TO: Board of Education FROM: Glenn “Max” McGee, Ph.D. RE: Weekly DATE: November 13, 2015 The quote of the week goes to a sixth grader at Jordan. When I was visiting a math class, the teacher asked a young man in a pleasant, though serious, voice, “Are you doing math or are you messing around?” His response was an enthusiastic, “I am doing math AND messing around.” There are days I miss teaching, but I’m glad our students are learning math from this teacher and not me! Although it has been a short week, it has been a highly productive one. We are following up on questions from the Board meeting, and our first order of business was to craft an EMAC survey for students and staff that have some questions in common with the parent survey, as well as some new ones. The Secondary Subcommittee drafted the survey, I edited it, and then I sent it to our student Board members for their input. They provided some helpful ideas, and we hope to have it go live on Monday or Tuesday. The staff will follow with one later in the week. Regarding the budget, the cabinet will be recommending that we include the Tier One one-time expenditures in this year’s budget. These are:

• Special Education Program Review ($78,000) • Solar Feasibility Study ($75,000) • Classroom Sets of Leveled Reading Books ($130,000) • Smart Board Refresh ($95,000)

We will also be requesting funding for the two athletic trainers ($160,000) for safety and to assure all concussion protocols are followed and logged for accuracy and follow up. The other ongoing funding we are seeking is for the parent liaisons ($80,000) for our historically underrepresented students and their parents. Ms. Terry Godfrey and I attended the VTP information night at Jordan on Thursday, and it was clear to us how important these positions are in helping families connect with school, and navigate through our processes. There will be more details in the December Board packet, and we are still weighing the costs and benefits, including up to three additional items in the request, all of which would require an ongoing commitment. I know many of you have had the opportunity to see our wonderful student performances. This week I attended the Odyssey at Paly and was really impressed. The staging was extraordinary,

PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT 25 Churchill Avenue • Palo Alto, CA 94306 Telephone: (650) 329-3737 • FAX: (650) 321-3810

OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT

1 Palo Alto Unified School District Vision Statement: We support all PAUSD students as they prepare themselves to thrive as global citizens in a rapidly changing world. We develop our students’ knowledge, critical thinking, and problem solving skills, and nurture their curiosity, creativity, and resilience, empowering every child to reach his or her fullest intellectual, social, and creative potential.

and students played multiple roles with grace and power. Edward Park wrote and played the music on some of the most unconventional instruments, which added a sense of drama and adventure. It was an evening well spent, and our guests from Singapore loved it as much as I did! As you may recall from the last Board meeting, I shared six serious issues the Dean of Freshman of Harvard presented at a recent conference because of the close parallels to some of our large scale concerns. One of the solutions they implemented to reach more parents were regular webinars. We are going to try one of our own! Yes, on either November 30 or December 1, I am hosting an evening webinar to provide some important District updates and answer questions that are sent during the course of the webinar. Derek Moore, Chief Technology Officer, and his team are helping me plan this event, manage it, and follow up to see its reach. We will be publicizing this on a wider scale as the date nears, but for now, mark your calendars – better yet, cross your fingers and hope the technology works as planned. Later today or over the weekend, we are putting a link on our home page that says “Superintendent’s Corner.” This will include past, present, and future weekly messages from the entire leadership team, the links to the video, and replays of webinars. I hope this will draw more readers to these informative weekly messages. We will be communicating the change on a large scale as well. Finally, I wanted to share a wonderful note of thanks to our PTAC who is hosting the Appreciation Luncheon today. We should probably be hosting a luncheon for them for all that they do for our students, staff, and the greater community. With that said, we are grateful for their gifts of food and fellowship, and know that their continued collaborative endeavors will assure a bright future for all our students. Next week will be both busy and festive. EMAC meets on Monday night, the middle school SPSA meeting is Tuesday, and BPRC meets Friday morning. We also have both the Gunn and Paly Turkey Feasts Thursday and Friday, and I know we are all looking forward to serving our students in more ways than from the dais! I hope it is a fine weekend for everyone. It is shaping up to be the quintessential fall football weekend with Paly at Wilcox in the playoffs, senior night for the Gunn Titans tonight; and Stanford v. Oregon tomorrow. GO teams! Have a great weekend!

BOARD CALENDAR 2015-16 ACADEMIC YEAR

MONTH DATE EVENT

NOVEMBER 17 Middle School SPSAs 25-27 Thanksgiving Break DECEMBER 3-5 CSBA Annual Conference 8 Board Meeting 15 Elementary SPSAs 16-18 Finals Testing Day 18 End of Semester

2 Palo Alto Unified School District Vision Statement: We support all PAUSD students as they prepare themselves to thrive as global citizens in a rapidly changing world. We develop our students’ knowledge, critical thinking, and problem solving skills, and nurture their curiosity, creativity, and resilience, empowering every child to reach his or her fullest intellectual, social, and creative potential.

