Schools
by John M. Zukoski on August 22, 2011 | 
45 Comments | Topics: Schools
Dublin, CA – SAT scores recently released by the California Department of Education show that most Tri-Valley high schools continue to improve in preparing their students for college. Monte Vista High School in Danville, CA jumped another 15 points to score an impressive average of 1,773 on the SAT in the most recent year. Foothill High School and Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, CA generated the second and third highest average scores with 1,756 and 1,743, respectively.
For the second year in a row, Dublin High School had the lowest SAT score in the Tri-Valley. This year’s score of 1,583 represents a 24 point drop from the prior year. Livermore High School (1,616) and Granada High School (1,634) in Livermore, CA rounded out the bottom three for 2009-2010. Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon, CA registered its first year in the SAT program with a median Tri-Valley score of 1,723.
San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, CA was the most improved school with its whopping 36-point jump in 2009-2010. With a score below 1,600, Dublin High School suffered the largest decrease for the year and produced its lowest score since the new SAT test was introduced in 2005. Foothill High School was the only other school to register a decrease in the past year with a 19-point dip in 2009-2010.
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by Around Dublin Team on August 21, 2011 | 5 Comments | Topics: Announcements · Schools · Things To Do
Are your kids looking for a fun group to join in Dublin, CA? Would you like your kids to develop leadership skills that will boost them throughout the rest of their lives? Celebrating over 60 years of community service and youth leadership, the Dublin 4-H Club provides a nurturing environment for young people from age 7 to 17 to have fun and build self-esteem.
Affiliated with the University of California, Dublin 4-H is an organization committed to helping young people develop confidence and poise in front of groups, learn leadership skills and abilities, understand citizenship, and increase life skills through learning activities and group interaction. The kids do all that while having fun and making new friends.
“Kids in Dublin 4-H learn different things each year or continue in the same activities to learn expertise,” shared Dublin 4-H’s Patty Shipps. “Learning activities each year include dog care and training, candy making, crafts, interior decorating, food decorating, puppetry, rocketry, and many more.” Annual events include presentation day, skit night, skate night, favorite foods day, small animal field day, summer camp, and more. The Dublin 4-H Club also volunteers at many community service events.
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by Around Dublin Team on August 15, 2011 | 46 Comments | Topics: Schools
Many families in and around Dublin, CA have chosen to call the Tri-Valley home based on the reputation of its school districts. Recent data from the California Department of Education (CDE) are leading some worried parents to wonder if they have made the right choice. The CDE has projected Dublin High School to be ground zero for high school dropouts in the Tri-Valley.
According to the Sacramento Bee, California’s high school dropout rate recently improved to 4.6%. This latest graduation rate is significantly lower than last year’s dropout rate of 5.7%. The CDE estimates that 18% of all California high school students will drop out over a four-year period. While Dublin High School’s projected dropout rate of 20.4% is only slightly higher than the state average, it is more than 10 times higher than the dropout rate of most other Tri-Valley high schools. The CDE estimates that Livermore High School’s four-year dropout rate will be 4.8%, while Amador Valley High School earned the designation of having the third highest four-year dropout rate at 2.1%.
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by Around Dublin Team on August 9, 2011 | No Comments | Topics: Schools
Paul Epperson won First Place and a "Best in Class" for Pinoy Power from his Young Revolutionaries Project.
Students in the Class of 2014 from Livermore Valley Charter Preparatory High School (LVCP) recently swept up numerous awards across multiple categories for their artwork at the fine arts competition of the Alameda County Fair. The successful showing at the art competition was another grand achievement for the new charter high school that also received many accolades for its accomplishments in the Model United Nations program this past school year. The pieces that won so many awards at the competition were the products of LVCP’s project-based learning model in action.
Students in LVCP teacher Justin Guerra’s English class created the artwork as part of their projects throughout the year. As the only public high school in the Tri-Valley to offer a multi-disciplinary project-based learning environment, LVCP facilitates greater learning by helping students discover their hidden talents and see the interconnections among the different subjects. “Many of the students attending LVCP are attracted by our project-based learning environment,” shared Guerra. “It was great to see kids that hadn’t thought of themselves as being artistic produce such incredible artwork.”
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by Tassajara Prep on August 8, 2011 | 50 Comments | Topics: Announcements · Opinions · Schools
According to Tri-Valley Learning Corporation Chief Operating Officer Bill Batchelor, the Tassajara Preparatory High School founders delivered their updated charter school petition to the Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) offices this past Friday in Dublin, CA. “We are very proud and excited about our enhanced and improved charter petition,” said Dublin parent, Tassajara Prep founder, and Tri-Valley Learning Corporation Board Member Tim Hall. “Tassajara Prep’s founding team has invested hundreds of additional hours into producing an outstanding updated petition for a world-class college prep high school.”
