Back to School Night

We held our annual Back to School Night last night on September 3. According to our count, 56% of our families attended the event, which is on par with attendance in recent years. What a tremendous show of partnership on the part of our parents! Thanks so much for coming by and meeting your child’s teachers.

It’s important to know that Back to School Night is not the only opportunity you have to talk to your child’s teachers. They are only as far away as an email; our teachers are happy to meet with you anytime during the school year to discuss your child’s progress. Feel free to contact them as needed, even if it’s just to ask a quick question.

I enjoyed the opportunity I had to meet many of our parents last night. In one conversation I had with a parent, he expressed to me the trepidation he had in sending his child to SJND next year. As a current 8th grade students, he is struggling in class and is not the “best of students.” I sympathized with him and explained to him that SJND is probably a great place for a student like that. While we have high expectations and challenge the brightest of our students, the small size of SJND (current enrollment is 418 students) creates a situation where teachers know if a student is struggling. I told the parent that there would not be a teacher who does not know when a kid is struggling and that’s a good thing. You want teachers to know so that they can offer extra help and support. Our small size allows teachers to give students that personal attention.

First week of school

I always get a little nervous at the start of each school year. In fact, many veteran teachers I talk to tell me the same thing – there’s a special feeling one has at the start of each school year. You want to impress a new group of students, you have new strategies and lessons you want to try out for the first time. The new year brings with it new possibilities and dreams and a chance to fix those classes and lessons that did not go well last year.

As a second year principal, I have the same feelings. I spent much of last year listening and learning about the SJND community, getting a sense of what worked and what needed improvement. Many of the changes that were talked about last year will actually happen this year. Naturally, there’s a high degree of anticipation opening this school year knowing that many things that are fundamental to the operation of our school will be changing this year.

I have been so impressed by this community’s ability and willingness to embrace change. Most members of our school were ready for something new and while change is always difficult, I commend the entire community for their enthusiasm for new ideas and programs. I can only hope that this enthusiasm will continue this school year.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the 2008-9 school year. I trust that you and your family had a safe and restful summer vacation and that you had an opportunity to spend time with your family. A new school year will bring many new changes to the school.

I’m excited about all of our changes this year, but the one I am most excited about is our new Student Independent Reading Program (SIR). This year, we have adjusted our school schedule so that all students will have a 10 minute period of quiet reading time on our Orange Day Schedules. Additionally, this time will be supplemented by 10 minutes of reading at the start of each student’s English class. Students will be able to choose their own book, under the guidance of their English teachers, and they will be held accountable for their reading by their English teacher. One of the best ways for students to increase their vocabulary and their reading skills is simply to read more. Studies have shown that reading programs such as our SIR program have increased students’ desire and willingness to read as well as their ability to comprehend more complex reading tasks in their academic courses. The entire SJND community is excited to inaugurate this reading program, which we believe will have a positive effect on all of our students’ desire and ability to read.

We’re also excited to welcome a number of new faculty and staff to the SJND community. You’ll find a short biography of each of new staff members here.

We also have a revised bell schedule that will include the new SIR reading period, moving homeroom to the middle of the school day and having it meet every other day and having Early Dismissal days that will dismiss students earlier (but not lose any instructional time) so that our teachers can have more time devoted to professional development work throughout the year. You can see the new bell schedule here.

I’m looking forward to a fantastic new year. Check back often for updates and news!

Spring 2008 Final Exam Schedule

Thursday, May 22

Period 4 8:30-10:00AM

Period 5 10:20-11:50AM

Friday, May 22

Period 2 8:30-10:00AM

Period 3 10:20-11:50AM

Tuesday, May 27

Period 6 8:30-10:00AM

Period 7 10:20-11:50AM

Wed, May 28

Period 1 8:30-10:00AM

Calendar dates for 2008-9

I know that many of you like to plan ahead for things such as family vacations, so here are some important dates for the 2008-9 school year.

• 10th-12th grade orientation: Wednesday, August 13, 8:15AM-12:15PM
• 9th grade orientation: Thursday, August 14, 8:00AM-3:00PM
• First day of school: Monday, August 18, Pilot schedule
• Christmas vacation: December 19-January 4

April Madness

College basketball has “March Madness.” High schools have “April Madness.” Since coming back from our Easter break, school has been a whirlwind of activity. As we realize that we only have two months left in the school year, all of us come to the realization that there is much to do before the school year ends.