18 District-Wide Minimum Day 21-31 Winter Break JANUARY 1 Winter Break 4 Return to School, K-8 Only 4 Teacher Work Day, High School 5 Return to School, 9-12 Only 12 Board Meeting 18 Martin Luther King’s Birthday 26 High School SPSAs 26 Board Meeting FEBRUARY 9 Board Meeting 11 Staff Development Day – No School 12 Washington’s Birthday 15 Lincoln’s Birthday 23 Board Meeting MARCH 8 Board Meeting 9 End of Third Quarter 11 Local Holiday 22 Board Meeting APRIL 1-8 Spring Break 19 Board Meeting MAY 10 Board Meeting 24 Board Meeting 30 Memorial Day JUNE 1-2 Finals Testing Day 2 End of Semester 2 District-Wide Minimum Day 2 Last Day of School for Students 3 Teacher Work Day 7 Board Meeting 21 Board Meeting

SCHOOL EVENTS CALENDAR 2015-16 ACADEMIC YEAR

MONTH DATE EVENT LOCATION TIME NOVEMBER 13 Astronomy and Star Gazing Jordan 7:00-9:00 p.m. 15 Diwali Festival of Lights Barron Park 2:00-5:00 p.m. 15 Fall Choir Concert Gunn Begins 7:00 p.m. 18 Nixon Ice skating Palo Alto

Winter Lodge 5:30-7:30 p.m.

19 Turkey Feast Gunn 12:30-1:30 p.m. 20 Turkey Feast Paly 11:45-1:00 p.m. 20 Gunn Swing Dance Terman Café Begins 6:30 p.m.

3 Palo Alto Unified School District Vision Statement: We support all PAUSD students as they prepare themselves to thrive as global citizens in a rapidly changing world. We develop our students’ knowledge, critical thinking, and problem solving skills, and nurture their curiosity, creativity, and resilience, empowering every child to reach his or her fullest intellectual, social, and creative potential.

21 Ice Skating Party Winter Lodge 5:30-7:30 p.m. 23 Noon Art Palo Verde Begins 12:00 p.m. 23-24 Fall Band Concert Gunn Begins 7:30 p.m. DECEMBER 2 Ice Skating Party Palo Alto

Winter Lodge 6:00-8:00 p.m.

5 Annual Pancake Breakfast Walter Hays 8:00-11:00 a.m. 12 PAUSD’s Code Fest 2015 JLS 1:00-5:00 p.m.

BOARD REPORTS AND TENTATIVE TIMELINE 2015-16 ACADEMIC YEAR

NOVEMBER 17 AM SPSAs – Middle Schools - Daytime DECEMBER 8 Goal Updates OCR First Interim Enrollment 15 AM SPSAs – Elementary Schools - Daytime JANUARY 12 Audit Report 26 AM SPSAs – High Schools - Daytime 26 PM OCR FEBRUARY 9 Facility Planning 16 Budget 23 OCR Staffing Second Interim MARCH 8 Goal Updates Staffing Second Interim 22 OCR Celebration of Tenured Staff 3-Year Calendar Preliminary APRIL 19 OCR CCSS Budget MAY 10 LCAP K-12 Health Curriculum Special Education Program Review Report Mathematics Piloting for 2016-17 24 OCR LCAP Budget JUNE 7 Budget Deferred Maintenance 21 Goal Updates OCR

4 Palo Alto Unified School District Vision Statement: We support all PAUSD students as they prepare themselves to thrive as global citizens in a rapidly changing world. We develop our students’ knowledge, critical thinking, and problem solving skills, and nurture their curiosity, creativity, and resilience, empowering every child to reach his or her fullest intellectual, social, and creative potential.

LCAP 3-Year Calendar Preliminary Budget Deferred Maintenance

5 Palo Alto Unified School District Vision Statement: We support all PAUSD students as they prepare themselves to thrive as global citizens in a rapidly changing world. We develop our students’ knowledge, critical thinking, and problem solving skills, and nurture their curiosity, creativity, and resilience, empowering every child to reach his or her fullest intellectual, social, and creative potential.

Palo Alto Unified School District

Technology Services - Key Initiatives 15-16

The following document is intended to be a framework upon which the Technology Services team operates to support all students as they prepare themselves to thrive as global citizens in a rapidly changing world.

In the past few months the team has explored many technology models, including the traditional EETT Tech Plan, Future Ready Schools, and the ISTE NETS frameworks. While all of these have value individually, I felt it necessary to create a framework that appropriately represents the the unique facets of technology in our district. This framework is a pyramid comprised of nine "building blocks" that represent the major categories of technology operations here at PAUSD. This pyramid is included on the next page.

Much like the construction of a physical pyramid, attention to detail and a tightly built foundation are the key to success at each of the higher levels. The building blocks at the bottom of our pyramid are highly operational in nature and mostly invisible to our students, staff, and community, but extremely critical to the execution of a successful learning environment. At the top of the pyramid is teaching and learning, the mission and direct work of our organization as a whole. All of the activities in the pyramid support the work that happens in our classrooms (and online) on a daily basis.

In the pages that follow, each of the building blocks will include a short description as well as some projects and important milestones that relate to the category.

Many thanks to the entire Technology Services Team for their work in all categories of this pyramid on a daily basis in a way that ensures we can support all students as they prepare themselves to thrive as global citizens in a rapidly changing world.

Thanks,

Derek MooreChief Technology Officer

Technology Building Blocks 15-16 �1

IT Quick Facts

• Staff: 27.75 FTE

• Annual Operating Budget: $6.3M

• 11,755 tickets closed during 14-15 school year

• 11,123 district owned student computing devices

• Average daily internet usage: 70GB data transferred

"The challenge for our education system is to leverage technology to create relevant learning experiences that mirror students’ daily lives and the reality of their futures."

