12 Great Schools Serving Students in South San Diego and Imperial Beach
VIP Village Preschool
Bayside STEAM Academy
(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:
Pre-K - 8 Enrollment - 7,338
Important Dates:
February 17 & 20
Presidents Day Holidays
February 23
School Board Meeting
February 24
Report Cards
March 3
District Champions
March 9
School Board Meeting
March 11
Discover South Bay
March 20-31
Spring Break
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| Board of Trustees: Melanie Ellsworth, President Chris Brown, Vice President Elvia Aguilar, Clerk Barbara Elliott-Sanders, Member Cheryl Quinones, Member Board Meeting Calendar |
Links
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Superintendent's Message
Dear Parents, Guardians and Community Members,
As we begin the second half of our school year, I want to share some information about the District budget as we are already planning for 2017-2018.
Flat funding from the state, rising costs for the District
On January 10, Governor Brown released California's proposed 2017-18 Budget. The investments in K-12 public education are relatively modest compared to previous years and the Budget does not include any increase to LCFF funding over the 2016-17 level. In summary, the Governor's Budget includes minimal increases for education and no new programs.
On January 19, our Board of Trustees held a Study Session to review the Governor's proposal and discuss the impacts for our District. As we plan our budget for the next school year, we are managing a continued decrease in enrollment and significant increasing expenses. Many of these increases are required such as:
- District contributions to employee pension funds increasing from 13.8% to 15.8% (PERS) and from 12.5% to 14.4% (STRS). These contributions represent a $1,102,045 additional expense to our Budget.
- Anticipated increases in utility costs (5%), property and liability insurance (5%), and Worker's Compensation rate (10%).
- The 3.09% salary increase for all employees (negotiated with our teacher's union in July 2016) adds $1,607,000 to the Budget for next year and beyond.
While we wish the news from Sacramento was better, we are hopeful that the Governor's Budget Revision in May will include some positive changes for education funding. We will keep you updated as our budget, and any revisions from the State, are finalized. If you are interested in learning more about our budget, please consider attending a District Finance Study Group meeting or our Board Meeting on May 25, when we will host a Public Hearing and First Reading of the 2017-2018 budget.
New Accountability System
When the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was implemented by the state of California in 2013, school districts received more freedom with how to spend money along with a different type of accountability system. As part of the budget planning process, school districts now have a Local Control Accountability Plan, or LCAP, written with staff, parent, student, and public input, to identify goals, how they are funded, and systems to measure progress.
The new accountability system shifts us all away from years of using a single number - the Academic Performance Index, or API - to judge how well schools are doing, to now looking at multiple measures of performance. This should help families gain a more complete picture of school success. Schools and students are more than test scores resulting from a single test given each year. We are looking forward to rolling out the new LCFF Evaluation Rubrics and the California School Dashboard being released in 2017 to give a more comprehensive look at district and school performance.
The rubrics look at 11 topics, or indicators, to determine a district or school's performance. The indicators will have two parts: the current rate of performance and the rate of improvement across years (e.g., a three year period). Indicators are: chronic absenteeism, suspension rates, graduation rates (for High Schools), student performance in English language arts and math, parent engagement, school climate, progress of English learners, college and career readiness, implementation of state standards, and basics, such as teachers, materials, and facilities. For all of these measures, we will be able to see overall student performance compared to growth, and the results will be able to be filtered for particular groups of students, such as English learners.
We will provide additional information on the Dashboard following the public launch expected from the state in March.
Thank you for your continued support of South Bay! I am grateful for your partnership and the many ways you participate in your child's education.
 Sincerely,
K
atie McNamara
Katie McNamara, Ed.D.
District Superintendent
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Parent Communication
 South Bay Union School District launched Peachjar, an electronic flyer management and communication system, in early January. You should have received a welcome email from Peachjar, which included instructions on how to login to your account and where to view flyers. If you have not already done so, you can check out Peachjar on your school's webpage or on the District's
website.
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District Champions
On December 15, 2016, Superintendent Katie McNamara hosted an event at Mendoza School to honor South Bay's District Champions. These awards recognize students, parents/guardians, staff, teams, and community members that demonstrate outstanding work, dedication to the District's mission and goals, commitment to our community, and strong support for the South Bay Union School District. We are proud to celebrate the contributions of the following Champions:
- Candace Reese, Cherie Maurice, and Sonia Sandoval were recognized as a team for their leadership of reading at VIP Village.
- Adriana Villanueva, a teacher from IB Charter School West, was nominated to honor her dedication to students.
- Teacher Erin Allen was selected for her contributions to instruction and student achievement IB Charter School.
- Mary Beth Zopatti, Sandra Espinosa, and Georgina Maestre-Chavez, the Sixth Grade teaching team from Sunnsylope School, was honored for their commitment to teaching excellence.
- Officer Alan Anderson from the San Diego Police Department was recognized for going above and beyond the call of duty in support of South Bay students, staff, and families.
