The Hollister School District will begin the 2012-13 year with two new principals in the K-8 district, while the enrollment figures may change when school begins as the school rosters will be updated for children who have moved out of the district.
The first day of school is Aug. 20, but those enrollment numbers were not available yet.
As for the new principals, Jananne Gaver takes the helm at R.O. Hardin School, where she replaces Auggie Obeso-Bradley, who retired last year. Elaine Klauer will be heading up Rancho San Justo Middle School, coming to the district from Spring Grove School in the North County Joint Union School District.
McIntire and Karen McLaughlin, the director of educational services, said this year the emphasis on professional learning will expand from the K-6 schools into the middle schools. The program provides early release of students on Thursday so that teachers can collaborate with each other during the work day.
“It’s centered on individual student planning and continuing student engagement,” McLaughlin said. “It pulls people together – to work together – to meet the needs.”
McIntire noted that intervention has become a key component for education in recent years.
“The general education paradigm used to be students should be provided with the opportunity to learn,” he said. “The philosophy now is not to provide an opportunity or chance to learn, but that every child will learn from what we do.”
McLaughlin agreed that the shift has moved from a focus on teaching to learning.
“That Thursday (early release) allows time to accomplish that,” she said.
McLaughlin said the schools will also be converting to common core content standards in math. The move will help to prepare students for changes coming in the Standardized Testing and Reporting Testing (STAR). Language arts will remain the same this year, but is slated to be updated next year in preparation of changes to the test.
The changes to standardized testing are being put together by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, a group of 22 governing states, including California, and five advisory states, which are focused on developing a student assessment system aligned to a common core of academic content standards.
McIntire said the new testing system will likely require “an infrastructure investment” since the tests are going to be “not so much paper and pencil, and multiple choice.” He said the new tests may be taken on computers or tablets.
Going into the new school year, the budget remains uncertain for the Hollister School District. McIntire said his staff approached the budget this year with the assumption that a state tax measure supported by Gov. Jerry Brown may not be approved by voters in the November election. Prop. 30, dubbed the schools and safety protection act, would increase the state sales tax from 7.25 percent to 7.5 percent and create three new high-income tax brackets for taxpayers with taxable incomes exceeding $250,000, $300,000 and $500,000.
The revenue generated from the taxes could be between $9 billion, based on Brown’s estimates, to $6.8 billion estimated by the Legislative Analysts Office, according to the secretary of state’s website. The money generated if the measure passes would be split 89 percent to K-12 schools and 11 percent to community colleges.
“If the taxes do not pass, that would mean another round of cuts,” McIntire said, noting the budget would be okay for 2012-13, but by three years out the district would again struggle to meet its obligations.
“It doesn’t mean any more money – just no new cuts,” McIntire said of the tax.
