Professionals, through and through

"You Play Like You Practice."  

 It's an old saying from sports, and anyone who has played a sport has probably heard the coach say that a few times to inspire hard work during a long string of practices.

So, how do our teachers "practice"?  Most folks, when they think of teacher professional development, think of a couple of in-service days during the school year.  Maybe you even know when they fall in the calendar.  It looks something like this:





Many folks would look at that and not think much of it- and I admit, I wouldn't be impressed either, unless you really know what our teachers are doing.  On Monday this week, Nancy Davis (former Almond Principal and our new Asst. Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction) presented to the Board on the training plan for this fall.  Here is just one part of the plan:



Holy cow!  Take a look at those dates!  Literally, our teachers are engaged in continued professional development on a near continual basis!  Throughout the fall, sometimes several meetings within the same week, LASD teachers gather and hone their craft -- all in the name of improving the student experience.

It's worth pointing out that while the formal professional development days on the calendar are paid events, the iLearn academy is not.  These after-school classes are completely voluntary.  Yet last year we offered more than 80 hours of development courses, and nearly half of our staff attended (attendance ramped up over the year, as word got out how great the courses really are). We expect to build on that trend again this year, and we're already planning a conference- open to educators from all over- for next summer.

If you're interested in the full presentation we saw this week, you can find it here:
(pdf presentation)

Nancy's actual presentation to the board will be posted here, along with the archive of all of our recent board meetings.  (video archive)

I'm incredibly proud of our staff for their hard work and their desire to constantly improve their tradecraft.  It takes amazing dedication to our students to stay committed to this type of training while still ensuring that each child in your classroom is getting the personalized education they deserve.  Well done, LASD teachers!

It's a nice footnote that we are investigating putting these courses online/video so that teachers in other districts can also benefit.  Being leaders in revolutionizing learning isn't just about teaching our own kids- it's about figuring out what works well, and sharing those practices with others. 

LASD/BCS meetings start tonight

Updated @12:30pm to include site evaluation information

Those who have followed the LASD/ BCS interactions over the past few weeks know it has been a challenging time in the relationship.  However, I am pleased to say that we have arranged a series of meetings to discuss both BCS's short term concerns (primarily related to the 2013-14 facilities offer) as well as the District's desire to push forward with a bond to build new schools.

The meetings will have 2 members from the LASD Board of Trustees and 2 members of the BCS Board of Directors.  Last night the District appointed Mark Goines and Steve Taglio as our representatives to the "short term" talks.  Tammy Logan and I will represent the District in the longer term discussions. 

The schedule for the meetings is as follows:

8/27    Short Term (Grade Level Restrictions)
8/29    Short Term (Site Capacity Restrictions)

9/10    Long Term
9/12    Long Term

9/17    Long Term
9/19    Short Term (misc items)

The Short Term meetings will be held at the Los Altos City Hall in the Community Meeting Room (commonly known  as the council chambers).  The Long Term meetings will be held at the Los Altos Hills Town Hall.  All meetings will start at 7pm. These are all public meetings.  Much like our Feb 15 2x2, the focus is on a working discussion.  I'm anxious to see how we can collaborate and address the long term need to build more facilities while considering how BCS fits within the footprint of what we have today.

In parallel with naming these teams last night, we also asked LASD Trustee Pablo Luther to take on work with the Town of Los Altos Hills to evaluate potential sites in the that community.  It's one thing to work on a hypothetical bond, but I think the conversation will move substantially if we have a site identified.  Many thanks to Mayor Waldeck for his support of this work as well.

LASD to attend BCS Board Meeting

On August 6th, LASD Superintendent Jeff Baier will be presenting the results of the Superintendent's Enrollment Growth Task Force to the BCS Board of Directors.  There will also be an agenda item where the BCS and LASD boards can discuss what this means, and how we might move forward.  LASD will be agendizing this meeting (although technically under the Brown Act, we aren't required to do so, as we are actually attending BCS's agendized meeting). 

This presentation will include the same material that Jeff has presented to the LASD Board of Trustees, the Los Altos Hills Town Council, and other local agencies.  It clarifies why we need additional school sites and provides some of the supporting data that drives that conclusion.  Given that so many entities participated in the Task Force, it is only right to give those groups a read-out on the findings.

One of the key findings of the Task Force is that LASD and BCS need to work together on building community support for additional school sites.Clearly that will be front and center on my mind when we get to the second agenda item.

Even during the summer, I get occasional pings from folks asking about meetings with the BCS Board.  This meeting has been a long time in coming.  BCS has requested some tactical discussions about the 13-14 offer, but the LASD Board really wants to focus on how we can work together to address the long term needs.  I'm looking forward to this discussion.

Also, I've been pinged about why this meting hasn't been noticed yet.  The meting is not a regularly scheduled meeting- it is a "special meeting"  As such, the Brown Act requires the agenda to be posted at least 24 hours in advance (instead of at least 72 hours in advance, as is the case for regular meetings).  Technical the LASD Board doesn't need to agendize this meeting, as it is a noticed meeting of another group, but we will do so in an abundance of caution.

Hope to see you all on Tuesday night!