- Yzabella Gonzalez and Camila Anaya, students from Nicoloff School, were honored for their campus leadership.
- Students Aiyanna and Isaac Garro were selected for their impact on school culture at Sunnyslope School.
- Renee Ivashenko, a volunteer at IB Charter School West, was recognized for her support of the campus and the instructional team.
- Volunteer Maryann Larson was honored for her service to the staff and students at IB Charter School.
- Lorena Mancisidor, a volunteer at IB Charter School West, was selected for her service to students and staff.
- Sunnyslope School volunteer Kimberly Garro was nominated in recognition of her service to the campus.
- Valdina Burgi, a Bus Attendant, was recognized for her caring attitude and support of students.
- Ruben Flores, a Custodian at Nicoloff School, was honored for his dedication to his work and his service to the school community.
Superintendent McNamara is excited to continue this program. "I am delighted to have the opportunity to honor those that demonstrate such a high level of support and dedication to our District. Congratulations to these recipients and we look forward to continuing to highlight and recognize those that champion our work, our community, and our District."
South Bay will continue to collect
nominations
and will host two more recognition events this school year.
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Attendance News
Did you know?
- One student absent for one day costs the District approximately $50 in funding that could be spent directly on students.
- Students with regular school attendance tend to have higher achievement in school and a greater probability of success in college.
- The higher the attendance rate the higher students scored on both English language arts and mathematics portions of the Smarter Balanced Assessment.
- Students who come to school on time and who have regular attendance tend to have better relationships with their peers.
- Students averaging 15 days of absences a year will miss a year of instruction by the 12th grade! Students who average 29.5 days of absences a year will miss a year of instruction by the end of the 6th grade.
- A student that is 10 minutes late every day will miss 30 hours of instruction during the school year.
- Students who are habitually tardy are developing habits that may last a lifetime.
- The #1 reason people are fired is because they are late to work.
- There is an absolute relationship between students who drop out of school and attendance problems during the elementary or middle school years.
- 98% of adult inmates were truants and 70% were high school dropouts.
- On a national average, students who dropout of school tend to work within five dollars of minimum wage for the majority of their lives. Students with a high school diploma will earn approximately $240,000 more over a lifetime than a dropout and a college graduate will earn close to a half a million dollars more over a lifetime.
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School Highlight - Oneonta
On Sunday, January 15, UC San Diego visited Oneonta as their Martin Luther King Jr., Day of Service site. Over 200 volunteers from UCSD and 100 Oneonta staff, parents, and students worked on projects to support the school. From 9:00-11:30, volunteers helped with gardening projects, created canvas leadership murals, helped teachers re-level classroom libraries, and hosted various educational activities. Afterward, the volunteers from UCSD joined their fellow students, staff, faculty and alumni in San Diego's 37th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade downtown.
 The Day of Service is part of UCSD's Volunteer50 initiative, which challenges faculty, staff, students, alumni, and campus friends to perform 50 hours or more of community service during the academic year. The University has been involved with the MLK Parade for over 20 years.
Thank you to Principal Marla Fernandez for her leadership of this event (this is the second year!) and to teacher Kymberly Nichols for her work on the application to be the Day of Service site. Kudos also to the staff, parents, students, and volunteers that did such an outstanding job beautifying the Oneonta campus!
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School Highlight - Bayside STEAM Academy
The STEAM Maker Festival took place on Saturday, December 3 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. The Festival is a collaborative venue for students, educators and professionals to demonstrate programs, projects, practices and resources that enrich STEAM education.
The Bayside STEAM Academy sent nine teams to the Festival to participate in the "line following robot" competition.
The fourth grade team (Anglica Carrilo, Elijah Heras, and Raul Moreno) scored a combined 76 points over 3 runs, and tied for First Place!
Our fifth grade team (Jacob Gamboa, Jesse Garcia, Arturo Olvera, and Jank Karlo de Jesus) scored a combined 44 points over their 3 runs, finishing in Second Place!
Bayside was also notified in December that the school won a Samsung grant, which will add five 50-65" flat screen televisions to the campus. The TVs will be used for video production, science content, student presentations, and professional development.
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School Highlight - Pence
As part of their annual community caravan, featuring 10 Days of Giving, San Diego Padres players Austin Hedges and Robbie Erlin, as well as a member of the Pad Squad and the Friar, visited Howard Pence School on Monday, December 12.
They were welcomed by the Pence Student Council and all 750 Pence students (wearing Padres gear) on the playground. The three classes with the highest attendance were invited to the school's NEST room, where the players read several books.
Thank you to the Padres and to the Pence community!
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School Highlight - Sunnyslope
Congratulations to Sunnyslope student, Daisy Pitzenberger, who was selected as the Colonel Candidate for the San Diego Police Department Southern Division. Daisy is a Fifth Grade student in Mr. Valdez's class and serves as the school's Safety Patrol Captain.
