Santa Cruz City Schools

Engaging Students’ Hearts and Minds-

Every Student, Every Day!

March 27, 2015

Santa Cruz City Schools

Upcoming SCCS Board Meetings

Drop in and see your Trustees in action! 4/7/15 @ DO 6:30pm 4/15 @ COE 6:30 pm 5/6 @ COE 6:30 pm 5/20 @ DO 6:30 pm 6/17 @ COE 6:30 pm 6/24 @ COE 6:30 pm www.sccs.santacruz.k12.ca.us

SCCS STUDENTS EARN MANY AWARDS AT THE COUNTY SCIENCE FAIR !

Projects of Merit, Grades 4-5

Behavioral & Social Sciences Jacky Barrientos & Bella Stevens, De Laveaga Elementary Wait, Which person did I see ?

Energy & Transportation Otto Redlien, Westlake Elementary Magnetic Movement

Microbiology Tyler Marini & Claire Swidan, Westlake Elem. Potty Talk in the Bacteria World Boy vs. Girl

Plant Sciences Kyle Dyer, Bay View Elementary When in Drought, Find a New Way to Sprout

Projects of Merit, Grades 6-8

Behavioral & Social Sciences Jasmine Gates & Audrey Wynn, Mission Hill MS Improving Memory Lane

Jessica Fairlie, Mission Hill MS Jobs & Gender

3rd Place - Grades 4-5

Animal Sciences Carmen Beltramo & Sofia Jimenez, De Laveaga Elem. Scaredy Cat or Scaredy Dog

Engineering: Electrical & Mechanical Eli Lev, De Laveaga Elementary Wi-Fi and What Blocks It

Microbiology Weston & Jaden Ow, Westlake Elementary What Hand Cleanser Kills the Most Germs?

3rd Place, Grades 6-8

Animal Sciences Emily Auten, Mission Hill MS Mammals Under The Moon Energy & Transportation - Max Freedman, Homeschool KAPOWER Physics & Astronomy Daphne Tuncer, Branciforte MS #perfectlighting

(continued on pages 2 and 3) Have a Restful Spring Break

Thank you for all you do in service to our students!

2nd Place, Grades 4-5

Animal Sciences Sae Ackerstein, Allison Imthurn, & Madelyn Young, Bay View Elementary Jimmy Cracked Corn the Birds Don't Care For: Bird Food Preferences

Chemistry Monica Escobar, Neva Lunine, & Iris Trujillo, De Laveaga Elementary Melting Ice with Sand, Sugar, and Salt

2nd Place, Grades 6-8

Behavioral & Social Sciences Julia & Owen Stuart, Mission Hill MS Time Perception: One Minute Please...

Chemistry Alan Chen, Mission Hill MS Will ice cubes melt faster in fresh water or salt water?

1st Place, Grades 4-5

Animal Sciences Sophia Stone, Westlake Elementary Are Bugs Attracted To A Specific Color Of Light? Behavioral & Social Sciences Zakary Prochaska & Leon Tanguay, Westlake Elem. Biased or Not: Do You Know What You Thought?

Chemistry Taliana Claussen-Sadeh, De Laveaga Elem. Fizzy Fruit Fun

Computer & Mathematical Sciences Leo Tuncer, Gault Elementary Prime Numbers Energy & Transportation Nathan Lin, De Laveaga Elementary Steam Powered Generator Medicine & Health Sciences Ian Robb, Bay View Elementary How Football Causes Brain Injury Microbiology Jonah Goodman & Miles Jacobsen, Westlake Elem. Yeast VS. Peppers: Friend or Foe Physics & Astronomy Eva Diop & Simone Evenson, Westlake Elem. Getting A Gorgeous Glow

1st Place, Grades 6-8

Computer & Mathematical Sciences Elias Gilbert, Mission Hill MS Watch The Curve

1st Place, Grades 9-12

Computer & Mathematical Sciences Abe Jellinek, Alternative Family Education Lingua: Programming for the Uninitiated

Engineering: Electrical & Mechanical Benjamin Kolland, Alternative Family Education Separation Anxie-ty: A Plan for Safer Model Rocket Deployment

