We're Looking to the Community in Building a Stronger and Smaller
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Improving Lives VISIONthrough a Quality Education APublicationoftheSanAntonioIndependentSchoolDistrict I Spring 2009 • SAISDmakes‘Top10’ ..................page 2 Students recruit River Parade Art • Bestinbilingual .......................... page 3 educators through Contest grand ! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" # • Buildingabetterschooldistrict $ " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " ".... " " " page" " " " 4 ‘Teach Me SAISD’ prize winner %& • CincodeMayogolftourney ' " " " " " " " " ......... " " " " " " " "page " " " " " 6 See page 2 See page 3 ( ) $ inside *+ * $ " " " " Superintendent’s message We’re looking to the community in building a stronger and smaller San Antonio Independent School District It is our responsibility as a school programs they deserve. Like many other urban engaged and interested in school. district, and your expectation of us school districts, we are experiencing declining Today, some of our students have the benefit of as a community member, to provide enrollment, aging and under-utilized facilities and music teachers and computer labs, while others go high quality educational options insufficient funding, all of which impact the quality without. Some schools have a variety of academic for all children. For more than of our offerings and opportunities for students. and non-academic courses from which to choose, 100 years parents have entrusted while many others do not. And the disparity is even their children into our care, to greater when comparing outside of our District. Robert J. Durón provide them with the knowledge ‘We want to raise SAISD has seen 40 years of declining enrollment, Superintendent and skills required to achieve the standards of our yet few actions have been taken to adjust the lifelong success. number of facilities. Most of today’s schools are And we could not be more proud of the results. offerings for students’ under-enrolled or have small populations. The The contributions of our alumni can be seen across more schools we have open, the more we have to San Antonio, our state and beyond. We are proud of When enrollment goes down in a school, there staff, operate and maintain, with less spending in this legacy of learning. But we are facing a number is less money to fund programs outside of the core the classroom for our teachers and students. of challenges today that are impacting our ability curriculum. This means fewer dollars to support Last year we made the difficult decision to close to provide our teachers with the resources they programs such as art, drama, technology and Cooper Middle School and Mann Academy. need and our students with the strong educational Advanced Placement – courses that keep students continued back page Mensaje del Superintendente Necesitamos su participación en la renovación del distrito de SAISD Es nuestra responsabilidad como distrito escolar y se pueden apreciar dentro de la ciudad de San de matrícula, planteles escolares deteriorados y es su expectativa como miembro de la comunidad, Antonio y más allá del estado de Texas. Estamos desaprovechados en la capacidad de utilización e el que proporcionemos un nivel alto de opciones orgullosos de este legado de aprendizaje; pero insuficiente financiamiento, todo esto repercute en educativas a nuestros niños. Por más de 100 años, ahora enfrentamos un número de desafíos que la calidad de nuestros ofrecimientos y oportunidades los padres de familia nos han confiado el cuidado de impactan nuestra habilidad para proporcionar a para los estudiantes. sus hijos, ya que les hemos proporcionado con la nuestros maestros los recursos necesarios y a Cuando la matrícula disminuye en una escuela, hay sabiduría y los estándares los elementos necesarios nuestros estudiantes los programas educativos menos dinero para financiar programas educativos para alcanzar el éxito permanente. eficaces que merecen. fuera del currículo principal. Esto significa menos Y no podemos estar más orgullosos de los Al igual que muchos otros distritos escolares dólares para apoyar a programas tales como las bellas resultados. Las contribuciones de nuestros alumnos urbanos, estamos experimentando un descenso artes, drama, tecnología y de colocación avanzada – cursos que mantienen a los estudiantes ocupados e interesados en la escuela. ! Hoy, algunos de nuestros estudiantes se benefician !"