Beyond the Blackboard

Mandarin Headed to Capistrano Unified

This mostly from Capistrano Unified School District after Monday's meeting:

Capistrano Unified School District trustees on Monday approved a Mandarin Chinese immersion program, the first in an Orange County public school system and one of about 80 nationwide.

The program should be in place in the South Orange County school district by the 2012-2013 school year.

“A challenging economic environment is no excuse for not being able to offer new and innovative educational programs requested by our community,” Board Clerk John M. Alpay said in a statement. “There is intense demand for this language, and in an era of school choice and competition, our ability to offer this program to our families reaffirms this District’s status as an innovative provider of quality education.”

Alpay, a corporate attorney who represents San Clemente, suggested and pushed for the program.

While English is the language spoken by academics, businesspeople, aviators, and other global professionals and is the world’s third most popular language, Mandarin is the world’s most spoken language with more than 1 billion speakers, the district said. The program has proven to be welcomed by parents countywide, with 165 families having committed their students to attend the program. 

“The third pillar of the District’s strategic plan is academic achievement and enrichment. Adding this program fits right into the vision for helping student become successful in both college and career,” Trustee Anna Bryson said. “Allowing students this intense language focus will ensure that they are bilingual and biliterate when they graduate, which gives them an advantage over many of their peers who will not have this opportunity.”

Students who choose to attend the program would begin in kindergarten or first grade with 80 percent of instruction taking place in Mandarin. The program will be phased in with kindergarten, and, if feasible, first grade. The program will be placed at an existing school site, and utilize the same open enrollment policies currently in place for the district’s successful Spanish two-way immersion programs.

The Capistrano Unified School District serves 53,000 students in a 195-square-mile area of South Orange County. For more information on the Mandarin immersion program, please contact Amy Bryant, director of curriculum and instructional support, at 949.234.9254.

Read more: The Capistrano Dispatch - Capistrano Trustees Approve Mandarin Chinese Immersion Program 

District Attorney Says No Brown Action Violations at Capo Unified, but Calls Atmosphere 'Toxic'

The District Attorney's Office has issued a report that clears Capistrano Unified School District is innocent of any Brown Act violations during the saga of restoring some of the cuts made to teachers' contracts last year.

The DA earlier issued a report saying there was a violation, but Capistrano Unified officials protested, and the DA's Office agreed to reconsider. This time, after interviewing all of the trustees, the DA says some things might have looked like violations of the state's public meeting law, but actually weren't.

The 26-page report painstakingly, and in some cases painfully, goes over the meetings, discussions and debates leading up to the restoration, through the public meeting held after the restoration to reaffirm the decision.

The report says two trustees -- presumably Ellen Addonizio and Sue Palazzo -- complained to the DA about the potential Brown Act violations, as did a resident. That would have been Jim Reardon, who sued the district over the issue but ultimately dropped it when the case was gutted by a judge.

While saying there were no violations, the DA doesn't go so far as to say all is well in CUSD. The report notes trustees could still use additional Brown Act training, and that closed sessions should be recorded.

And then there's this:

"The Superintendent feared that a public discussion of the restoration of hte furlough days and pay cuts would potentially intimidate the new Board into reneging on the contract, resulting more labor strife. There was a desire to avoid such contention and to restore calm in the wake of last year's labor dispute and the charged political atmosphere of the recall.

"While such feelings are certainly understandable, it bears noting that democracy, with limited exception, does not contemplate elected officials making decisions behind closed doors to avoid public paritcipation with its potential for loud opposition. It may be natural human nature to wish to avoid such unpleasantness, but democratically elected governments demand public officials of sterner stuff."

It gets stronger on page 25:

"The OCDA's investigation also revealed what can be described as a seemingly toxic atmosphere within the halls of CUSD. Evidence revealed examples of condescension or disdain for other Board  members or dissenting members of the public. Meaninful discussion was replaced by facetious motions and political theater. Accusations and recriminations were repeatedly recounted. The motivations of colleagues and others were questioned or impugned. While mutual recriminations and concerns for contractional obligations, professional positions, political agendas, and labor peace were expressed, one was left with the impression that the very object of the entire organization, the education of the community's children, had been allowed to fade into the background. The public has a right to expect that those charged with educating their children lay aside their personal animosities and agendas to focus on the true purpose of the positions they occupy.

