Dear CSDR family,

As the 2006-07 school year comes to a close, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone at CSDR for making my first year as Director of Instruction a successful one.

I have been working hard with my Instructional Management Team to begin planning for the next school year. We have some exciting changes ahead that I would like to share with you.

This year we have listened to many of your concerns regarding student behavior. We are working towards establishing a special class in both Middle School and High School where those students at risk will have an opportunity to focus on improving their behavior and social skills. The class will include instruction in study skills, Character Counts themes, group discussions, and other support services to prepare them to work in the regular academic environment.

Next year, we intend to continue our work in the area of Language Planning. We will be selecting a staff member to be on special assignment for several periods each day to continue work with this committee and also to assist in staff development for Language Planning. This teacher will also work with our curriculum specialists to ensure that Language Planning is included in all curricular areas.

Our work towards becoming a Professional Learning Community will also continue next year. We hope to focus those efforts in smaller groups within each department with an emphasis on developing strategic plans for students at risk who are not making adequate academic gains.

I am proud to announce that we have applied to the College Board to have an Advanced Placement (AP) course in our High School this fall. If we receive approval, we will offer an AP course in Statistics. In addition to this, we will be offering several Honors courses in Language Arts and Biology starting in the fall. These courses will vary from traditional courses by providing additional projects and challenges for students.

We have also planned an after-school International Studies Club for High School students. Students in the club will meet weekly to learn about other countries. If there is adequate participation and parent support, the group will travel to Russia and Sweden during next year’s spring break!

Our school is committed to continuing AEBPD/STAR Schools Project training to our staff. We are looking forward to continuing our training program this next year. We will be sending out more information to potential participants sometime this week. We are also excited about having some of our former participants assist with the training of the new mentors.

We have been conducting interviews during the past two months to find qualified staff to join our CSDR family. We plan on hiring several new teachers and curriculum specialists. I anticipate interviews to continue throughout the summer.

This year, we have had an opportunity to work closely with Sacramento with the goal of providing our students with the best programs and resources available. Next week, Superintendent Mal Grossinger and I will be attending a round-table discussion in Sacramento to discuss how our school can work with the California Department of Education to close the achievement gap for our deaf and hard of hearing students.

As you can see, this has been a very busy year. We are excited about the positive changes that have taken place and for those changes that will occur in the coming year.

Again, thank you for a wonderful year!

Alyce Berard
Director of Instruction