Sum
And so it begins …
With smiles, handshakes and backpacks galore, students in the Natomas Unified School District officially ended their summer break and returned to classes today for the new school year.
“I’m as excited as you are,” one mother said to her seventh-grade daughter as they walked together toward Natomas Gateways Middle School, a brand new campus located on the grounds of Natomas High School.
At elementary schools, some of the youngest students were learning the basics of campus behavior, ranging from the need to be respectful to an effective technique for attaching backpacks to the back of a classroom chair.
At campus after campus, welcoming signs were common and aides were stationed to answer questions from students or parents. As a precaution, a safety monitor was assigned to help students cross busy streets safely, morning and afternoon, at every District school.
Superintendent Chris Evans and district administrators monitored campuses to check for any last-minute glitches and to greet students and staff. The superintendent vows to continue a District-wide focus on college and career readiness this year, consistent with the Board-adopted Vision that, "All NUSD students graduate as college and career ready, productive, responsible, and engaged global citizens."
In keeping with NUSD's emphasis on college and career readiness, all high school seniors will be offered the opportunity to take a national college admissions exam this fall, ACT, at no charge to them. Testing will occur during the school day. Subsequently, all high school juniors will be offered the ACT exam each spring.
New District developments for 2014-15 include expanded high school counseling, additional instructional technology, and more instructional minutes per day at multiple grade levels -- an additional 50 minutes in middle school and 17 in grades 1-3. The District also has released a new, free App, which can be downloaded from the Apple app store or Google play, to provide a key new communications link with parents.
Three of NUSD’s schools begin the 2014-15 year with new principals: Dr. Tina Tranzor at Natomas Middle School, Dr. Kristen Coates at Leroy Greene Academy, and Patrick Birdsong at Witter Ranch Elementary School.
The new middle school, Natomas Gateways, will offer instruction in robotics and automation, classes for students interested in health-related careers, A-to-G coursework required for University of California admission, and accelerated classes such as higher level math and world languages. The school also will assign a Chromebook computer to every student enrolled.
“That’s a plus,” parent Scherrie Tyson said after hearing that her daughter, Tylicia, will have a Chromebook to use every day, for every class at Natomas Gateways. “That’s a very big plus.”
