technology Vision

At Sem Yeto, we are striving to provide a learning environment where all students have access to some of the latest technological tools and resources in all of their classes.

We recognize that technology is just a tool; therefore, we are continuing to explore professional development opportunities that will enable our teachers to be more effective in facilitating the use of this new technology in their classrooms( e.g. SAMR Model).


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Continuing to Foster Community Partnerships

At Sem Yeto, we are continually looking for ways to partner with our community to find ways to support our students in being successful in school and life. John Lamell a local business owner in our community visited with our administration to tour our newly opened College and Career Center at Sem Yeto Satellite. 

Mr. Lamell is excited for the opportunity to educate students on the possibility and benefits of attaining a barbers licence, and eventually owning their own business in the barbering career field.



RHS T4S Instructional Practice

After looking at the new T4S instrument, analyzing sweeps data, and discussing the data with staff we have decided to put our attention on the instructional practice of academic conversations. We see this as a critical area that will increase the rigor happening in our high school classrooms.

Throughout our 2016 -17 SPSA we have created action steps to bring more knowledge and practice in the area of academic conversations. Professional development, peer collaboration and observation, and materials are all attached to the goals of Mathematics, Science, English Language Arts, Professional Development, The hope is that our focus on academic conversations across the curriculum will engage our students with rigorous standards and improve upon the other components of the T4S instrument.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

A Dual Vision

At Fairfield High we cannot have a vision for Academics without a vision for Educational Technology. Conversely, we cannot have a vision for Educational Technology without a vision for Academics. After reflecting back on our year so far we have focused on two very important areas for the end of the 2015-2016 school year and for the 2016-2017 school year. We want to see teachers regularly using technology in instruction with the goal of reaching DOK 2 or higher and SAMR: Augmentation or above

Our Ed Tech Vision: "At FHS we see that educational technology will be a quintessential and indispensable part of the teaching and learning process; teachers will use edtech as facilitators of learning relevant to the students' lives, and students will use edtech to become empowered, self-directed learners who realize their potential to impact their community and the wider world."




Community Partnerships that are STRONG

Fairfield High continues to partner with Liberty Church. Liberty Church has worked hard to provide ongoing academic tutors for our math classes at FHS. Additionally, FHS has used the Liberty Church facility for several events: NEU Doug Curry presentation, DUI court for our seniors, and our AFJROTC awards assembly.  We have in turn been able to support Liberty Church by providing the use of our facility. Liberty was able to hold their Easter Service celebration on our campus and hold a massive egg hunt on our football field!

Carl's Junior is also an ongoing supporter of academics at Fairfield High. Carls' Junior donates lunch monthly for our students and staff members of the month. Each month's donation is worth over $250.

Parent and community member, Mr. Bass visits FHS regularly on Friday's and brings warm donuts for the office staff. Each time he comes it is with a smile and a thank you for all that everyone does. Mr. Bass is also a strong supporter of our basketball team and his son!

NEU Doug Curry presentation @Liberty Church 


Mr. Bass with Dianna and Rosanne

AFJROTC Awards Ceremony @Liberty Church

AFJROTC Awards Ceremony @Liberty Church 


Seniors at the DUI court @Liberty Church

Perfect Attendance @FHS


At Fairfield High we recognize the importance of acknowledging and reinforcing student accomplishments. On April 15th all students that had perfect attendance for the month of March were awarded a certificate, an early out to lunch pass, and an otter pop at the "Perfect Attendance Station." Student helpers were working the otter pop station and commented that they really liked the idea of recognizing perfect attendance. The 103 students that were recognized had not missed a day of school for March and were not tardy to any classes for the entire month.

Looking into the 2016-2017 school year we are going to provide incentives monthly for students that demonstrate both perfect attendance and improved attendance. We are also going to be incorporating incentives for students that attend school events such as games and rallies. We feel that with more student spirit and camaraderie, our attendance rates will also improve. We will continue to work closely with our attendance liaison and develop attendance plans for each of our chronically absent students. Identifying and meeting with the students and parents early in the year will help counteract the truancy problems.

