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Publication Date: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 Back to School: Menlo Park City School District
Back to School: Menlo Park City School District
(September 01, 2004) New parcel taxes help fund small classes, support services for students, and teacher-training initiatives
By Marjorie Mader
Almanac Staff Writer
Menlo Park City School District starts the school year with 75 to 100 more students, 17 new teachers and $1.3 million in new parcel-tax revenue.
These funds are targeted to keep small classes and boost support services for students, such as specialists in reading and math, that were pared down or eliminated last year due to cuts in state funding. Classes are 20 and fewer in grades 1-3, and average 24 students in kindergarten and grades 4-8.
With community support of the two parcel-tax measures last November, the district is able to launch additional teacher-training initiatives.
Approximately 85 percent of the teachers have chosen to take advantage of the additional three collaborative planning days in their work year, paid by the district, that began before school opened.
"We're growing," said Superintendent Ken Ranella. "We've added four new classes," he said, listing a kindergarten class at Laurel, third grade at Encinal, fifth grade at Oak Knoll, and an extra sixth-grade section at Hillview. Enrollment is projected as high as 2,100 students -- a 4 percent increase from last year's 2,019, based on preliminary figures last week before school started.
Phones were ringing in the district office before school opened August 30 as new families, who have moved into the school district over the summer, called to register their students. Parents also came to the schools to register new students.
Superintendent Ranella will give an update on the enrollment status and a progress report on the district office remodel and addition during the school board's meeting on Tuesday, August 31. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Encinal School library, 195 Encinal Ave., Atherton.
Additional parcel-tax money is at work in the schools. The funds will:
** Bring a full-time reading specialist to Laurel, Oak Knoll and Encinal and a half-time specialist to Hillview.
** Purchase additional instructional supplies and materials with an additional allocation of $20 per student.
** Increase "challenge support services" by $91,000, allocating $51,000 to the four schools to meet the needs of accelerated and high-performing students, and $40,000 for teacher training to meet the needs of these students in the regular classroom.
"Greater leadership and autonomy is being given to the [school] principals, rather than direction coming from the central office," said Superintendent Ranella. For example, the principals will have more discretion in using funds for training staff and supplemental services.
However, the district will retain a "highly coordinated core program" that includes language arts, math, social studies, science, music and the arts, said the superintendent.
There's a big shift in the teacher-parent conference day routine this fall, thanks to the Menlo Park-Atherton Education Foundation and support from parents. Instead of students in grades 1-5 leaving school before noon during the five conference days, they will stay at school and take part in the Galileo Science Program. Galileo has offered and provided summer programs in Menlo Park, Woodside and Palo Alto; and the instructional program at the Tech Museum in San Jose; and astronaut Sally Ride's space exploration camps at Stanford.
"Kids will attend school seamlessly" during the conference days that begin in early October at Oak Knoll, then Laurel and Encinal, said Superintendent Ranella. At Hillview, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders have the option of staying at school for an enrichment program to be offered by the Hillview staff or going home for the half-day.
This at-school program on conference days has its roots in parents' concerns about the disruption in the school schedule due to "minimum days" for conferences. Some were concerned about the difficulties of arranging afternoon childcare. Others were unhappy that their students were missing the equivalent of 2.5 school days. The foundation raised about $50,000 for this program as a "Fund-a-Need" item at its annual auction.
Trustees Terry Thygesen and Bruce Ives won't have to run an election campaign in November. No one opposed them in their re-election bids. Their new four-year terms begin November 30.
The district office has moved into temporary quarters at 125 Constitution Drive, east of U.S. 101 via the Marsh Road exit in Menlo Park. School board meetings will be scheduled at district schools.
Following are reports on each of the district's four schools, where classes started Monday, August 30.
Menlo Park City School District. Temporary location: 125 Constitution Drive, Menlo Park. Superintendent: Ken Ranella. Mailing address: 181 Encinal Ave., Atherton, 94027. Call 321-7140. www.mpcsd.org .
Laurel
95 Edge Road
Atherton
Phone: 324-0186
Nancy Hendry, principal
Grades: K-2
Enrollment: 426
More students. Early enrollment shows 20 more students than last year. There will be seven classes in each of the three grades: kindergarten, first and second.
Small classes. First- and second-graders will be in classes of 20 or fewer students as part of the state's class-size reduction program. Kindergartens are staffed at a ratio of 24 to 1.
Teachers. Lynn Callahan has returned from leave to teach kindergarten, and Lezlie Jacobson has moved from first grade to teach an additional kindergarten class. New teacher Courtney Shackleton has joined the Laurel team as the first-grade teacher in refurbished E-2, the support services room. On leave is kindergarten teacher Andi Dehne, who co-taught kindergarten last year with Jeanne McCann. Ms. McCann will be at Oak Knoll School as a support teacher for students learning English. Bob Crabb, district music specialist, will come to Laurel to teach music in kindergarten classrooms.
On board. Laurel's entire teaching staff volunteered to participate this summer and during the school year in a staff-development opportunity, geared to make sure every student succeeds. Teachers are working with consultant Kathy Glass, focusing on teaching skills, learning strategies and ways to identify student academic needs and assess their progress. Principal Nancy Hendry spent seven days training with Carol Tomlinson, the guru of differentiated instruction, in a summer institute on academic diversity at the University of Virginia.
Back-to-school night. Parents will head back to school on Thursday, September 9, at 7 p.m. to meet teachers and learn about classroom programs.
"Quarter Gourmet." A favorite event returns for another year when families bring dishes to share, pay a quarter for each serving and get to know each other. The first one is Friday, September 10, at 5 p.m. on the second-grade playground.
Book fair. Save the date for Laurel's annual book faire Monday through Friday, October 4-8.
