Congratulations Luke! The Fillmore School Board recognized an exceptional seventh grade student, Luke Meyers, who achieved a perfect score on the State Algebra 1 Test. Meyers is now two years ahead in math and a great example of FUSD getting a head start by tackling math early. Pictured (l-r) FUSD Board President David Wilde and Luke Meyers.

Coach of the Year, Matt Dollar, along with eight members of the Fillmore Flashes Football Team were recognized for their numerous league and county-wide achievements.

Board Members John Garnica and Virginia De la Piedra were sworn in by Fillmore City Council Mayor Pro-Tem Manual Minjares. Pictured (l-r) John Garnica, Virginia De la Piedra, and Manual Minjares.

It was standing room only at the December 18, 2012 Fillmore Unified School Board meeting due to a number of items that were of interest to teachers, students and the community. It began with nomination and appointment of new positions for Board Members and recognition of the Fillmore Football Team, a distinctive student’s achievement and a generous donation from Fillmore Methodist Church. Also presented was an English Learner Report and the findings and recommendations to improve both Mountain Vista and Sespe Elementary Schools.

Members of Fillmore United Methodist Church presented Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD) with a check for $12,000. The money originally was a Church Memorial Fund for Fay James, but unfortunately the church is closing and the money must be transferred/donated to a worthy cause. Church members Sarah Hansen, Barbara Olsen, Gay Newman and Emma Patterson agreed that it should go toward an anti-bullying program at FUSD. The ladies stated they would also like the public to get involved in programs like this and make an effort, where possible, to give back to the community.

This was the last meeting of the calendar year and with it came the appointing of the new Board President, Vice President, Clerk, School Board Representative on the County Committee and Agricultural Advisory Committee. The appointments were David Wilde - President, Lucy Rangel - Vice President, Tony Prado - Clerk and David Wilde - Agricultural Committee.

The Board then recognized an exceptional seventh grade student, Luke Meyers, who achieved a perfect score on the State Algebra 1 Test. Meyers is now two years ahead in math and a great example of FUSD getting a head start by tackling math early. Superintendent Alan Nishino reminded everyone that last year 55 seventh grade students took Algebra 1; this year 88 seventh grade students along with 200 eighth grade students are enrolled in Algebra 1. Even more impressive is 49 eight grade students are now taking geometry and pre-algebra is being taught to sixth grade students.

Fillmore is doing great in athletic sports. During the last board meeting the Fillmore Flashes Track Team was recognized as CIF Champions Division IV Boys Cross Country and Girls Cross Country. This meeting Coach of the Year, Matt Dollar, along with eight members of the Fillmore Flashes Football Team were recognized for their numerous league and county-wide achievements. Fortunately for Fillmore, three students are juniors and will have another year on the team.

Assistant Superintendent Michael Johnson informed the Board that an additional $311,000 will soon be needed to purchase supplemental materials to bridge the outdated English Language Arts K-5th textbooks now being used by 1,800 FUSD students. These new textbooks will comply with the new Common Core Standards (CCS) that will be in most K-12th grade schools throughout the United States and is expected to be fully implemented by the 2014-2015 school year. The new standards are reported to be more rigorous and focused on an international scale of competition. Many school districts, especially here in California, are concerned with the cost associated with the change to the CCS. The $311,000 that Johnson mentioned does not cover Math or Science textbooks for K-5th, only English Language Arts.

Jennifer Weir, Special Populations Coordinator, presented the FUSD 2012-2013 English Learner Report with mixed Annual Measurable Achievement Objective (AMAO) results. FUSD has a number of schools that the State of California has labeled “Needing Improvement” and the report presented by Weir explores whether the objectives and improvements are being met. Weir’s findings are the number of students that advanced in English Language increased by 3% over 2011, but those that were proficient or basic declined by 3% and 8% respectively while those below basic improved by 5%. Students in the English Language Learner program for over 5 years saw 6% growth, while those that had less than 5 years saw a 4% decline in progress. The good news is that FUSD’s AMAO saw a 7.6% growth in English Language Arts overall, but the AMAO in math was only 5% and not high enough since both subjects are required to make substantial improvement and together they were not enough to bring the schools to what is called “Safe Harbor” or required improvement.

Two schools needing improvement are Mountain Vista Elementary and Sespe Elementary. The findings and recommendations for improvement from the Alternative Governance Board (AGB) were presented to both schools recently. Last year when the findings were presented there was little if any discussion between the AGB and the teachers, but this year Johnson said they are going to collaborate together with the teachers to discuss the findings and address the problems. Trisha Gradias, who teaches at Mountain Vista, addressed the Board regarding the report stating there was not enough time given to address the recommendations and she questioned the findings. Johnson responded by telling Gradias that her coming to discuss it was exactly what the AGB plans on doing this year and that the discussions will continue. Some of those findings included such things as teachers and lesson teaching needed improvement, students were not engaged in the lessons, 39% of lessons did not emphasize the standards through the entirety of the lesson by referring back to it and 39% of teachers at Sespe were teaching below grade level. This was not the results of every class at both schools and not all findings were negative, but the report reflects the overall results and the problems observed.