circle cross Ranch K-8 SCHOOL
rebecca hendry, Principal
Board Report
September 2013
Enrollment: 818
Students of the Month: Dutch Martinez 1st Grade
Zach Conboy 4th Grade
Krystianah Bingham 7th Grade
Highlights:
· PTO Elections: Roshel Gottron, President; Brenda Murray, Vice-President of Fundraising; Tricia O'Brien, Treasurer
· 5-8th Grades - Anti-Drug/Anti-Bully Assembly with Sheriff Paul Babeu
· Band Instrument Rental Night
· DIBELS Fall Testing
· TAP Cluster Meetings
· TAP Leadership Meetings
· Fall Photos for Staff, Students, and Sports
· Baseball/Softball Games
· Title One Family Night
· 6th Grade San Diego Parent Meeting
· Student Council Project Bridge Donation Drive: Collected 965 items
· K-3 Pep Assembly
· MobyMax Training
· Classroom Management Training
· F.U.S.D Board Meeting
· Quarter One Progress Reports Sent Home
· Hired 4 new teachers: 2 - Kindergarten, 1- 4th Grade, & 1 - 7/8 Grade Social Studies
· Hired New Assistant Principal
· Hired New Para Pro, Lunch Monitor, Receptionist, Crossing Guard, and Nurse
Activities Through 15th of Next Month:
Date / Activity
· 09/02/2013 Labor Day – No School
· 09/03/2013 5th Grade Popcorn Tins Fundraiser
· 09/04/2013 Early Release Day @ 12:50pm
· 09/05/2013 Band Concert @ 1:35 (5-8th Grade)
· 09/05/2013 6-8th Grade Back to School Dance @ 5pm - 7pm
· 09/06/2013 Circle Cross Ranch Staff vs. Skyline Ranch Staff Softball Game @ 5pm
· 09/09/2013 Baseball/Softball Playoffs Round One B Teams @ 4:30pm
· 09/09/2013 Benchmark Assessments
· 09/10/2013 Baseball/Softball Playoffs Round One A Teams @ 4:30pm
· 09/11/2013 FUSD Board Meeting @ 6:00 pm (DO)
· 09/12/2013 Baseball/Softball Playoffs Round Two B Teams @ 4:30pm
· 09/13/2013 Grades Due by 3:30pm
· 09/13/2013 Baseball/Softball Playoffs Round Two A Teams @ 4:30pm
· 09/16/2013 40th Day of School
· 09/16/2013 Scholastic Book Fair
· 09/17/2013 Baseball/Softball Championships @ PBHS
· 09/18/2013 Parent/Teacher Conferences
· 09/19/2013 Early Release @ 12:50pm
· 09/19/2013 Parent/Teacher Conferences
· 09/20/2013 Early Release @ 12:50pm
· 09/23/2013 Fall Intersession
· 10/9/2013 Staff Meeting @ 7:10am
· 10/9/2013 TAP Cluster Meetings
· 10/9/2013 Picture Retakes
· 10/9/2013 FUSD Board Meeting @ PBHS
· 10/10/2013 PTO Meeting @ 3:30pm in Library
· 10/11/2013 PTO Board Meeting @ 11am
· 10/14/2013 PTO Cookie Dough Fundraiser Kick-Off (K-4@12:45 & 5-8@ 1:33 PM)
· 10/15/2013 CCR Battle of the Books
Suspensions:
# Fighting
# Drugs
# Drug Paraphernalia
# Alcohol
# Explosive Device
# Weapon
#3 Injured Another/Assault
# Property Destruction
# Verbal Abuse
#1 Defiance
# Disruption
# Tobacco
# Profanity
#1 Theft
#1 Other
Referred #0 Student(s) for Due Process Hearing
Teacher Evaluations: #0
Issues/Challenges/Concerns: None
Principal’s Summary:
August was quite a month at Circle Cross Ranch. First, we spent most of the month hiring new employees and conducting staff trainings. We are happy to welcome the following staff to Circle Cross Ranch:
*Assistant Principal/A.D. - Jeff Miller
*7th Grade SS Teacher - Paige Paynter
*4th Grade Teacher - Bonnie Halal
*Kinder/ELL - Deidre Garber
*Part Time Kinder - Megan Wojo (Returning CCR Teacher)
*Sped Para Pro - John Nikrant
*Lunch Monitor - Lisa Romero
*Nurse - Casey Manzanedo
*Receptionist - Candice Wahlstrom
*Crossing Guard - Cynthia Montano
*Last month we hired a new music teacher, Roberta Bishop
In addition to hiring new staff we have split our half day kindergarten classroom which had 33 students in it to lower the classroom size. We also lowered our 4th grade classroom numbers from 40 to 30 by hiring an additional teacher. Our junior high science teachers were struggling with 40+ students in two of their blocks, which we lowered by hiring an additional social studies teacher. The teachers and students are very happy and our class sizes now have room to grow a little. Our language arts classes are still quite full, but we are managing well and have a good size junior high.
