2013 Teacher Dance

Outstanding choreography by Maureen Tecson.

Welcome Marcus Lam

Happy Chinese New Years 2013

First Grade Chinese New Year Parade

AE Teacher of the Year

Nominations are made yearly by students, principals, teachers and administrators for the State Teacher of the Year awards. The staff at AE votes for the teacher they recognize has the ability to inspire children from all backgrounds and abilities and those that have the respect of colleagues, students, and parents. Each school nominates a teacher and then the district people choose one out of that group to represent the entire district. That person then goes to an Alameda County selection contest and one is chosen to represent the county. Out of all the winners of the county contests one person is chosen to be the State of California's teacher of the year. Out of the 50 states then one person is chosen to be the United States teacher of the year. This year Shauna Heaton a Special Day kindergarten teacher was chosen as Alvarado's teacher of the year. Shauna has one of the most comprehensive web sites I have ever seen for her parents. Nicolasa Gonzales was chosen as Alvarado's Classified person of the year.

Catherine Schoon, a longtime kindergarten teacher at Pioneer Elementary School, has been selected as the New Haven Unified School District’s Teacher of the Year. Robin Hernandez of the Educational Services Center was chosen as New Haven's classified Employee of the Year. For many years Robin has been the contact person for teachers to arrange and coordinate subs when teachers had to be absent.

School Libraries Are BACK

On Febuary 12th the school libraries went somewhat back to normal at Alvarado Elementary and in New Haven School District. Each school will have a full time librarian, but their job description has changed. Their official description was Library Media Specialist. Now they are called Library Media Technicians. The change of title is due to the Race to the Top grant. When the district applied for the grant, their intention was to have a full time Media Technician assigned at each school. However, the district did not get the full amount of money for which they applied. To make up for the gap the district changed the job title and description of the librarians and added to their duties.

Now librarians will not only teach most classes at every school, but almost all librarians will also be on the advisory technology committee of New Haven. Librarians are assigned or volunteer for technology committees to chart the technology course for the district. This alone is a very big commitment. They will also barcode all the books and textbooks and do all their own cataloging of books in their library. This adds considerably to the burden of elementary school librarians. In the past they taught classes and purchased books, but the district office had a library technician who did the barcoding and cataloging for all the elementary schools. New Haven no longer has a district library technician.

Librarians will continue to purchase books if funds are available for their own libraries. They will also be responsible for billing students for lost books, including textbooks, and weeding (deleting obsolete books), maintaining the high quality of books expected in a school library, and maintaining the physical surroundings parents and teachers desire for a pleasant learning environment for students. As of now, at some schools, some librarians will also be teaching physical education, while a colleague teaches some media classes. It is hoped at Alvarado the prep classes will be held for a grade level all at the same period for each of the preps, PE, music, science, and media. This way grade levels will be able to have professional collaboration time while their children are at their prep.

Paula Figdor is back at Pioneer as librarian. Ron Bragg is the Library Media Technician at Emanuele. Carolyn Vranjas is back at Kitayama, and Carol Engberg is now at Searles. Alvarado now has Donna Leaf as Library Media Technician. Hillview Crest does not have a permanently assigned Library Media Technician. The former librarian at Alvarado, Alisha Valine, is assigned to Ceasar Chavez. The staff and students thank Mrs. Valine for all her hard work at Alvarado.

Alisha Valine at Halloween

Congratulations Tracie

It's been a big year of honors for Alvarado's principal, Tracie Noriega. She was honored by the Union City Human Relations Commission on Oct 24 with a 2012 Make a Difference in the Community Award for her commitment to the youth. She is the Athletic Director for the Christian Youth Organization and Principal of Alvarado Elementary School. Her accomplishments include Girls Basketball Coordinator for St. Anne CYO since 1997, Southern Alameda County CYO Girls Sports League Secretary since 2009, plus teacher and administrator for the New Haven Unified School District since 1996.

A lovely thank you to Mrs. Noriega from the students, staff, and teachers at each grade level.

On Jan 7th, 2012 Tracie announced to the staff that she will be leaving Alvarado on Jan. 28th.  According to Kari McVeigh, Tracie will be the Assessment Coordinator for New Haven School District's new grant program, Race to the Top, pending Board of Education approval.

Marcus Lam will be the new interim principal at AE. The Superintendent also announced that Lisa Metzinger, principal of Kitayama Elementary, will oversee grant programs at all schools.

