Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District 2490 Hilborn Road • Fairfield, California 94534 Telephone (707) 399-5009 www.fsusd.org “Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District is a premier learning community that empowers each student to thrive in an ever changing world.”
April 11, 2016 Governing Board Judi Honeychurch President David C. Isom President-Elect Jonathan Richardson Clerk Kathy Marianno Pat Shamansky John Silva Chris Wilson
Superintendent Kris Corey
To: From: Subject:
FSUSD Community Kris Corey, Superintendent Monday Recap
Despite having a bit of brain fog due to being away from the office for two weeks, last week was filled with many exciting events. I am so excited and proud to be a part of this fine school district. We are accomplishing some amazing things as evidenced by my experiences this past week. It is official! FSUSD has three schools moving forward to be recognized by the California Department of Education as Gold Ribbon Schools. Suisun Valley’s validation site visit went extremely well last week. Jay Speck, SCOE Superintendent of Schools, served on the validation committee. His team couldn’t say enough about the educational program being provided at Suisun Valley. More importantly, the positive and collaborative culture of the school stood out as a high point. Parents, staff, community members, and students all shared positive adjectives and attributes that described their experience on the campus. A huge thank you to Principal Wright and her staff for their dedication and expertise, and for doing such an exceptional job showcasing their work. We will know soon if Suisun Valley and Cordelia Hills Elementary will join David A. Weir Preparatory Academy at the June recognition in Sacramento. Any time I can visit a school site during the week, it is a good week. I had the opportunity to visit four school sites this past week. At KI Jones, I saw exceptional writing in kindergarten. I observed students dissecting squid. I watched students create modern art drawings. I listened while students explained to me about their motorized robots that they had created with lights, horns, and motion sensors. The school is exploring with LittleBits, which are electronic building blocks for creating inventions. I like this company’s mission: “We are on a mission to unleash creativity by empowering everyone to create inventions, large and small, with our platform of easy-to-use electronic building blocks.” If you want to learn or see more, contact KI Jones! My next site visit was to Grange Middle School. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with the students. A group was heading to San Francisco State with their college and career counselor. I was able to talk with the two teams of students who are perfecting their VEX robots before heading off to the World Vex Championship in Louisville, KY. We were able to visit classes where students were st engaged and working on various projects. Seeing the 21 Century skills in action is inspiring. Our educators are becoming facilitators of learning which allows for our students to be creative and collaborative. I also heard directly from our bilingual community liaison how much she enjoys her job, and how appreciative the parents are of her support. Friday, I visited two other schools and brought along community member James McCully. Mr. McCully is the Chairman of the Solano County Republican Central Committee. Thank you to Principal Halcomb and staff for thoroughly impressing our visitor at the PSA. We spent a couple of hours at the Public Safety Academy touring classrooms. It was great for him to see the implementation of Common Core and the use of Project-Based Learning (PBL). We also had time to visit classrooms at David Weir Preparatory Academy. Mr. McCully commented that despite the two different settings and two different schools, there were a number of similarities. He mentioned the focus on learning and instilling positive character traits. He also mentioned the respectful and well-mannered students, and how caring and considerate the staff was with the students. I was extremely proud to show off these two schools. I mentioned to him that I could have chosen any school in FSUSD to showcase. We are planning future visits to other school sites. It is always satisfying to have outside eyes see the greatness that we know is happening in FSUSD. I encouraged Mr. McCully to bring his friends and colleagues on the next visit. He was off to a
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Monday Recap April 11, 2016
meeting to brag about FSUSD and his experience! Wednesday evening was so enjoyable listening to our talented musicians at the District Jazz Festival. WOW! The concert highlighted students in middle school and high school. A huge thank you to our dedicated music educators who tap into these students’ talents. Everyone in attendance understands the time, work, and organization that go into one of these concerts. This was Rona Portalupi’s first experience. She couldn’t stop talking about it the next day! Another highlight was beating Jay Speck, SCOE Superintendent, in the Leaven’s Great Race Challenge. I think I almost lapped him…and I hadn’t driven a go-cart in years. Many dignitaries from the community attended the event to show support for the Grande Circle Leaven Center. The Association of California School Administrators Region 4 held their award ceremony this week. Region 4 serves the counties of Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, Napa, Marin, and Solano. Four of us were recognized as recipients: • Steve Phillips was the recipient of the Valuing Diversity Award • Dino Battaglini was the recipient of the Central Office Administrator of the Year Award • Melissa Farrar was the recipient of the CTE Administrator of the Year Award • I was honored to be recognized as the recipient of the Superintendent of the Year Award Woo-hoo!! Congratulations to all! The April 14 Board agenda includes a list of priority projects for the Board’s consideration. We have provided the information in three different ways. I encourage you to attend the Board meeting, or contact me if you have any questions or are in need of any explanation. The information is broken down by school site and by scope of work so people can see what the facility priorities are at the various school sites. The facility prioritization shows the projects that would be completed with the passage of Measure J (Level 1). The next priority (Level 2) identifies the projects and work that would be completed should a state bond measure occur. The final priority (Level 3) identifies projects that would be next in line should additional funds become available. th
Celebrating the 40 Anniversary and honoring the Friends of the Library was a wonderful experience. The volunteers appreciated the proclamation of appreciation from our Governing Board and were thrilled to hear that librarians were coming back to the elementary schools. Events in my calendar this past week included: • Site visits- KI Jones, Grange Middle School, Public Safety Academy, and David Weir Preparatory Academy • Met with site administrators • Met individually with Laneia Grindle, Interim Assistant Superintendent of Business Services • Met with Anthony Vogliano, Student Board Member • Met individually with Rona Portalupi, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services • Met with Rob Martinez, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources • Participated in LCAP Task Force Groups • Held agenda setting with Judi Honeychurch and Chris Wilson • Met with Executive Cabinet Members • Conducted paper screening with School Services for Chief Business Officer position • Met with Kathy Hatzke, Principal of Dover • Met with staff regarding the opening of Dover School • Attended Gold Ribbon validation at Suisun Valley School • Briefly attended ceremony at the Adult School • Met with CSEA Labor Management Team • Held Open Forum at Suisun Elementary th • Attended Friends of the Library 40 Anniversary Celebration • Attended District Jazz Festival
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Monday Recap April 11, 2016
• • • •
Participated in The Leaven Great Race—and beat Jay Speck! Attended ACSA Region 4 Recognition Event Visited PSA and David Weir with Jim Mc Cully, Chairman of Republican Party Committee Met with Board Member Shamansky
P.S. Mr. McCully took the time to personally call me Friday afternoon to tell me again how impressed he was visiting our two schools today. His kind words made my WEEK!
Enclosures: • Article- Fixing Our School Facilities: An Essential Combination of Education and Infrastructure Policy • Memo from Sasha Begell regarding California State Preschool Program ExpansionProposed Funds Awarded
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