Connecting all 9th grade students with a senior buddy through Link Crew is another process we will be implementing for the 2016-2017 school year.

Military Month at PSA

April was Military Month at PSA, and each week, we hosted visitors from different branches of the military.  The representatives held Q & A sessions in the College and Career Center during lunch, visited the Public Safety classes and put the cadets through PT drills (physical training), and coordinated a variety of lunchtime activities, such as push-up, rowing, and pull-up contests, obstacle courses, etc.  The men from Travis Air Force Base (pictured here) were invited to assist with our weekly uniform inspections.  They were so impressed that they stayed an extra hour to tour the campus and visit classrooms.  Kudos to our College and Career Tech, Markie Gilmore, for coordinating a fantastic Military Month and bringing in many visitors.

Attendance "Game Plan" for 2016-2017

Our liaison, Yesenia Pantoja, met with our attendance clerk, Elizabeth Gore, and administration to develop a plan for improving attendance for the 2016-2017 school year.  We all agreed that meeting individually with students who had been "chronically absent" made a difference in their overall attendance, so that is one thing that will be done again when we return to school in August and throughout the school year.  Our current incentives focus mainly on perfect attendance, so the incentive program will be expanded to include improved attendance, as well.  Administration will continue to communicate the importance of good attendance and the impact of absenteeism through the weekly blog and social media.

Friday, April 29, 2016

Customer Service at RHS

At RHS we pride ourselves on a gold standard of customer service. Our goal is to make sure that every person who walk through our door is valued member of our community and school. The survey data reinforced the positive interactions that we want to have with all our stakeholders.

We analyzed and discussed the data as an administration and then presented into our office staff. They found the process enlightening. Through the data we hope to focus on specific areas and goals for next year to improve our customer service.

On 4/26 we celebrated our administrative professionals by giving them lunch and away time from our busy phones. Mr. Isadore and Mr. Pizzo took over the front desk while our very appreciated office staff enjoyed their lunch.

Mayor Pete Sanchez Visits RHS

On April 5th Mayor of Suisun City, Pete Sanchez, came and spoke to our students being honored for their academics. He toured the school and participated in our assembly. Mayor Sanchez even started to pull out money from his own wallet during our raffle to celebrate our students academic success.


RHS Attendance Goals for 2016 - 17

At RHS the administrative team and the attendance team are happy to see the improvement we have made this year. As we look at 2016 - 17 we have decided to focus on 3 areas to improve our attendance.

  • Targeted Intervention for 11th & 12th Graders - Intervention for our  juniors and seniors who are in danger of not graduating is important component to improving our attendance. We have found that many of our attendance issues for our 11th & 12th graders are related to students giving up because they feel they are not going to graduate. Our hope is to address their academic concern so they understand coming to school is a vital component. 
  • Communication of Short Term Independent Study - Next year the attendance team plans to proactively communicate to parents via Twitter, autodialer, and webpage about the Short Term IDS option. We will blast information out prior to peak times (Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break, and Spring Break). 
  • PBIS Integration - RHS has started the first tier of PBIS this year. As we move into the second year one of our focus of the RHS Way will be teaching the importance of attendance. Offering positive behavior interventions will hopefully be an incentive for student attendance while teaching students about the data and research that is out there about attendance will show them that attendance is an important competent of academic success. 

RHS PBIS Progress

Our PBIS team met with JP on the April 14th during our 3rd session of PBIS training. We are happy to state that we have finished the school wide matrix (The RHS Way). We have also redesigned the RHS way and created signage for next year. Our next steps for PBIS is to create mini lessons that will be taught during tutorial to our students.

The staff and the team is excited about this process.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Teaching Rubrics

Examples of Anna Kyle teaching rubrics used to set writing expectations and support them to identify the necessary elements.





Teach For Success Instructional Practice


At our Staff Meeting on Tuesday, April 5th, we compared the fall/spring sweeps data and identified academic conversations as the T4S Instructional Practice for us to own and master during the 2016-2017 school year.  Our SPSA includes an action step focusing on academic conversations and related funding for instructional walks.

