Dublin School Board Weighs Options for Managing Growth, Votes on Executive Positions
On Tuesday evening, a Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees was conducted at the Dublin District office. The purpose of the meeting was two-fold. When long-time DUSD Trustee David Haubert was elected to the Dublin City Council in the November election, it created a vacancy on the Board and thus prompted a potential reshuffling of the executive positions. At the school board meeting on November 11, a definitive result could not be accomplished as there were four members voting and a tie was achieved. At this recent meeting, the Board unanimously motioned, voted and re-elected Greg Tomlinson as President and Sean Kenney as Vice President.
In early February, OneDublin.org had the opportunity to sit down with Board President Greg Tomlinson to discuss his visions for the Dublin Unified School District. In addition to talking about the concept of Professional Learning Communities (PLC), Mr. Tomlinson also stated that “I’d like to see a continuation of the upgrading for all of our facilities. We need to continue to provide an environment that is conducive to learning.” To that end, it has been evident to most families with school-aged children living in the vicinity of Dublin Ranch that all three existing elementary schools are at or approaching capacity. The continued housing development in the eastern portion of Dublin has applied pressure equally on all three schools to accommodate expanded enrollment. At Kolb Elementary alone, the student population is expected to reach 900 in the next fiscal year and perhaps 1000 students in 2014-15.
Clearly, the Board of Trustees and the Facilities Department have made capacity for programs an extremely high priority. In the fall of 2015, a fourth elementary school (referred to as E-4) is slated to open and will subsequently ease the compression on Kolb Elementary. However, given the condition of finances for the State of California, crucial decisions will need to be made in order to facilitate a productive learning environment.
Most high school seniors have now completed “off to college round one” by submitting multiple college applications. The information required for a high quality college application – from academic results to extracurricular activities and community service to paid employment – provides the baseline for a LinkedIn profile.
A LinkedIn profile provides high school students opportunity to create a positive online presence which is important with Google searches providing competitive colleges another window into prospective students. Creating a LinkedIn profile also encourages students to get in the habit of maintaining an up-to-date resume. Don’t worry about whether or not your college-bound teen has had paid work experience – community service, volunteer projects and school activities are all relevant.
According to a study of LinkedIn demographics, while 67.7% of LinkedIn users are between the ages of 25-54, “the percentage of teenagers (18-24) has grown more than other age groups”.
For those familiar with LinkedIn, the site has recently made enhancements that make LinkedIn profiles more relevant to both high school and college students. New sections include Projects, Honors and Awards, Organizations, Test Scores and Courses, in short all items a college applicant would already have summarized and at their finger tips.
After building a LinkedIn profile, students should start building a network – connecting to people they know who would act as a positive reference. That could be a manager from a summer job or internship, a teacher, a sports coach or a volunteer coordinator.
Among the items you’ll want to highlight in a teenage LinkedIn profile and traditional resume:
The Dublin Unified School District issued the following letter to parents / guardians and community groups today in response to the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
December 14, 2012
Dear Parents and Guardians:
We were all shocked and deeply saddened by the senseless act of violence that occurred this morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. We are all heartbroken for the families, the school district, and moreover the school community. We join with the entire country in praying for everyone involved.
As a sign of support and respect, and as a reminder for all of us to keep the families and staff members in our thoughts and prayers, flags throughout the district are being flown at half staff and will remain so until further notice. In addition, our crisis team of counselors and psychologists has been alerted and will assist school sites in helping children and staff deal with any emotional fallout from today’s tragedy.
The safety of our children is a top priority for us. In response to this tragic event, school principals will discuss with all staff the safety procedures regarding visitors and strangers on campus. In addition, we are carefully reviewing our procedures for conducting “lock down” drills at all of our campuses. We plan and conduct these drills on a periodic basis and have scheduled a drill in the near future. We will review the scheduling of that drill and communicate it to you as soon as we have confirmed the date and coordinated it with the Dublin Police Department.
