Dear NLMUSD Family,                                                                     

I would like to update you on the progress District Site Leadership Team (DSLT) is making towards the development of the LEA Plan Addendum (LPA).  This plan is a requirement of the district being in Program Improvement (PI) status.  The design of this plan is to help us exit PI status and help our students achieve at higher levels.  While we will zero in, with laser-like focus, on the needs of Special Education and English Language Learner students, the LEA Plan Addendum will also benefit all NLMUSD students.

I would like to thank everyone that has provided support to this critical task. Parents, principals, assistant principals, classified employees and our associations, TANLA and CSEA, have all been instrumental to this work.  Many contributed by completing surveys and providing the DSLT with the valuable data and insight for analysis in the development of the plan.  I commend Rosa Carreon for her leadership of the DSLT.  In addition, I wish to express that we are grateful to the Los Angeles County Education Department facilitators that have been guiding us through the process.

Many district specific needs surfaced during this process and one of the Los Angeles Ed Dept facilitators asked a pointed question that caused us to reflect on our practices.  After learning of all the work that NLMUSD is already doing, he stated that he was very impressed but then he asked “Why, then, are you in PI?”

We knew at that point that we needed to dig deeper.  We have many excellent pedagogically sound pieces in place, but we need something more to take us to the next level as a district.  That is why everyone’s input is and continues to be critical. That is also, why we have to confront the “brutal facts, “as Jim Collins states in Good to Great if we are to avoid Year 3 of PI.   Year 3 brings sanctions that will affect our district in how we operate and each year thereafter has additional sanctions.  We must be willing to examine our own practices and hold each other accountable as we move forward.

So far, areas of need that have surfaced among the DSLT and in conversations I have had in the district are:

• A need for district-wide pacing guides in language arts
• A K-12 math initiative
• K-12 interventions for struggling learners
• Help teachers design lesson using the Systematic ELD strategies
• Help teachers design lessons to develop Academic Language for ELL's
• Differentiated Instruction Training for special education and non-special education teachers to help them meet the needs of their students
• Parent training on literacy and math skills so they can help us in the effort to teach their children
• Identifying community resources to help students where parent involvement lacks
  

The DSLT continues to refine this plan.  Our goal is to present to the School Board on December 14th in advance of the California Department of Education January deadline.  Then, the real work begins! We will develop strategies, investigate solutions and identify factors that we will address in order to help us move forward as a district and ensure student academic achievement.

Our children are deserving of high academic achievement.  The education we provide them is their ticket to success in their future.  A future will affect their own children, their communities, and even our country. We have the opportunity to make it happen for them. Imagine that!

Thank you for all you do every day for our students.

Your superintendent,

Ruth