Microbiology Ruby Rorty, Santa Cruz HS Risky Business: Modeling Risk-Taking Behavior Using P. polycephalum

SPECIAL AWARDS

Otto Redlien, Westlake Elementary Magnetic Movement - Plug In America

Emily Auten, Mission Hill MS Mammals Under The Moon - Calif. Assoc. of Professional Scientists Abe Jellinek, Alternative Family Education Lingua: Programming for the Uninitiated - IEEE Technology Leo Tuncer, Gault Elementary School Prime Numbers - IEEE Technology

Benjamin Kolland, AFE Separation Anxiety: A Plan for Safer Model Rocket Deployment - Plantronics Nathan Lin, De Laveaga Elementary Steam Powered Generator - Plantronics

Emily Auten, Mission Hill MS Mammals Under The Moon - Office of National Research for Science & Technology

Benjamin Kolland, AFE Separation Anxiety: A Plan for Safer Model Rocket Deployment - US Air Force Leo Tuncer, Gault Elementary Prime Numbers - US Air Force

Ian Robb, Bay View Elementary How Football Causes Brain Injury - National Association of Biology Sophie Parsa, Santa Cruz High School From Many to One- the Fight for Survival - National Associa-tion of Biology

Ian Robb, Bay View Elementary How Football Causes Brain Injury - U.S. Public Health Service Zoe Fairlie, Santa Cruz HS Mountain Lions and Pumas and Cougars, Oh My - ASU Walton Sustaina-bility Solutions

Sophie Parsa, Santa Cruz HS From Many to One- the Fight for Survival - ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions

Abe Jellinek, AFE Lingua: Programming for the Uninitiated - Intel Excellence in Computer Science

1st Overall Winner (Grades 4-5) - $250 Sophia Stone Westlake Elementary Are Bugs Attracted To a Specific Color of Light

Runner Up (Grades 4-5)- $125 Ian Robb Bayview Elementary How Football Causes Brain Injury

Runner Up, Grades 9-12 Ruby Rorty ($500) Santa Cruz High School Risky Business: Modeling Risk-Taking Behavior Using P. polycephalum - International Engineering and Science Fair

The following SCCS students will participate in the State Science Fair in Los Angeles in May:

Emily Auten, Alan Chen, Jessica Fairlie, Max Freedman, Elias Gilbert, Abe Jelllinek, Benjamin Kolland, Sophie Parsa, Ruby Rorty, Julia Stuart, Owen Stuart

Santa Cruz City Schools is very proud of our young scientists!

THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATE—YOUR EFFORTS IN ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE MAKE YOU A WINNER!!

BRANCIFORTE ELAC PARENT COMPUTER CLASSES ARE A SUCCESS!

Branciforte Middle School's ELAC parents attend weekly computer training classes. Supporting

parent skills translates into supporting student's academic success. Great job parents and staff!

DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TEAM LEADERSHIP IS RECOGNIZED AT BOARD MEETING

The District Technology Task Force and Technology Coach Network Support Team work to

de-velop and implement the Technology Plan for Santa Cruz City Schools. In addition, the

Curricu-lum and Assessment department has formed a strong collaboration with the Information

Technol-ogy department to support the technolTechnol-ogy goals of the district. At the February 25, 2015 Regular

Meeting of the Santa Cruz City Schools Board of Education, Technology Leads, Gino Raugi and

Mike Lynch, shared some of the work they have done this year in collaboration with the site Tech

Coaches to support teachers in learning about and sharing educational technology for the benefit

of students. Curriculum Director Jennifer Wildman and Information Technology Director Curtis

Gomez also shared some of the support work their departments have done to improve technology

integration in Santa Cruz City Schools.

BRAVO FOR OUR SECONDARY SCHOOL CONNECTIONS

Soquel High Knights of the Square Stage came and presented Seedfolks for Branciforte Middle School students. Students read the book in core classes and the Soquel theater production provided them an op-portunity to see a book transformed into a play. Paul Fleishman, author of Seedfolks, also came and an-swered students questions about his motivation for the book, the characters, and the process of writing a book. Great Job Team!

WELCOME TO OUR NE W CLASSIFIED SUPERVISORS!!

