Education

Board and Community Say Goodbye to Superintendent Hammond

Board and Community Say Goodbye to Superintendent Hammond

By David M. GreenwaldJune 17, 2010
james_hammondLast night at a special Davis School Board Meeting, the Board formally voted to accept the resignation of Superintendent James Hammond, in what is most likely his final board meeting as Superintendent.  While the board jokingly threatened to vote no on the resignation, and the community lamented the loss of their superintendent, everyone involved understood and appreciated that this was something that Dr. Hammond had to do for his family and himself.

We will have to wait until June 21, 2010 to find out who the interim Superintendent will be, but the smart money right now would be on Kevin French, Associate Superintendent of Human Resources and Secondary Education.  In a Vanguard interview with Ingrid Salim, that will be published later on, she told the Vanguard that the teachers had mixed feelings on a move only because Kevin French has been such an outstanding advocate for teachers and from what we have heard has an excellent relationship with the classified staff, which has not always been the case.

Superintendent James Hammond To Resign and Take Position in SoCal

Superintendent James Hammond To Resign and Take Position in SoCal

By David M. GreenwaldMay 25, 2010
james_hammondThe Vanguard learned late last night following a closed session meeting, that James Hammond will take the position of Superintendent in the Ontario-Montclair School District in Southern California as rumored on Saturday.

In the end James Hammond loved the Davis Join Unified School District, the personnel and the community.  Unfortunately the strain of his family living away from him was too much for him to bear and therefore working closer to where his family is living was the obvious move for him personally, even if it was a hard decision professionally.

Superintendent Hammond Leaving?

Superintendent Hammond Leaving?

By David M. GreenwaldMay 22, 2010
james_hammondThe Vanguard has learned that DJUSD Superintendent James Hammond has been offered the position of Superintendent in the Ontario-Montclair School District in Souther California.  At this time it is not known whether he will at accept that position.  On Monday evening, the Board will have a special meeting to discuss this matter further and the Vanguard has learned that they will at least attempt to convince him to stay at that point.

Dr. Hammond was hired in the fall of 2007, and has presided over nearly three years of continual budget battles.  And while the district was fighting hard to stay afloat, they also managed at the same time, thanks to the leadership of James Hammond and CBO Bruce Colby to put the district on much better fiscal footing than when they entered.

Do Davis Schools Assign Too Much Homework, Survey Says?

Do Davis Schools Assign Too Much Homework, Survey Says?

By David M. GreenwaldJanuary 7, 2010
schoolscat.pngThe Davis School District is conducting a survey to determine whether parents think teachers are assigning too much homework to their kids.  They sent out surveys to parents and district administrators now plan to use the findings to reshape the district’s homework policy.  We will find out officially next week what the results of the more than 2000 parental responses.

The Sacramento Bee ran a story on this yesterday and it was suggestive that the results would indicate that there is too much homework.

Montgomery Situation Shows Absurdity of Testing Requirements

Montgomery Situation Shows Absurdity of Testing Requirements

By David M. GreenwaldSeptember 19, 2009
schoolscat.pngScore one against the over-reliance on testing for determining whether or not a school is achieving its goals.  Montgomery Elementary school has for the past five years been designated a high achieving school by scoring over 800 points on the state’s API schedule.  However, that’s not good enough under the Federal System because their score dropped modestly from last year to this year.  As a result they have achieved a status of Program Improvement.

Some will argue that this demonstrates what we already have known for sometime that the federal standard is unachievable because the standards rise up to the unachievable level by 2014.  The NCLB benchmarks have been described as a hockey stick because the achievement line rises at a steep angle which ends at a benchmark at 100 percent student proficiency by 2013-14.

DJUSD High Performing But That’s Apparently Not Good Enough

DJUSD High Performing But That’s Apparently Not Good Enough

By David M. GreenwaldSeptember 17, 2009
schoolscat.pngHow does one have high performing schools as rated by the California Department of Education (CDE) and yet fall into the category of “Year One Program Improvement” under the federal No Child Left Behind Law (NCLB)?  That is the puzzle that is the federal legislation that has been a subject of much controversy for several years now – and things are about to get much worse, especially in California where funding is collapsing due to statewide economic problems.

So here’s the skinny.  The Academic Performance Index (API) compiles scores out of a possible 1000 points).  Any school that rates over 800 is considered by the CDE to be a “high performing school.”  Davis not surprising has had every school in the district achieve in that range.

County Health Department Directed District To Close Holmes

County Health Department Directed District To Close Holmes

By David M. GreenwaldMay 3, 2009
Late Saturday, the Vanguard received word that the Davis Joint Unified School District was directed by the County Health Department that they had to close Holmes Junior High School due to a probable case of H1N1 Influenza.

In May 1, 2009 letter from Linda Legnitto, Deputy Superintendent from the Yolo County Office of Education:

“When a confirmed case of the H1N1 virus is found in a child, the local Yolo County Public Health Officer, Dr. Joseph Iser, will contact the Yolo County Office of Education and the school district in which that child attends school to order a dismissal of students from that school district. All extra curricular activities for students should also be cancelled during the dismissal period. There is an important distinction between student dismissal and a school closure.  In a situation where students are dismissed, school staff is still required to report to their site; the school is not closed.  Dr. Iser has directed that the siblings of ill children should also stay at home.  The siblings of children dismissed from school who have no symptoms of illness should be closely monitored, but should continue to attend school.”

District Closes Holmes For at Least 14 Days Due To Swine Flu

District Closes Holmes For at Least 14 Days Due To Swine Flu

By David M. GreenwaldMay 2, 2009
swine_fluResponding quickly to what has been described as a “probable” case of the swine flu, district officials have decided to close Holmes Junior High for 14 days.  The Holmes student was one of two flu cases reported by Yolo County health officials Friday. The second case involves an adult.

According to a memo by Superintendent James Hammond:

“Holmes Junior High School is closed to students for a period of fourteen calendar days as now recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and the California Department of Public Health and directed by the Yolo County Health Department. This is an extension of the time period originally announced.  Your Holmes Junior High student(s) must remain away from campus and are highly discouraged from congregating in groups. All Holmes students are prohibited from attending any District sponsored activities (i.e. All-City Band, All-City Orchestra, Chorus, Athletics, etc.)”
Update on the Virtual Townhall Meeting

Update on the Virtual Townhall Meeting

By David M. GreenwaldDecember 1, 2008
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IF YOU WANT TO SUBMIT QUESTIONS FOR THE TOWNHALL MEETING PLEASE DO SO BY NOON TODAY.

Scroll to bottom of message for link

Here is Davis Media Access’ Press Release which also includes for the first time the first round of broadcasts on Cable Channel 15. In addition to some 30 questions that have been submitted directly on the blog, the Vanguard has received at least as many questions via email.

School Board Receives Full Explanation of Truancy Policies

School Board Receives Full Explanation of Truancy Policies

By David M. GreenwaldNovember 2, 2007
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It was a meeting in stark contrast to the previous board discussion on the issue of truancy. The meeting was such a stark contrast to the point where people were openly shaking their heads wondering why the original meeting in September had to go as poorly as it did.

To her credit, Pam Mari, Davis Joint Unified School District Director of Student Services admitted that the previous conversation did not go as well as was hoped. However, she suggested that communications have drastically improved.