April 13, 2006

SCHOOL SCENEin Almaden Valley

Almaden School Reunion scheduled for May 11 to celebrate the ‘good old days’

The Almaden Grammar School reunion luncheon is scheduled for May 11 at the Cinnabar Hills Golf Club. Classmates from the years 1925 to 1968 will meet for lunch and reminisce with old friends. The schools involved include Hacienda, Pioneer and Valley View, which all became Almaden Union Grammar School.

“A lot of the old timers come and share the stories of what the valley was like then,” said organizer Martha Pearson Edwards. “It’s really appropriate to have it at Cinnabar Hills because that’s what the area used to look like.”

Edwards is inviting graduates, spouses and friends to share the many memories and friends from the “good old days in Almaden.” Almaden Grammar School was located near the intersection of what is now Blossom Hill and Almaden Expressway from 1929 and until 1968.

The Almaden Grammar School Reunion will be held May 11 at 11:30 a.m. at the Cinnabar Hills Golf Club, 23600 McKean Road, San Jose. A buffet luncheon will be served. $28. Please respond by April 16 to Martha Edwards at (408) 248-4825 or e-mail Edwards.martha@comcast.net or Wayne Pearson at (408) 315-1480 or e-mail cdgo@earthlink.net.

San Jose Unified School District wins grand prize in Magna Awards program

The San Jose Unified School District has been named one of three grand prize winners in the American School Board Journal’s 2006 Magna Awards program.

The district was honored in the 20,000 and above enrollment category for the Board of Education Driven Public Engagement Model. The program engages the public and produces higher student expectations, ongoing school-community conversations, strategic communications planning, and user-friendly communications tools.

"This program was developed to increase parent and community participation and understanding within our school district," said Superintendent Don Iglesias. "There was a time in the past when there was distrust and a real disconnect. The model is a success story that can be replicated in other school districts."

The Magna Awards recognize districts across the country for outstanding programs that advance student learning and encourage community involvement in schools. The three grand prize winners, which also include Croton-Harmon School District of Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., and the City District of New Rochelle, N.Y., will receive $3,500 in scholarship money.

This year’s winners were selected based on three enrollment categories: less than 5,000 students, 5,000 to 20,000, and 20,000 and above.

“For more than a decade, the Magna Awards have showcased the bold and unusual steps that school districts take every day to address the many challenges facing public education,” said Marilee Rist, ASBJ’s publisher and assistant executive director of the National School Boards Association (NSBA). “This year’s entries reflect the hard work of school boards, superintendents, and staff who strive to meet changing community needs in creative and innovative ways.”

"Each year the Magna Award winning programs highlight the best of what our schools have to offer," said Rod Bond, president of Sodexho School Services. "This year is no exception as our grand prize winners from the
San José Unified School District, New Rochelle School District, and Croton-Harmon Schools exemplify excellence in school-community partnerships that encourage and further education for our students. We are proud to honor them with the 2006 Magna Award."

American School Board Journal initiated the Magna Awards in 1995 to recognize school boards for taking bold and innovative steps to improve their educational programs. An independent panel of school board members, administrators, and other educators selected this year's 15 winners and six honorable mention recipients from almost 350 submissions.

This year’s applicants came from 40 states; districts in 11 states were winners or honorable mention recipients.

The 2006 winners are highlighted in a special supplement to the April issue of ASBJ and were formally recognized on April 10, at the School Leaders Luncheon in Chicago, Ill. San José Unified School District Board President, Rich Garcia, accepted the Magna Award at the event.

Leland High School Speech and Debate team
talks its way to $1,600 during first fund-raiser

The Leland High School Speech and Debate fund-raiser held April 7 in the school cafeteria brought in an impressive $1,600 toward the award-winning program.

Varun Rajan's animated delivery made his performance an audience favorite. Rajan was demonstrating the humorous interpretation category of speech and debate competitions. Gautam Thapar defined the category, “humorous interpretation involves a speaker taking a piece of literature or theatre, cutting it down to a 10 minute script, and performing it.” Rajan's speech was titled “The Little Mermaid.” Photos by Jeff Frazee

“It was a great success,” said head speech and debate coach Gay Brasher. “There was so much community support that we hope to do it every year.”

