Pacifica School District: Preparing Students for an Evolving World

We have completed our well attended Back-to -School Nights, which were so reflective of the great education provided to our students! October is the month where we realign our school and district plans after reviewing the data and finalizing funding options.  

This year will be extremely interesting as we leverage the various funding sources including:  LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula – the new State funding mechanism for schools); Common Core Implementation Funds (two year funding for implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)); Federal Funds, and Proposition 39 (five year funding for energy efficiency).  

With many of these resources being new to our system, we will work to share information and gain input from all the various stakeholders in the PSD community.

No STAR Test!  Pacifica School District has been shifting to the CCSS for a few years in ELA with the implementation of Balanced Literacy and now with the bridge materials for mathematics.  As we make this shift we want to emphasize the focus is on the CCSS and the new assessment, Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). With the signing of AB 484 by Governor Brown, a majority of students will not need to take the State adopted STAR test and will pilot SBAC in either Mathematics/English Language Arts. There are only a few selected tests for specific grade levels and student populations that remain as part of STAR. 

PSD is a Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) Grant Recipient!  It is with great pleasure we share the fantastic news that Pacifica School District, with the other district members of the North County Math Consortium (Bayshore, Brisbane, Jefferson Elementary, and Jefferson High School), was awarded a three-year $400k grant to provide professional development for the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in mathematics.  

We will continue our relationship with the Silicon Valley Math Initiative (SVMI) to provide district-wide and consortium training with the goal of all grades aligned to the CCSS with the result of an increasing percentage of our students able to succeed in A through G required mathematics courses (college/career ready coursework). This is extremely exciting for us as we work with our neighboring high school district to ensure a seamless transition.

Additionally, Pacifica School District, along with other partnering districts, will participate in the SMCOE Analytics Center that SVCF is also providing fiscal support. The goal is to provide teachers, parents, and students the opportunity to use real-time assessment data in order to make critical decisions about student progress and teaching.

Health and Wellness; October is Respect! 24/7 Month:  The Pacifica School District Board of Trustees adopted a resolution in October 2012 commemorating October as RESPECT! 24/7 Month in San Mateo County.  This resolution reflects our support for the SMCOE anti-bullying and civility campaign.  

Although we implement School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) throughout the year, our emphasis on activities that support personal growth throughout the entire month will bring focus on the importance of global and digital citizenship development.  Last year the Trustees adopted a Health Education Curriculum Plan that provides a district-wide approach to teaching critical standards in health education.  

Included in this plan is emphasis on mental, emotional and social health, as well as personal and community health.  Examples of our focus is the use of the Bully Project in seventh grade, a documentary film that focuses on the current issues of bullying and the teaching of the CommonSense Media curriculum that focuses on digital literacy and citizenship in second, fourth and sixth grades.   

In addition to our character development, I look forward to our participation in Red Ribbon Week, October 23-31, celebrating our commitment to healthy living.  

Thank you to our school climate and safety teams for guiding our work!