Great News From Soquel Union Elementary School District
Excitement continues to build as we prepare for another outstanding school year. During the summer months we have been extremely busy hiring excellent new teachers, front office school staff, a Director of Curriculum and a Director of Student Services. We are very fortunate to hire individuals who are among the best and brightest throughout our county. Each of these individuals shares our common core belief that the most important job is to protect our children and to provide them with a wonderful learning environment. Since our enrollment continues to increase year after year, each of our schools have hired additional teachers. It has been a pleasure to meet our new staff. Their positive outlook and enthusiasm is terrific. Our students, parents and community at large will quickly notice their “can do” attitude.
As part of the interviewing team we were very impressed with the quality of teaching experience that the majority of our new hires already have. We were also lucky to select individuals who are experienced in multi-media instruction and who are planning to enrich our students’ lives with before and after school learning opportunities. Our school principals, Mr. Craig Broadhurst, Mr. Andrew Wright, Mr. Randall Simms, Ms. Kerry le Roux, Ms. Annette Bitter and Ms. Gerri Fippin, have done an excellent job in working together to match each new hire’s talent to the needs at their specific school site. One of the most important decisions a principal will make is in the area of personnel hiring. Adding additional positive educators at our sites can have a huge impact in creating extra curricular activities that are completely new to the school.
New Curriculum and Student Services Directors Hired
Our new director positions are going to provide us with the opportunity to explore various learning options far beyond the traditional classroom. Ms. Moira Barker is our new Director of Curriculum. She will invest a significant amount of time in creating opportunities to expand our instructional technology programs. I am looking forward to the expansion of STEAM (Science, Technology, Arts, Engineering and Math) curriculum at each of our schools. This summer a number of our teachers attended a technology summit held in Silicon Valley. The focus of this summit was to provide examples that will allow teachers to integrate technology into their classroom on a daily basis. We are excited to announce that within a two-year period we have equipped every teacher in our district with an up-to- date computer and a multi-media workstation. Preparing our students for the 21st Century requires us to revisit our curriculum programs and to obtain technology to allow our students to explore learning beyond the classroom.
Our new Director of Student Services is Dr. Lurena Brubaker. She is a seasoned school psychologist from Clovis Unified School District. We are very fortunate to have Lurena join our team and provide the essential leadership required in the area of student services. She will be working closely with our school principals and our Director of Curriculum to create an RTI (Response to Intervention) program that will provide our staff with opportunities to explore new instructional strategies.
Our Schools Look Fantastic
Under the leadership of Mr. Jim Dupre, our Supervisor of Maintenance and Operations, all of our schools now have terrific curb appeal! Mr. Dupre and his staff, Brian Brazil, Steve Cartwright and Craig Feeney, worked endlessly to beautify all of our school campuses. Soquel Elementary School has been completely repainted and now the architectural beauty is easily noticed. In addition to painting the entire school, we also renovated the entire multi-use room with new lighting, interior painting, ceiling tiles and a new sound system. Mr. Dupre also spearheaded a major project at New Brighton Middle School that culminated in the installation of a new quad area that is absolutely student friendly and will be a fantastic location for students to gather during lunchtime.
A special thank you goes out to Mr. Mike Crum, Michael Crum Concrete, for his donation of a colorful compass pattern that is embedded in the new quad area at New Brighton Middle School and in the new concrete work in the front of Main Street School. We also painted many of the buildings at New Brighton Middle School to enhance their curb appeal. Santa Cruz Gardens received hundreds of hour of maintenance support in order to enhance the school’s curb appeal. Our local resident artist, Mr. Roy Segura, painted a wonderful mural of the Main Street Community that will be placed by the front office at Main Street School. His commitment to create a beautiful mural is inspiring for he has captured the wonderful energy that surrounds the Main Street Community.
Building Positive Relationships
I am pleased to announce that Mr. Jamie Goldstein, Capitola City Manager, worked closely with me to develop a Memorandum of Understanding proposal that was supported by each of our boards to transfer the ownership of the gym from the City of Capitola to the Soquel Union Elementary School District. The buzz around New Brighton Middle School regarding the gym is exciting to watch. We are already planning for special events to occur in this building and to utilize the gym for community activities as well as evening events connected with the school. Mr. Goldstein deserves a lot of credit for his willingness to find win-win solutions throughout our negotiation sessions.
Here is a picture of our new community mural that will be installed at Main Street School. This mural is truly a beautiful piece of art!