The idea for the fund-raiser started innocently enough. A few of the students performed at Starbuck’s at the Safeway Center one Sunday morning and raised $375 with change from the early morning lattés for their efforts. Senior Scott Wu presented an oratorical interpretation of a JFK speech and said that competing in tournaments can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000.

Gautam Thapar shared emcee duties at the fund-raiser with Will Son. 

Thapar proudly shared some of the 320-plus member team’s recent accomplishments.  “As a team, last year we took third at the state tournament in California.  And, we received an award of excellence last year at the Catholic Nationals tournament in Milwaukee. We also take pride in individual awards, since those individual successes tend to be the product of a team effort.  Last year we had two California state champions, myself in foreign extemporaneous speaking and Shahid Syed (now a Leland alumnus) in oratorical interpretation.  Additionally, I was a finalist last year in Congressional Debate and Akshay Rao placed eighth in the nation in foreign extemporaneous speaking. With these awards and many more, the team has become recognized as one of the top in the state and nation.”

Ms. Singer’s class presents ‘A Perfect Fit’

The second graders in Ms. Singer’s class at Almaden Country School had a blast putting on their very own musical entitled, “A Perfect Fit.” Here the class poses with teacher Molly Singer, director Sherry Curtis and music director Julia Hatch during their recent production.

Math teacher Jean Hendrickson stands at the podium and announces the winners of the 7th annual Castillero Math Olympics.

Students + math + food = 7th annual Castillero Math Olympics

The Castillero Math Department recently held its seventh annual Math Olympics with a record 270 student participants. Students at all grade levels and abilities were encouraged to participate. There were team and individual competitions in sixth grade math, pre-algebra, algebra and in high school equivalent algebra/geometry. The students took a break between the team and individual competitions to eat a pizza and salad dinner prepared and served by parent volunteers. Eighty pizzas were consumed and 30 pounds of lettuce purchased for the salads!  The competition was followed by an amazing array of desserts and an awards ceremony with prizes for the winners. Over 100 parent volunteers helped with the dinner or dessert. The indoor commons area was filled with the approximately 700 people who attended the awards ceremony. Many people commented that it was exciting to see so many people turning out for a math event.

CCOC students win four medals at StRUT competition

Central County Occupational Center students won four medals—two gold, one silver, and a bronze at the sixth annual StRUT (Students Recycling Used Technology) Competition at Mission College on March 25.

“It was the best experience I’ve had in school,” CCOC and Job Corps student Simon Trujillo, said. “We really got to practice what we learned in class and it was very motivating to see all the different grade levels competing against each other.”

Students from CCOC’s computer technology class worked in teams of three and were scored in three different timed areas: computer build/presentation, challenge, and written exam. Students in grades kindergarten-12th grade participated in the competition.

The computer build/presentation is a timed portion in which students take apart and rebuild a computer as fast as they can. The team gives a presentation to judges who score on their ability to communicate, organizational skills, use of visual aides, delivery, and teamwork.

In the challenge portion, students troubleshoot 10 different computers, determine the problem, and suggest a solution. Students also take a written exam with 100 questions on computer knowledge and A+ certification content. CCOC and Job Corps student Zac Crosswhite won a MP3 player after scoring the highest out of all the competitors on the written exam.

Gold-medal winner Drew Holloway learned that teamwork and communication is a very important. “I learned that teamwork is the key to success,” Holloway said. “You need another person to help you in this competition because if you tried to do everything on your own, it would take a really long time.”

Ronald Martin of Piedmont Hills High school said the competition really boosted his self esteem in his computer abilities. “Before this competition, I had zero confidence in my abilities. Now I have given a big boost to my self confidence.”

CCOC, a unit of MetroED, provides career-technical education for high school students in six districts: Campbell Union High School District, East Side Union High School District, Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, Milpitas Unified School District, San Jose Unified School District, and Santa Clara Unified School District. Students attend CCOC for half of their school day and the other half of the day, they attend their home high school.