We ask that you speak with your child about this event, re-assuring them that they are safe at school. We also ask that you stress to them the importance of following the directions of teachers, support staff and school leaders during emergency drills and whenever they are on campus. If you need assistance in helping your children deal with this tragedy, please contact your school principal. In addition, “Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers” is also attached to this letter and will be available on the district website for future reference.
In deepest sympathy for the families and community of Newtown, Connecticut.
Sincerely,
Stephen L. Hanke, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Dublin High School recently announced that starting this year all sophomores will take the ACT Plan preparation test during school hours and free of charge next Tuesday, Dec. 18. Most competitive colleges require students to take either the ACT or SAT as part of their college admissions requirements. The test will be administered to mimic actual test conditions. In 2012, the ACT surpassed the SAT as the most popular college entrance exam in the U.S.
In addition to providing all sophomores the experience of writing a college entrance exam, the ACT Plan also provides feedback on interests that will help with the college and career path selection process.
Kim Halket, Head Counselor, Dublin High School – “The ACT Plan has so many benefits for both the student and the school. Students will have the chance to practice a full length ACT test (without the essay portion), take a career interest survey, and complete a college interest survey which connects them to schools. Students will then receive their test booklet back with the results so they can study and improve their score for the actual ACT. The results provide them with an estimated ACT score, and shows them where the stand academically based on the ACT Plan standards as compared to other sophomores in the US.
“For Dublin High School, we will receive a breakdown of the results and standards and how our students did in each area of math, science and English. We can then share this with each department to help teachers see what we need to work on in the classroom for better scores in the future.
“This is a great opportunity for all our sophomores. We have offered the ACT Plan for the last three years, but on a Saturday, and we usually had about one-third of the class take it. This year we will have results for the entire class of 477 students!”
For parents of Dublin High School sophomores, encourage your student to enjoy a full night’s sleep next Monday in preparation for the ACT Plan, and review the results of the exam when available to help with college prep planning.
Related articles:
- SAT or ACT? Test Preparation Advice for College Bound Students
- SAT Test Prep on a Budget or Raising Your SAT Score Without Going Broke
- Dublin High School Advances in SAT, ACT, AP Exam Results and UC/CSU Eligibilty
- Dublin High School Academic Rankings (API, SAT, AP, ACT, College Admissions)
- Life in College Series
Thanksgiving has now passed and the Diwali celebration has concluded. As Hanukkah has commenced we are now steamrolling towards the Christmas celebration. If there could be any doubt – visit any local retailer or restaurant and one will hear traditional holiday tunes in the air. On that note, the musical traditions within the Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) kicked off on Monday with the fifth grade Advanced Band and Five-Star Recorder Ensemble Winter Concert at Dublin Elementary School. The winter concert performers were almost exclusively Fifth Grade musicians from all six elementary schools in the District. Students from Dougherty, Dublin, Frederiksen, Green, Kolb and Murray Elementary schools provided the packed multi-purpose room with a robust program.
The performance began with traditional numbers “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” and “Ode to Joy”. The fifth grade Advanced Band instrumental highlights later performed pieces featuring flutes, clarinets, trumpets and trombones. The Five-Star Recorder Ensemble treated the audience to their rendition of “Merrily We Roll Along”. The evening climaxed with all-company performances of “Conquest”, “Anasazi” and “Jingle Bells March”. In sum, nearly 180 musicians from across the District contributed to a memorable evening. In many ways, it was equally meaningful to have families from across the entire City of Dublin under one roof.
In late September, OneDublin.org had the opportunity to visit with Chris Immesoete. Chris is the Instrumental Music Teacher for all six of Dublin’s elementary school sites. At the conclusion of the evening’s performance, we wanted to gain her insights and feedback.
OneDublin.org: Was this program purely confined to Fifth grade students/musicians?
Dublin’s Elementary School Students Send Holiday Greetings to U.S. Troops Around the Globe
Thanks to the initiative of Frederiksen Elementary School teacher Brenda Gundell, and elementary school students from across Dublin, over 200 men and women service in our military around the world will be receiving handmade thank you cards that celebrate the holiday season. The end of year holiday season is a time for reflection. In conjunction with Thanksgiving and Christmas, many of us are contemplating our blessings for the past year. Rather than look at our own lives, we must also all take a moment of pause to offer our gratitude and prayers for the thousands of servicemen and servicewomen sprinkled throughout the world. These brave souls help preserve the freedoms that we all enjoy as a country.
