News You Can Use

   Do you have a group of grandparents or other mature adults interested in being trained as reading tutors at your school site? The Community Relations department can provide onsite training for groups of 10-12 potential volunteers in collaboration with the OASIS Intergenerational Tutoring Program, a national non-profit organization designed to challenge and enrich the lives of people age 50 or older. The program is also supported by the Fashion Valley Robinsons-May. The program provides opportunities for tutors to share their love of reading with children in kindergarten through fourth grade through one-to-one tutoring, mentoring and friendship. OASIS tutors receive 10 hours of training that includes strategies such as the Language Experience Approach and Read Alouds. (see photo)Tutors leave the training with a tutor handbook, children's books andtote bags with supplies. Follow-up Tutor Supportmeetings are heldthroughout the year. There are currently over 200 OASIS tutors placed in 75 different schools. Last year, 536 children received tutoring assistance from OASIS tutors, who logged more than 3,000 volunteer hours. For additional information, please visit the Community Relations Department page on the district website, or visit OASIS at www.oasisnet.org/.

   The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Business Roundtable for Education is accepting nominations for its 2003 Best Practices K-8 project. The Best Practices project is a unique way to share one of the outstanding programs that is taking place at your school site with other educators and business leaders. Nominations are sought that effectively showcase excellence in education in overall areas such as:

• Teaching Students to Learn and Think Critically
  
• Teaching - and Reaching - All Kinds of Learners
  
• Using a Variety of Tools to Assess and Adapt
  
• Bringing Math, Science and Technology Alive in the Classroom
  
• Literacy Across the Curriculum
  
• Emphasizing Students' Personal Growth.

   All principals were sent a nomination form and information packet January 8. For additional information, please call the district's Community Relations department at (619) 725-5573 or visit Business Roundtable website at www.educationroundtable.org/.

   Employees in Clerk Typist I positions who have served two consecutive school years at a school site may be eligible for reclassification to School Clerical Assistant, provided the requirements of the School Clerical Assistant Reclassification Request Form and District Procedure 7540, D.3 are met. Please review the Request Form available on the Employment page of the website. Procedure 7540 can be found on the Policies and Procedures section of the For District Staff page on the web.