Victor Elementary School District

After 15 years of service for Victor Elementary School District, Mr. Pringle will be moving to Apple Valley, and therefore resigning from the school board. A reception is planned for March 10, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. at The Academy, 14907 South Mojave Dr., Victorville (immediately preceding the 7:00 p.m. regular board meeting).

The Victor Elementary School District is seeking a person to fill a school board vacancy as a result of Willie Pringle’s resignation. Anyone interested should write a letter of interest answering the following questions:

1. Why are you interested in applying for the school board vacancy?

2. What do you think you can contribute to the educational process?

3. What other pertinent information would you like the board to consider?

The letter needs to be received by March 1, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. Please mail to:

Victor Elementary School District

ATTENTION: SUPERINTENDENT’S OFFICE

15579 8th Street

Victorville, CA 92395

Interviews will be held between March 11 – 25, 2010, and it is expected that the appointed person will take the seat at the April 7, 2010 board meeting. If further information is needed, please contact the superintendent at (760) 245-1691.

Fourteen San Bernardino County schools were named 2009 – 10 Title I Academic Achievement Award recipients on February 11, 2010. Sixth Street Prep is among those schools, for the 5^th year in a row! There were 238 schools statewide who received this recognition out of nearly 6,000 Title I schools in California.

The Title I Academic Achievement Award is given to schools who receive federal Title I funds under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Title I is the largest federal education program for K-12. These funds help schools meet the educational needs of students living at or near the poverty level.

The Title I Academic Achievement Award criteria have become more rigorous in recent years. To meet the criteria, the school must demonstrate that all students are making significant progress toward proficiency on California’s academic content standards, as well as doubling the achievement goals that were set for them for two consecutive years.

The 2009-10 awardees will be honored at a reception and banquet at the Disneyland Hotel on April 21, 2010. For more information about the California Title I Academic Achievement Award program, please visit the California Department of Education Web site at Academic Achievement Awards – School/Teacher Recognition.

On February 10th Victor Elementary hosted another successful Academic Strategic Planning. Thank you to all of the business leaders, community members, parents, students and staff that participated in the planning session. A lot of great ideas were generated during the planning session. VESD looks forward to working with the individuals that volunteered for the sub committees to continue the work that was started during this meeting. Dr. Marsden presented a valuable look into the future of our current students and what the world is going to look like when they enter the job market. Take a look at this slide show from the opening of academic strategic planning to gain a glimpse into what is going on in the world around us and what VESD is planning for our students.

Over the past few years, several of our schools have been participating in the National SAM (School Administration Manager) Project. The program is now in place in over 300 schools in 9 different states. It is a voluntary, individualized professional development opportunity in which the principal focuses their time and energy on fulfilling their most important role as Instructional Leader, while the SAM takes care of all things not instruction related in the course of the school day, and oversees the school operation and classified staff . Currently, the principal/SAM teams who are participating are from Challenger, Del Rey, Liberty, Park View and Village schools.

Two of these teams were invited to attend the 3rd Annual National SAM/Principal Conference, which was held in Florida in January. Participants were fortunate to hear Andy Hargreaves, author of The Fourth Way, and Susan Scott, author of Fierce Leadership. This year the teams from Park View and Liberty attended, and we are grateful to Mark Shellinger, National Project Director, for providing the funding so they could attend.

Performing an Internal Assessment of an organization requires a strong understanding of the Baldrige National Quality Program Criteria for Performance Excellence and its scoring system. This interactive, hands-on, two-day workshop teachesattendees how to evaluatetheir organization using that Criteria. This certification course helpsattendeesdevelop assessment implementation strategies that can improve performance throughout their organization.

Througha generous grant from the Boeing Company, VESD wasable to offer the 2010 Internal Assessor Certification Course featuring renown quality expert Ruth Miller. Ruth is a California Awards for Performance Excellence (CAPE) and a National Baldrige Examiner.She has also worked with school districts all over the state to coach them in their quality journey. Twenty-five VESD employees (classified, certificated and managers) attended the training. Many expressed that it was the most valuable and practical training they had ever received.