Safety at AE and New Haven Schools

On Monday, Dec 17, 2012, New Haven spokesperson, Rick LaPlante, released a statement regarding student safety at all their schools. An online brochure on Helping your Child to Cope was revealed to help parents talk to their children after a school emergency. This is a response to a deadly incident in Connecticut during which 26 children and teachers were killed by an intruder in an elementary school.

Every parent as they watch their child leave for school in morning assumes they will be safe. New Haven has various drills in place for fire, earthquake, and intruders. Fire laws actually state how many fire drills a school must have during the school year. In California fire drills are to be conducted and recorded at least once a month for elementary and intermediate and twice a year for, secondary. All students, staff, and volunteer parents are required to leave the facility during the drill. Each class has an assigned spot where they are required to stand with their teacher until the emergency is over.

Different states have different natural disaster drills depending on the types of natural disasters occurring in the state. Kansas and Texas have tornado drills. California has Drop or Duck and Cover drills for earthquakes with reminders not to be by a window. Students are taught to cover their neck and close their eyes. After the shaking subsides then everyone goes outside in an orderly fashion. In California these are twice a year. In some schools there is an earthquake emergency supply of water in each room. 

A Code Red is initiated over the PA system when there is a possibility of violence on the campus. This is a Lock Down. Teachers lock the doors. No one is allowed in or out until given the all clear signal. In a dangerous situation sometimes students are locked down for a very long time. Teachers keep students away from windows and sometimes cover the windows. Specific staff members are assigned to check the bathrooms and bring everyone inside. I can remember a student who had to urinate, but there was no bathroom available. So the teacher found a private space and the child went in the waste paper basket. None of the other students even noticed.

During a non emergency situation, students sometimes need to go to the bathroom. This can also be a safety hazard as during class time, bathrooms are sometimes unsupervised. As a precaution teachers usually send young children two at a time to use the bathroom. The safety hazard can actually be an older student not necessarily an adult.

For all these situations, teachers have an emergency back pack with first aide supplies and Emergency cards for each child. Only parents, guardians, or adults listed on the emergency card are allowed to pick up their students. Parents should always be sure their emergency card is up to date.

Principals and staff are looking at ways to improve school safety. Some schools have safety gates on the fences surrounding the school. New Haven is in the process of adding more safety gates as soon as possible. Some schools have volunteer or visitor badges which indicate the individual checked in at the front office. Alvarado has a visitor sign in sheet, but I believe not badges. Some schools require the door to each classroom is locked after students are inside except during passing time. This seems like prison to me but maybe in some neighborhoods a necessity. At elementary schools there are so many resource personnel, parent volunteers, and even school board members visiting classrooms, this may affect the ability of schools to function well. Doors should be able to be locked from the inside with a key or code. At this time this is not possible for Alvarado. If a Code Red signal is given, the teacher has to go outside to lock the door. Parents should attend the school site council meetings to voice their concerns.

RACE to the TOP Grant

New Haven’s School District will receive a federal Race to the Top grant of more than $29 million over the next four-and-a-half years, to personalize student learning, improve student achievement and educator effectiveness, close achievement gaps, and prepare all students to succeed in college and careers.

According to Rick LaPlante, Director of Parent and Community Relations, New Haven plans to hire literacy, assessment and math coaches for all schools to provide in-classroom coaching in personalized learning for literacy, math and use of assessments. Summer teacher institutes will be expanded for reading, literacy and mathematics. Smaller class sizes for high school English Learners will be created. The district will purchase more K-8 library books and classroom libraries of non-fiction books and is thinking about expanding the positions of library media teachers. A full time librarian in every school is important to improving student achievement.

New Haven also plans to purchase mini-computer tablets for every 6-12 grade student and for every two K-5 students, as well as tablets, laptops and document cameras for all teachers. Additional IT technicians, a data specialist and technology trainers will be hired. All of the new technology will be phased in with strong teacher professional development to ensure usage.

The New Haven Unified School District was 2nd in the nation of 16 finalists for this grant. The focus of this grant is to take full advantage of 21st century tools to prepare students for college and careers. It is interesting to note that the American Association of School Librarians entitled their standards as 21st Century Learning Standards.

