Welcome to our board meeting!
On Saturday evening, the 25th Annual Salute to Teachers event was held at the Balboa Theater downtown San Diego. The house was packed and everyone who attended purposefully went to celebrate, acknowledge and cheer on our county’s Teacher of the Year nominees. There were 44 nominees and Sweetwater sent five teachers forward. They are Laurie Baker-Worthington – HM; Blakeslee Detisch – MoM; Diane Ince – CPM; Armando Leon – MVA; and Gale Marshburn – SYH.
At the end of the evening, one of our own, Armando Leon, was selected as one of five San Diego County Teachers of the Year. Congratulations to all nominees and Teacher of the Year Mr. Leon! All research conducted around student achievement cites the classroom teacher as the most significant factor that impacts student learning. I love those bumper stickers that say, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.” Yes, teachers are responsible for educating our nation.
Yes, teachers impart knowledge, critical thinking skills, and the environment that is conducive to creativity. And teachers care about sharing that knowledge with students. But, teachers also care about the relational aspect of teaching. Teachers take time to establish a trusting and caring connection with their students, who in turn become more receptive to what’s being taught! Teachers take the time to get to know their student’s interests, talents and needs, that helps them prepare lessons and helps students feel the partnership of the learning experience. We all know and can name a favorite teacher, a teacher who inspired and motivated us to become the best we can be.
I encourage you to make time to send a note, an email, a FB message to that very special teacher who positively impacted your life. I would like to call out some of mine: from Palomar Elementary – Mrs. Johnson, my kindergarten teacher and Mrs. Tecker, my 6th grade teacher who inspired me to become a teacher. From Castle Park Jr. High – Mr. David Knight, Mrs. Frances King, and Mrs. Nancy Rinner; from Bonita Vista Jr. High – Mr. Bob Strickler, Mrs. Dorothy Murphy and Mr. Warren Hermann; from Bonita Vista HS – Mrs. Elaine Watt, Mrs. Carol O’Connell and Mr. George Clayton. These teachers had a very powerful impact on me personally and professionally.
Each of these teachers found a way to connect with me as a student and motivated me to do my best academically while communicating that they cared about me personally. Hats off to all of our Sweetwater teachers for the ways you build our student’s habits of mind and help to inspire students through developing habits of the heart!
Last meeting I mentioned we are revisiting the LCAP process over the month of October. We held our first Trustee area LCAP Stakeholder meeting last week at CVM. Over 120 students, parents and staff from SUHI, GJ, NCM, CVH, CVM and CVA participated in lively discussion focused on our new goals. We learned that our stakeholders were excited about sharing their ideas and we found out we needed a little more time than planned to listen to those ideas. As a reminder our goals are:
- Ensure excellence in Teaching and Learning so each student is prepared to succeed in college and career.
- Create a safe and healthy learning environment by building a culture of equity and a positive climate that promotes excellence throughout the district.
- Foster and honor parent and community engagement to support excellence in student success.
- Develop coherent and transparent systems for operational excellence.
The next meeting for Trustee Area 2 will be hosted Oct. 22 at BVM and includes, BVH, BVM, HH, HM, CVA, Palomar and OSS. We hope you will join us. All this information, including the dates of the trustee area meetings will be shared with you through via our district website as well as your school. We are confident that our plan will better serve our students when we all participate in the conversation together.
Finally, the Board of Trustees and I want staff, students, parents and community to know that showing up each day to work in our district matters. Staff presence makes a difference for overall student well being whether you are a teacher, counselor, support staff, administrator or district office employee.
In an effort to recognize and acknowledge that “showing up every day” is appreciated, every staff member who had PERFECT ATTENDANCE for the first nine weeks of school – July 20 – September 18 – is receiving a certificate of achievement this week. How many staff or what percentage would you predict came to work every day schools were in session? 1%, 5 or 10%, more than 50%? Well, we had 1103 employees who had perfect attendance and we applaud and thank you for your dedication and commitment.
We plan to continue this recognition of staff every nine weeks. So, if you didn’t make it the first quarter, I encourage you to make it the second quarter. Congratulations to all perfect attenders!
Thank you for the opportunity to serve and support you!
Sincerely,
Karen Janney, Ed.D.