Oak Knoll
1895 Oak Knoll Lane
Menlo Park
Phone: 854-4433
David Ackerman, principal
Grades: K-5
Enrollment over 640 registered students, an increase of almost 40 students across all grades since school closed last June.
Small classes. Class sizes will continue to be small again this year with 20 or fewer students in grades 1-3; 24 students in kindergarten and grade 4; about 22 in grade 5.
Vice principal. Maria Clemo is the new vice principal at Oak Knoll this year. She served as summer school principal this year, teacher and activities director at Encinal, and, previously assistant principal part-time at Oak Knoll for two years. Marianne Walters, vice principal, is on leave.
Teachers: Tara Simms Hassett, who did her student teaching in fourth grade at Oak Knoll, returns as a fourth-grade teacher. First-grade teacher Karen Clancy has moved up to fifth grade. Tami Lupo is teaching first grade after teaching a special day class at the school. New to the district is Kevin Altamarano, special day class teacher. Jeanne McCann moves from Laurel to Oak Knoll to teach students learning English. Robin Yardi is the new kindergarten teacher.
All-day kindergarten. Oak Knoll is piloting two all-day kindergartens as part of the district's study of best practices for kindergartners. About two-thirds of the parents of incoming kindergartners signed up for the all-day program. Students were selected by lottery. Kindergarten teacher Alicia Bush and Robin Yardi are each teaching an all-day class from 8:15 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. The three other kindergartens will remain on the traditional schedule of 8:15 to 11:55 a.m. After the third week of school, five students in each of the traditional kindergarten classes will stay longer until 2 p.m. one day a week to do small group activities with their teacher.
Ready for play. Two new ball walls and two tetherball courts are ready for students. The baseball field on the school's upper playground near Vine Street was completed last year as part of a joint agreement with the city of Menlo Park.
Back-to-school night. Parents will head back to school on Thursday, September 9, to meet teachers and learn about the program. There will be two different starting times for parents: 7 p.m. for grades K-2 and 7:45 p.m. for grades 3-5.
Book fair. This annual event, a fundraiser for the library, is scheduled for the week of October 11.
Encinal
195 Encinal Ave.
Atherton
Phone: 326-5164
Stacy Marshall, principal
Grades: 3-5
Enrollment: 355
Classes. Class sizes are 20 or fewer in third grade again this year as part of the district's participation in the state's class-size reduction program for primary grades. Fourth- and fifth-grade classes average 24 students. There are now seven classes of third grade, including the addition of a new class this fall; five fourth grades; and four fifth-grades.
Teachers. Encinal has a full-time reading specialist this year. She is Susan Blanco, a new hire for the district. Other new teachers are Maggie Griffin and Sarah Hutchinson, third grade; Lela Ward, fourth grade; Heidi Yamadam, fifth grade. They will take over from Encinal teachers Lynne Bollen, fourth grade, and Elaine McCreight, fifth grade, who retired; Maria Clemo, fourth grade, who is vice principal at Oak Knoll; and Sarah Koh, who has left the district.
Staff development. Teachers are involved in developing assessment
tools to evaluate student progress, launching "Character Counts," a character
education program; and training to use the new laptops, purchased for
teachers by the Laurel PTA.
Science lab. The classroom that housed the district's new business office temporarily now has another life as Encinal's science lab. Aide Christine Evans will set up and take down experiments and assist classroom teachers when they use the lab to teach science.
"Community Read." Everybody at Encinal -- students, , staff and parents -- and their counterparts at Oak Knoll in grades 3-5 read the same book -- "Sun and Spoon" by Kevin Henkes -- at the same time this spring. Plans call for expanding the program to kindergarten through second grades next year at Oak Knoll and Laurel.
Growing, growing. Watermelons, raspberries, corn and tall sunflowers are growing in the school garden along Middlefield Road. Each class decides what to plant and tend in the raised beds. Last year a class decided to grow peas and record the growth. Another class planted a crop of wheat.
Back-to-school night. Parents are invited to return to school on Tuesday, September 7, at 7 p.m. to meet teachers and learn more about school programs.
Fall family picnic. Families will bring a picnic supper or purchase food for this annual get-together on Friday, September 17, at 6 p.m. under the arbor.
Hillview Middle
1100 Elder Ave.
Menlo Park
Phone: 326-4341
Michael Moore, principal
Grades: 6-8
Enrollment: almost 670, about 30 more students than last year.
Class size. Classes range from 21 to 26 students with an average of 24 students in keeping with the district's goal of reducing class sizes in the upper grades.
Teachers. Joining the Hillview teaching staff are: core (language arts and social studies) teachers Barbara Berkowitz and Jennifer Hutsell, eighth grade; Kimberly Staff, seventh grade; Larra Gonzales, sixth grade. More new teachers are Barbara Lewis, resource specialist; Stephanie Fullen, French; Jo Camper, speech and language specialist. Terry Piombo will be the librarian, taking over from Sue Krumbein, who retired.
Two more classrooms. Hillview has re-opened two portable classrooms to accommodate the influx of students.
Campus TV station. Hillview's television station will be up and running for its second year after its student staff receives training in a video-production elective to produce and broadcast news on campus.
Camp Hillview. All incoming sixth-graders will participate in Camp Hillview, a three-day orientation program at school designed and carried out by the Hillview staff. The program provides a common academic and social experience for the sixth-graders. Camp takes place September 8, 9 and10, concluding with the Hillview Community Festival and potluck supper for sixth-graders and their parents on Friday, September 10, at 6 p.m.
Back-to-school night. Parents will head back to school on Thursday, September 23, for this annual opportunity to meet their children's teachers and learn more about the school program. The event starts at 7 p.m.
Optional activities: Students may sign up for afternoon activities offered on campus this fall by the Hillview staff during the five teacher-parent conference days.
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