2015 February PASO Magazine

WILLIAMS from page 26
and put less of a focus on the
amount that they were receiving
but we put it in place that those
kids that earned it and deserved
it were able to benefit from improved
attendance.
Then, in the second round,
we looked at inter-district
transfers - kids that were leaving
our district - and we did a
five year trend…why they left,
what grade level they left, what
schools they went to. Then we
put in a new process that any inter-district
transfer, before they
were signed, authorized or approved
that we want those families
to go and see our schools
with those kids to experience it.
We have leadership groups
of kids that I actually can connect
with…last year I believe we
had 209 students that left our
district on inter-districts to go
elsewhere. This year we were
able to reduce it 129 or 130,
so that’s a great shift and our
enrollments being able to be
sustained and I think once we
begin to roll out and gain trust
within the community again,
and look at the people we have
and honor the people we have
in this community which adds
value to the students that are
coming in.
And then looking at our next
phase of implementation next
year with the VAPA program,
K-5, and elementary GATE
program that will be all grade
levels, in lieu of just 4th or 5th
grade, so we can really have
structures and systems in place
to enhance what we’re doing
with our GATE programs and
really a strong focus on extra
curricular activities as well as
athletics.
I’m a strong believer in the
VAPA music program, for
both of my kids. My daughter
is a dancer at Fresno State,
my son is a musician and it’s
been a huge impact in his life
and his development process
and he’s 23 now. And I think
when we look at that, that
athletics also is a key component
in fitness in the organization,
team work, hard work and opportunities.
The whole child, being able
to develop with elementary PE
so that you have fitness. I just
met with the Food Bank about
nutrition and opportunities so
that every kid is well fed when
they come into our schools. We
looked at data of how many kids
go to the nurses office, at what
time of the day, and why? We
look at data and when a kid has
a stomach ache at 10:30, what’s
the reason? Probably because
they haven’t had breakfast and
it’s hard to learn when you’re not
whole and complete.
The last piece that we did
was not only the student recognition
piece but an employee
recognition program as well.
We’ve already had components
in place for employee of the year
for certificated and classified,
we’ve done retiree recognition
but now we have three other
areas that we focus on…I kind
of have fun with this.
We have a Rookie of the Year,
your new people coming in…
teachers, classified, management…and
being able to say to
them congratulations, come to
the board, Rookie of the Year,
right? They have a lot of fun
with this, we dedicate a plaque
to them.
The other one we haven’t focused
on, we talk about student
attendance so much, but we
have some teachers who have
never missed a day of work in
20 years. So we have employee
recognition for attendance, a
perfect attendance certificate.
It just values them, we recognize
you and we see in December
and in June every year.
Then we’ll have longevity where
each of our employees that
have 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 years
- they’ll get a nice plaque with
our district guiding principle
message and then they’ll be
honored for being here. A lot
of it is you talk about successful
organizations, teams and
corporations there’s a succinct
belief in values, but there’s also
consistency in staffing to build
upon that. We want to be able
to recognize and honor that as
we go through.
Watch for Part 3 in the
March Paso Robles Magazine
28 Paso Robles Magazine, February 2015