- National Educational Technology Plan

Palo Alto Unified School District

Technology Pyramid & Building Blocks

Technology Building Blocks 15-16 �2

Palo Alto Unified School District

DescriptionThe physical network building block represents the infrastructure components necessary to provide all network related services. This includes servers in the data center, copper and fiber wiring, wireless access, internet connectivity, site-to-site connectivity, VoIP telephony services, and bells/clocks/overhead paging across all school sites and administrative locations.

GoalsMaintain infrastructure that meets the needs of staff, students, and parents and is scalable to support organizational growth and technological change. The physical network should be transparent in the learning process, much like other utilities such as power, water, and HVAC systems.

Progress to date• The wired backbone components were updated in 2012 as a Measure A funded project. All sites have Juniper switches and a 10Gbps core. The expected life of this equipment is 10-12 years.

• The Meraki wireless system was installed in 2012. It provides consistent wireless coverage across all district sites. The expected useful life of this equipment is 5-7 years.

• All sites are connected to the district office via fiber optic connections owned and maintained by the City of Palo Alto. This dark fiber service provides 10Gbps connectivity between school sites and the district office.

• The internal phone system was transitioned to a ShoreTel VoIP system that began in 2011. All sites are now connected to the centralized PBX, which allows for reduced costs associated with separate phone trunks at each site. Further consolidation is planned, driven by the changes in the FCC's E-rate program.

Technology Building Blocks 15-16 �3

Strategic Alignment

D3.1: Maintain infrastructure that meets the needs of staff, students, an parents and is scalable to support organizational growth and technological change

Upcoming Projects

• Refresh of battery backup systems

• Complete migration to Juniper firewall

• Redesign user access methods for network services

• Simplify network configuration and security contexts

• Audit and reconcile analog phone lines and usage

• Complete migration to network based bells/clocks

• Plan and implement data center server refresh cycle

• Wireless system refresh (Summer 2017)

Budget

Projects involving the physical network and data center have been funded primarily by Measure A bond funds.

Technology Building Block: Physical Network !

Palo Alto Unified School District

DescriptionThe IT team supports a wide variety of services that allow PAUSD to function efficiently as an organization. These services include electronic document management and archiving, electronic purchasing, email, and other various site and departmental systems. Most of these operate transparently to most staff and students, however they are the foundation for many of the operational processes in place across the district. To ensure the consistency of the data across the various systems, database integration and automation procedures help keep otherwise discrete systems in sync. Without smooth operation of these services, the efficiency of our organization is significantly decreased.

Goals• Implement electronic document storage platform for permanent record storage. This includes documents from Human Resources, Central Attendance, Purchasing, and Student Nutrition.

• Consolidate various ETL (extract, transform, load) processes into a central location

• Implement automated data transfer procedures in areas where manual data entry is currently utilized

• Evaluate the efficacy and usage of existing platforms

Technology Building Blocks 15-16 �4

Strategic Alignment

D3.2 Redesign and automate District business processes to achieve greater efficiency and higher levels of customer satisfaction

Progress to date

• Implementation of electronic purchasing process with QCC

• Transitioned to a centralized staff refresh process

Technology Building Block: Business Operations "

Palo Alto Unified School District

DescriptionAt the core of a tightly integrated network is solid directory system. This directory is the base upon which all services are built. This includes user accounts for students and staff, computer accounts, groups, and application distribution. This directory provides authentication for almost all services that require a login.

Milestones• Consolidate on-premise directories (completed August 2015)

• Consolidate Google domains for staff and students (completed August 2015)

Work in progressThe major project in this area involves the automation of account creation for both staff and students. This project will result in role-appropriate access for both staff and students on the day they enter our system. It will also manage the retiring of accounts as staff and students exit our system, ensuring an increased level of security and access control to PAUSD online services.

This project also includes the creation of a unified login portal for staff and students. The portal will be launched and put into use for both high school end of course surveys and staff access to the Schoolzilla reporting tool.

The work around the automated account management process has begun development and should be complete and in production by the spring 2016.

Technology Building Blocks 15-16 �5

Strategic Alignment

D3.2 Redesign and automate District business processes to achieve greater efficiency and higher levels of customer satisfaction

Goals

• Automate creation/update/retire process for student and staff accounts

• Unify login portals for staff and students

• Increase the number of applications connected to the common directory

• Consolidate the number of individual tasks moving data between systems

Expected Outcomes

• Simplified access for students and staff to all district supported resources

• Reduce lost instructional time due to login issues

• Reduce the amount of IT staff time spent on account management tasks

Technology Building Block: Active Directory #

Palo Alto Unified School District

DescriptionSeveral federal and state laws govern the use of data and security measures required of school districts. Agreements with technology providers are reviewed for compliance as well as appropriate procedures around data management. We collect information as required by law to provide educational services to students in an efficient, effective way. High-quality education data are essential for improving students’ achievement in school and preparing them for success in life. We take data privacy very seriously and have numerous procedures in place to safeguard against unauthorized disclosure as well as the ongoing education of employees that handle sensitive data.

Goals• Compliance with applicable local policies and laws

• Ensure student data can be used to further and support student learning and success

• Provide safe and effective online tools to assist in providing a quality instructional program.

Student Data Principles1. Student data should be used to further and support student learning and success.

2. Student data are most powerful when used for continuous improvement and personalizing student learning.

3. Student data should be used as a tool for informing, engaging, and empowering students, families, teachers, and leaders.

4. Student data should be used to inform and not replace the professional judgment of educators.

5. Educators and their contracted service providers should only have access to the minimum student data required to support student success.

