San Carlos schools OK five-year vision

“We can do more,” said board President Beth Hunkapiller.

Hunkapiller stressed the flexibility in the plan — in terms of facilities and curriculum.

Flexibility means being able to personalize lesson plans to engage students regardless of how they learn. It also will encourage the use of technology but in a way that creates engagement with others, not just students individually working with a screen, she explained.

For students, the plan calls for supporting children academically as well as socially and emotionally. It asks that critical thinking and problem-solving skills to be emphasized in lessons along with the use of technology and real-world situations. A group of teachers are being trained this summer to lead curriculum changes, said Superintendent Craig Baker. That sort of training will continue in the coming years to reach all the district’s educators. As a result, there will be lots of pilot programs, Baker added.

The plan is open-ended about who can be a teacher. Lessons, for example, could come from local business owners sharing real-life experiences or people who can take part in virtual field trips using video conferencing software. Virtual field trips are also part of the plan to extend where learning happens, said Baker.

Implementing the changes is easier for the district since almost all of its schools, aside from Central Middle School, are charters. Central will soon be a charter, however.

Where the impact of the new strategic plan will be first visible will be in the new schools being built to teach fourth and fifth grade students. A plan to build two such campuses using land at the district’s middle schools — Central and Tierra Linda — was developed to help alleviate growing enrollment. Once complete, the smaller transition schools that will share facilities with Central and Tierra Linda will also draw one grade of students from the existing San Carlos schools to free up space. The first of these schools, which will be located at Central, is expected to open in 2016. Direction for the design includes building classrooms with moveable walls so that two classrooms can work together or a group of students can take their lesson outside, Baker said.

“Building new schools gives us the opportunity to support the type of learning we want to do,” said Baker who will now start working with a design team to create a plan for the facility.

It’s not just about changing thoughts about how to reach students. Baker sees this as a way to also involve students in owning their own educational goals — like knowing in which areas they could use help and acknowledging the successful movement toward reaching those milestones.

To read the full strategic plan visit www.sancarlos.k12.ca.us/strategic-plan/.

heather@smdailyjournal.com

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