Mission Statement: All San Diego students will graduate with the skills, motivation, curiosity and resilience to succeed in their choice of college and career in order to lead and participate in the society of tomorrow.

Riding on a wave of excitement with the opening of Crown Point Junior Music Academy, enrollment at our district Magnet Schools continues to gain momentum. Prospective parents and community supporters are taking notice of these unique instructional programs. Crown Point Junior Music Academy , which will feature the world-renowned Suzuki violin instruction, is slated to open this September, with availability in grades PreK-5. Barnard Elementary Chinese Magnet Program  is taking advantage of attention on the Summer Olympics in Beijing to highlight its K-4 program. Millennial Tech Middle School , also opening in September, continues to attract interest in the science, technology, engineering and math curriculum featured at several of our district schools.

With recent and upcoming press coverage of Crown Point and Barnard on KUSI and KSWB as well as articles in the Beach and Bay Press and Peninsula Beacon, the media is catching on too. Our Magnet Schools will be featured in a cinema advertising campaign, which will run the last week of August before G-rated movies and on lobby televisions at several AMC and Regal movie theatres across the county. Mass mailings and participation in community events round out current enrollment efforts. For more information on our Magnet Schools, visit www.sandi.net and click on the Magnet Schools button.

The science teachers at the San Diego High School Educational Complex, along with their counterparts at Roosevelt Middle School, are participating in a four-year grant to create a science teacher community that will provide these teachers support and professional development opportunities. The grant, which was awarded through the California Science Project, provides funding and stipends for teachers to work together for two weeks during the summer as well as five days throughout the school year. Mentoring support and regular meetings are also part of the program activities. Directed by Stephanie Rico, a science teacher at LEADS High School, the grant is also part of a longitudinal study on the effect teacher communities have on teacher retention, hence the name “TRI” (Teacher Retention Initiative).

The August session of TRI will be held on the San Diego High School campus from August 18-22, and will include workshops on the BioTech and BioBridge initiatives, middle school/high school articulation discussions, and implementation ideas for improving science literacy. For more information regarding this science program contact John Spiegel at (619) 725-7315.

During the first week of July, 115 cadets from San Diego participated in a JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge (JCLC) at Camp San Luis Obispo on California's central coast. Units from San Diego, Kearny, Madison, Patrick Henry, Mission Bay, and Mount Miguel participated in the JCLC, popularly known as "Summer Camp." The cadets were provided with an opportunity to practice leadership skills in an unfamiliar environment; participated in citizenship building activities; experienced living and interacting with their peers from other schools; and participated in adventure training not normally available at their schools. Training activities included: cliff rappelling, land navigation and orienteering, rope bridging, and obstacle course/leadership reaction course. The weather was ideal and support provided by the California Army National Guard was superb. All cadets returned home after a safe and highly educational camp, eager to continue honing their leadership skills in the coming school year. For more information, please contact Virginia Eves at (858) 496-1838 or Lieutenant Colonel Jan Janus at (858) 496-8203.

Teacher-leaders Rochelle Schwartz (Dingeman Elementary), Cathleen Watson (Whitman Elementary), and Tina Rasori (Fay Elementary) joined Lucy Laudate (District Resource Teacher) in presenting Discover summer school classes for thirty-six of their grades 4 and 5 teacher/colleagues recently. In addition to information about the District's Standards-based Report Cards (SBRC), the history/social studies content discussed included a focus on helping students to experience the different periods of history through literature, primary sources, culture, foods, economy, and government. For information, please contact Lucy Laudate at 725-7335.

The district is currently establishing essential curriculum standards, comparing the eighth and nine grades. Teachers are being selected and will receive training on mastering teaching methodologies along with using alternative assessments in the classroom. Selected middle schools will be finalized, immediately followed by parent notifications and meetings. For more information, please contact Anna Cazares at acazares2@sandi.net.

Each new school year, all students that participate in the Free and Reduced-Price Meal Program must be certified. The San Diego Unified Food Services Department is distributing an Administrative Circular regarding the certification of eligibility for needy students for free or reduced-price meals for the upcoming school year. This information reviews the guidelines and the importance of the meal application for these children.

The circular and its supporting documentation reviews the purpose, the policy, and the procedure of the eligibility guidelines. Also included as part of the attachment is the Most Frequently Asked Questions regarding the free or reduced-price meal program. For additional information, please contact Pamela Kowalski, Food Services Business Coordinator, at (858) 627-7332, or Sara Mosburg, Operations/Financial Analysis Supervisor, at (858) 627-7327.

Did you know that San Diego Unified spends more than a million dollars on trash removal every year? We now have an opportunity to reduce that cost significantly by handling waste differently in the workplace. The new rubbish contract (awarded to EDCO on August 5, 2008) offers free mixed paper pickup – the “Blue Trash Dumpsters” located at every school. This contrasts with the $15 charge for each regular dumpster every time it is emptied. The Energy/Utility office estimates that 40% of all trash generated by San Diego Unified could be recycled. That equates to about half a million dollars saving per year. Separating mixed paper and placing it in the recycling “blue” dumpsters also meets San Diego City regulations to recycle while reducing the impact to landfills. Several elementary schools have already begun “Planet Protector Clubs” to help in this effort and Energy/Utilities looks forward to supporting them in the future. For additional information, please contact J. William Naish, Energy Utility Supervisor, at jnaish@sandi.net or (858) 627-7217.

Discover all the exciting events happening around the district. A complete list of San Diego Unified School District Upcoming Events is posted on www.sandi.net.

• ACT Scores Show 3 in 4 Need Some Remedial Help for College
  USA Today, August 13
  WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Average scores on the ACT college entrance exam dipped slightly for the high school class of 2008 as the number of students taking the exam jumped by 9% compared to last year. Read more.
  
  
• For South Korean teens, everything rides on college-entrance exams
  Admission to South Korea's top three universities gives students a huge advantage in their careers, students and experts say; as such, many who fall short spend the following year cramming to better their scores on the national examinations. "In our country, college-entrance exams determine 70 to 80 percent of a person's future," said parent Chung Il-wook. "It's a sad reality. But you have to acknowledge it; otherwise you hurt your children's future." The New York Times