Beauty and the Beast Opens Friday at the Firehouse in Pleasanton, Features Dublin Talent
Fallon Middle School’s Joy Sherratt returns to the stage this Friday as “Belle” in the Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre production of the popular Disney musical ,”Beauty and the Beast”, at the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton. Dublin High School’s Patrick Wallace, seen most recently this summer in Hairspray, is also a member of the cast. Evening performances are November 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17 at 8:00 pm with matinees on November 4, 10, 11, 17, 18 at 2:00 pm. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.firehousearts.org, or at the Firehouse box office (4444 Railroad Avenue, 925-931-4848). Box office hours are Wed.-Fri. 12pm – 6pm, Sat. 10am-4pm and 2 hours prior to show time (including Sundays).
As an added treat, for an hour before the Sunday Matinee Performances, come and meet the Princess for Tea and Treats, from 12:45-1:45 PM (in the Rudy and Marge Johnson Studio at the Firehouse Arts Center). This special event is best for audience members age 4 and up ($10.00 per person). Tickets can be purchased online here.
Read more…
The Dublin High School Drama Club‘s first production of the 2011-12 season, the 1953 Pulitzer prize-winning play “Picnic” (by playwright William Inge), opens this Thursday Oct. 25 in Dublin High’s Little Theatre for a four performance run (10/25 – 1027 at 7pm, 10/28 at 2pm; $7 for students and $10 for adults). As in previous productions, “Picnic” is double-cast which provides more students the unique opportunity to perform on stage. The full cast list is available here.
Dublin High Teacher and Director Bryant Hoex: “‘Picnic’ is a story filled with important themes for teens and parents alike: what happens when we label students as ‘the smart one’ or ‘the pretty one’? Can we protect our kids from making the same mistakes we have, or are there just some lessons they need to learn for themselves? This Pulitzer-Prize winning play gives us complex, fascinating characters, and I’m proud of our student-actors for portraying them with such earnestness and maturity. Thank you to the entire DHS community for supporting the arts… please enjoy the show!”
Dublin High School recently broke ground on a new 500-seat Performing Arts Center which will be the new home for the drama and music programs in early 2014.
Dublin High Drama Club students filmed and edited a preview of the show:
On Monday night, Dublin Unified School District candidates Dan Cunningham, Amy Miller, Austin Ogden and Greg Tomlinson met for a Candidates Forum hosted by the Dublin High School PFSO. The event included a series of questions provided in advance along with questions from the audience. OneDublin.org filmed the event and has split the forum up by question in a series of short videos. Parent Michelle McDonald from the Dublin High PFSO served as moderator for the event.
Topics covered ranged from funding challenges to student population growth, from the Tassajara Prep charter petition to managing student stress. Dublin High School’s class ranking system provided the most spirited debate (note: earlier the same day, at the Dublin High School Site Council meeting, it was announced that the class ranking system was not going to change for the 2012-13 school year and that final details for how the system would evolve were still being finalized).
Dublin School Board Candidates Forum – Opening Statements
Dublin School Board Candidates Forum – First Moderator Question
Moderator Michelle McDonald – “What would you consider your priorities for the District and our students as we face the possibility of more cuts at the state level?”
Dublin High Academic Awards Night 2012
Dublin High School’s Class of 2012 drove improvements in SAT, ACT and AP exam results according to data recently released by the CollegeBoard (who administer the SAT and AP exams) and ACT. UC/CSU eligibility, based on students successfully completing the required “a” – “g” courses as classified by the University of California, also improved significantly, in part due to increased graduation requirements. The gains were combined with increased participation as more Dublin High students participate in college prep assessments for 4-year colleges. The improvements build on the recently announced API gain to 880 for Dublin High. Dublin High SAT, ACT, AP and UC/CSU eligibility results are summarized below.
Dublin Unified School District Board of Trustees President Greg Tomlinson: “Despite deep budget cuts from the state, our new learning initiatives, increased graduation requirements, and advanced diploma options are producing results. Dublin High is the only high school in the Tri-Valley with a 10/10 similar schools ranking from the state on the latest Academic Performance Index. We are working to ensure every student is college and career ready. We have more and more students taking AP classes, pursuing the Diploma with Distinction and Advanced Scholar Diploma, meeting UC/CSU requirements, and achieving proficient and advanced levels of knowledge on state tests. Dublin High offers over 22 Advanced Placement and honors classes and we’re especially proud of significant progress closing the ‘achievement gap’. Year after year, many of our students are offered scholarships and admission to the country’s most elite schools. If you’re willing to work hard, you can get a great education in Dublin.”
