Opinion: 2012 Will Hopefully Bring a Clearer View of Education Funding

As moves forward into 2012, we are all being watchful of the fiscal direction the state will take. Due to the concessions our labor partners have made, the support of our parents, and the commitment of our community to educating our students as exemplified through the passage of the , we were able to leverage our fiscal resources to maintain last year’s level of service. January will hopefully bring clearer understanding to the fiscal impact education will take in relation to the current school year and a sense of what is to come. 

December brought a change in our leadership on the Pacifica School District Board of Trustees. A special thank you goes to Eileen Manning-Villar who served as our Board President for 2011. Under her leadership we have accomplished many important actions for our district that include: 1) Passage of Measure L to begin July 2012 through June 2017; 2) Approval of the PSD Strategic Plan and companion plans for Mathematics and Operations and 3) Implementation of a District-wide Reading Workshop Institute. Our new president who will fulfill this very important role for 2012 is Cynthia Kaufman.

There are several items to note for Kindergarten. We will begin our Mid-year Kindergarten starting Tuesday, January 3, 2012. We are very excited that we can provide this opportunity for our community. Beginning in the 2012-13 school year, all California school districts, including Pacifica School District, will be offering Transitional Kindergarten. This phased in program modifies Kindergarten as we know it in the State by offering two options: 1) A two-year program for students turning five between November 2-December 2 until we reach the start date of September 2 in 2014; and 2) One year program for students turning five by November 1 in 2012, until we reach the start date of September 1 in 2014. Please go to the Pacifica School District web-site for more information.  Lastly, the Kindergarten Lottery occurs Friday, January 20^th at 3:00 at the Vallemar multi-purpose room.

Our focus continues to be on the implementation of three major areas:

1. Reading Workshop/Balanced Literacy
2. Continued alignment and refinement of practices for mathematics
3. Implementation of Pacifica Education Foundation (PEF) supported 21^st Century classroom learning experiences

We are receiving positive feedback regarding these implementation actions and are certain we will reap the rewards of raising the level of academic achievement for all of our students. 

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