The City of Dublin is somewhat unique in that we have Camp Parks – a Reserve Forces Training Area (RFTA) located in the middle of our community. Multiple branches of the armed forces train and reside at Parks and hundreds of military family students attend our schools.
In November, OneDublin.org published a profile on the annual Veterans’ Day Assembly presented at Frederiksen Elementary School. This annual event includes all first through fifth graders and doesn’t end in November – there is a follow-up activity that started quietly and has steadily grown. A “Holiday Cards for our Troops” program was the primary motivator and we wanted to speak to its leader. OneDublin.org recently had the opportunity to sit down with Frederiksen first grade teacher, Brenda Gundell to learn more.
Ms. Gundell attained her B.A. in Liberal Studies and Teaching Credential in Multiple Subjects from Cal State University East Bay in Liberal Studies. Ultimately, she also earned an M.A. in Teaching Leadership from St. Mary’s College. She has taught professionally for a total of ten years – the last nine years at Frederiksen Elementary School.
OneDublin.org: You’ve led a holiday letter writing effort for years. How did this all start?
All five Fallon Middle School Robotics Club teams advanced to the FLL (FIRST LEGO League) champions tournament. FIRST LEGO League “is a robotics program for 9 to 14 year olds, which is designed to get children excited about science and technology – and teach them valuable employment and life skills.”
Various awards were also won by different teams in recent competitions:
- Team Grand Stormer (an all-girls team) won the core value award and 1st place in robot performance.
- Team RoboMasters won the core value award.
- Team Challenge Accepted won the champions award for being most well-rounded.
- The Fallon/Dougherty combined team, Mighty Robots, won the robot design award.
Recently the Dublin High School Robotics Club qualified for the 2013 VEX World Championship (read more…).
Joy Sherratt – Actor, Fallon School Teacher, Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre Co-Founder
Live theatre continues to inspire, captivate, move and entertain – despite the competition from 3D movies, video games and high-def television. Fallon Middle School teacher and Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre co-founder Joy Sherratt on why, “Live theatre moves you in such a different way. Live theatre can really transform and take you somewhere, because it is a physical experience that invites the audience in.”
OneDublin.org met with Ms. Sherratt, who recently starred as ‘Belle’ in the Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”, and is preparing for the January 2013 production of ‘Rent’, to learn more about her journey through college to the theaters of New York and ultimately to the Bay Area where she co-founded the Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre and teaches in Dublin’s Fallon Middle School. Along the way, her story provides practical advice for students considering theatre as a passion or even a profession.
OneDublin.org: What inspired you to pursue theatre?
Joy Sherratt: “My mom said from day one that I was the kid in a room who would be yelling or talking or singing at the top of my lungs just for the attention. I started in the Alameda Children’s Musical Theatre at the age of eight, which was the first time I formally did plays outside of a school setting. I worked with ACMT until the end of middle school, performing in 2-3 productions per year, plays and musicals. ACMT gave me the foundation of how a show is put together.”
“In my freshman year at Alameda High School I took a beginning drama course with Frederick Chacon (it happens to be his final year there). Fred is also the Artistic Director of the Altarena Play House in Alameda. In my sophomore year I was cast as Peter in ‘Peter Pan’ – it was very rare at Alameda High for an underclassman to be cast in a lead. We were lucky at Alameda High to have a beautiful facility to perform in, a building that’s at least 100 years old with a beautiful proscenium, a theatre that holds over 2,000 people.
“Fred saw something in me in my sophomore year, took a chance and let me do Peter Pan. I remember him sitting me down after that show and saying ‘I really think this is something you should do.’
“I was always very academic and athletic too, so he said ‘I know you want to swim, I know you want to play soccer, but I really think this is something you should focus on too.’ I took that to heart and in my junior year I was a secondary lead and in my senior year I was a lead again, which led me to pursue a drama major in college.”
