Superintendent's Newsletter

You may also read the Superintendent's Newsletter on our homepage in the "Latest Headlines" section.

I have been asked a number of times why we didn’t change the junior high school to five days per week just like the elementary schools. The answer is complex because the Blended Learning model in junior high school is very different than in elementary school.

This month, our junior high students experienced a major schedule and staffing change due to the move to Blended Learning. Each time the junior high school schedule is changed, it impacts every one of our junior high students, both Blended and Virtual, whether they want a schedule change or not. In our elementary schools, when a student changes their schedule, it is only that particular student whose schedule is changed.

Therefore, the administrative team and I will be discussing the addition of more academic and social time on campus for Blended Learning students, without impacting students who do not want a schedule change. In our junior high schools this year, more than ever, the impact of any schedule change is shared among the entire school population.

Principal Narula and Principal Rocha are meeting with the junior high reopening task force this week to discuss plans. Before Spring Break, we will share these plans with our families, so please stay tuned.

The LASD Equity Task Force is comprised of a diverse group of 7 LASD staff, 7 LASD parents and one LASD Board member. The charge of the Task Force is to review evidence of the LASD Equity Policy's implementation in our schools and provide critical feedback and recommendations to the Superintendent.

The Equity Policy has nine focus areas, each of which the Task Force is reviewing. The Task Force began with Curriculum and Instructional Materials, which was the focus of the update at the LASD Board of Trustees' meeting last week.

The LASD Equity Policy states that our schools should ensure the district adopts age-appropriate curriculum and instructional materials that teach equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-bias, and about the injustices people of color still face to this day.

The Task Force recommendations included:

• Improve access to and use of diverse texts

• Build alignment and predictability in inclusive and culturally relevant projects, field trips and celebrations of diversity

• Develop/curate curriculum and instructional materials to better align instruction in Social Science

• Adopt a framework to guide instruction of equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-bias and social justice

• Develop/curate instructional materials to align instruction with the adopted anti-bias framework

• Provide teachers with professional development and ongoing support in implementing new social studies and anti-bias instructional resources.

• Review progress at regular intervals and share updates with the community

For more information, please check out item H.2. from our recent Board of Trustees meeting agenda online.

Our school district is proud to be piloting a new program to help students struggling with reading to meet new milestones and build their literacy skills. We have teamed up with our longtime partners at Mentor Tutor Connection to build a great program to bolster struggling students' reading skills.

Our Reading Fellows Program involves local volunteers working 4-5 times per week for 30 minutes per day in one-on-one reading tutoring sessions with students who require additional support. Our Fellows focus on phonics, phonological awareness, word-level reading and comprehension.

We are currently piloting this program at Almond Elementary School, but plan to expand the program in Fall 2021 with the opening of the new school year.

The support of local community volunteers has been incredible, with approximately 20 volunteers on board. All volunteers are trained through an intensive course to learn how to help students build and grow their reading skills.

If you are interested in volunteering to be a Reading Fellows tutor, keep your eye out for a communication in coming months with information about how you can receive training and begin working with our students.

This year, it has been more important than ever for our students to build digital citizenship skills. For that reason, LASD updated its Digital Citizenship curriculum this year, following updates from Common Sense Media.

We've created lessons for each grade level for all teachers to utilize with their students. Below is just one example of an exercise about media balance for our youngest students. The lessons your children will experience this year include privacy and security, cyberbullying, media balance, and news & media literacy, among others. All lessons are tailored for each grade-level for appropriate and actionable learning students can implement themselves in daily life.

Website: losaltosschools.org
Location: 201 Covington Road, Los Altos, CA, USA