Technology Building Blocks 15-16 �6

Strategic Alignment

E4: Promote a culture that supports innovation and adoption of effective educational strategies that support student learning

Legal references

• Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

• Children's Internet Protection Act

• Data Privacy Requirements for Contracts with Technology Providers (Ca Ed Code § 49073.1)

• Collection of Student Information from Social Media (Ca Ed Code § 49073.6)

• Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (Ca Code § 22584)

• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

• Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment

• PAUSD Student Policies BP 6163.4, AR 6163.4 Acceptable Use Policy

• PAUSD Staff Policies BP 4040, AR 4040

• District Records AR 3580

• Student Data Principles

Technology Building Block: Security & Compliance $

Palo Alto Unified School District

DescriptionThis building block includes the refresh of devices used by students and employees as well as the daily maintenance and operation of the devices. Devices include classroom computers, iPads, Chromebooks, and SMARTboards. Hardware is the medium upon which many of our educational services are delivered, including access to Schoology and online instructional materials. As our progress towards improved course alignment continues, so will consistency among the devices we see in our classrooms. The current support model includes a wide variety of device types across our schools, as required with varying instructional programs. The Casper Suite from JAMF Software as well as the Google admin console are used to manage the bulk of the devices in inventory across all sites.

Inventory notesThe current inventory of devices in service for students across our schools is 11,123. This includes a mix of iPads, Chromebooks, MacBooks, iMacs, and a few Windows desktops.

Many of the device conversations are shifting to discussions about bring your own device (BYOD) models and other 1:1 models in which students are issued devices. These conversations parallel the conversations about course consistency and common assessment, as both are necessary components of successful 1:1 programs. Without a formal initiative, our schools have come close to achieving student to computer ratios of 1:1. This has been achieved by leveraging various outside funding sources in addition to the baseline Measure A bond allocation of $71 per student, per year.

Technology Building Blocks 15-16 �7

Strategic Alignment

D3.1: Maintain infrastructure that meets the needs of staff, students, an parents and is scalable to support organizational growth and technological change

Goals

• Annual refresh process for student devices aligned with curricular goals

• Consistency in device type across district-owned devices

• Establish classroom technology standards

• Establish funding for annual cycle of refresh for projectors, boards, and lamps

SMARTboards

The current inventory of boards is 590 across all schools. The initial installation of 261 systems occurred in 2010-2011 school year. These units are reaching the end of their useful life and plans are being made for the next generation of classroom projection systems.

Technology Building Block: Hardware Refresh %

Devices by level

Elementary 4,970 devices 5,514 students

Middle 2,529 devices 3,013 students

High 3,624 devices 3,961 students

&

Palo Alto Unified School District

DescriptionThe Infinite Campus student information system is considered the authoritative source of student data. The system manages enrollment, attendance, master scheduling, transcripts, state reporting, push communications, health records, assessment scores, and grades. This system handles the daily transactions related to the above items for all schools in our district.

Work in ProgressWhile the data entry procedures are well established with Infinite Campus, the current focus is around the reporting tools and the ability to provide accurate reports to all stakeholders. The reporting capabilities are being enhanced by custom development work both with native database tools and the Schoolzilla reporting platform.

SchoolzillaIn support of the data reporting needs, we are currently in a pilot year of the Schoolzilla data reporting platform. This tool is designed to provide teachers and staff quick access to both formative and summative assessment data to better guide instruction. The goal is to reduce staff time spent preparing reports and increase the time spent taking meaningful action on the information provided. This pilot is being led by the Research and Assessment Office and more information will be provided as the year progresses.

Technology Building Blocks 15-16 �8

Strategic Alignment

D3.2 Redesign and automate District business processes to achieve greater efficiency and higher levels of customer satisfaction

Goals

• Increase satisfaction with online registration process

• Improve reporting capabilities

• Improve efficiencies by utilizing available tools

• Plan for decommissioning of SASI systems

Milestones

• Infinite Campus replaced SASI as the Student Information System used in PAUSD in 2010-2011. Legacy data was imported from 1994 forward.

• Elementary progress reports moved into electronic format in 2014.

• Local assessment data imports began this Fall.

Technology Building Block: Infinite Campus

Palo Alto Unified School District

DescriptionSchoology is a dynamic, intuitive, and user-centric learning management system, which is the platform used to manage the day-to-day activities related to content distribution, collection, and collaboration between students and teachers. Infinite Campus is the permanent record system, Schoology is the in-progress system that facilitates and organizes information for students and teachers. Schoology is also used as the platform for content delivery in blended/hybrid high school courses, as well as professional development courses.

Goals• Create a streamlined process to move official grades from Schoology to Infinite Campus for permanent storage

• Pilot new common assessment features to increase alignment across course sections

• Increase knowledge among parent community about available resources

Technology Building Blocks 15-16 �9

Strategic Alignment

A1 Differentiate the educational experience to effectively engage, appropriately challenge, and ensure mastery for every student

A3.2: Raise awareness of available resources to support student learning

C1.2: Expand delivery of professional development programs to include peer collaboration, best-practice sharing, mentoring, and online learning; and extend to all staff where appropriate

C2.3: Train teachers to leverage instructional technology in support of differentiated teaching and improved student experience

Milestones

• Schoology replaced Blackboard as the official learning management platform of PAUSD in 2010

• The PAEA contract was amended in the spring of 2015 to require secondary teachers to post assignments, projects, and tests on the Schoology calendar.