Parent Engagement Post


We are pleased to announce that all of our parent engagement funding has been exhausted! We thoroughly enjoyed providing our families with the Parent Institute of Quality Education!

PBIS Next Steps

We met with JP on Thursday, March 17th.  Next steps that were determined are for our site to complete the remainder of our Year 1 implementation and begin to implement the SWIS network prior to the end of the 2015-2016 school year.  

Customer Service Surveys Discussion


Anna Kyle’s customer service surveys were discussed at our April 7th Leadership Team meeting  The discussion provided valuable information and key points for reflection and dialogue that was addressed by staff.

Community Engagement Photo and Post



We invited Kim Marshall to visit Anna Kyle on April 13th and we had him present at our ELAC meeting.  Mr.  Marshall shared information about the Fairfield Community Service Foundation and the resources available to our school community.  After the meeting, Mr.  Marshall visited several classrooms with Steve Phillips and learned about the various programs that we have to offer at Anna Kyle.

2016-2017 School Year Attendance Plan at Anna Kyle

Anna Kyle will continue to implement our attendance incentives during the 2016-2017 school year.  These programs include a monthly attendance data bulletin board that is visible in our front hallway, a perfect attendance bulletin board in our cafeteria that is updated each trimester, acknowledgement of the highest grade level percentage each month, individual teacher recognition for having the highest percentage each month, and acknowledging any class that met the school wide goal each month!

We will also be incorporating a set of letters, from the Count Us In Toolkit, that will go out in August 2016 to our highest attendance offenders from the previous school year.  This will allow us to be proactive with these families, and communicate with them prior to school starting.  We will also implement a monthly drawing for those teachers that had perfect attendance within their own attendance.

Assessment Evidence


Steve attended the Illuminate Site Admininstrator Training on Wednesday, April 6th from 8:00-11:00 and Amy attended the Illuminate Site Administrator Training on Thursday, April 7th from 8:00-11:00.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Customer Service

We used paper surveys to collect data due to the availability of Chromebooks/laptops and the results are as follows:
The school has a clean and welcoming environment:
Not at all: 0
Somewhat: 1
Agree: 3
Strongly Agree: 14

Parent and community information is accessible:
Not at all: 0
Somewhat: 5
Agree: 12
Strongly Agree: 1

I received a friendly greeting from office staff:
Not at all: 0
Somewhat: 0
Agree: 1
Strongly Agree: 17

My needs were met:
Not at all: 0
Somewhat: 2
Agree: 3
Strongly Agree: 13

Technology Vision

Matt Garcia Career and College Academy integrates technology into the daily routine of every class to connect students with colleges, explore careers, and teach 21st century organization and communication skills.

Friday, April 15, 2016

T4S

Compare:

 Comparison of our Fall/Spring Sweeps Comparison Data has been discussed at our Staff Meeting and in weekly newsletter to staff.  

Chosen:

Staff has chosen as their T4S goal to own and master "Academic Conversations" during the 2016-2017 school year.

Action Step:

Teacher Cohort will present Professional Development at Staff Meeting.
 

Customer Service

Our Front Office Staff did an outstanding job on the recent Customer Service Survey!  They provide Gold Standard service to our families, students and community members.  Results of the survey have been shared with them and they have been congratulated on a job well done!

 

Community Engagement 

On April 14th Solano Community College Professor (who leads the school's Agriculture Department) and his students came for a visit of our school.  They were taken on a tour of our school, our garden and spoke with teachers.  We have a wonderful partnership with Solano Community College!
 

Attendance Plan for 2016-2017

As we prepare for next year our plans include:
  • Over the summer send home Welcome Back postcards to all families.  Postcards will let families know when school begins - date and times, Back to School Night information, and school website information:  
  •  Arrange meetings at the beginning of the new school year with families who have previously had truancy problems.  Try to come up with a game plan with families to get students to school and improve attendance.
  • Beginning in August we will restart our weekly/monthly attendance incentives for students. We will let students know about the contests during our Monday morning announcement slides and in our monthly newsletter.