More than 50 pages of new features and more detailed policies & procedures were added to the petition. Tassajara Prep’s founders addressed each and every finding raised by the DUSD and the Alameda County Board of Education in their rejections of the original petition in 2010. According to California’s charter school law, any change to the petition at this point requires the application process to restart with a review by DUSD before it can be appealed to the County and, if necessary, the State.
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by John M. Zukoski on July 7, 2011 | 2 Comments | Topics: Local Issues · Opinions · Schools
Oops they did it again. While still trying to claw back $4.6M in litigation fees from legal firm Lozano Smith for providing allegedly faulty legal counsel on the illusory Neal Elementary School project in Pleasanton, CA, the Pleasanton Unified School District (PUSD) and Pleasanton homeowners now find themselves obligated to come up with over $9.3M in property taxes due to the approval of an ill-advised bond refinancing deal with investment bank Piper Jaffray. The PUSD Board had good intentions to reduce interest costs by refinancing what had been left of a $155M bond issue. The refinancing, which was carried out between 2003 and 2005, had been deemed unconstitutional by then California State Attorney General Jerry Brown.
As part of the refinancing, the PUSD Board effectively took a $6.8M “cash out” that will result in an extra $9.3M in principal and interest payments for Pleasanton property taxpayers. PUSD has reportedly lost track of the $6.8M. Whether the money found its way to the schools is anyone’s guess. PUSD also paid Piper Jaffray Companies $947K in fees for underwriting the deal and San Francisco attorney David Casnocha $290K for providing counsel on the deal.
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by Around Dublin Team on June 29, 2011 | 19 Comments | Topics: Schools
Newsweek recently released its 2011 list of America’s best high schools. The ranking for 2011 is based on a revamped methodology that Newsweek’s panel of experts believe to reflect more accurately a high school’s effectiveness at preparing its students for college. Newsweek sent out over 10,000 requests for information and ultimately assessed over 1,100 high schools based on data from the 2009-2010 academic year. After crunching the self-reported data from the high schools, Newsweek selected 500 schools for its 2011 list of America’s best high schools.
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by John M. Zukoski on June 16, 2011 | 1 Comment | Topics: Opinions · Schools
Like a ray of sunshine peeking through the clouds, the California State Assembly recently gave Tri-Valley families in and around Dublin, CA a lifeline when it passed a bill that would give school districts more flexibility in how they spend their state funding. If approved, this bill promises to reduce class sizes and increase funding for many extra-curricular programs in Tri-Valley schools that have been axed in the string of recent budget cuts. Assembly Bill 18 (AB 18), heavily supported by both Republicans and Democrats in the California State Assembly, would consolidate many of the categorical funds that effectively lock school districts into spending money on unnecessary items while not having enough to spend on critical local needs and opportunities. AB 18 would give local school districts more flexibility in how they spend money allocated by the state so that local student needs could be met and ultimately result in smaller class sizes.
Unfortunately the California Teachers Association (CTA) is opposing this proposed reform in how schools are funded. “Our concern is about moving too quickly with this bill. We need adequate funding of our schools, and this legislation does not provide it…(More funding) should be in place before we can support any major reform,” said CTA spokesperson Mike Myslinski.
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by John M. Zukoski on June 15, 2011 | 1 Comment | Topics: City Hall · Opinions · Schools
Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program in Dublin, CA is known to have some of the most stringent standards in the state. In addition to developing some of the Tri-Valley’s brightest students, Dublin’s GATE program is now yielding benefits for the residents and businesses in Dublin. Mayor Tim Sbranti recently recognized some of Dublin’s most creative and innovative GATE students at the First Annual Mayor’s Challenge Award Night held at Dublin High School.
The Mayor’s Challenge program was created by Dublin Mayor Tim Sbranti and Dublin Elementary School Principal and DUSD GATE Program Coordinator Tess Johnson. As part of the program, the GATE students within each of Dublin’s elementary schools formed teams and developed solutions related to three of the City of Dublin’s most critical objectives:
- What are some things we can do to bring more businesses to Dublin?
- What can we do to become a greener and more environmentally friendly city?
- How we can improve communications in the City of Dublin to inform residents and businesses about events, meetings, and other important information?
Dublin’s elementary school students participating in the Mayor’s Challenge were required to brainstorm, establish criteria and a rationale for selecting their idea, and develop an implementation plan that could be presented via a PowerPoint slide deck. The Mayor’s Challenge is a magnificent program that sets the achievement bar high for students and helps them to develop skills that will give them an advantage throughout their academic and professional careers.
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