Chula Vista Elementarty School District supports teachers who teach math at only one level; a good teacher can teach at several levels at once.
Local 6th grader told he cannot take 8th grade algebra: School says boy would be truant
Parents say son passed algebra readiness test
Joe Little
10 News
07/23/2013
A Chula Vista 6th grader has been told he will be truant if he goes to an 8th grade algebra class instead of his own grade level class.
10News was contacted by Myssie McCann shortly after she was told her 11-year-old son Grant would be punished for not attending Salt Creek Elementary's math classes.
"Never dawned on me in a million years that Chula Vista Elementary School District would say, 'No, you can't do this,'" McCann told 10News. "I was told by the principal [Lalaine Perez] that she was obligated to tell me that if I pursued him taking the Eastlake Middle algebra class, my son would be marked truant on those days."
McCann said Grant has excelled at math since 2nd grade. She said last year, the then-5th grader was placed in a 6th grade math course. This summer, McCann said he passed an 8th grade algebra readiness test.
Grant's parents contacted the nearby Eastlake Middle School, where Grant will be going for 7th and 8th grades to see if he can attend algebra classes. He would then go back to Salt Creek for all his other courses.
McCann said she petitioned the school district. She contacted 10News after she was told her son would be marked as "truant."
"I was not happy," McCann said. "I told her that was unacceptable."
Grant was not happy either.
"It would be challenging for me because when I'm not challenged, math is actually boring," the soon-to-be 6th grader said.
Grant's father is John McCann, who sits on the Sweetwater Union Board of Trustees.
Monday evening, a spokesman for the Chula Vista Elementary School District told 10News the district does not have a process in place for students like Grant to take classes out of district.
He said the district is looking at it and will make a decision on Tuesday just in time for school, which begins Wednesday.
The school district released the following statement to 10News:
"We were asked to make special considerations for the child of a Board Member in a neighboring district. We believe it is wiser to establish a process that would benefit any student in that circumstance, rather than just a one-time exception for the benefit of the child of an elected official. The public does not like special considerations for elected officials. So we will work with our counterparts in Sweetwater to establish a process for independent study agreements that would allow for any qualifying students in the elementary district to take classes in the middle or high school district. Our student-based decisions will be backed up by data. They will not be made on word of mouth or handshake agreements with elected officials in another district."
Showing posts with label Salt Creek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salt Creek. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Saturday, July 20, 2013
CAMARENA ELEMENTARY READY FOR STUDENTS
See previous story on this school HERE.
CAMARENA ELEMENTARY READY FOR STUDENTS
Students at school that opens next week will try out some new concepts
By Caroline Dipping
SDUT
JULY 18, 2013
Principal Dan Winters describes himself as Camarena’s CEO, or chief encouragement officer.
About 900 students are enrolled in Enrique Camarena Elementary School, which opens next week in Otay Ranch. hool!]
CHULA VISTA — When the new Enrique S. Camarena Elementary School opens next week, one of the first things students will learn is that they can write on their classroom walls and desks. And they won’t get sent to the principal’s office because it was he who led the charge to make it possible.
The walls of the 36 classrooms are swathed in a special paint that mimics a whiteboard, where pen markings easily wipe away with a dry cloth. Student desks are also of a durable fabrication that can withstand the punishment of spelling tests and math calculations.
“The concept is that you want to use the materials you have,” said Principal Dan Winters. “I mean, talk eco-friendly.
“Think of all the paper you don’t need to use. When kids do some work that needs to be saved, they can take a picture of it with their digital device.”
Welcome to Camarena Elementary, the first new campus to be built in the Chula Vista Elementary School District since 2007. Where chalkboards and text books are so last century and digital devices such as iPads, Chromebooks and Android tablets will be the tools to help students, particularly those in the upper grades, learn their core subjects.
Winters, 50, has been in the Chula Vista district nine years, most recently as principal of Salt Creek Elementary. In January, he was selected to be Camarena’s inaugural principal, a role he has embraced wholeheartedly.
Describing himself as the school’s CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer), Winters said he wants to create among his handpicked staff a professional, collaborative culture like Google and Facebook where everyone works together. With literacy as the foundation, the curriculum will include elements of project-based learning, dual immersion, and technology.