From my end, the focus is on three things: planning for graduation, planning for next year and school finances. It’s a busy period of looking at next year’s school calendar, teacher contracts, next year’s school budget while still keeping a close on the last two months of school, classroom teaching,  graduation planning, and admissions for the incoming ninth grade class. All the while, we continue to plan for our next capital campaign to remodel the rest of our classrooms, so I’m also spending time cultivating donors, soliciting capital campaign committee members and looking at potential budgets and blueprints for the upcoming project.

It’s amazing the number of hats a principal wears on a daily basis: manager, executive, construction manager, accountant, teacher, minister, prognosticator, marketer. It’s part of what keeps this job always new, constantly fresh and never dull.

Spirit Week 2008

Spirit Week 2008, “Games” began true to its name. Dressed in their extreme Orange and Blue, our students packed Kelly Gym to support Men’s Basketball team in their final home game against Salesian High School. On the line was a spot in the playoffs. The Pilots “landed” that berth by defeating Salesian, 48 to 40. At halftime, ASB announced the finalist for the Spirit Week Court. Each grade nominated the most spirited boys and girls in their class. The final three for each grade was announced during halftime. The names were met with cheers from the whole crowd.

On Saturday, hall decorating moved into high gear. The seniors with their theme of TV Game Shows worked to created scenes from Survivor, American Idol, Jeopardy, Supermarket Sweep, The Price is Right and Family Feud. Down the hall, the Sophomores were constructing Physical Games—a baseball stadium, golf green, soccer net and the SJND Hall of Fame. Upstairs the Juniors turned their hallway into its own checkers board and CandyLand. The windows became the Scrabble game. All of these spelled out their theme of Board Games. Finally the freshman walked the judges through the evolution of Video Games for their hall decorations. It was fun to remember how simple Pac Man was compared to today’s Guitar Hero and Dance, Dance Revolution.

At the end of the day, our judges, Mr. Gravem and Mr. Arlett, tallied the scores and gave the nod to the Juniors for 1^st place in Hall Decorating, Seniors came in second. The freshmen were 3^rd followed by the sophomores.

On Monday, homeroom teachers and CLT members rallied the students to support their classes’ effort to win the change war to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Each class was given two water jugs—one to collect pennies and bills to count toward their collection and a jug for others to deposit silver coins to count against their totals. Day by day we watched the pennies come in. On Thursday, the preliminary coin count gave students the motivation to finish the penny drive strong. Working together, the 9^th, 10^th and 11^th grades added over $400.00 in silver to keep the seniors from winning this challenge. In the end, though, the seniors dug very deep and brought in the most money for the Penny drive. All together, SJND donated $2289.98 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. That’s a lot of pennies! We are so happy to donate this money in the name of Mrs. Norris’ grandson Tad Mendes, a leukemia survivor.

On Wednesday, we prepared for the excitement, creativity and mastery of the Junior/Senior Spirit Rally. The students challenged each other in games, listened to the vocalization of Mrs. Kubicek’s Choir classes performing songs from the Jersey Boys and heard original poetry presented by members of the Poetry Club. We also recognized five very spirited teachers—Mr. Riley for his Effective Communications; Mr. McKee for his Healthy Lifestyle; Mrs. Rodrigues for being a Responsible Citizen and Mr. Macalinao for his life Inspired by Christ. Finally it was time for the parades. The seniors started with an Evening of TV Game show watching. The highlight was Emmaline Academia and Anthony Griffith competing in the Dancing with the Stars show. In the end, all the seniors had a part in the parade and made the time limit.

The juniors hit the floor starting with their live version of Jumanji and then moved into a game of Clue. Was it Colonel Mustard or not? The CandyLand girls provided a dance number and Gabe McDowell, as the lead character from Monopoly, finally sent the Jumanji hunter to jail without a “get out of jail” pass.

Thursday of spirit week was Valentine’s Day and students sent and received Flava of Love O’Grams. If your friend was a “hottie” they got Hot Tamales; otherwise, you showed you had a “Crush” with bottle of Strawberry crush.

Friday finished the week with the Frosh/Soph Spirit Rally and the Spirit Dance. The Sophs showed how you can compete in Olympic Swimming right in our own gym. Too bad the senior swimmer had to wear water wings. All manner of Olympic sports were highlighted in their parade—basketball, softball, and equestrian events. The judges were treated to peanuts and popcorn from the snack vendors. The freshman then took to the floor playing video games during a slumber party. The Mario Brothers raced around the gym and Zelda was finally rescued.

In between parades, the cast from Grease put on a sample of their coming show. When it was all over, everyone agreed it was a great Spirit week, but we still didn’t know which class was going to win the Spirit Award for 2008. They would have to wait for the announcement at the dance.