This grant lasts for 4 and 1/2 years. The real question is sustainability. Once the grant is gone can New Haven sustain the personnel, equipment, print resources, and drive to keep this effort moving forward. Now that New Haven has the Grant, the education sharks (businesses), such as the Wireless Generation, will move in and try to sell the district testing and resources they may not need. Whoever is watching the $$$ is going to have to fight to maintain the district's integrity. However, I am not going to say give the money back. New Haven and all schools are in dire need of financial support. Districts have to do what they need to do and worry about sustainability later. Certainly when the money is gone, New Haven may need to get other grants to keep afloat unless the state of California is more forthcoming with money.

There is no question fulfilling the goals of this grant is going to be similar to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The  superintendent down to the principals, teachers, and resource staff are going to have to hang on for their life. Hopefully it will be fun and rewarding for the staff and especially the students.

School Librarians in Common Core Standards

Thrilled to see school libraries in the California Common Core Standards. However, as I looked at them for each grade level they seemed to be very watered down, especially those for grades 3, 4, and 5. CCCS generally states that school library standards are aligned with content standards of each grade. A school librarian often works with the classroom teacher on gathering materials suitable for the class. However, in the California standards there is no mention of having a qualified credentialed teacher and credentialed librarian or MLIS librarian in the library. MLIS is Master of Library and Information Science. In California librarians who work in schools should have both a teaching credential and a librarian credential. A credentialed librarian is prepared to engage students in higher level thinking skills by teaching students to find, interpret, and organize information. Don't you want someone with these qualifications for your child?

There are standards for for school libraries. The American Association of School Librarians has Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. New Haven School District's own last plan for school libraries went through 2010.

According to the national Common Core Standards starting in 4th grade students will have to have to read the same amount of non fiction text as literary text or fiction.  All 5th grade students will begin to be trained to read to learn by gathering information. Realistically this should begin much before 5th grade. This means reading non fiction.  Readers have to be trained to find and synthesize useful information. By the time students are in the 12th grade 70% of their text reading will have to be informational. A credentialed librarian is most suited by training and skill to provide this service. Just like fiction, all non fiction is not created equal. Plus building up to the 4th and 5th grade a credentialed librarian will identify excellent non fiction for students to read; can give non fiction books talks to all grades even kindergarten; identify non fiction features, such as bold fonts, bullets, and captions; text cues; and graphics (diagrams, cross sections, charts, graphs); Text organizers, index, table of contents, glossary; and teach students about online hoaxes, by using sites such as snoops.com. These should be done long before students reach the 4th and 5th grades.

At this time Alvarado has an excellent duel credentialed librarian, Alisha Valine.  However, she is only at AE 2 days a week and all students do not go to the library. With the requirements of the Common Core Standards it is important to have her full time, 5 days a week.

Changes at the Top

It's time to look at some of the changes of personnel in the administration of New Haven Union school district. In May of 2012 Chief Academic Officer, Wendy Gudalewicz, notified the school board she was leaving New Haven. She was leaving to become the Superintendent of the Cupertino Union School district. She came to New Haven in June of 2009.

Wendy Gudalewicz

On June 6th, 2012, Dr. Arlando Smith was appointed by the New Haven School Board to be the new Chief Academic Officer. Dr. Smith was previously an assistant professor of educational leadership at San Jose State University. Dr. Smith was familiar with New Haven as in the past he provided professional development for New Haven teachers and had coached the district principals. He is married to Wendy Gudalewicz.

Dr Arlando Smith

In April of 2006, Chris Hobbs joined the New Haven School District as excutive director of technology. He has faced overwhelming cuts to the techology department while keeping up with the challenges of ever changing technologies. On November 27, 2012 the Pleasanton school board appointed Chris Hobbs as Director of Technology. Mr. Hobbs will leave New Haven on Jan 12, 2012.

Chris Hobbs

The District Communications Director, Rick La Plant will be officially retiring from full time work in the district.  He will still be working on an on call bases for the district. 

Education's Public Defender

Education's advocate, Diane Ravitch is revealed in an article in the New Yorker by David Denby. At one time she was a supporter of No Child Left Behind, but due to disappointing results for students, she has tirelessly fought for a better system for our nation's children and grandchildren. According to Ravitch the reform movement took on a business format when test-based accountability (NCLB) spearheaded a detour from professional teachers to teaching technicians by turning schools over to non-union for-profit charter school, including some that are totally online charter schools.