The report goes on to talk about trustees who didn't want their statement taped, who wouldn't be interviewed in front of CUSD attorneys, etc.

Here's the entire report:

Download Final DA Letter on CUSD

Meeting Examines the Role of the Federal Government in Education

The Capistrano Bay League of Women Votes will hold its second in a series of sessions on the "The Role of the Federal Government in Education"on Wednesday.

The group will hear about the national common core standards and their assessments.

League member and high school teacher Cristina Leon will be the speaker.

The group meets from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Dana Point Library, 33841 Niguel Road in Dana Point. The meeting is open to the public.

See the group's website for more information.

A Dozen National Merit Semi-Finalists for Capistrano Unified

this just in ... (as a Capo guy I have to proudly note the two semi-finalists from San Juan Hills...but we should each of the district's regular high schools has a semi-finalist.)

12 SENIORS NAMED NATIONAL MERIT SEMIFINALISTS

District Students Compete for College Scholarships

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO—A dozen Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) seniors have been named semifinalists in the 57^th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program, officials from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced today.

The 12 students are part of approximately 16,000 semifinalists, which represents less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors. Last year, 20 CUSD students reached the semifinals; 10 were eventually named National Merit Scholars.

“We are proud of these students and their commitment to academic excellence,” Superintendent Joe Farley said. “Being named among the top one percent of students in the nation is an incredible accomplishment. We also need to thank these students’ families and teachers for supporting and encouraging these bright young minds.”

The District’s semifinalists are: Jacob Joseph, Charles H. Leo, Alexandra L. Mardock, and Derrick Xin from Aliso Niguel High School; Shana Hu and Marisa L. Shimano from Dana Hills High School; Valen B. Crain from Capistrano Valley High School; Regine J. Goh and Vivek Manjunath from Tesoro High School; Elena N. Gacek from San Clemente High School; and Kiana R. Hui and Dominick E. Wong from San Juan Hills High School.

These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $34 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and more than half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the National Merit Scholar title.

About 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools entered the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

Finalists will be announced in February.

CUSD Board has High Praise for Farley

Capistrano Unified School District Trustee Gary Pritchard announced at Monday's meeting that the board have reviewed Superintendent Joe Farley's work in closed session, then read the following statement:

"The board believes Dr. Farley is exactly the type of leader CUSD needs at this time. His sound leadership as proven to be a stabilizing force in the district. The board believes that Dr. Farley’s experience and enthusiasm for instructional excellence makes the district an exciting place to learn and teach.

The board looks forward to a productive 2011-12 school year with Dr. Farley leading our district toward meeting our  goals and addressing our challenges.

Thank you very much Dr. Farley."

Trustee Anna Bryson added a few more laudatory comments, too. It was just last May when trustees announced Farley would be taking the helm of CUSD.

Capistrano Unified Schools Cancelled Friday

Note: Even if power returns, classes are cancelled Friday.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO—All schools in the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) will be closed on Friday, Sept. 9, 2011, due to the power outage affecting Southern Orange and San Diego counties.
The District, like many school districts serviced by San Diego Gas and Electric, has decided to cancel classes for its students. A decision regarding Friday evening sporting events has not yet been made.
“We have no assurance that power will be restored by the time school begins tomorrow morning, and local emergency jurisdictions have advised the District to suspend classes until power is restored,” Superintendent Joe Farley said. “We are sorry for the obvious inconvenience to our working families, but it is clearly not proper to have students in school without electricity to power key systems including lights, refrigeration, and computers.”
The decision to close schools was made for a number of reasons, including the lack of power at school sites and the difficulty many staff members will have commuting to work from their homes in Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties. Only the CUSD staff members who have been specifically notified should report to work on Friday, Sept. 9.
Power is expected to be restored in time for school on Monday. For more information, please call the District’s Hotline at (949) 234-5575, which will be open at 7 a.m. or visit the District website at www.capousd.org .

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