Technology Building Block: Schoology (

Palo Alto Unified School District

DescriptionThis block represents the tools necessary to support effective interactions with all stakeholders, both internal and external. Key elements include websites, Google Apps for Education, file sharing tools, mass-notification tools, video production, and printed media. Tasks related to this area include the support of students and employees as they interact with each other. This could be in the form of a student submitting an assignment to a teacher, department collaboration between sites, as well as push notifications about events occurring in the community.

Goals• Continue the migration of content to new website platform

• Continue migration of school websites to new template

• Further integrate messaging protocols across systems (website, Schoology, email, text, print, etc.)

• Migration of district intranet (Bob) to updated website platform

Technology Building Blocks 15-16 �10

Strategic Alignment

D3.3: Deliver communications and training required to promote consistent adoption of key technology platforms by staff, students and parents

E1 Engender trust with the community through frequent, clear, transparent, and varied communication

E1.3 Improve district website for ease of accessing, organizing, and disseminating information

E4.2: Establish expectations and opportunities for teachers and staff to share innovative ideas and successful practices

Milestones

• Launched redesigned district website with a contemporary, responsive design that is easier to publish and maintain content

• Established a template for consistency among school websites

Technology Building Block: Communication & Collaboration )

Palo Alto Unified School District

DescriptionThis building block encompasses all instructional activities in our classrooms. Providing a reliable, consistent, high-quality learning environment requires smooth operation of all the building blocks below. Instructional services provided out of this block include blended learning coordination, EdTech workshops, summer training programs, and support of new and emerging technology tools.

EdTech Professional DevelopmentEd Tech workshops are offered throughout the year: after school, on sub released days, in structured 3-Day academies, in June after school is dismissed, and in August before school opens. Teachers are further supported with coaching upon request. The workshops cover a variety of topics, and include both discrete technology skills as well as strategies to integrate the tools into the curriculum.

Blended LearningBlended Learning and the flipped classroom are coming into their own. Many teachers are ‘flipping’ instruction by creating and assigning video-based instruction that introduce concepts prior to classroom activities. In blended classrooms, teachers prepare learning materials and post to the LMS as well as use Web 2.0 tools for rich online learning experiences while still meeting students face-to-face at least 50% of the time. Both teaching strategies are well received and are proving to be desirable options as students are thriving with these approaches.

Maker SpacesWith the introduction of the Maker Studio at Barron Park last year, additional maker spaces are being planned across several other sites. These spaces support a variety of STEAM initiatives, as well as provide opportunities for learning by doing. Activities include sewing, coding, 3-D printing, green-screen video, and building with Legos.

Technology Building Blocks 15-16 �11

Strategic Alignment

A: Create an exceptional learning environment that equitably supports and appropriately challenges all students to reach their fullest potential.

Workshop Topics

• Schoology

• Google Apps and Chrome

• Apple Programs

• iPad Apps

• Blended Learning Certificate

• Coding for All Students

• Screencasting

• Maker Space How To’s

Emerging Tech

It is important to keep an eye on what is developing in technology and understand how it may impact education. To this end, we constantly try new techniques, new equipment, and seek new ideas. This school year, we introduced Virtual Reality in the form of Google Cardboard and the use of apps on Smartphones. The classroom applications are being developed and will impact curricula across the curriculum in impressive ways!

Technology Building Block: Teaching & Learning *

TO: Glenn “Max” McGee, Superintendent FROM: Markus Autrey, Associate Superintendent SUBJECT: Weekly DATE: November 13, 2015 As November begins, the Educational Services Team will begin planning and completing the first phases of the District’s LCAP for 2016-17. The Board approved the current LCAP in May 2015 and the State approved the plan this past September for this school year. The pace of a school year, in addition to being both unpredictable and energizing, allows a few opening months to enjoy having the students back on the campuses and working with the school administrators, Instructional Supervisors, and teachers and staff before the planning for the next school year must begin. Now is the time that planning begins with the goals and action items serving as the focal points for our work, to realize the vision of the district for every student every day. The K-12 effort for math exploration and possible piloting continues as the IS’s and Math TOSAs review and gather feedback on a variety of instructional materials that best align with the Common Core State Standards. This allows for collaboration as the departments seek to align scope and sequence and plan for common assessments that authentically assess if the students have learned what they were intended to learn throughout each unit of study. The math exploration is a preliminary stage of research, discovery, and discussion among the math teachers at each level before the formal process outlined by the District even begins. In addition to this math exploration, the Science Steering Committee and the members of the departments are beginning to explore the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) at a much deeper and richer level. These standards are designed specifically for today’s students and for tomorrow’s workforce. The NGSS framework is rooted in the inquiry model prevalent in academic research, and in many ways, provides the students the tools and knowledge to have an even more meaningful experience in offerings such as Advanced Science Research. Over the next two weeks, we will begin securing a facilitator for the joint guidance committee and to lay the groundwork for the purpose of this committee and who would best serve on the committee in assisting all members move toward those identified goals. We are seriously considering making this a 6-12 initiative as researching various models of delivery in guidance would be a tremendous collaboration and learning experience for all of our secondary school Guidance Counselors. The scope of the work is still in discussion. In the meantime Gunn’s Guidance Staff is looking at a few possible changes that would provide them the opportunity to see more, if not all, of their students in a meaningful way. The counselors are in agreement that they would like to have more time to see their students and be out on campus. The group is a caring and passionate group of counselors who want to impact student perception in a real and authentic way. There is a lot of great learning and collaboration happening across the district. We will continue to pursue and support our staff and students in their growth and learning all the while staying focused on the goals and initiatives as outlined by the Superintendent and the Board. Thank you for your continued support.

PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT 25 Churchill Avenue • Palo Alto, CA 94306 Telephone: (650) 329-3737 • FAX: (650) 321-3810

EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

1

Elementary Education – Barbara Harris, Chief Academic Officer PreK-5 Elementary Literacy: Reader’s Workshop Teachers are working at every site on select skills in Reader’s Workshop Lessons, especially in the area of Conferring. The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) website has great videos related to many aspects of Reader’s Workshop: https://vimeo.com/tcrwp/videos Elementary Math ELEMENTARY MATH LEAD TEACHERS: The group of 29 elementary school math lead teachers represents dedicated teachers who are invested in working closely with the Math TOSA Team to:

1. Align math assessments to Common Core State Standards (CCSS) 2. Identify math curricula for teachers to explore this year 3. Explore deeply and practically the 8 mathematical practices

The Math Leads are currently involved in the vetting of the trimester math assessments. They have also been instrumental in site coordination of CCSS exploratory math materials. Teachers will select a lesson or a unit to explore and will rate the lesson and materials during this exploration year. In the spring parents will be included to review the recommendations per policies and procedures (Education Code).

Parent Education PreK-5 Elementary Education will be sponsoring a Math Parent Ed Workshop on Wednesday, December 9, 6:30-8:00 PM in the District Board Room. Childcare will be provided. Topics may include number talks, open-ended problem stems, dot talks, math games and stations, and discussions on Problem of the Month. Please join us… The California Healthy Kids Survey is underway at the elementary schools. NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) The elementary STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) Inquiry Group is a direct response to the roll-out of NGSS. The elementary group meets frequently and explores ideas and practices that support the implementation of NGSS. The STEAM group of teachers work collaboratively and experiment with creative and hands-on activities. Teachers have shared their own individual special classroom interests; and discussed the status of MakerSpaces and MakerCarts at the elementary sites. A teacher shared information about an organization that fosters children’s interest in baking and the incredible potential of that east coast organization. The group shared excitement about the 49ers’ STEM classes. A teacher gave a clear example of her students going through the design thinking process for a beloved 4th grade California map project. She also shared a great board game for her students to continue the process and discussion about design thinking. TOSA Heather Cleland led a discussion on how to foster creativity in our students based on the Newsweek article. The group experienced the Stixplosion activity, by exercising creativity and exercising one of the 8 practices of science and engineering that the NGSS framework identifies - Asking Questions and Defining Problems. Enjoy the link to the Stixplosion video from You Tube. The STEAM Inquiry Group is travelling to Redwood City to the Marine Institute on Monday, November 16 for a full day NGSS inspired field trip. The teachers will enjoy activity stations on plankton, invertebrates, fish and sharks and how they relate to NGSS. These professional development activities for teachers translate to exciting lessons in their classrooms. NGSS and STEAM are full STEAM ahead in elementary!

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Technology: This image speaks to our PAUSD focus in terms of educating elementary students. Our goal is to empower students in the process of cultivating life skills. We foster a non-traditional Ed Tech integration mindset that believes that technology is not just about creating a product. We believe that it is about student empowerment to foster college and career readiness. The purpose is to help create the skills that foster the awareness to prepare our students to actively use technology for their future. The belief is that teachers are not meant to create lessons but to design engaging and meaningful experiences for students. The use of technology can definitely assist in this process of teaching and learning.

Advanced Authentic Research – Jeong Choe, Coordinator AAR Investigation Begins It’s been a busy time for the AAR program! Our students have been meeting on a weekly basis as a class during the last couple of weeks. They are now working directly with their mentors on meeting their first major milestone - completing and submitting their research proposal by early December. Reading materials from their mentors and guidance from the librarians at both high schools were provided when we met as a class and this is helping them focus their investigation. AAR Opening Social We had over 160 people attend our pilot year AAR social last night. Dr. Max McGee thanked the mentors, parents, and students who attended and spoke of his excitement about the role AAR can play in helping students "prepare for jobs that don't exist yet.” Dr. Jeong Choe spoke about AAR as a way for students to help find areas of passion for them, or to develop that passion if students already have an area of interest. Robert Cheung, a graduate of a similar program, and now an entrepreneur here in the Bay Area, spoke about the value of the program in helping students find areas of interest and relevance to them. The evening also gave a chance for parents, students, mentors, and the AAR team to mingle. Throughout the night, a slideshow showed the students, their research areas, and their mentors. The students played a game of Networking Bingo, which gave them the chance to meet many different people they normally wouldn't interact with. Pictures from the event can be found at https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bw-

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z0a32eCvYa2NKUGt3T2Nra1k&usp=... (link is external) Our team members worked very hard to give the program a solid start as a community. Special thanks to Angela Merchant (Gunn Liaison), Deanna Chute (Paly Liaison), Meri Gyves (Exploratory Experience Coordinator), Peter O’Riordan (Volunteer), and Renu Kumar (Volunteer)! AAR Partnership Gearing up for Next Year Gearing up for next year, we have formed two partnerships: Stanford University Outreach Program and Silicon Valley Talent Partnership are willing to help with sharing mentors they already have as well as recruiting more mentors for next year. Student Electronic Journaling Now Enabled AAR students can now record their research related work in our new electronic journaling system. The required fields for journal entries include the title, content, and number of hours, and the entries will be time stamped. Students can also upload files such as images of their lab set up or an interesting article they read. The journal entries will help to centralize student work and improve communication channel as the students collaborate with their lab partner/s and mentor. All of our AAR team members have contributed to making the launch of the journal system possible during the pilot year. We would like to thank our district’s webmaster, Isidro Pimentel and our volunteer program advisor, Peter O’Riordan for all their hard work in making it possible for students to use the AAR Electronic Journaling System. It is exciting that our research students can “Write to Learn” in this centralized space!

