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We recognize that when we all work
together in an active partnership between the home and school and in a cooperative
relationship with city offices, businesses, nonprofit groups, local citizens, and higher
education institutions, the youth of our community receives the greatest benefits.
As parents, educators, and community
leaders, we worry about our children making the right decisions. Unfortunately, as the
youth of today look around, they too often see many examples of individuals who justify
behavior that is dishonest or that stretches the rules in order to get ahead. We need to
set the right examples and help our children make better decisions by instilling the
right values. Therefore, it is important that we join together as a broader community of
home, school, and neighborhood to model and reinforce ethical behavior.
We have been fortunate to be the recipient of a very generous donation to support the
Character Counts! program, as well as federal grants to support Every Citizen Honoring
Others (ECHO) projects in our district. We know that strong minds and bodies must also
have strong character at their core to live fulfilling lives and contribute to our great
democracy in the United States. To me, that is the ultimate success of a high quality
public education -- to graduate young men and women who are ready to become good
citizens in our democracy and in the world.
The October 20th forum and presentation by Character Counts! founder Michael Josephson
builds on our commitment in the Poway Unified School District to support and develop
character education for all. We hope this forum becomes the springboard to new
communitywide initiatives to support integrity and character development.
On the academic front, Poway Unified schools continue to be some of the highest
performing schools in the county and state. The news coverage this fall has focused on
API scores across the state and county. PUSD schools did extremely well, showing solid
growth in 28 of our schools. Our other schools held relatively steady. Schools with
gains of 30 or more points include Adobe Bluffs, Los Peñasquitos, Pomerado, Turtleback,
Meadowbrook, Mt. Carmel, and Rancho Bernardo. Our districtwide API increased from 832 to
845, an overall growth of 13 points. This is significant progress. We are also showing
positive growth in other key measures districtwide, including participation in a-g
coursework for college entrance and advanced placement (AP) classes, as well as rising
participation and scores on the SAT college entrance exam. We know that success on these
measures reflects the quality of instruction at the preschool, elementary, middle, and
high school levels. What makes this even more impressive is that we accomplished this
during a period of time when we experienced the most dramatic declines in funding in our
District’s history.
Construction is already underway at Midland Elementary School, Poway High School,
Westwood Elementary School, and Mt. Carmel High School as part of the Proposition U Building
for Success program. Expansion work has been recently completed at Community Facilities
District (CFD) schools including Park Village, Highland Ranch, and Mesa Verde. Stone
Ranch Elementary School has been opened, and construction has begun at Oak Valley Middle
School, scheduled to open fall 2005.
I look forward to a very good school year and appreciate your ongoing involvement and
support.
Sincerely,
Donald A. Phillips, Ed.D.
Superintendent
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