With the high junior high numbers, we are experiencing some challenges with electives this year, which we anticipated due to the cuts from last year. Our students are used to having more choices and flexibility in regards to choosing an elective of their choice, and due to our high numbers, we are not having luck with offering the type of electives that students want. Our boys want more sections of PE offered. With only one female PE teacher we are limited on the number of students who can take this elective. We have 27 boys in 6th-8th grade choir which is proving to be a challenge. We are looking into other electives and affordable curriculum that we may be able to offer in lieu of choir. As a returning administrator in FUSD, I can honestly report that the junior high students across the district have felt the impact of the elective teacher cuts that were necessary for the budget last year. We are reminding parents of the reason for these cuts each day when they call to request that their child be able switch electives.
On our first early release day we presented AIMS Spring 2013 data to teachers. Dr. Bribiescas and her staff joined CCR for this data presentation. We presented how the letter grade system works, and how our school wide plan would encompass school wide goals, grade level math and reading goals, cluster group goals by teams and subject/departments, data team meetings and professional goals for teachers. We discussed the importance of focusing on getting our school to at least 70% passing in all subject areas and pushing our students that scored in the meets and exceeds categories to ensure they are meeting the growth targets for the upcoming school year. We will not get points for growth if our high students do not meet their growth percentile goals. This was new information for many teachers and our training proved to be very informative. Teachers were given AIMS data for our school on percent passing, and strand/concept data by grade level which shows which strands and concepts we are showing great progress on and which ones we need to focus on. Overall, CCR must focus on Math this year. Our number sense scores across multiple grade levels is extremely low, many grade level scores ranging in the 40's-50's. I am confident that we can do better. We are formulating a plan of action that will target this strand and hopefully show gains in the upcoming year. CCR's reading scores are quite positive. Most of the scores are significantly higher than other schools in reading. CCR students have used A.R. consistently for several years and I wonder is this part of the reason their reading scores are high.
On another positive note, we are embarking on a venture with Magma Ranch that started this month. We are piloting a math and reading software called Mobymax. This software is to be used in lieu of ALEKS software for K-6 students. The cost is substantially less than ALEKS for our entire site. The site license cost $450 for the entire year for our entire K-6 student body. This is a fraction of what ALEKS costs and we hope to see comparable or better results. Mobymax is not developed for junior high yet and we will still utilize ALEKS for those students. Bryan Foster, a 2nd year teacher at Magma Ranch is our trainer and coordinator for this pilot. He will be directly involved with tracking the data for both schools and offering professional development trainings along the way. He trained our staff after school this month and we have begun initial assessments to begin Mobymax. CCR's teachers' reactions were very positive and many were thrilled to take on the challenge. We are looking forward to sharing our results with the Board as we move forward.
Our TAP program is off to a great start as well. Our master teacher, Holly Dalby began our cluster meetings this quarter with sharing data and ideas from Beyond Textbooks in regards to how to track our math and reading data effectively. We are utilizing the BT webinars for ideas and resources to use in some of our cluster meetings. We have common core trainings scheduled with Mrs. Brown and other Master and Mentor teachers in the upcoming month so that our teachers are well informed on common core standards.
