As a team, we raised $590 for the Blue Jeans for Babies day yesterday, exceeding last year's efforts!
Thank you for being part of the SJCOE team and pledging to help keep babies healthy. We hope to see you at the March for Babies Walk on April 22 at Caldwell Park in Stockton.
If you still would like to join a team or donate visit, https://www.marchforbabies.org/team/sanjoaquincoe
#WeAreSJCOE
Robots!
Student-built robots compete in the latest issue of the Outlook online magazine. Student teams vied for the championship title in the San Joaquin Delta League Vex Robotics Competition in SJCOE STEM's new Engineering and Design Center.
Read more in the latest issue of Outlook.
The California Department of Education (CDE) launched the California School Dashboard , a new website designed to help communities across the state access important accountability information about K-12 districts and schools.
The Dashboard is part of the state’s new accountability system, based on the Local Control Funding Formula. It is the next step in a series of major shifts in public education that has created more rigorous academic standards for students, changed how students are assessed, and placed the focus on equity for all students.
“The California School Dashboard replaces an accountability system based solely on test scores and provides a powerful tool that gives the community more information about local schools than they ever had before,” SJCOE Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Jane Steinkamp said. “The Dashboard is still being field tested, and it will likely change and improve as users provide feedback and more data is available. It is a strong beginning to a new system that allows schools, parents, and the community to work together to celebrate what is working in local schools while making improvements as needed.”
The Dashboard features easy-to-read reports on multiple measures of school success, including test scores, graduation rates, English-learner progress, and suspension rates. Information about chronic absenteeism and college-career readiness will be added when data becomes available. Four local indicators, including school climate, will be added to the Dashboard at a later date.
The SJCOE’s Center for Educational Development and Research (CEDR) contracted with the CDE to design the Dashboard.
The Dashboard uses color-coded pie pieces to measure how well schools and students are doing (status) and whether or not the status is moving in the right direction (growth). Both status and growth are used to determine performance levels.
The SJCOE has a webpage with more information about the Dashboard, which includes a helpful video and links to other resources.
Fagundes Drive-Thru Dinner
Thursday, April 6
3 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Drive-thru pick up at Venture Academy
2829 Transworld Drive
Advance Ticket Sales Available through March 31
See Attached flier for details
No tickets will be sold at the door
Tickets are NON-refundable
The 2016-17 San Joaquin County Fall Honor Roll list is available online on the SJCOE website.
Click Here to view the complete list
Congratulations to these hard-working students!
Please see the attached flyer for information on upcoming professional development workshops during April and May 2017.
The San Joaquin County SELPA's WorkAbility I program has been providing vocational services and placing students in jobs for 20 years.
March Outlook's feature story and video highlight the program and show how students in special education become more personally and financially independent through their experiences in the WorkAbility I program.
Download the attachment below to view the 2016-2017 San Joaquin County high school graduation and senior awards ceremony dates.
The San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE) and the San Joaquin County Children's Services Coordinating Commission announced the recipients of this year's Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention Awards.
The awards reflect the dedication of the individuals and organizations in our community dedicated to improving the lives of children. Winners were recognized at the 17th Annual Child Abuse Prevention Symposium on April 19 at the Stockton Hilton.
With the close of this year's San Joaquin County Outdoor Education Raffle, the final tally of money raised to help take students on a scientific adventure nearly reached $121,000.
Funds raised by the raffle will pay for hundreds of students to participate in outdoor-education programs, like the SJCOE Outdoor Education program, a four-night excursion to the coastal redwoods known to generations of county students as “Science Camp.”
San Joaquin County Superintendent of Schools James Mousalimas drew the winning tickets. The winners are:
- Frist Place ($3,500): Bryan De Horta Camacho, (ticket sold by Earle E. Williams Middle School – Tracy Unified School District)
- Second Place ($1,000): Harold Alimboyoguen, (ticket sold by Lammersville Elementary School, Lammersville Unified School District)
- Third Place ($500): Trino Ceja, (ticket sold by Primary Years Academy – Stockton Unified School District.)
Funds raised by the raffle will pay for hundreds of students to participate in outdoor-education programs, like the San Joaquin County Office of Education Outdoor Education program, a four-night excursion to the coastal redwoods known to generations of county students as “Science Camp.”
This year, 36 schools participated in the Outdoor Education raffle.