The constant test prep in reading and math has required schools to cut back on science, history, languages, art, and in some cases physical education. A 2009 survey, conducted by Stanford, concluded that only 17% of charter schools outperformed the local public schools in math and 37% had worse results than the public schools. Plus cheating scandals were found in some states and some states made the tests too easy so students would pass.

Even Rupert Murdoch, of the British News Corporation phone tapping scandal, has put his wallet into the education game by forming an education subsidiary in the US called Amplify. Education is a place to make millions or billions in the software business for testing and Charter schools. If you look at the website, it looks really amazing. But when you see what they do, they develop technological software for devices. It's all about the money. The rest is smoke and mirrors. Do we really need a guy who ran a company that invaded people's privacy for profit involved in our educational system for our children?

Miss Ravitch believes that poverty is one reason that student achievement is low. That does not mean that poor students can't learn. It means that their needs may be different and need to be addressed. We have immigrant children, who may not speak English, students with disabilities (some which may be caused by lack of nutrition), and kids with no quiet place to study or even sleep. Combine this with the growing number of autistic children with special needs in public schools, educationally motivated families moving to charter schools, and increasing class size due to lack of funding, and it is not rocket science to see why public schools are at a disadvantage.

Although the future is uncertain, Diane Ravitch believes in public education. She believes in tenure for teachers and believes that union representation gives professionals a seat at the table when state legislatures try to make cuts in school funding. She does not believe  merit pay should be the primary measurement for teacher performance.  She is tentatively supporting Common Core Standards which began to be implemented in 2010 in some states (not California), but reminds us that they have not been field tested anywhere. If you are a teacher, Diane Ravitch believes in you. She believes teachers are highly dedicated. She believes neighborhood public schools fulfill a democratic function where those of all faiths, races, countries, ethnicity's, and social status can meet, learn, and support each other. Daily, as teachers teach each subject, they help children learn to work and play together in peace. If you are a parent or grandparent, she believes American public schools are not failing your child. Need more information take a look at Diane Ravitch's blog.

Common Core Standards

On March 12, 2012, State School Chief of California, Tom Torlekson,  introduced a plan to Implement Common Core Standards in California.

What are Common Core Standards and where did this come from?
These are a set of standards for Math and English Language Arts that were designed for all states to adopt so learning could be more uniform across the country.  In 2010 the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association released the standards that spell out what children are expected to learn in those two subjects from kindergarten through the end of high school. To find these standards through high school go to Common Core Standards for San Francisco and the bay area. These are very detailed and you have to go through many pages to find the standards for each subject and grade level. The high school standards are set to provide students with the skills to compete in the global marketplace. The idea is to uniformly boost student achievement across the country. President Obama and his education cabinet member, Arnie Duncan, both support this effort to improve public education.

What are these standards for elementary school?  The California Common Core Standards from the California Department of Education for elementary is specifically for each grade k-8. They are much easier to read and include history, art, science, physical education, music, visual and performing arts, and school libraries. The link I have given you in this paragraph states that standards unique to California are in bold print, such as write fluidly and legibly in cursive or joined italics in fourth grade. Some schools stopped teaching cursive a while ago.

How do these standards affect our children? Many of the standards are the same standards that students have had in the past. However, there seems to be more emphasis on creativity. This is fantastic for students and teachers. Creativity puts the joy back in schools and makes students critical thinkers. The writing standards for 3rd grade are higher than in the past. Students will be expected to use technology to produce and publish writing, gather information from print or digital resources, take notes, and write over extended time frames for specific purposes. Implementation will begin in 2013-2014. However textbook materials will not be ready until 2016.

What challenges are ahead? If students are expected to use computers to write over extended time frames and gather information, schools will need to update computers and provide plenty of them. With 30 kids in the classroom the logistics of providing time for all students to have access to computers, could be a nightmare. They will also need to have access to Google Docs or some form of digital saving that is easy to set up and use. Ink will also be necessary as teachers will want to print some. New Haven has applied for the federal grant Race to the Top. New Haven is one of 61 that has made it to the next round of approval. One of the things New Haven have asked for is mini ipads for every 2 elementary students. This would certainly help with the technology needed. However, schools will need to expand their technicians to keep all these computers or mini tablets running without delay. Just the updates on mini ipads will be demanding. Technicians are going to cost $$$$.

 Maureen Tecson's students using 

ipads and itouch's in the classroom.

