Welcome to our board meeting!
Happy Birthday George Washington!

If you remember from my last message, this is President Washington’s actual birthday based upon the Gregorian calendar!

In honor of Mr. Washington, I would like to take time to celebrate other recent achievements and accomplishments in our Sweetwater community. Congratulations to Olympian HS’ Academic Decathlon team who won the San Diego County’s competition! Kudos to the students and their Head Coach Ken Boulton, Assistant Coaches Dr. Ben Fabian and Jorge Solorio.

That’s excellent news! Also, congratulations to SUHI’s Academic Decathlon team who took 2nd Place in the county. Again, applause to SUHI students and Head Coach Meg Garcia, Asst. Coach Eric Esperon. Both teams have been invited to compete for the state championships in March!

This past weekend the 17th Annual Math Field Day where teams of students compete in a variety of math problems and math situations. All middle schools participated in this event where students get an opportunity to change their perspective about math and empower them in ways that inspire their future. Thank you to the teachers advisors: Aaron Mendez – BVM, Cathy Morgan – CPM, Joseph Allard – CVM, Kurt Ulle – ELM, Sarah Mancero – GJ, Raul Flores – HM, Angelica Valverde – MVA, Erin Parker – MoM, Jay Jones – NCM, Kenny Lam – RDR, Jorge Cervantes – SoM.

Appreciation to district coordinators Dennis Williams and Robert Davis; Program Assistant Cecelia Cota; and GJ Assistant Principal Lora Bumatay who hosted the event as well as other principals and administrators who attended to support students and staff. And the winners are: 1st Place – Rancho del Rey; 2nd Place Eastlake Middle; 3rd Place – Granger Jr. High. Congratulations to all winners and participants!

Granger Jr. High School was recognized as one of California’s Schools to Watch – Taking Center Stage (STW-TCS). STW-TCS identifies model middle schools that are academically excellent, developmentally responsive to the needs of young adolescents, socially equitable, and have a culture of strong collaborative leadership. GJ previously earned this distinction in 2013 and have now qualified to be re-designated in 2016. Principal Rich Carreon and his staff will be acknowledged this Friday at the California League of Middle Schools Annual Conference in Sacramento! Congratulations GJ Griffins!

And, ACSA (Association of California School Administrators) Region 18 (which is all of San Diego and Imperial Counties) has selected two of our staff for recognition. Co-Award winner of Region 18 Secondary Principal is Maria Esther Lizarraga of ELH and Co-Award winner of Region 18 Confidential Employee is Carolina Zimmerman of Fiscal Services. Congratulations Maria Esther and Carolina! Both will be recognized at a March 18th ACSA Honoring Our Own dinner!

As you can tell our students, staff and schools are thriving in many ways and on many levels. This is because we have incredible students and phenomenal staff. But that does not happen automatically! These kinds of achievements and accomplishments happen for a multitude or reasons, one reason being because of the Pygmalion effect.

The Pygmalion effect is the phenomenon whereby higher expectations lead to an increase in performance. The effect is named after the Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved. Enamored by the beauty of his own making, Pygmalion begs the gods to give him a wife in the likeness of the statue. The gods grant the request, and the statue comes to life. Remember My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison?

George Bernard Shaw adopted Pygmalion for the title of his play about Professor Henry Higgins whose sense of self-efficacy is grandiose. He believes that he can, over time, help Eliza Doolittle change her appearance, speech and behavior to be seen as a duchess rather than her previous experience and circumstances in life. Professor Higgins BELIEVED she was very capable of elevating herself in English society. If you saw the movie then you know that goal was achieved!

This Pygmalion effect research is described as a form of the self-fulfilling prophecy in educational settings. Basically Rosenthal’s research found when teachers classify students as bright and expect great intellectual growth, these students succeed and meet expectations while students who are not expected to perform as well fall under par due to discouragement and a lack of motivation.

With the Pygmalion effect, people internalize their positive labels and those with positive labels succeed accordingly. Teacher expectations influence student performance and leader expectations influence adult performance. This is a part of the story of our successful students and staff. What we believe about people is our perception and our perception can become the reality. If we value our students’ and staff abilities, it helps to create that climate of success. So, what kind of learning climate are we creating across our district?

• Is it similar to what bumblebees believe? In theory, bumblebees should not be able to fly. In the early part of the 20th century, science pronounced bumblebees aerodynamically incapable of flight. Their ratio of body weight to wingspan is disproportionate; therefore, with this explanation bumblebees should not be able to fly.

• Well, I guess no one told the bumblebees. Because, despite what science said, bumblebees can There is no doubt they can fly, they believe it and are confident every time they leave the ground, they fly!

• Embracing the Pygmalion effect works in the same way. When we have high expectations for our students and our employees, and we BELIEVE they can do it, in the majority of cases, success happens! People achieve, people accomplish, people excel, people learn, people take risks, please believe in themselves, and people grow in confidence.

My message tonight is I believe in our students and staff! I have high expectations of all of us, including myself! I’m confident we will meet and exceed those expectations in all areas! We not only have the knowledge and experience to succeed, we also have the will to make it happen!

Thank you for the opportunity to serve and support our students, our families, our staff and our community!