Since 1957, more than 500,000 elementary students have participated in the SJCOE Outdoor Education program, formerly known as Science Camp. More than 4,000 fifth- and sixth-graders, and nearly 600 high school cabin leaders attend Outdoor Education each year, spending five days and four nights exploring and learning in nature. For more information, visit http://www.sjcoe.org/outdoored/.
More than 300 educators from California came to the San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE) for the rollout of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) framework.
The two-day conference, starting on May 3, was the first in the latest phase of the rollout of the more-rigorous science standards in classrooms through the state. The gathering in Stockton marked the first day of the framework rollout, which will continue throughout the year as more schools begin implementing the new standards.
In San Joaquin County, educators dove deep into the new framework, learning from experts then trying out some of the techniques they will be using in the classroom to teach the new standards.
In one session, they learned activities using toy trains or bouncing balls to get kindergartners ready to one day learn about the scientific principles of law and motion. In another session, teachers used a spray bottle and a fan to send simulated clouds over a butcher paper mountain range.
The new standards describe what students should learn about science before they graduate high school. The NGSS framework is a guide to implementing those standards.
For more information: https://www.regonline.com/custImages/360000/360186/NGSS%202017/NGSSflier.pdf
The San Joaquin County Office of Education, The Record, and the University of the Pacific is proud of the academic achievement of this group of graduating seniors.
Read more about the Pinnacle Award in this article in The Record.
Read more about the Pinnacle Award in this article in The Re
Read more about the Pinnacle Award in this article in The Record.
About 300 people gathered for the California State Elementary Spelling Bee hosted by San Joaquin County Office of Education for the seventh consecutive year on Saturday, May 13.
Competing for the championship were 57 fourth- through sixth-grade students from 29 counties in California who had been certified as county champions by their county superintendents of schools.After 16 rounds, Ananya Vinay, 12-year-old sixth-grader from Fresno County, was named the 2017 California State Spelling Bee Champion. Her winning word was “dipsomaniac.” (Definition: one affected with an uncontrollable, often periodic, craving for alcoholic liquors.) This is Ananya’s third state championship. She won the title in both 2015 and 2016.
The top seven finalists (received trophies):
Alisha Chakravarty, Stanislaus County
Judah Kim, Santa Cruz County
June Musurlian, Los Angeles County
Nikhil Parikh, Merced County
Andrew Prasetya, Sonoma County
Tristan Torres, Santa Cruz County
Sarah Yee, Placer County
All students who participated received medals for their participation. The top seven finalists received trophies and Ananya was awarded the championship trophy. The 2017 California State Elementary Spelling Bee was sponsored by Teachers College of San Joaquin. All participants received a Kindle Fire inside a Spelling Bee backpack, and Ananya was awarded an iPad. For more information about Teachers College, visit teacherscollegesj.edu.
In its 10 years, YouthBuild San Joaquin has given more than 400 young men and women a second chance at success, teaching them a trade and helping them connect to good-paying jobs through partnerships with the labor and business communities.
YouthBuild students all attend the San Joaquin Building Futures Academy (SJBFA), which held its graduation ceremony on May 24 for the Class of 2017. A charter school operated by the San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE), SJBFA has a focus on the construction trades that offers a second chance for youth and young adults ages 16-24 to earn their high school diploma or GED.
"No matter how hard the struggle, all things are possible," said SJBFA grad and commencement speaker Gloria, one of two graduate speakers.
Monica, the other speaker, looked out at the graduates and said: "What I see is one less statistic." An SJBFA grad an YouthBuild participant, she talked about the construction and leadership skills she learned as well as her struggles to get to graduation. She said she wasn't alone. "Aren't we all glad we all stuck together? After all, this isn't a 'me' thing. It's a 'we' thing."
This year, 63 SJBFA students graduated. It was the school's seventh class of graduates, with 30 YouthBuild students among them.YouthBuild San Joaquin had its start before SJBFA.
In 2006, the program had 20 participants, and they shared facilities with the Sierra Vista Community Center, part of the Housing Authority of San Joaquin. YouthBuild students helped gut and build back up the facility at 3100 Monte Diablo Drive in Stockton into the SJBFA campus.Working closely with trade unions, local businesses, and other organizations, Youth Build San Joaquin has continued to grow and add services to help its participants and the wider community.
"For 10 years, Youth Build San Joaquin has improved the lives of young people by giving them a second chance to turn their lives around and finding opportunities to obtain good careers in the construction trades," Superintendent of Schools James Mousalimas said.