SCCS Employee Paul Lipscomb was promoted to Custodial Grounds and Maintenance Supervisor on 3/3/15. Paul was originally hired as a Groundskeeper II in 2009 and rehired by SCCS as a Senior Custo-dian in 2012. He worked at both Santa Cruz HS and Bay View. Paul has over twenty years of experience in the building trades and more than fifteen years of experience supervising crews, overseeing projects and managing contractors. Paul attended Fresno City College and Mesa Community College.

Our new Supervisor of Transportation is Emil Frates. Emil comes to SCCS with a strong background in school district transportation for both large and small districts. He has more than 10 years of school dis-trict transportation supervision experience with Gilroy, San Jose, Morgan Hill and Dos Palos-Oro Loma Joint Unified School Districts. In addition to his work with school districts, he has more than 20 years of experience in commercial freight and private passenger transportation

.

Mr. Frates attended Loyola Mary-mount University where he majored in Business Administration. He is already meeting people and getting ready to begin work on April 6.

MATHEMATICS, ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT FOR OUR “MESA” STUDENTS

Here are the results from the MESA competition at UCSC. "B40 crushed it," according to Jeff

Singson, MESA advisor. Great job MESA team!

JT Berard-Moore: 1st place Public Speaking; 1st place Mouse Trap Powered Car

Aiden Tinkey: 2nd Place Mouse Trap Powered Car

Jordan Turner & Katy Werner: Design Award Mouse Trap Car

Liam Lohman: 3rd place 8th grade math

Lilian Greene, Josie Taylor, Anna Andreasen: 2nd place team math

Sage Liem, Josefina Bovee, Dara Sheinbaum: 1st place team math

Prosthetic Arm team 1:

Lilian Greene, Josie Taylor, Zoe Pais, Anna Andreasen: 3rd place technical paper, 2nd place

Display, 1st place presentation, 3rd place overall

Prosthetic Arm team 2:

Maya Letona, Josefina Bovee, Dara Sheinbaum, Sage Liem: 2nd place technical paper, 1st

place arm tasks, 1st place display, 2nd place presentation, 2nd overall

Advancing to Santa Barbara on April 18:

JT Berard-Moore

Sage Liem

Maya Letona

Dara Sheinbaum

Josefina Bovee

Lilian Greene

Josie Taylor

Anna Andreasen

Zoe Pais

GAULT ELEMENTARY STUDENTS ARE THE GUARDIANS OF OUR OCEANS!!

Santa Cruz City Schools is pleased to share this link to a wonderful story about Gault

Elemen-tary School students (Ocean Guardians!)- through their involvement with the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Marine Sanctuaries. Gault Students

- YOU ROCK!!

Please follow the link:

http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/feb15/invasive-species.html

MUSIC AND ART ARE IMPORTANT AT SANTA CRUZ CITY SCHOOLS

On a weekend in February, three music educators from Santa Cruz City Schools: Katrina Haeger

(Bay View and Westlake Elementary), Christy Latham (Santa Cruz High and Mission Hill MS)

and Laura Lorber (Mission Hill & Branciforte MS, and Santa Cruz High) attended the California

All-State Music Education Conference in Fresno, Ca. The conference consisted of daily

work-shops in Elementary General Music, Choir, Band, Orchestra, Music Technology, Professional

Development and Advocacy. Participants also enjoyed performances by select high school and

college level bands, orchestras and choirs from around California, as well the All-State Honor

Choir, All-State Honor Band, All-State Honor Orchestra and All-State Honor Jazz Band. When

the three music teachers returned to Santa Cruz City Schools, each shared information from one

of the workshops they had attended with their colleagues at their monthly Music Teacher

Profes-sional Development Meeting. Katrina, Christy and Laura are extremely grateful for the

experi-ence and hope to be able to return next year!

On the Soquel High School campus, students collaborate across disciplines and programs...

Soquel High School History Teacher Matt Bruner had his Humanities Academy sophomore

World History students visit the ROP Graphic Design class taught by Marco Lucadano,

Teach-er and Assistant Technology Coordinator for the Santa Cruz County ROP Programs. Students

thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to make connections across disciplines, and spent over an

hour engaged in interesting themes that included the Armenian Genocide, Letters Home,

En-cryption, Photography, and Bicycle Infantry. Comments from the students were overwhelmingly

positive.