Winters’ vision for staff, students and community is so straightforward he fit it on his business cards: “We are a neighborhood school developing digital literacy in a multilingual, creative environment.”
“It starts with literacy,” he said. “It is still the foundation, and common core standards are coming next year and they give credence to the fact primary literacy is still how we do things.
“And digital means literacy in our current environment whereby kids learn how to use digital tools effectively to get information to share and which to communicate.”
Although it has yet to crack a single textbook, digital or otherwise, Camarena Elementary is already poised to do a booming business. Located in the Otay Ranch Village 11 area — at 1650 Exploration Falls Drive, to be precise — the 11.85-acre campus has capacity for 975 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Currently, 900 are enrolled.
The school district purchased the property for $2.7 million in 2008 but did not have the money to build. It wasn’t until last spring that the district was able to break ground, the estimated $30 million construction costs coming from CFD/Mello-Roos special tax assessments.
Also last spring, the school board approved the Camarena name for the school to commemorate the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was kidnapped and killed in 1985 while on assignment in Mexico. By November, the ceremonial last beam was placed in position during a particularly festive “topping out” ceremony, where it was noted that contractor Balfour Beatty Construction was ahead of schedule.
CAMARENA ELEMENTARY READY FOR STUDENTS
Students at school that opens next week will try out some new concepts
By Caroline Dipping
SDUT
JULY 18, 2013
Principal Dan Winters describes himself as Camarena’s CEO, or chief encouragement officer. About 900 students are enrolled in Enrique Camarena Elementary School, which opens next week in Otay Ranch. hool!]
CHULA VISTA — When the new Enrique S. Camarena Elementary School opens next week, one of the first things students will learn is that they can write on their classroom walls and desks. And they won’t get sent to the principal’s office because it was he who led the charge to make it possible.
The walls of the 36 classrooms are swathed in a special paint that mimics a whiteboard, where pen markings easily wipe away with a dry cloth. Student desks are also of a durable fabrication that can withstand the punishment of spelling tests and math calculations.
“The concept is that you want to use the materials you have,” said Principal Dan Winters. “I mean, talk eco-friendly.
“Think of all the paper you don’t need to use. When kids do some work that needs to be saved, they can take a picture of it with their digital device.”
Welcome to Camarena Elementary, the first new campus to be built in the Chula Vista Elementary School District since 2007. Where chalkboards and text books are so last century and digital devices such as iPads, Chromebooks and Android tablets will be the tools to help students, particularly those in the upper grades, learn their core subjects.
Winters, 50, has been in the Chula Vista district nine years, most recently as principal of Salt Creek Elementary. In January, he was selected to be Camarena’s inaugural principal, a role he has embraced wholeheartedly.
Describing himself as the school’s CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer), Winters said he wants to create among his handpicked staff a professional, collaborative culture like Google and Facebook where everyone works together. With literacy as the foundation, the curriculum will include elements of project-based learning, dual immersion, and technology.
Winters’ vision for staff, students and community is so straightforward he fit it on his business cards: “We are a neighborhood school developing digital literacy in a multilingual, creative environment.”
“It starts with literacy,” he said. “It is still the foundation, and common core standards are coming next year and they give credence to the fact primary literacy is still how we do things.
“And digital means literacy in our current environment whereby kids learn how to use digital tools effectively to get information to share and which to communicate.”
Although it has yet to crack a single textbook, digital or otherwise, Camarena Elementary is already poised to do a booming business. Located in the Otay Ranch Village 11 area — at 1650 Exploration Falls Drive, to be precise — the 11.85-acre campus has capacity for 975 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Currently, 900 are enrolled.
The school district purchased the property for $2.7 million in 2008 but did not have the money to build. It wasn’t until last spring that the district was able to break ground, the estimated $30 million construction costs coming from CFD/Mello-Roos special tax assessments.
Also last spring, the school board approved the Camarena name for the school to commemorate the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was kidnapped and killed in 1985 while on assignment in Mexico. By November, the ceremonial last beam was placed in position during a particularly festive “topping out” ceremony, where it was noted that contractor Balfour Beatty Construction was ahead of schedule.
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