I also see committees on new report cards being formed. This is just my initial post on what lies ahead for children and schools. I am sure I will have more to say about this. Having common goals with the rest of the nation is good. However, schools still have to fund it (provide resources), provide training for teachers, and figure out some kind of sensible testing or portfolio system to evaluate the child. Hopefully this is goodby to NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND.

It's the American Way: Vote 11/6/2012

Another great video from the students at Alvarado Elementary. Produced and directed by Keith Guernsey.

Proposition 30 passed. Thanks to all who supported California schools.

Jog-a-thon September 28th

Here are the students doing the jog-a-thon to raise money for extra school activities.

Chicken Little

By Rebecca Emberly

No the sky is not falling, but there are many challenges for AE due to California school budget cuts. One at Alvarado is class size. Class size in all grades can be up to 34 students. This includes kindergarten. In the last few years kindergarten and 1st grades had been limited to 20 students. This is a huge change for teachers and students. Last year 2nd and 3rd grade were limited to 25 students. This is no more. Because of the size of classes are so large, it means fewer regular teachers are needed. Therefore some familiar faces around AE will be missing. Some teachers received pink slips and were released from New Haven. Some were assigned to other schools in the district. The smile of Rachna Lindstrom will be missed by students and staff. She will be teaching 4th grade in San Leandro School District. Matt Speakman and Junelle Mallari will no longer be at Alvarado at this writing. However, there are no empty classrooms as 6 new classrooms are now occupied by special education students. Some of these students come from the Cabello facility which was closed at the end of the last school year 2012.

 

Clinton Puckett

Clinton Puckett will be the new Assistant Principal. Clinton has been teaching a variety of grades for the last few years. He also taught the after school dance class and the Color Guard. Vince Lindain, a long time 1st grade teacher, will teach 3rd grade this year. Cathy Hampton, a long time 3rd grade teacher, will be teaching a 3/4 class this year.

After much discussion by district personnel about how to handle library cuts, media/library classes will be non existent for grades k, 1, 2, and 3.  Fourth and fifth grades will have somewhat regular media classes. Alisha Valine, the media specialist/librarian will only be at AE on Monday afternoon, Tuesday all day, and Friday afternoon. On Monday mornings she will be a Kitayama and also all day on Thursday. On Wednesday she will be all day at Pioneer and then again in the morning on Friday. She will do her best to maintain services for the teachers and the classes she teaches, but at this time only 4th and 5th grade students will be able to checkout books. This may still be somewhat tenative because often prep schedules need to be adjusted. Keep an eye on Mrs. Valine's website at Miss Media, to see any changes.

Monday - KIT in the AM, AES in the PM

Tuesday - AES all day

 Wednesday - PIO all day

 Thursday - KIT all day

 Friday - PIO in the AM, AES in the PM

It's going to be a challenge for teachers and students to adjust, but Alvarado teachers know they have a job to do and they will do it to the best of their ability.

Welcome Back to School 2012-2013

There are always going to be changes in schools. Some good and some more challenging, but let's see what's happened to those coming back to school this fall. The staff will be happy to see Sonia Wong back from her year long tour. She took a sabbatical to learn more about Asian world. Sonia visited Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea and more.

Taiwan

     
Cathy Hampton is back from her summer "Great Americana"  train trip to see some of the US National Parks. Visiting every national park is on her bucket list.  She went to Tucson, Saguaro National Park; San Antonio, the Alamo; New Orleans; and Monticello, Shenandoah National Park. Shenandoah was her 31st national park to visit.  She also visited Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and in Maine, Acadia National Park. Going on she went to Niagara Falls, Lake Michigan, and in Montana, Glacier National Park.

Liberty Bell

Brooklyn Bridge

These staff members took a short but fabulous vacation.  Here is Maureen Tecson, Vince Lindain, and Letty Munoz-Gonzales snorkeling on their holiday in Bermuda.

Maureen, Vince, Letty

Greg Snelling has returned from his first family backpacking trip in the Eastern Sierras, Inyo National Forest, John Muir Wilderness, enduring mosquito bites and rain, but enjoying the beautiful lakes and valleys.

Greg Snelling and family

Betty Silva is ready to go back to work after returning from her Yosemite trip with her grandson, Michael.  They had a great time enjoying the beauty of the park.

Sukhy Gill spent a wonderful family vacation in India and visited some of India's famous landmarks.