OneDublin.org: After high school what led to your choice of UC Irvine for college?
by Annie McDonald (Dublin High School Class of 2012 and Santa Clara University freshman)
The first time I toured Santa Clara University, it was about ninety degrees, ungodly hot and absolutely cloudless. It struck me how gorgeous the campus was, and how upbeat my tour guide was. He was probably the best tour guide I had through my entire college process.
The next time I was visiting Santa Clara, it was about eight months later and I was in an absolute panic because it was my last college to revisit before I made my decision, and I truly had no idea where I would be living five months from that point. I had more than one meltdown that week because I was so stressed out; just ask my mother. But again, I felt at home on the campus and the student ambassadors were falling all over themselves to make me feel that way. Several hours later, I was at home in my new SCU sweatshirt, working through tuition and housing deposits and forms with my parents.
Rugby – I’m #4
Santa Clara has opened up tons of new opportunities for me. For one, if you told me a year ago I would be playing club rugby as a freshman, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. But for all its pain and hard work, rugby is really fun and really rewarding (and I will always be tougher than those football players). I also volunteer on a weekly basis in the special ed class at the middle school down the street from campus, which is also incredibly rewarding, and I always feel better after I come back.
With these activities, plus having class and homework and a job and trying to maintain some form of a social life, life gets pretty crazy, and I’m up late a lot of nights writing essays or studying Italian or just winding down by watching Netflix (my roommate and I watch a lot of Netflix). But I’ve adjusted to the college schedule with relative ease. One thing that’s a lot different about college, something that I love, is that I get to pick my own classes and what time and day they are on. Naturally, I have no classes before 10:30 in the morning. An advantage of being at a private school is that it isn’t impacted and is affected much less by budget cuts, so it’s a lot easier to get the classes you need at a reasonable time than it might be at a state school. The professors at Santa Clara are also some of the best in the country, so you know you’re getting a good education (my school is ranked #5 for “Most Caring Professors” on CollegeProwler).
Kolb Elementary School’s Parent Faculty Club is hosting its first annual Holiday Boutique this Saturday, December 1st from 9am – 3pm in Kolb’s Multipurpose Room. Shop local and help support public education!
The event is open to the public and admission is free. There will be over 20 vendors selling everything from hand crafted items, such as knit wear, clothing, jewelry and baked goods to home décor, jewelry, hair accessories, body products, skin care, nutritional products, cooking tools, storage containers and more!
Kolb Elementary PFC also has partnered with The Gold Refinery to host a fundraiser where shoppers can cash-in their old, outdated, unwanted gold, silver and platinum jewelry while 10% will go back to the school. Shoppers will have cash in their hands to spend at the Holiday Boutique.
In additional to shopping, attendees will enjoy:
- Chocolate samples to the first 100 adults who walk through the door.
- Peet’s Coffee and breakfast items for purchase in the morning.
- Bagel Street Café has put together boxed sandwich lunches that will also be available for purchase in the afternoon.
- Kolb’s fourth grade class will be selling hot chocolate and lemonade throughout the day to help raise funds for next year’s Outdoor Ed program.
- PFC table where books, Kolb Spirit items and gift wrapping can be purchased.
- Yogurtland has donated cups of frozen yogurt for the PFC to sell at this event too!
- Raffle items donated by our vendors and local businesses will be held throughout the event.
Raffle tickets will cost only $.50 each with $5 for 12 and $20 for 55 options for those looking for a bigger chance to win. Some of the vendors will be holding their own raffles at their tables, so be sure to stop by for your chance to win.
Kolb Elementary School is located at 3150 Palermo Way, Dublin. Updates and a list of vendors can be found at www.kolbpfc.org.
Childcare is provided, one hour for $1, so parents can enjoy the Boutique while their children are supervised in a nearby play room. (Childcare is on a first-come, first-served basis. Parents must remain on premises. Children must be 3 years or older and potty trained.)
OneDublin.org 