Students have also had a very busy month at CCR! Our Student Council organized a Project Bridge community service project and collected 956 new items that were donated to Project Bridge this month. Our staff also pitched in and collected donations of $227 which we donated to Project Bridge. Our Student Council spent most of the month planning for the upcoming year. They have organized pep assemblies, hosted Sheriff Babeu and his team for an anti- drug/anti-bullying assembly and organized fundraisers on our master calendar from multiple clubs that are active at CCR. We have worked very hard to keep all of our fundraisers organized on our master calendar so that students and clubs have equal opportunity to fundraise for their activities. Student Council is planning for an upcoming dance and school-wide staff softball game versus Skyline Ranch staff. Our schools have partnered-up and will play a fun game of softball on a Friday evening as a fundraiser for both student councils. The money raised will be split evenly with Skyline Ranch Student Council.
Other important news that is noteworthy, is that our Student Council 7th and 8th Grade Presidents attended our PTO meeting to discuss the need for P.E. equipment at CCR. Our students were so convincing, that our PTO unanimously voted to spend $3,000 on new P.E. equipment for our school. This equipment is going to make such a positive impact on our P.E. program! Our P.E. teacher almost cried when she found out. She is already adjusting her lesson plans because now she will have all the equipment she needs to create lessons where all students have enough equipment to participate and be active together.
Our PTO also purchased a few other items that we requested which totaled about $5,000. We are very fortunate to have a supportive group of PTO officers who listen to our students and staff on our needs at CCR.
In athletics, our baseball and softball players are working hard. It has been a great start of the 2013-2014 athletics season for Circle Cross Ranch. We have had a great showing by both our boys and girls for Baseball and Softball. Currently our stand out team is our Softball A team which has no losses and 1 tie for the season to this point. All teams are playing and working well together.
Our home crowds have been decent in numbers attended and the passion is awesome. No significant incidents have been reported. There was one rained-out game this season so far. Our students have been good about keeping up their eligibility, and only a handfull have had any issues with their grades. All of our participating athletes have passed their concussion tests which will be good for other sports this year as well. This testing process is very time consuming, but they add safety precautions to our program. Two more weeks in the season then the playoffs start and CCR teams are ready to compete.
As we conclude, we want to thank our Board and district administration for their continued support for our students at CCR and our staff. We are off to a wonderful start and anticipate this being a very successful school year.
Rebecca Hendry
Enrollment Report, Next Page
CIRCLE CROSS RANCH K-8 SCHOOL
rebecca hendry, Principal
Enrollment Report
September 2013
KINDERGARTEN / # STUDENTSGarber, Deidre (AM-K) / 13
Moya, Christine (Full-Day) / 29
Wojtulewicz, M. (AM-K) / 12
GRADE 1 / # STUDENTS
Dubien, Leslie / 24
Hamilton, Kelly / 25
Lucas, Jennifer / 25
GRADE 2 / # STUDENTS
Davis, Kathryn / 29
Nieto, Sarah / 31
Snyder, Kathy / 30
GRADE 3 / # STUDENTS
DeVink, Jessica / 28
Stavely, Irene / 32
Thames (Sayre), Lindsey / 28
GRADE 4 / # STUDENTS
Bauder, Gale / 27
Dunning-Farmer, Julie / 29
Halal, Bonnie / 29
Weiss, Annalee / 28
GRADE 5 / # STUDENTS
Bravo, Enrique / 28
Greenland, Aimee / 26
Stanfel, Kristen / 27
GRADE 6 / # STUDENTS
Hirsch, Heather (Math) / 108
Hull, Kendra (Reading/Writing)
Jacobson, Jared (Science/SS)
GRADES 7/8 / # STUDENTS
Camarote, F. (8th Science) / 210
Christ, Jeffrey (8th Math)
Coloma, Norman (7th Math)
Jacobson, M. (Reading/Writing)
Paynter, Paige (7th Soc.Stu.)
Querry, Andrea (7/8 Soc. Stu.)
Sanchez, N.(8th Reading/Writing)
Virtudes, Jocelyn (7th Science)
TOTALS / # STUDENTS
KINDER / 54
GRADE 1 / 74
GRADE 2 / 90
GRADE 3 / 88
GRADE 4 / 113
GRADE 5 / 81
GRADE 6 / 108
GRADE 7 / 117
GRADE 8 / 93
GRAND TOTAL / 818