Suhky Gill and family

Dave Trier and Rachel Saucedo Jones both had babies. Dave's wife actually had the baby. Dave's son, Luke, was born on June 27th and Rachel's son, Xavier, was born on Aug. 12th. Congratulations to both of you!

Someone reminded me that AE's 4th grade teacher, Laurie Koehler, got married in Hawaii at the beginning of the summer. How could I forget?  What a lovely bride! Best wishes to you and your new husband.

Now its back to work. School begins on Wednesday August 29th.  The Alvarado Family Potluck is on Monday, the 27th of August. 

Joy of School Library Lessons

There are few moments more joyful for the students and the librarian than when the class has finished a Readers Theater where EVERY student has successfully read his or her part. Each student's part is carefully selected by the librarian to push the student just a little above his or her reading level. Sometimes the student is assigned a choral reading with 2, 3, 4, or 5 classmates. For some this is a necessary confidence builder. Sometimes the student has a part alone. The first few readings are a little nerve racking for some, but once students see that no one will make fun of their skills or their voice they enjoy the process. Students learn the strategies for effective readers theater, namely reading with expression, reading loud enough for all to hear, standing up straight, listening while others read, and following all the parts, not just their own. After experiencing a few Readers Theaters with their class, students often burst out clapping at the end. By the end of the year when they have a choice day, they may choose to do a readers theater. They gather a group of students, pick a script, sit in a circle, assign parts, and read with expression, all without assistance of the librarian. As a community of learners, students go back to class with a smile on their face. Can you think of other strategies to help students appreciate the joy of reading?

Speech and visual and performing arts are part of the new California Common Core Standards.  I soon realized it was best to write or adapt an online readers theater so that there were parts where a group of students could read together. Sometimes the group was as small as two students and sometimes as many as five. This ensured that every student had a part. This is really critical for readers theater. There should be no students just listening. Having everyone read ensures students are following the script and listening to the class.  Plus students learning from other students is the best way for the class to realize how to use their voice effectively when reading.

Partially Open Media Centers

As of this date, it looks like the libraries/media centers will be open part time in the elementary schools. Some of the media specialists have been assigned to 3 schools so the schools will have 10 hours of media a week, basically to check in and out books in 20 minute periods, or have teacher signups for checkout. Alisha Valine has been assigned to Alvarado, Pioneer, and Kitayama.

 Alisha Valine

Carol Engberg from Eastin has been assigned to Hillview Crest, Searles, and Emmanuel.  Beth Morris Wong from Hillview Crest will teach 20 periods of science and 10 periods of media at Eastin. Carolyn Vranjes of Kitayama has been assigned to teach science at an elementary school. Paula Figdor from Pioneer is going to be a classroom teacher. Media specialists will checkout textbooks to the students. Textbooks are now barcoded.

It will not be usual media classes that students have had in the past. Perhaps principals can figure out how to make time for lessons, which in the past have included the Dewey Decimal System, alphabetizing, readers theater, technology, such as Photoshop, Goggle Earth, or Internet searching and safety; author studies, non fiction research and the development of new knowledge, and building a student network of connections with the teacher's core curriculum. This is still up for discussion. Students in K-2 will probably not be able to check out books.

Budget Cuts Affect Academics

School begins this year with a minimum day on August 29th. The school year will be again 175 days the same as last year but less than the usual 180 days. Teachers have given up nine workdays to try to make up for the State of California's fiscal education cuts. Teachers will have no time to prepare for the beginning of school as two of their preparation days have been eliminated. All employees are taking an 1% paycut in addition to paycuts from last year. Classified employees also have a reducted work year.

As of this date students will still have Physical Education, Music, and Science. However a credentialed librarian, media specialist, will no longer be available for the students at any of New Haven's elementary schools. The librarians will be assigned to a classroom. This ends a thirty year tradition of librarians in all the elementary schools. High school assignment of a librarian will be 35% and middle school will be 25%. The rest of the time the librarian will be a classroom teacher. This comes at a time when the emphasis for students is critical literacy for which a qualified librarian is essential. This is a black time for New Haven students.

Zoe, Forever In Our Hearts

Zoe Inciong was a beautful 16 year old Logan High School student who fought against cancer with all her might. Her aunt,Tracie Noriega, at Zoe's recent 16th birthday called her the "Ultimate Warrior". Her friends and family at Alvarado joined her in that fight. Hearts are broken.