Earlier this year, Dublin High’s Class of 2012 also received acceptance letters from every UC and CSU campus plus Stanford, the US Air Force Academy, Brown, Duke, Purdue, and many more (read more…).
Dublin High School SAT Results 2011-12
| SAT Results | School(s) | Percent Tested |
Critical Reading Average |
Math Average |
Writing Average |
Total Average |
| Similar Schools | 49% | 539 | 554 | 535 | 1628 | |
| 2011-12 | Dublin High | 65% | 536 | 569 | 542 | 1647 |
| 2010-11 | Dublin High | 59% | 509 | 552 | 512 | 1573 |
Dublin High School ACT Results 2011-12
| ACT Results | School(s) | Percent Tested |
Average Score |
| Similar Schools | 26% | 24.5 | |
| 2011-12 | Dublin High | 42% | 24.9 |
| 2010-11 | Dublin High | 33% | 24.1 |
Dublin High School AP Exam Results 2011-12
| AP Results | School(s) | # of Exam Takers |
# Exams Score >3 |
# Exams Score >4 |
# Exams Score >5 |
| Similar Schools | 66% | 37% | 15% | ||
| 2011-12 | Dublin High | 337 | 76% | 47% | 20% |
| 2010-11 | Dublin High | 261 | 73% | 45% | 17% |
Dublin High School UC/CSU Eligibility 2011-12
| UC / CSU Eligibility | School(s) | Total Grads | DHS UC/CSU Eligibility |
| Alameda County | 49% | ||
| 2011-12 | Dublin High | 356 | 65% |
| 2010-11 | Dublin High | 336 | 58% |
The second annual Dublin High School Irish Guard Field Show will take place this Saturday (Oct. 20, 2012) at the Dublin High Gaels Stadium, with bands from around the state coming to compete. Gates open to the public at 4 pm with the competition starting just before 5pm (the full schedule is included below). Admission is $12 per person. Come out and support our band, and bands from across the state, and see first-hand the value of music education.
According to a Harris Interactive poll of school principals, music programs contribute to higher attendance and graduation rates and The College Board reported in 2011 that SAT takers with coursework / experience in music performance scored 120 points higher on the verbal portion of the test (reading + writing) and 44 points higher on the math portion than students with no coursework or experience in the arts. SAT scores for those with coursework in music appreciation were 129 points higher on the verbal (reading + writing) and 43 points higher on the math portion. (Read more…)
Dublin High School Irish Guard Field Show Schedule
As you likely know by this point, last Thursday the California Department of Education released the Academic Performance Index (API) results for all school districts in the state. The API reports on academic performance and growth of schools on a variety of measures. The overall Dublin District API rose to 901 (a 17 point increase over 2011 and 69 point increase since 2007).
This article focuses on the dramatic improvements made by three of our schools – Wells Middle, Frederiksen Elementary and Dublin Elementary School. In some school districts, it is fairly common to attain an annual 1-2% increase in API. These three schools, however, achieved +5% growth rates – a remarkable achievement. Dublin Elementary rose 50 points to 928, Frederiksen Elementary grew 48 points to 894 and Wells Middle School improved by 44 points to 870.
OneDublin.org recently had the opportunity to visit with the leadership of all three schools noted – Principals Lauren McGovern (Dublin Elementary School), Holly Scroggins (Frederiksen Elementary School) and Dr. Kevin Grier (Wells Middle School). Our mission was to explore how these dramatic increases were achieved.
OneDublin.org: What specific strategies were employed at your site to help accomplish these gains?
Dougherty Elementary School, under the leadership of new principal Brett Nelson, recently held its first annual Dublin Integrity In Action Chalk Festival. The focus of the activity was to encourage students to work together to create a mural, apply learnings from Dublin’s character education curriculum, and most importantly have fun.
Teacher Irene Fong on her class’ participation in the school-wide project, “Wow! What a wonderful project for our students. The theme was Dublin Integrity and I am so proud of my class because they exhibited the exact character traits that we are emphasizing.
“Students volunteered to come in during recess to create their drafts. After recess, students voted on which drawing to use. When the winning drawing was announced, everyone cheered for the winner and the winner actually congratulated the other illustrators, exhibiting great sportsmanship (Positive Attitude, Giving, Doing My Best, Caring, Cooperation, Respect).
“Many students gave up their lunch time to come and create the drawing on the selected square (in our case, Caring, Giving, Responsible). I selected a student leader to be in charge and walked away. The next time I looked out of my window, I saw a group of Room 22 students working together, each doing their part and completing the project within the given time. There were no arguments and a lot of team work (Respect, Positive Attitude, Doing My Best, Responsibility, Caring, Giving, Trustworthy, Cooperation, Self Discipline, Honesty)
“I am extremely proud of my class for demonstrating all the Dublin Integrity in Action Traits during the completion of this project.”
