The Trustee's Dinner 2/6/09

On Friday the SCBE and Superintendent Carl Wong hosted a Trustee's Dinner at SCOE. This was the first in many years - apparently they used to do this all the time. There were trustees from many districts, and superintendents too. Noreen Evans, Wes Chesbro, and Jared Huffman were all there, with Assembly member Evans speaking candidly about the common K-12 challenges for the State in general, and for Sonoma County specifically.

Prior to the dinner there was a newcomer orientation for first time board members led by the legal counsel. It was well attended.

With about 100 in attendance we handed out interest cards. I am anxious to see the results. I am interested in getting folks talking about what is going on in their district, and this is the first step to just getting them in the same room.

EAP Advisory Team meeting 1/21/09

This meeting was organized by Katheryn Horton (Sonoma State's EAP Coordinator) and well attended by folks from SCOE, the local high schools, SSU, SRJC, SSU, and PACE was represented by David Plank and Michael Kirst. California passed a bill requiring the JC system to have a pilot project using the CSU EAP for placement.

After Michael presented 'setting the groundwork' theKatheryn and Crista Amouroux provided information about the EAP. Many questions from the crowd. Seems this is not going to be a walk in the park. After lunch breakout sessions wer organized first by educational sector, then vertical team. Good stuff regarding messaging to students (Michael's forte - see The College Puzzle and the Bridge Project) and alignment with CSU/JC testing.

Katheryn also handed out a CSU publication I've never seen called The Early Assessment Program Handbook for School Site Leaders. Another thing to research: The American Diploma.