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PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

DIVISION OF STUDENT SERVICES 25 CHURCHILL AVENUE

PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA 94306

TO: Glenn “Max” McGee, Superintendent FROM: Holly Wade, Chief Student Services officer SUBJECT: Weekly DATE: November 13, 2015 Sources of Strength Evening Last night, a successful joint Paly/Gunn Sources of Strength community event was held at GHS. The event was well attended by youth, parents, staff, and community members at large. Gunn and Paly families, students and community members learned about Sourcesof Strength, the wellness program based on building resilience at both high schools. Guest speaker for the evening was Dr. Shashank Joshi of Stanford University, who shared his research, passion and knowledge regarding this important topic.

Through Sources of Strength, our youth are identifying, discussing, and strengthening protective factors in their own lives, as well as working together to become agents of positive change and connectors to help those around them. As change agents, they will spread messages in person and via social media about the various sources of hope, help and strength available to the community. The Sources of Strength program actively creates a culture of increased awareness, compassion and support for all students facing the daily struggles of school and life and teaches strategies for building resilience and multiple sources of strength.

Of particular importance was the student voice; thank you goes out to our students and dedicated staff for their efforts on hosting this important event.

Division of Special Education

504 and IEP Parent Information Meeting

At the request of the Special Education Community Advisory Committee (CAC), the Student Services Department and Special Education Department provided a one-hour overview of 504 and IEP’s last Monday morning. Despite thunder and lightening, over 90 parents were in attendance as staff, Lissette Moore-Guerra, Brenda Carrillo, and Chiara Perry provided important information and answered questions for parents on a broad range of topics related to assessment, identification, dyslexia, accommodations and modifications in the learning environment. The morning meeting was well received, as was the message of building partnership with parents in the best interest of their child/ren. There is a second parent information night scheduled for January 27, 2016 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm at the District Office, 25 Churchill Avenue.

Palo Alto Unified School District • 25 Churchill Avenue Palo Alto 94306

Inclusion Panel for Secondary Clubs, Sports and Electives Plans for the second inclusion panel on participation in extracurricular sports and activities is planned for January 25, 2016, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the District Office. The panel will include school personnel and community providers who have successfully created welcoming and inclusive environments for students. The committee is in the final stages of plans for what should prove to be an important and informative meeting for all. Please mark your calendars.

Palo Alto Unified School District • 25 Churchill Avenue Palo Alto 94306

November 13, 2015 To: Glenn “Max” McGee, Superintendent of Schools From: Cathy Mak (CBO) & Bob Golton (Bond Manager) Subject: Weekly Report County Property Tax Information Our next quarterly property tax meeting with the County Treasurer will be on December 4. This week the County Treasurer Office provided preliminary numbers to school districts. The estimated property tax growth for PAUSD for 2015-16 is revised to 10.99%. Compared to the 10.25% in the September budget, this is an increase of $1 million. This estimated increase is in unsecured tax revenue. Unsecured tax revenues are from assessments on business personal property such as equipment and machinery. Distribution is based on actual tax collection. For 2015-16, the year to date tax collection on unsecured taxes is higher than previously projected. While this is good news for 2015-16, the increased revenue may not sustain in future years. Unsecured tax roll is more volatile than secured tax roll and can fluctuate from year to year. We will make appropriate adjustments for projecting future year revenues. The following are more details on numbers: 2015-16 Assessment and Roll Adjustment

• County-wide assessment roll growth for 2015-16 is 8.67%. PAUSD assessment roll growth for 2015-16 is 10.83%, 10.85% in secured roll and 10.61% in unsecured roll.

Property Tax Revenue

• Estimated property tax growth for PAUSD for 2015-16 is 10.99%, $15 million more than 2014-15. • County Controller is reserving $40 million for county-wide refunds in 2015-16.

Impact to 2015-16 budget

• 2015-16 Adopted budget was $144,075,513, 5.24% growth over 2014-15 estimated actual. • In November the County estimate is $151,842,000. • This is $7,766,487 more than the Adopted Budget and $1,024,000 more than the September

Revised Budget. • We will revise the 2015-16 budget with this new estimate in the First Interim Report which will be

presented for Board approval at the December 8th meeting.

PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT 25 Churchill Avenue • Palo Alto, CA 94306 Telephone: (650) 329-3980 • FAX: (650) 329-3803

BUSINESS SERVICES

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• As for projections for future years, we are keeping the projection at 5+% for 2016-17 and thereafter. These are growth estimates from the City of Palo Alto.