 

The ASB officers worked diligently to add up points from the dress up days, the penny drive, the lunchtime games, the parades, and hall decorating to determine the winner. The dance theme, “Game Over” would say it all. At last, the students stopped the music to make two important announcements—the Spirit Court winners and the Spirit Point winners. Seniors Teepian Yu and Emmaline Academia were named Spirit King and Queen; juniors D’Angelo Hutton and Patricia Jimenez were named Spirit Prince and Princess; sophomores Cameron Braband and Meredith Ratto were named Spirit Duke and Duchess and freshman Marcus Oliver Davis and Evonne Morgan were named Spirit Lord and Lady for 2008. After the photos were taken, it was time for the big announcement. The winning class, with a two point margin of victory, was the Seniors.

Congratulations to all the students, their leaders and moderators, the judges and parents who made this year’s Spirit Week such a tremendous success.

Principal Conferences

I firmly believe that one of the keys to success to any organization is open communication among all those who work within the organization, be it a school, a small business or a Fortune 500 company. While communication often happens on an informal basis, it’s also important to have formally scheduled times to meet and talk.

 In that vein, I will be instituting an annual Principal’s Conference with all SJND personnel. The intention behind this conference is threefold:

 1. I want to have a chance to hear from you about how this year has been going for you, both in and out of class. How are classes going? How are things going? How are you enjoying your work here at SJND?
2. I want to give you an opportunity to talk about your hopes, thoughts and plans for the near future. What kinds of things are you thinking about in terms of next year? What new things do you want to tackle? What things do you want to change about how you do things? What does next year look like for you?
3. I want to give you a chance to share with me any general thoughts or concerns you have about the school and the direction of the school. Here’s your opportunity to tell me anything you want: good, bad or ugly.

Pilot Recognition Program

 

I am happy to announce the Pilot Recognition Program award. The purpose of the program is to recognize members of our student body each month who have demonstrated leadership, achievement, improved progress, service or general involvement in the school community. One student from each grade level will be selected every month. A member of the faculty or staff must sponsor the student for nomination by writing a recommendation and submitting it to the principal’s office.

The selected students will get a certificate, their picture and the story of their nomination in a display case in the Main Office, the Pilot Parent, and the school website; additionally, they will receive a “go to the front of the lunch line” pass good for one month. The winners for January are:

Grade 9: Aqiq (Nila) Kheri; Nominated by Ms. Latham
Grade 10: Melisa Fernando; Nominated by Mr. Williams
Grade 11: Kamron Tangney; Nominated by Ms. Dlugosh
Grade 12: Rhona Reyes; Nominated by Mr. Macalinao

St Joseph Notre Students Join ISC for a Day of Service and Reflection

On Tuesday, January 29,2008 as part of Catholic Schools Week, the nine high schools of the Oakland Diocese came together to participate in a day of service and reflection. The focus of the day was celebrating the Catholic values of community, hospitality and service to the poor and needy in our community. Students from SJND, Anna Kittitanaphan, Catalina Villegas, Darwin Sandoval, Olivia Overtone, Jomar Martinez, Helen Romero, Wesley Gauntt, Andrew Snyder, Evander Woods and Cesar San Miguel, and their moderators, Mrs. Kuznik and Mr. Macalinao joined other high school students at Holy Redeemer Retreat Center. Sr. Barbara Bray and Mr. Rick Kruska from the Superintendent’s Office were special guests for the day.

The day started by getting acquainted with the students from all the high schools.  After Morning Prayer, and the Sending Off blessing, the students headed to their service sites. Teams consisting of one president and one student from each of the nine schools traveled with the moderators to their service sites. Each charity provided their own type of interaction—some made valentines with the elderly, others weeded and raked; others worked with the homeless and others worked with children. This year’s service sites were Alameda Point Collaborative, Davis Street Family Resource Center, Chaparral House, St. Martin de Porres Catholic Elementary School, St. Vincent de Paul Dining Room, Golden Age Bayside Senior Living, Catholic Worker agency, and  REACH Academy. 

When the teams returned to Holy Redeemer, they were lead in a guided reflection, Gospel reading and closing songs and celebration. During the drive home, the students were asked if they were glad they participated in the day. Enthusiastically, they all responded, “Yes” and they were anxious to tell their friends about the people they met and the work they did. In fact the students are looking for ways to take their experience and build on it at St. Joseph Notre Dame.

Well Done, Pilots!!