Monrovia School Link ~ Number 180 ~ September 1, 2006
Some unexpected good news about enrollment and more good news about energy savings. Plus, what to do about textbooks. Hmmm?~ brad@sacklunch.net
By Maritza Diaz
It's time for another edition of the adventures of the Monrovia school board. In this meeting we found out that saving energy saves money, some awards quench thirst and combinations aren't so bad.
ENROLLMENT ~ It wouldn't be a board meeting if there wasn't talk of enrollment.But wait a minute. Don't automatically think the news is bad. Enrollment is up. That's right, since the beginning of the school year the numbers of students in almost all the schools has exceeded projections. The trend seems to be moving in a positive direction and, with any luck, won't swing the other way.
WELCOME ~ The newest student representative, Sandra Salazar, was sworn in at the beginning of the meeting. She looked excited to be there and no doubt she'll do a great job. Also new on the block is Jim Coombs, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, who also expressed his gratitude at being part of the Monrovia team. I'm sure the board will give him plenty to do.
BOOKS ~ This meeting provided an open hearing for the public to discuss the adequacy of textbooks in schools, but only two people showed up. Both of them teachers. The deal is that according to the "Williams Settlement" students should have sufficient textbooks and materials by the eighth week of school. The discussion focused mainly on providing individual books or providing class sets.
Most of the talk revolved around the middle schools. If provided with individual books, students would have to carry said books back and forth to class, and since middle school students don't have lockers, that can be a pretty tiring task. Especially if the student has six classes and a book for each one. But, if the classes are given class sets of text books, students have limited access to the books and may also limit teachers' ability to fully teach a student. So which should it be?
The board will look into this matter more closely. There was talk of bringing back the idea of installing lockers in the middle schools. Apparently, the locker idea was brought up eight years ago but shot down. Let's see what happens this time.
COMBINATION ~ The superintendent's report included a little something about combination classes. All in all, students perform well and there is no negative impact.
AWARDS ~ The board honored Tom Hunt, general maintenance worker, for his outstanding service. Hunt thanked everyone and expressed his appreciation for the recognition.
The board also honored Monrovia High School's varsity football coach, Steve Garrison, on the 100th win of the Wildcats football team. 100 wins is very impressive! Instead the standard plaque, the board presented the coach with a bottle of Gatorade with a custom made label and a jersey. The Gatorade bottle was a great idea. Points to the board for creativity. Go Wildcats!
PROCLAMATIONS ~ Mark your calendars because the board has proclaimed every week of October a week of awareness. Get your planner out (or PDA) and write these down:
October 8-14 is Fire Prevention Week
October 9-13 is National School Lunch Week
October 15-21 is America's Safe School Week
October 23-31 is Red Ribbon Week (this one is a few days over a week, but I'm sure nobody will mind).
Help promote these events around Monrovia. For National School Lunch week, I think I'll eat a little more. I mean, it is for the kids.
GIFTS ~ This round the spotlight for gifts given to the districts is on Target. Thanks to the store's "Take Charge of Education" program, the district received about $600.
READ ~ If you like to read and have some free time, the Read Across Monrovia program needs some volunteers to read to the kids. To sign up, contact Joanne Spring at (626) 358-1952. A little Dr. Seuss is always fun.
ENERGY ~ Back in 2003, the district made and agreement with Energy Education, Inc.(an energy management consulting firm) to find ways to save energy and in turn save the district some money. Well, it worked. Since then the district has saved a grand total of $607,326! That's a pretty huge number. In fact, the district's energy savings were impressive enough that the board received an award for all the saving they did. Good job turning off the lights Monrovia.
RETURNS ~ Back-to-School nights are coming up at the high schools. Canyon Oaks has one on Tuesday October 3 at 6:30 p.m. and Monrovia High has one on Wednesday, October 4, also at 6:30.
If you can't attend the meetings because you're busy on Wednesday nights, well, the next meeting is on a Monday. October 16, so stop by.
Also on the Web at www.monroviaschoollink.com