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor considers YouthBuild San Joaquin one of the highest performing YouthBuild programs in the state and nation. So far, more than 50 YouthBuild participants have gone on to apprenticeships -- an important step toward a good-paying career in the trades. The local YouthBuild participants are recognized as young leaders in Washington D.C., and in San Joaquin County the program has completed more than 22,000 hours of community service and helped build nine affordable homes with Habitat for Humanity since becoming part of the national AmeriCorps program. In 2015, YouthBuild San Joaquin partnered with Head Start of San Joaquin and Child Abuse Prevention Council to open an on-site daycare center for infants and toddlers. That same year, the program organized its first annual Women in Construction conference in partnership with tradeswomen in the region.
The 10-year-anniversary of the local program is coupled with the retiring of its founder, Sheila Goulart, SJCOE director of community partnerships. SJBFA director Doug Silva marked both occasions at the graduation and presented Goulart with a bouquet of flowers.
"You've change the lives of so many young people by really allowing them to really find themselves," he said.
Goulart also spoke to the graduates, reminding them how they've been able to turn their "obstacles into opportunities." She reminded them that the teachers they've had along the way have been more than that. They've been advisors.And she told the students they still were not alone. "Just remember one thing. We are only a phone call or a text message away," she said.
She also invited them to keep in touch so they could share their newfound successes with the next generation of SJBFA and YouthBuild students.
The Venture Academy Family of Schools varsity baseball team just finished a record-breaking season, progressing further in the post season than any athletic team in school history.
The team played the Roseville-Valley Christian Lions in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII title game on Memorial Day. In the end, it was a 6-2 victory for the Lions, but it marked the end of an impressive season for our Mustangs.
To read more about the team and its Coach Joe Piombo, please see the following stories that had been published in The Record:
Harrison Elementary School teacher Peter Gallegos was named the 2017-18 San Joaquin County Teacher of the Year at a celebration at the San Joaquin County Office of Education to honor teachers and other school employees from across the county.
Gallegos, a science and math teacher from the Stockton Unified School District, was one of 12 employees feted at the Seventh Annual San Joaquin County Classified Employee and Teacher of the Year Awards Celebration Dinner on June 8. Gallegos also received $1,000 from Premier Community Credit Union, a longtime supporter of educators in San Joaquin County and co-sponsor of the annual awards banquet for teachers and classified school employees.
As the San Joaquin County Teacher of the Year, his application will be submitted to the state for consideration as the California Teacher of the Year.
Five other outstanding teachers were recognized as finalists. Each received $400 from Premier Community Credit Union. They are:
Also recognized were the six San Joaquin County Classified Employees of the Year in six different categories. Each received $400. They are:
Video profiles of all can be found on the SJCOE's YouTube Channel. Photos from the celebration dinner are posted on the SJCOE Facebook page.
Students will still be able to find a nutritious meal this summer, even if school is not in session.
To find sites participating in the California Summer Meals Program, go to this page on the state Department of Education.
The state issued the following in a press release about the program:
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson encourages parents, caregivers, child care organizations, and community groups to take advantage of the Summer Meals Program that provides free meals to children eighteen or younger at local community sites.
“Nutritious meals help a child thrive both physically and mentally,” Torlakson said. “The Summer Meals Program helps to keep kids well-nourished during the summer months so they can return to the classroom prepared and ready to learn.”
The Summer Meals Program begins when school districts end their school year. For a complete list of participating sites, visit the California Department of Education Summer Meals Service Sites Web page.
Summer Meals is part of the Summer Food Service Program, which is a federally funded and state-administered program that operates when schools are closed for at least 15 continuous school days or when year-round schools are off track. The program provide meals to children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals during the school year or who live in areas where at least 50 percent of students are eligible to receive those meals.
“This program will help feed children in communities where food insecurity is a real issue,” Torlakson said. “Students who live in those areas can receive meals without paperwork. No child is turned away.”
The San Joaquin Couinty Office of Education (SJCOE) desires to provide a safe school environment that allows all students equal access and opportunities in academic and other educational support programs, services, and activities.
SJCOE prohibits unlawful discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying of any student based on actual race, color, ancestry, national origin, ethnic group identification, age, religion, marital or parental status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, gender non- conformance, or gender stereotyping; the perception of one or more of such characteristics; or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.
Please visit the SJCOE Notice of Student Nondiscrimination/Title IX webpage for more information.
