Jordan Journal LITE September 2009

Sections In This Issue

Hello Jordan Community,

In the past, the Jordan Journal was used partly to inform the community about the events that shape our school and our kids. The other piece to the Journal was to let parents know about the school calendar and the timing of these events. The e-news has evolved to the point that this second portion of the Journal's mission has become redundant. To this end, we will have a new format for the Jordan Journal. There will be an electronic full scale edition of the Jordan Journal that will come out quarterly, with the first edition slated for an October release. The months that don't have the full on edition will instead have a much smaller edition of the Journal. Thank you.

Pat Markevitch
PTA President

FROM THE PRINCIPAL'S DESK

Dear Jordan Families:

This year has gotten off to a terrific start. Thank you for all that you have done during the past 6 weeks to help us launch the school year successfully-registration forms, Back to School shopping and events, re-establishing family routines-you've been busy! In this brief message, I would like to introduce our new staff, share state test scores, outline our school priorities for the year, and update you on Jordan 's current events.

Introductions
We have several new staff joining Jordan this year, and every one of them has done a fantastic job making the adjustment to Jordan and starting the year well:

Patricia Balbuena, Sixth Grade (Math/Science)
Geraldine Bibat, Eighth Grade English
Karin Bloom , Sixth Grade Guidance Wheel
Rachel Bloom, Sixth Grade (Science/Social Studies)
Sarah Cane, Choir Teacher
Todd Daly, School Psychologist
Elizabeth Darby, Creative Writing
Trevor Diven , Sixth Grade (English/Social Studies)
Mary Riordan, Spanish Immersion
Brooke Tassa, Sixth Grade (English/Social Studies)

State Test Results
Recently, the California Department of Education released last spring's California Standards Tests results. Jordan's Academic Performance Index (API) increased 9 points to 937, and the percentage of Jordan students scoring at the advanced (highest) level increased in 7 out of the 11 tests. Of the 4 tests that didn't increase in the number of students scoring advanced, two remained the same at 100% advanced and two decreased by only 1 percentage point. Incredible!

School Priorities
Based upon many conversations with parents, students, and staff, our site council, working closely with our teacher leaders, has outlined the following three school goals for this year. Our resources and efforts will be aligned to them:
· Ongoing teacher professional development in support of instructional differentiation to ensure that every student is appropriately challenged and supported academically.
· Developing a study skills framework over the course of the year so that parents and teachers are clear about what study skills should be learned at which grade levels.
· Maintaining a positive school climate, supporting student's socio-emotional health, positive interactions, and appropriate use of electronic communications.

We will keep you informed of our progress and efforts across all three of these goals.

School Updates
Given recent events, we are focusing our efforts on student welfare. We are making preparations for this year's flu season, and increasing our training and awareness regarding students' socio-emotional health. Our efforts along both lines are being coordinated within the broader district and community responses, and we will keep you informed of developments and what you can do at home in support of student welfare.

Last, I want to reassure you that the school is in a solid position financially this year. Thank you for your generous PTA and PiE donations. I will provide a broader financial update in next month's message. This year though, our student council is changing fundraising models, moving away from their traditional magazine drive to a combination of a direct appeal and the Jag-a-thon this past weekend. Thank you for supporting this new, fun, community-building event.

Sincerely,

Michael Milliken, Principal
mmilliken@pausd.org

PTA CORNER

Welcome back to school. So many school events have happened already and these events could not have happened without the generous volunteers who helped make hem happen. This month's thank you column will cover a lot of these events with more thank you columns in the coming months. If I have forgotten anyone in the following events, please let me know so I can include you next month. So without further ado,

The Family Work Day went very well and here are the volunteers: Susan Usman, Christine Regalia, Al Yuen, Ethan Lo, Carlos Chen, Jill Fox, Demetrio Donzelli, Lelea Wong, Marc Zucker, Janis & Griffin Bajor, Tony Shin, Xechan hin, John Kirchman, Tina Semba, Sandra Chutorian, Alex Efland, Tina Peak, Trevor, Eric & Jared Filseth, Matthew Seligson, Alex Bonomi, Vic Schrader, Elizabeth Lee, Kimberley Wong, Garret and Eric Peak, Bill & Holm Lamp, Danny & Mirna Moreno, Matt, William & John Kowaleski, Chasen Chacon, Hans von Clemm, Eriz Zhang, Andrew & Joy Frick, Elisa De Martel, Rachel Seligson, Andrea Saliba, Isabella Saliba Long, David & Isabelle Chun, Darcy & Brent Escovedo, Nelson & Julianne Stafford, Margaret & Rachel Seligson and Claire Donzelli.

The Back to School Staff lunch was led by Melissa Anderson. Thank you to Melissa and the following volunteers, Laura Lombardi, Lara Stephenson, Debbie Crouch,Abha Kumar, Margaret Seligson, Kim Cool, Liz Lee, Mary McQuinn, Claire McCole, Cindy Kron, Betty Rowe, Liz Libbey, Lisa Peery, Tina Semba, Deb Staiger, Robbyn McHugh, Jennifer Devine, Nancy Scola, Cindy Scott, Monica Johnson, Kristin Abbott, Margaret Lawrence, Mary Tall, Susan G. McDonnell, Lisa Tayeri, and Karen Neuman.

Back to School Registration volunteers worked tirelessly for days to break down the packets and they were led by Jennifer Landesmann and Barb Clark. They are: Barb Schroder, Laura Wolfe, Karen Neuman, May Chevallier, Yael Ben-Efraim, Liz Lee, Afsaneh Zanjani, Kathe Hickey, Kathryn Feinberg, Josephine Chien, Susan Bailey, Susan G. McDonnell, Lisa DeLong, Lara Stephenson, Ruth Wu, Annette Destefano, Susan Usman, Christine chlenker, Rosemary Busher, Sandra Short, Liz Libbey, Elizabeth Colvin, Joy Frick, Ginny Hull, Alice Yan, Natasha Crum, Beth Strong, Holly Chamberlain, Gina Ng, Pearl Chow, Sheri Novack, Elizabeth Fee, Pattie Barco, Su Chang, Haiying Wang, Teresa Flagg, Doris Williams, Tina Peak, Janie Farn & Carroll Cleveland.

Thank you all for your support of Jordan

Pat Markevitch
PTA President

The Jordan Journal LITE Newsletter is sponsored by the Jordan PTA.

Jordan Middle School PTA | 750 North California Avenue | Palo Alto | CA | 94303