It looks like a dry week so the Dougherty Elementary School community should have several more days to enjoy the student chalk art (see below).
California Department of Education Finally Correcting Dublin High School Data Errors
For those that closely follow Dublin High School‘s performance via metrics published by the California Department of Education (CDE), persistent data errors from 2010 have complicated year-over-year, longitudinal and cohort data comparisons. The CDE has confirmed in writing (see below) that the errors will finally be corrected. According to Dublin Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Stephen Hanke in a statement made earlier this year, “The district migrated to a new student data reporting system in fall 2010 and due to an error in the migration, enrollment data for Dublin High School was incorrectly reported. This inaccuracy was reported to the California Department of Education’s California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) office in December 2010.”
The incorrect enrollment data distorts Dublin High School’s cohort graduation rates for 2009-10 and 2010-11 (as per the letter from the CDE below) making the currently published analysis unreliable. The published reports are scheduled to be updated in January. The currently published reports were last updated a year ago (October 2011).
Full text of the California Department of Education Letter to the Dublin Unified School District Oct 2012:
October 9, 2012
Dr. Stephen Hanke, Superintendent
Dublin Unified School District
7471 Larkdale Ave.
Dublin, CA 94568-1500
Dear Superintendent Hanke,
This letter is to notify you that the Academic Progress Reports to be released this month will not factor in the data corrections that your staff has been working on and has already submitted to CALPADS. My staff has viewed the Operational Data Store within CALPADS and I can confirm that your staff has made corrections to both 2009-10 and 2010-11 data that will improve your cohort graduation rate.
Unfortunately, we are not scheduled to update the four-year cohort graduation rate until November when all districts have had an opportunity to make corrections. The final rates will be recalculated for all schools and posted publicly on the CDE Web site in January.
Because these are cohort graduation rates, we cannot calculate them for a single school or district – the data are longitudinal and one school’s data can impact another school’s data. Therefore, the calculations must wait until we have corrections from all schools. Your 2009-10 and 2010-11 data corrections are already contained in CALPADS. There is nothing more required of the school district at this time, but to await the recalculation of the rates.
I understand that you will need to reach out to your education community and try to explain the complexity of these new cohort rates and why the data contained in the new release of the Academic Progress Reports is not yet an accurate representation of your high school graduation rate.
I am willing to help discuss these issues or answer any questions from your staff, your local governing board or your community. I can be reached directly by telephone at 916-323-5007 or by e-mail at kashley@cde.ca.gov.
Sincerely,
Keric Ashley, Director
Educational Data Management Division
California Department of Education
Dublin High School Homecoming 2012 Video and Photo Diary
OneDublin.org’s Dublin High School Homecoming Video Diary is perfect for Dublin High Alumni, extended family members and anyone that wants to relive homecoming highlights. Included in this video diary are a 2.5-minute time-lapse movie of the Skit Rally skits, videos of each class skit, highlights from the skit rally, and a video of the Dublin High School Homecoming Parade. Sit back, pull up an iPad, smartphone or computer and enjoy the sights and sounds of Dublin High School’s 2012 Homecoming celebration. Adding to the fun, this year’s Homecoming Celebration landed on City of Dublin Mayor and Dublin High teacher Tim Sbranti’s birthday.
More OneDublin.org videos are available on the OneDublin.org YouTube Video Channel and more photos are available on the OneDublin.org Facebook page.
Dublin High School Homecoming Skit Rally Time Lapse Movie
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Local realtor and Dublin High School parent Sheri Platter presented a $500 donation to the newly formed Brian Beasley Athletic Scholarship Fund during the Dublin High School Homecoming Game Friday evening. The $500 donation builds on thousands of dollars donated by Ms. Platter over the past year. Last year, Ms. Platter pledged to donate 5% of earnings to local schools (read more…). A memorial service attended by hundreds of family, friends and community leaders was held last Saturday to remember and pay tribute to Mr. Beasley (read more…).
Donations to the Brian Beasley Athletic Scholarship Fund can be made as follows:
- Make check payable to “DHS Athletic Scholarship” and in the memo section please write Brian Beasley
- Mail checks to: Dublin High School (or to donate with cash or a credit card, go to Dublin High Student Activities during school hours)
Attn: Terri Oravetz
8151 Village Parkway
Dublin CA 94568
Sheri Platter (left) presents donation to Charlene Beasley (center) and Carol Shimizu (right) during Homecoming
OneDublin.org 