# $928 de los maestros de música y los laboratorios de computación, mientras que otros no. " " 554-2200 , Vea – Página 8 Some households outside of SAISD boundaries receive this newsletter as a result of zip codes/postal routes crossing district lines. It is less expensive to mail to an entire postal route than to exclude homes. Thank you. Vision SAISD I Spring 2009 I Page 1 SAISD makes nation’s top 10 of most-improving urban school districts A study of 37 of the United States’ largest urban in the classroom, making sure teachers get the In addition to San Antonio, other urban Texas school systems had good news for San Antonio. training and support they need to educate our school districts included in the study were Austin, The report by The Brown Center on Education children. We’re not yet where we want to be; that’s Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, and Houston, two of Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, what continual improvement is all about.” which also placed in the top 10 (see chart below). D.C., found that city schools are experiencing greater The report states that while test scores at urban The Brookings Institution is a private non-profit improvement in student achievement on standardized school districts in Texas still lag behind their suburban organization devoted to independent research and tests than others in their respective states. and rural counterparts, they’re making great strides innovative policy solutions. SAISD ranked 7th on the list of the top 10 districts and narrowing the gap. Top 10 urban school districts making the most gains. The findings were based upon information gathered 1. New Orleans 6. Miami “We’re very pleased with the recognition,” said between 2000 and 2007 that included state test 2. Dallas 7. San Antonio Betty Burks, the District’s deputy superintendent for scores and demographics. Despite the different tests 3. Minneapolis 8. New York City teaching and learning. used by each state, the study was able to standardize 4. Austin 9. Philadelphia “We have put a strong focus on what’s happening the scores. 5. Long Beach, Calif. 10. Chicago Students recruit their future teachers through ‘Teach Me SAISD’ The latest in To represent SAISD’s place deep in the heart of “The opportunity provided the ‘stars’ an authentic ongoing endeavors to San Antonio, the Alamo served as a backdrop for behind-the-scenes look at television production, “ employ the world’s one of the videos while Bonham Academy 2nd- Norton said, “while the teen ‘producers’ gained greatest teachers graders (pictured below) sat at school desks for a real-world experience in developing projects that exemplifies classic SAISD simulated classroom lesson. Behind the camera will not only benefit the District, but also their innovation. lenses were aspiring cinematographers from futures, as they embark on their college and The new 30- to 60-second Brackenridge High School. professional careers.” “Teach Me SAISD” marketing videos not only were The multifaceted project drew from the talents of designed for viewing on social networking sites students across many spectrums – from marketing such as You Tube, but what makes the recruitment and media to art and acting. tools even more significant is that they are the In addition to Brackenridge, other students products of student talent and ingenuity. contributing their videography, technology and “Creative and innovative approaches like this production skills represented Sam Houston and one help us to use all avenues available to recruit Jefferson high schools. the best and brightest teachers possible for our Lanier High School students – joined by their students, whether using traditional or non- colleagues from Brackenridge, Jefferson and Sam traditional methods,” said SAISD Human Resources Houston – also performed advertising, design, and administrative officer Suzanne Norton. marketing tasks. Recognizing our outstanding students and staff District’s dozen top scholars Lone Star State. He and his classmate Bry-Alika Rideb and Quentin Students from four SAISD high schools have been Under the direction of Ricky Flores and Joslyn Hernandez of Davis were the only middle-schoolers recognized for their exceptional scores on the most Muñoz, the musicians are again National Wind competing among high school students at the 20th recent Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Band Honors recipients. annual competition sponsored by the Japan Business Qualifying Test. Their names will be provided to Irving was one of only a few middle school Association of Houston. colleges and universities as ideal candidates for bands selected. They are participants in SAISD’s Multilingual admission and scholarships. Judges are university band directors nationwide who Magnet Program. Tafolla teacher is Reiko O’Donnell National Hispanic Scholars and their schools are: awarded Irving based upon their taped performance and Noriko Baxter is the Davis teacher. Horace Deans, Alicia Menchaca, Kelly Rada, Juan at the Region XII University Interscholastic League Reyna, and Jaymes Sanchez, Brackenridge; and Concert and Sight Reading Contest. Texas’ best musicians Jon-Michael