March 3, 2005

SCHOOL SCENEin Almaden Valley

Almaden elementary school cracks down on sick students

Los Alamitos principal urges parents to send sick students to class for roll call to earn attendance dollars

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

Being sick is no longer an excuse for children to stay home and miss their daily roll call in the morning at one Almaden school.

To avoid losing the $33.10 average daily attendance per pupil expenditure allowance from the California Department of Education, Los Alamitos School Principal Lisa Gonzales is asking parents to dress their ill children in their uniforms and bring them to campus for the regular school head count.

In her February letter to parents, published in the school’s monthly newsletter “Lion’s Roar,” Gonzales indicates the school’s January perfect attendance list is “rather small” and encourages them to bring their sick children to campus for attendance if they must bring other non-ill children to the school.

In January the district lost $14,100 in revenue, she says, due to absences at the school.

“Clearly we don’t want children here getting others sick. However, you might want to consider, if you have more than one child and one is sick but is here on campus with you to drop off the other, have him put on his/her uniform, check in with the teacher for attendance and then take him/her home. If your child is here for attendance, we do receive the funds for the day,” Gonzales wrote in the newsletter.

According to parents this is not the first time Gonzales has urged parents to bring sick students to school for attendance purposes. Several teachers and parents complained about Gonzales’ letter, stating they don’t want sick children near them or their healthy children, not even for attendance purposes to avoid losing education dollars that bring revenue to the school.

Contacted by telephone at the school, Gonzales declined comment saying, “Even though it makes a whole lot of sense I have a handful of teachers who are really upset with that. It’s sort of like being between a rock and a hard place.”

Los Alamitos PTA President Jim Kateley said he was aware of Gonzales’ request and said the organization would discuss the issue at its next monthly meeting, but said, so far, no parents had complained to him directly about the change in policy.

“This is indicative of the sad state of funding for education in California that schools are compelled to go to extremes to keep their revenue streams going. It’s pretty sad,” Kateley said, speaking for himself and not the school’s PTA group.

He complained that because education funding is tied to student attendance, teachers and district officials are getting nervous and worried about possible school closures and drastic academic program cuts if attendance levels drop.

Asked if he would follow Gonzales’ suggestion, Kateley, who has two children in first and fourth grades at Los Alamitos, said he would consider taking his kids to school based on how sick they were.

“If I have a sick child that can’t leave the house, I have a sick that can’t leave the house,” he said. “But you do have situations where you have a child that’s sick, but not sick enough to miss the entire day of school. It’s kind of tough,” he said.

Simonds Elementary School Principal Linda Kakes said her campus enforces the district’s student attendance policy excusing students from attending classes due to illnesses, which may require a doctor’s note when they last more than a few days.

“We certainly understand that there are times when kids are sick and we appreciate the parents keeping them home because we don’t want them to infect the other kids. We’ve been hit hard with the flu virus,” said Kakes, adding that schools are facing difficult budget issues and are therefore working hard to improve their attendance records as they’re directly related to money received for academic programs.

“Definitely, when a child is running a temperature, is sick to their stomach or is ill, we don’t want them here,” Kakes added.

After Gonzales was contacted by the Almaden Times Weekly regarding the change in the attendance policy, San Jose Unified School District spokeswoman Karen Fuqua explained the principal had urged the parents to bring their sick kids to school for roll call because a small number of nonchalant parents with mildly ill children visit the campus, sometimes for up to an hour—their sick kids in tow—when they have volunteer work or other school business to attend to. She said the letter was intended for those parents.

“It’s not our policy. If kids are ill they should be home. We don’t want them spreading germs,” Fuqua said.

“Unless the child is going to be in the classroom, the parent needs to go home with the child.”

Fuqua said Gonzales is writing another letter to parents and teachers clarifying her original statement and asking sick children to stay home. “We don’t want children dragged in and have them registered just for the dollars. She (Gonzales) knows it came out wrong. It wasn’t supposed to be so direct,” Fuqua added.

“She’s going to tell the parents that either their child is in class or is at home,” she continued. “She’s going to tell them if they’re on campus with their child, they should have their child checked in for attendance because they’re there with their children, because they’re well enough to be on campus. There’s no reason why that child should not be on our attendance roll. It’s a fine line….”

Several members of the cast live in Almaden including Ashlie Hiller (seated), and from left, Katy Ullmann, Kurtis Harl and Christina Carey (standing). Almaden cast members not pictured are Brian Carey and Clayton Lawrence. Photo by Russ Lee

Local students present ‘Into the Woods’ at Leigh High School

Leigh High School’s spring musical, “Into the Woods” by Stephen Sondheim will feature several students on stage, in the orchestra, and behind the scenes working in the tech crew who live in Almaden.

The cast and orchestra features many choral and instrumental students from Leigh High School’s internationally-acclaimed Madrigal Singers and Wind Ensemble. Both groups received Command Performance and placed first in the Pacific Basin Invitational Music Competition in Hawaii last year.

Last March, Leigh High School produced the Bay Area Premiere of “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” which was nominated in four categories including Best Musical in the American Musical Theater High School Awards Program.

The musical will be presented March 10, 11 and 12, and 17, 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m. at Leigh High School. The Box Office opens at 7 p.m. The tickets, which are reserved seating only, are $10 each or four for $35. Visit the production’s Web site at www.geocities.com/leighcenterstage or call (408) 323-9545 for further information.