As part of the competition, Daisy wrote an essay, completed an interview, and demonstrated outstanding leadership skills. She spent the day with the SDPD Juvenile Services Team and had dinner at a restaurant of her choice. Kudos to Major Daisy Pitzenberger!
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Special Education Update
Part 2: Components of the IEP
An Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is a binding document for the provision of services between the District and the parents.
Inside the IEP, you should expect to find all of the following:
- Present Levels: This is a snapshot of who the child is and how he/she is doing right now. This should include eligibility information, contact information for the parents and a summary of current work. This summary should include data such as reading and math test results, current grades, observed skills, behavioral referrals and records of work habits. In short, it should be specific. Space is provided for family and parental input. In essence, the Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP) should state the student's strengths and weaknesses, classroom performance, and provide measurable baseline data from which goals are created.
- Goals: Goals are written to provide measures of progress. Goals can be academic, behavioral, social, or transition-based, and should always be written for recognized areas of need. Goals should be achievable and measurable.
- Accommodations and Modifications: Accommodations and modifications are changes to the classroom environment that may be necessary to assist the student. The general rule is this: if it helps the student to complete the same work at the same level as his peers, it is an accommodation; if it changes the work, or the work is completed at a different level, it is a modification. For example, allowing a child to type his notes rather than handwrite them is an accommodation. An adult typing them for him is a modification.
- Offer of Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE): This is commonly referred to as "placement" and/or "services." This is the binding part of the contract, in which the District offers classroom and/or ancillary services such as speech therapy or adaptive physical education. It should specify how often (number of days in the school year) the child will receive these services and the duration of the services (how many minutes per session).
- Signature Page and Meeting Notes: Each member of the IEP team signs, indicating that he or she was present at the meeting and approves the notes from the meeting. In addition, the parent must consent to the accommodations, modifications and placement (offer of FAPE) from the district for the initial IEP to be implemented.
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PTA Council
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our PTA Volunteers for all the hard work they do every day on behalf of our students. Sometimes it is daunting. Let me just say there is always more than one way to do any task/job and I would hope everyone would keep an open mind. Please be supportive of our hard working volunteers and lend a hand when you can. We are all working for the betterment of education for our students and can always use supportive people to help out. We are guests at the schools and should behave as such. We want to make sure our leadership is a good example for our children to follow. It takes many people working toward the same goal to accomplish great things for kids.
Thank you again for all the hard work you do every day! Thank you PTA!
Susan Connors
South Bay PTA Council President
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SBUSD Education Foundation
2017 is off to a great start for the SBUSD Education Foundation. We have new board members, the next grant application period is confirmed, our first fundraiser for 2017 has been announced, and our ambassador program has new energy.
We welcomed new Board members Estela Mora and Paul Spear in December. Estela Mora is an amazing addition to the Board with her teaching experience and is already bringing a wealth of ideas to the table. Paul Spear, owner and editor of
DigImperialBeach
also joined the team. He will help to highlight the great work being done in the community by the foundation and the recipients of grants.
We can now confirm that we will accept grant applications April 3-28, 2017 with recipients receiving funding in August 2017. This timeframe will allow teachers to plan their activities more effectively knowing grants were awarded to them prior to the beginning of the 2017-18 school year.
Our first fundraiser of the year was announced January 15. It is a day of fun for District employees as well as community members featuring a bus trip to Viejas on March 4. There is a Facebook event created that includes a detailed flyer. Space is very limited so book early.
Lastly, we would like to have more voices from each school as part of our Ambassador program. There is no need for Ambassadors to attend meetings. Ambassadors help to keep an open line of communication between the Foundation and each school site. Through our Ambassadors, the Foundation Board can get the latest event updates to the sites and receive any needed feedback. Let us know your interest in being an ambassador or a board member by emailing us at the address below.
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Affordability Technology for SBUSD Families
Computers 2 SD Kids (C2SDK) is a non-profit organization that assists qualified children and their families to obtain computers, software, training and support in order to help them become computer literate as well as increase their access to educational, occupational and financial resources and the related skills to effectively use that technology. C2SDK's prime goal is to place the needed computers into the homes of 28% of San Diego County families who cannot afford this essential educational tool. For more information, please see the flyer. The application may be completed online or printed and filled-out by hand. Please note the deadline for application submission is Monday, February 13, 2017.
Questions and applications may be sent to Jen Oliveira or at 619-628-1614.
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Save the Date
On Saturday, March 11, we will be hosting Discover South Bay at the District Education Center (601 Elm Avenue). This event is for current District families and community members from outside South Bay. District leaders, school principals, and staff will highlight the new programs and initiatives at our sites. Many of our community partners will also be participating, including our Military School Liaison and the Boys & Girls Club. There will also be opportunities to register for Kindergarten and apply for site transfers. Stop by between 9:00-12:00 and Discover South Bay!
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