Superintendent Message – April 8, 2019

  • Welcome guests to our board meeting and welcome back Sweetwater Staff!
  • Even though our schools have been on a two-week break, we continue to have student and staff accomplishments:
  • Recently, I announced our Teachers of the Year! Tonight, I want to announce our classified employees of the year – OTBS is Carla Hammonds, Registrar at MoM; OSS is Cesar Ceballos,Transportation; Paraprofessionals is Sonny Jaramillo, Campus Assistant at OLH; NAGE  is Lisa McCaughey, Nutrition Services Supervisor.   Congratulations to our classified employees of the year!
  • SoM was recognized as an AVID Schoolwide Site of Distinction! That means SoM is acknowledged as a college readiness system for their commitment to equity and opportunity for all students on campus; for promoting rigorous academic opportunities; and for deploying high effective, research-based instructional practices across the school.
  • Heather Fax-Huckaby, SUHI and Steve Selland, SoH were selected for the Model Coach Award by State CIF Eastbay. They were chosen because they serve as positive role models in their school and community and who have exhibited the traits apparent in the 16 principles of Pursuing Victory with Honor. There are only 13 coaches chosen in the entire state and we have two right here in Sweetwater. Congratulations Coach Fax-Huckaby and Coach Selland!
  • Last week at the 47th Annual Awards Banquet for the National Football Foundation honoring Scholar Leader Athletes. The foundation recognized four of our scholar athletes – Congratulations to
  • Damon Thomas, MVH; Isaiah Morineau, CPH; Noah Isley, ORH; Jared Desmond, OLH.
  • While we’re talking about positive role models, Coordinator of Athletics
  • Joe Heinz was selected as the 2019 San Diego County Athletic Director of the Year at the annual California Athletic Directors conference. Well-deserved Mr. Heinz!
  • Last Friday evening, the Bonita Museum & Cultural Center hosted an artist’s reception entitled, “People, Places, & Things.” The artists are students from ELM and ELH – it was a collection of high-quality student art works supported and guided by
  • ELH teacher Juan Arteaga and ELM teacher Andrea Arroyo. There was so much talent and creativity in that one location. Great job to the students and special thanks and appreciation to both teachers who helped make this happen during their Spring Break. Thank you all! The exhibit will be shown at the Bonita Museum through April 26th.
  • SUHI Librarian Barbara Chappell-Brown was honored by Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher as one of the Women of the Year in the 80th District. Ms. Chappell-Brown is constantly looking for ways to support the students, staff, and families in National City. Again, another well-deserved recognition. And, it’s perfect timing because this week is National Library Week!
  • And, last but certainly not least, we are so proud of our very own Student Board Member
  • Brenna Pangelinan! Let me share why…Brenna sent in an application to enter into the State Board Student Member selection process back in late summer. She made it to the 12 finalists.  The 12 finalists attended the Student Advisory Board on Education Conference in early November in Sacramento to be interviewed by students and other panels at the state level. I remember listening to her 3-minute speech she prepared where she said she wanted to represent all student voices – not only those who enroll in Advanced Placement classes – she wants to represent student voices who may be invisible at the local and state level. In December, she was notified she was then one of three finalists for the 2019-20 State Board seat with the final step to be completed around March. Brenna traveled to Sacramento again the first week of March to be interviewed by Governor Newsome’s staff. Just making it to the top three in the state was an incredible accomplishment!  Meanwhile, Brenna was elected as ELH’s ASB President for next year. Then, on Thursday, March 28th, Brenna texted me that she got the official call and she was selected as the next Student Member of the State Board of Education for the 2019-20 school year. This has been a long process; Brenna has been persistent. Every step along the way, she represented Sweetwater students and the district with poised confidence as an articulate advocate for student voice. We have observed how when she sets her mind to something, she approaches it methodically and passionately – remember how she narrated the public service announcement for Sweetwater’s First Suicide Prevention Community Forum? I asked Brenna to share her resume and other information about her that could help me write a letter of recommendation for her. In my letter I wrote that I believed she would be an effective State Student Board Member because she sincerely “believes the answers to our problems are right before us, if only we take the time to open our eyes and look around us.” Brenna Pangelinan, you are quite remarkable and we are convinced you will make a significant difference in our district, our community, and our state, because you take initiative on issues that matter! Congratulations!
  • Finally, we have had more than our share of rain this season. Living where we live, we are not always glad to see the rain, the clouds, the mud, and all that comes with the rain. Yet, without it, summer’s lushness would be less vibrant, we would see brown landscape instead of green. For many years of a drought, rain is always recognized for the blessing that it is, the forerunner of flowers and fruit.
  • Even though most of us prefer sunshine to rain, we can appreciate the rain as part of the intertwining cycle of opposites that makes our world go round – wet and dry, dark and light, cold and warm – each giving way to the other in equal measures. This dynamic of yin and yang governs all aspects of life, and rain and flowers are no exception.
  • Their interdependence offers us another window into the inner workings of nature and life in general. In our personal lives, there is also a time for resting and a time for growth, a time to give and receive. As the rain continues in April, we might allow it to clear our minds and hearts, washing away the debris of winter, preparing us for the second half of spring, ready to start fresh and new.
  • Welcome back everyone! Next week we start our LCAP Trustee Area Meetings. Invitations will be sent to parents/students/staff and posted on the district website.
  • Thank you for the opportunity to serve you!