Budget Augmentation At the November 10, 2015 Budget Study session, there was suggestion to bring the proposed one-time budget requests for 2015-16 for budget approval in December. In addition to the one-time expenditure requests, we are also requesting Board approval on two critical need requests. We hope to hire the athletics trainers and be ready to start in the spring season and for the parent liaisons to start working with the various school sites immediately. We will revise the First Interim Budget Report to include these one-time expenditures (1-4) and two critical need requests (5-6) listed below for Board approval at the December 8th meeting. ONE-TIME REQUESTS ($383,000):

1. Special Education Program Review ($78,000): The Harvard Review is in progress. There is additional cost of $78,000 to complete the review. We anticipated that the Harvard Review will make recommendations to strengthen our inclusive practices and develop a system to assure closer connections with parents and the extended community.

2. Solar Feasibility Study ($75,000): The funds will be used to explore the possibility of installing

solar systems on district campuses. The costs include hiring a consultant to do a feasibility study, to create a RFP for a procurement specialist and to make recommendation for best course of action.

3. Curriculum Committee ($100,000): This budget will support committees to develop and revise

living skills and computer science curricula and evaluate various counseling models at our high schools.

4. Elementary classroom leveled libraries ($130,000): Funds will be used to assist with

developing and expanding leveled libraries. Students need at least 6 leveled texts each week in the younger grades on their reading level to read in order to develop all of the key literacy skills that promote strong reading students.

ON-GOING REQUESTS ($240,000):

5. Athletics Trainers ($160,000): The high schools need full time trainers to deal with the growth in the number of student athletes and teams. Trainers are needed to implement important concussion protocols to ensure the safety of the students and monitoring and ensure compliance of health related needs of students participating in school sports.

6. Parent Liaisons ($80,000): This is one of the MATD recommendations. At the elementary level

the classroom teacher, ELD teacher, and primary language tutor work together to meet student needs. The parent liaisons will provide valuable help to the team by communicating with families of ELs and HUR to gain greater parent participation and student connectedness and make them feel welcome.

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TOTAL REQUESTS: $623,000 Paly Performing Arts Center (PAC) Project In the interior of the PAC, installation of wall insulation and drywall is still going strong. The support for the coffered ceiling system over the house is ongoing. Installation of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems are also progressing well. In the exterior: plaster and paint at the remainder of the PAC building is mostly complete. The mechanical units are scheduled to be installed via crane this Friday. Additionally, the installation of the curtain wall system along the Lobby is ongoing. The remainder of the roofing installation is nearing completion. The paver installation is nearing completion. Here is a good updated view of the exterior.

Paly Athletic Center Project Vance Brown continues to work on excavation of the basement and installation of shoring system around the perimeter of the site. This work has been impacted by rain the past two weeks, due mostly to the dump sites being closed. In the meantime, Vance Brown has worked along the shoring boundary areas to keep the shoring work moving, and will have worked two Saturday’s to haul off soils while the dump sites are open. Rain is expected again this Sunday, which will likely impact them further. However, they do anticipate being able to complete the shoring work planned this Friday. Final grading of the basement 3

level pad area will follow once all soil has been excavated and hauled from the site. So, what we have right now are two big holes in the ground where the two gyms will be. Below is a picture of one of them.

Painting of Gunn High School We are moving forward with the plan to paint the exterior of the buildings at Gunn High School. There has been continuing dialogue about an interest in brightening the campus. But also, the campus has not been painted within the span of our collective memories that go back to the late 1990s and so a paint job is appropriate. We plan to paint many of the buildings during the summer of 2016. As a first step, we are bringing on a color consultant who can visit the site, develop preliminary concepts regarding paint schemes and color combinations. We will then help the site administration work with staff, students and community members to reach agreement on a scheme/colors so that the painting can move forward in summer 2016. Our timeline would include the site making a decision by end of February, bring the project to the Board for authorization to bid in March, and starting when school lets out for the summer. Will keep you informed along the way. Stay tuned!

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PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT - HUMAN RESOURCES Date: Friday, November 13, 2015 To: Max McGee, Superintendent From: Scott Bowers Re: Weekly STAFFING HR continues to be busy filling our staffing openings. In the past month, we have filled over a dozen classified positions, a speech/language teaching position, a special education teaching position, and an open fourth grade position at Hoover. We offered the Communication Coordinator position to Jorge Quintana, who has excellent experience as a PIO for two school districts. We are waiting to hear back on when he can exit his current district—San Jose Unified. I am hoping that he will be on board by the start of December. We will be interviewing soon for the Equity Coordinator and also for the Program Assistant for the Research, Evaluation, and Assessment. I mentioned to you that we have a person identified for the HR Director and she will start in January. I have not announced this hire publicly yet due to transition concerns with the current employer. We continue to find a substantial amount of movement in our classified personnel. I believe we had 6-7 classified staff resignations/retirement in the past week or so—Food Server, Custodian, a couple of Secretaries, Job Coach, Spectra teacher. NEGOTIATIONS I have a meeting scheduled with PAEA for Wednesday, November 18th, and a session with CSEA for December 4th. I will share with you their responses at our Board meeting on December 8th. ACA and AB1266 I mentioned this in my September weekly update but I thought I revisit these new laws as we learn more about the reporting. Several HR staff members have been putting in substantial extra hours to provide the data for these new reports—they are very data intensive and require a significant amount of manipulation to put the data in the format required. This is the reason the Tier 1 budget list includes the restoration of the two HR positions—8 hours and 2 hours. We are now tracking all the hourly work to account for non-contracted employees to earn sick leave (AB1266). In addition, we also are tracking non-contract employee work hours to determine if they will qualify for medical benefits. Each of these laws require substantial staff time in gathering and tracking information each month to ensure that our reporting is accurate.