VESD is pleased to announce that the following schools have been selected by California Business for Education Excellence (CBEE) as a part of 1,304 public schools in California to receive the title of 2009 Honor Roll School:

Del Rey Elementary

Discovery School of the Arts

Endeavour School of Exploration

Galileo 101

Sixth Street Prep School

Schools receiving this distinction from CBEE have demonstrated consistent high student academic achievement and have made significant progress toward closing achievement gaps among all their students. We are thrilled these 5 schools have been selected as Honor Roll schools and recognized by California’s business community. Our teachers and administrators are committed to working tirelessly to ensure the focus is on student academic achievement and reaching grade-level proficiency. We hold all of our students to the same high standards, regardless of their background, because we believe they can all meet them.

“We all know from the success of these schools that it’s possible for all schools and all students in California to reach high levels of academic achievement and to close achievement gaps,” said Kirk Clark, executive director of CBEE. “By highlighting Honor Roll schools, recognizing their achievement and giving them a voice, we hope other schools can learn from these schools’ proven ‘best practices’ and achieve the same results.”

On Monday, November 16, Juliette Rizzo from the U. S. Department of Education was on hand to present the students and staff of Sixth Street Prep School with a beautiful plaque and a flag commemorating their National Blue Ribbon School award for 2009. The students had prepared some words about how they feel being a part of such a successful school, and it was evident they are very proud of their achievement. The students said they look forward to even greater accomplishments in the future.

On November 17, the school hosted a celebration dinner event. In attendance were the Victor Elementary School Board, VESD superintendent Dale Marsden, assistant superintendents, principals and Sixth Street Prep staff. Also in attendance were Vicki Cabriales and Yvonne Hester from the City of Victorville, Chico Garza from the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools office, David Zook and Jesse Flores from the San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt’s office, and Juliette Rizzo from the U. S. Department of Education. The school was honored with proclamations, certificates and plaques from the city, the county and the U. S. Department of Education. It was a perfect evening to recognize not only the achievement of “the little school that could,” but also the supportive “village” that helped “the little engine climb the hill” to Blue Ribbon success. VESD is very proud of the students and staff of Sixth Street Prep School – CONGRATULATIONS on a job well-done!

Click here for a link to the Daily Press article.

On October 26th, the American Society for Quality, the world’s leading membership organization devoted to quality, honored Victor Elementary School District with the 2009 Silver Education Team Excellence Award. Competing with school districts throughout the nation, VESD was recognized for its progress in closing the achievement gap between it’s highest and lowest performing schools. At the National Quality in Education Conference in Jacksonville, Florida, a VESD “Closing the Achievement Gap Team” showcased how the district used quality tools to make process improvements to enhance student achievement results and leverage student performance. Superintendent, Dr. Dale Marsden, along with Principals Linda Mikels and Ailene Cammon, accepted the award and were honored for their commitment to continuous improvement and effective quality initiatives. We’re very proud of the team and all the hard work put into achieving the results that earned them this honor!

Submitted by Steve Potter

At Mojave Vista we are committed to a “Professional Learning Community” approach. As a part of our commitment, we have identified several professional development opportunities that we have in-house. We have also built in weekly time for our support staff to release classroom teachers to visit other classrooms, making teacher learning the #1 priority. During trimester meetings last week, we had the chance to go on a “learning walk” through three classrooms. Christine Skelton, Michael Picarelli and Debbie Miller graciously gave us the opportunity to see first-hand various strategies using 5 and 10-a-days in their classrooms. With the valuable combinations of power teaching and white boards, these teachers provided us a glimpse into their 5 and 10-a-days regimens. While all had different teaching styles and classroom set ups, each lesson was presented in a manner that was effective and engaging. Prior to the visit, we were informed of what was expected of us as visitors in our colleagues’ classrooms and were given the opportunity to ask questions in regards to the routines and procedures. Overall, this was a very valuable time for us to take that next step!

If you click on the picture below, and click on the next view of it, it will enlarge for better visibility.

Click here for a link to the article in the Daily Press about VESD’s Sixth Street Prep School! Great job, everyone! We’re proud of you!