Plans for this integration of curriculum were developed during one of the teachers' professional

development sessions. This is an excellent example of the powerful collaboration between

core content courses and career technical education. Great work ensuring our students are

college and career ready!

SANTA CRUZ CITY SCHOOLS OUTSTANDING TEACHER ALERT!!

Santa Cruz City Schools is pleased to announce that Harbor High School Spanish Teacher

Anne Cappiello has received the Outstanding Teacher Award from the California Language

Teachers Association. Candidates are nominated by local affiliates or colleagues.

Congratulations Anne - your service to students is awesome!!

Felicidades Anne - su servicio a los estudiantes es impresionante !!

To see the rubric used to determine award recipients, please follow the link below:

Para ver la rúbrica utilizada para determinar los premiados, por favor siga el siguiente enlace:

http://clta.net/membership/awards/awards/outrub/

SOQUEL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT IS ANNOUNCED AS POSTER WINNER!

The Green Ways to School, A project of

People Power of Santa Cruz County &

The Hub for Sustainable Living has

an-nounced the winner of this year's art

con-test for their organization…. and it is

Soquel High School student Matt

Hohmann!

Matt’s winning design will be featured on

hundreds of Bike to Work and School

posters, t-shirts, and other promotional

materials for Santa Cruz County! Matt will

also receive a $100 prize for his stellar

submission:

BOARD OF EDUCATION APPOINTS KRIS MUNRO AS SUPERINTENDENT ON MARCH 25, 2015

Santa Cruz City Schools Board President Claudia Vestal announced the appointment of Kris

Munro as Superintendent for Santa Cruz City Schools at the Regular Meeting of the Board on

March 25, 2015. Ms. Munro has served as Interim Superintendent for the district since July 1,

2014. Ms. Munro has been an administrator with SCCS since 2000 in multiple leadership

posi-tions including Assistant Principal at Santa Cruz High School, Principal at Ark Alternative High

and Monarch Community Elementary Schools, Principal at Branciforte Middle School and as

Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services. Kris has a deep level of commitment to our

students, as well as a clear understanding of the goals and vision for Santa Cruz City Schools.

Ms. Munro is a graduate of San Jose State University with a Masters in Educational Leadership.

Prior to that, Superintendent Munro taught high school English and English Language

Develop-ment in both the Campbell Union and East Side Union High School Districts and served as a high

school administrator in Campbell. She feels very fortunate to be able to serve the wonderful

stu-dents, families and staff in our learning community.

KSBW CRYSTAL APPLE AWARD RECIPIENT STEVE HAMBRIGHT IS A CO-PRINCIPAL STARTING 7/1/15

March 25th was a special day for Costanoa teacher Steve Hambright!

During the school day, Steve was visited by KSBW Anchor Dan Green at the Small Schools

Campus to receive the KSBW Crystal Apple Award for teaching excellence.

During the evening, the Board of Education approved Mr. Hambright as the Co-Principal of the

Small Schools programs beginning July 1, 2015.

Steve’s educational background includes a BA in Latin American Studies from UC Santa Barbara

and an MA in Latin American Studies from UC San Diego. Steve holds a Clear Single Subject

Credential for Social Science, a CLAD authorization, and will hold a Preliminary Administrative

Services Credential.

P. S. Don’t forget to like our district Facebook page!

https://www.facebook.com/SantaCruzCitySchools

KAREEM ABDUL JABBAR VISITS BRANCIFORTE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Kareem Abdul Jabbar, on his tour for his new book "Stealing the Game", visited Branciforte

Mid-dle School. He shared with students his hard work on the court and off, earning his degree in

history and working as a team member. He also shared the encouragement he received from

family to excel in both academics and sports. Kareem urged students to consider being good at

more than one thing. After the discussion and some basketball skills demonstrations, Mr. Jabbar

shared how impressed he was with Branciforte Middle School students and their interest in his

life. Santa Cruz City Schools is grateful that this campus was the only school in Northern

Califor-nia Kareem visited on this tour, thanks to librarian Ollie Ziff, the Santa Cruz Bookstore and the

power of networking and friendships.