Courtesy of the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District:
Welcome to the 2018-19 school year! It is hard to believe that it will soon be 2020, another decade will soon pass. Aromas-San Juan Unified School District will begin the 2018-19 school year on August 16, 2018. This year, as has been done in prior years, we are continuing to focus on the success of our students through continued efforts in the classroom, at the schools, and districtwide. The District is so very fortunate to have the strong support of our community. We look forward to working with all our partners (i.e., administrators, staff, parents, and community).
I have the honor of continuing to serve the board, staff, students, and the community to achieve the best outcomes for all students.
Leading us again this year at our sites and in our departments include:
• Dr. Elizabeth Cord, San Juan School, Principal
• Ms. Heather Howell, Aromas School, Principal
• Ms. Charlene McKowen, Anzar High School, Principal
• Mr. Anthony Miranda, Special Education Director
• Ms. Cindy Guajardo, Preschool Director
• Ms. Mariana Solomon, Business Manager
• Ms. Anita Hendrickson, Human Resources Manager
• Ms. Marie Barros, Transportation Manager
• Mr. Dan Carrillo, Maintenance and Operations Manager
• Ms. Janie Cecena, Food Services Manager
We are very fortunate to have a strong, collaborative team that support(s) our students, along with our certificated and classified employees. Without each of them, we could not accomplish the Vision established by our Board of Trustees.
We look forward to continuing the “Superintendent/Principal Coffee Hour” held at each school site monthly. It’s our way to improve a two-way communication for students, parents, and community providing an opportunity to share ideas and hear updates from the District. We will alternate the times for the “Coffee Hour” between morning and evening each month. For example, September will be held in the morning and October will be held in the evening. In addition, we will be establishing “Suggestion Boxes” to allow ideas from our students, staff, parents, and community to be shared with school site and District administration.
We are very excited about the work we are doing on the implementation of our website for the 2018-19 school year, as it will provide additional opportunities for two-way communication through email, text, phone calls, and social media (Facebook, twitter, etc.). We will update information on our website regularly as information becomes available.
Again this year, the District operated the “Seamless Summer” program, which offered breakfast and lunch to students under the age of 18 years old. Aromas and San Juan schools offered the Summer Migrant program. As part of our Summer Migrant program, we received a grant through the Santa Clara County Office of Education, which provided two Binational teachers from Mexico for the Migrant Program. The two teachers arranged for a presentation on the last day of the program at Anzar High School, which included art, food, and dancing. Thank you to Ms. Price, Aromas Teacher, who was so gracious to host both teachers. We are very thankful for the incredible staff that support our schools and the District.
The District will continue with its plan of discussions each month about the LCAP. The LCAP incorporates the District’s educational goals, which includes staff development, parent involvement and guidelines to support the District to maximize student achievement and success. We look forward to the review of the District’s LCAP beginning in September 2018. Feedback from the administrators, staff, students, parents, and community will be provided to the Board for each section reviewed. The five goals included in the District’s LCAP are as follows:
1. Provide students with high quality classroom instruction and curriculum that promote college and career readiness and prepares students for success in the 21st Century global economy.
2. Improve student achievement by implementing district-wide and site-based professional development to effectively implement Common Core State Standards, English Language Development (ELD) Standards, district initiatives, and to respond to student achievement results in a timely manner.
3. Provide effective, researched based interventions at all levels to increase student achievement and to decrease the achievement gap for all state identified subgroups.
4. Ensure all students experience safe, well maintained, supportive, and inclusive environments so that all students are in their classes ready to learn.
5. Increase parent engagement through effective two-way communication to raise the level of involvement of parents and families in school programs, student progress, and as valued decision-making partners and school stakeholder leaders.
My collaborative leadership style is open, fair, and consistent. I have an open-door policy and welcome conversations at any time. Please feel free to contact the office at (831) 623-4500 to schedule an appointment.
Summer is a time to relax and rejuvenate. We hope your summer was filled with time spent with family and friends. We will kick off the start of the school year with professional development for staff on August 8, August 13, and 14, 2018.
The opportunity to meet challenges and achieve greatness are within everyone’s reach. Working together is key to student success.
Respectfully,
Michele Huntoon, Superintendent
