Dear Bobcat Families,

Happy New Year!  Surely the start of the new semester has been filled with excitement and a sentiment of how quickly the fall semester came and went!  The widely acknowledged marvel of the American system of democracy has also added to the feeling of all the wonderful possibilities that are on the horizon.  For our eighth graders this has included the high school selection process…

High School Choice for Current 8^th Graders

One of the great aspects of our school district is the amount of choice our students are offered when thinking about their high school careers.  For the 2009-10 school year, all students in our district have the choice of attending any one of the four outstanding high schools in the San Dieguito Union High School District. The time for making this choice is rapidly approaching for our 8^th graders. Some key information regarding this process:

• All current 8-11^th graders must go to http://www.sduhsd.net to declare which high school they would like to attend for the 09-10 school year by completing an online application form.
• Torrey Pines High School (TPHS) attendance area students (current 8^th graders at CVMS and Earl Warren M.S.) may select from one of three choices: Torrey Pines High School Canyon Crest Academy (CCA), San Dieguito Academy (SDA).  However, students in the TPHS attendance area may also apply for an intra-district transfer to La Costa Canyon High School (LCC). Transfer applications are available at the district office or at http://sduhsd.net.
• All online declarations must be received by 3:00 p.m. on February 4^th, 2009. The timing of a student’s declaration during the window does not have any bearing upon whether a student is admitted to their school of choice. All applicants who declare within the application window are on equal footing regardless of when within the window they declare – an early declaration provides no advantage in the lotteries for SDA or CCA.
• Once a student makes a declaration for the upcoming school year, it may not be changed.
• Failure to declare during this window of time will exclude admittance to either CCA or SDA.

• If necessary due to excess applicants, a lottery will be drawn for SDA and/or CCA on February 23, 2009, with results mailed to students and parents by March 5, 2009.  Priority will be given to sibling-applicants of current SDA/CCA students, as in the past.

Budget Update: We have been hearing much speculation regarding the current state budget as it relates to funding for public education.  The following is from a recent memo to all staff from Superintendent, Ken Noah: “As you well know, the first six months of the current fiscal year have required a substantial tolerance for ambiguity regarding the status of our budget. While I am looking forward to the start of a new calendar year, I believe it is important to acknowledge the reality of the unprecedented fiscal crisis facing this State. Recently, our Governor released the budget proposal for 2009‐10 in which he identified an estimated deficit of $41.6 billion. Most of that deficit is the result of the collapse in state revenues ($14.5 billion in the current year and $16.3 billion projected for 2009‐10) as well as the need to absorb significant backfill costs for property tax shortfalls.  While we await decisions regarding revenue for the current school year, the Governor’s latest proposal for dealing with the shortfall will most likely result in a loss of at least $4‐5 million for the San Dieguito Union High School District.”.  Thus, CVMS is exercising great prudence and caution with any expenditure for the remainder of the school year.  Please know that the staff and I have greatly appreciated the support of our PTSA in augmenting the completion of our multi-media teaching station/projector project for our entire science and most of our English departments.  We also appreciate the generous gifts that have gone directly to our teachers and students through the PTSA sponsored Apple-Tree Program.  Despite budget cuts and anxiety, we are confident that we will continue to deliver the most innovative programs to our students.

Late Start / Minimum Days: Late start days are integral to the successful academic program at CVMS.  During this time, each department has the opportunity to collaborate and share best teaching practices.  These Profession Learning Community (PLC) meetings are driven by common formative and informative assessment data.  Thus, teachers are able to hone in on those classroom strategies that proved most successful in student mastery of essential learning outcomes and key concepts.  This time also provides for opportunity to discuss immediate intervention and re-teach options for those students who are in need of additional support.  Thank you to all of our CVMS families for your support of our late start and minimum day teacher collaboration time!

California Distinguished School Application  CVMS recently submitted the renewal application for the honor of 2009 California Distinguished Schools.  A process such as this really does require that one, pause and take “inventory” of all that we do as a community to support and enhance student success.  Clearly, we had no loss for programs and achievements to write about here at CVMS!  We anxiously await a response from the state and a walk through validation in the early spring.  We will keep you posted.

 hank you for all that you do to make CVMS such a great place!

                                                                              Fondly,

                                                                              Laurie Francis, Principal