 Yosemite
& Coarsegold Districts 
School
News
September
24 ,2004
Superintendent's
Report
Yosemite
High principal’s report
Steve Raupp, principal
Coarsegold
Elementary School news
Randy Haggard, principal
Alternative
Education Report
Roberta Tackett, principal
Rivergold
School News
Bob Rose, principal
Business
report
Srini Vasan, Director of Business Services
Yosemite
and Coarsegold Districts
Publication Information
 Superintendent's
Report
Bill McCabe
The
2004-05 school year has opened on a very positive note in both the Yosemite
and Coarsegold districts. Students, staff and the community have exhibited
such a good attitude about the schools and what we are accomplishing.
There is much for which we can be proud ñ good test scores, improved
facilities, outstanding teachers, great support staff and wonderful
students. We are fortunate to be where we are in light of the state’s
financial situation. We have not had to reduce our staff at any of our
schools, in fact we have added some new positions that we believe will
be of great benefit to the students, such as the Student Support Facilitator
in the Yosemite Joint Union High School District.
We can be grateful that both districts are governed by boards of trustees
that have a vision for the future and work hard to do what is best for
students. These visions have allowed Yosemite High School to continue
its construction projects, expanding and upgrading the YHS campus, making
it one of the finest facilities in the valley.
Earlier this month we opened the Baker Swim Complex for community use;
the new football stadium will be inaugurated by the YHS Badgers tonight
in their first home game and the new all-weather track will make a huge
impact on our track program.
Work continues on the classroom building and the performing arts center.
In about another year, the district will be through with construction
projects and every promise made in the bond campaign in 1998 will have
been fulfilled.
Both districts’ test scores were good this year, reflecting the
hard work of our staff and the efforts of our students.
As I look ahead to the rest of this school year, I see good things in
store for our students. We are working hard to manage our programs while
staying within a tight budget and an uncertain state budget. This is
not easy and it takes the cooperation of everyone to make it work. Our
priority is our students and we will keep this in mind as we make decisions
in the months ahead.
We have fine young people attending our schools; they deserve the best
and that is what we intend to deliver.
Yosemite
High
principal’s report
Steve Raupp, principal
 The
beginning of the 2004-2005 school year was extrem-ely successful. We
opened school with just over 1,260 students enrolled, which is up slightly
from last year. With the opening of school there are a number of changes
which are visible on campus.
The new swimming pool, the Baker Swim Complex, was dedicated on September
11, and is home to the new Badger water polo and swim programs.
We have had an enthusiastic turnout for the fall water polo program,
and are fielding both boys' and girls' programs for the first time.
Both teams will play an at-large schedule this year and will apply for
membership in a league for the 2005-2006 school year.
The newly renovated Badger Stadium will be inaugurated in a September
24 home football opener with Roosevelt High School. The facility improvements
include a new Bermuda grass playing surface, drainage system, expanded
bleacher seating, new lights, new press box, and a state of the art
nine lane all-weather track.
The YHS drama program is in temporary quarters pending completion of
a new 400 seat theater on the Yosemite High School campus. The building
will feature 250 theater style seats, with room for an addition 150
movable seats.
The layout provides for flexibility in the use of the building which
includes use of a thrust stage for additional stage space for drama
performances. In addition to providing a wonderful venue for drama,
we will have the ability to host band, and choir performances on our
campus for the first time.
The building is scheduled for completion in early January, and plans
for a grand opening of the facility will begin shortly.
Other projects currently underway include a riding arena on the school
farm, and a 23-classroom building on the front of the campus, which
should begin to show progress soon.
We received exciting news in early September, with the release of the
State Account-ability Report. We are pleased to report that Yosemite
High School met both its Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) and its Academic
Performance Index (API) goals for the year.
The AYP goal is related to the federal No Child Left Behind requirements,
and is based on student test results and graduation rates. Yose-mite
High School exceeded its API growth target, posting an 11-point gain
for an overall API of 757.
More information on both of these measures of school achievement can
be found on the California Department of Education website, which is:
www.cde.ca.gov.
Yosemite High School is currently preparing for its WASC accreditation
next year. We are in our pre-accreditation year and will be working
on completion of a self-study report during the 2004-2005 school year.
Any parents who would be interested in serving on a parent committee
are asked to contact Consuelo Mercier at 683-4667 ext. 334.
 Coarsegold
Elementary School news
Randy Haggard, principal
Greetings
from Cougar Country! This year at Coarsegold School our theme is Read
to Succeed. We want to encourage students to read daily at school and
at home with their parents. Proficient readers have a strong foundation
for school success. Students have eagerly accepted my challenge to them
to read a million pages this year!
Our new Reading Lab is the centerpiece of a reform effort to target
improvement in reading/language arts. Karen Fruth is coordinating the
program which supports instruction using our materials from the Houghton
Mifflin Reading/Language Arts program. Students will benefit from this
program whether they are struggling or need acceleration.
We will be continuing our focus on character education with an emphasis
on our common values of caring, trustworthiness, fairness, res-ponsibility,
respect, and citizenship which help to form the basis of good character.
Throughout the year we will be focusing our attention on these common
values while putting them into practice through student government.
The Student Senate will meet quarterly to address student concerns in
a forum which will teach them about participation in our democracy.
We will celebrate the growth we see in children’s character as
we continue to build a capacity for leadership in each child.
Our staff is proud of the improvements in student achievement reflected
in the growth of our Academic Performance Index (API), but we are committed
to continuous improvement.
We will continue to strive for excellence in all we do at Coarsegold
School, and we hope you will find a way to join us. If you would like
to help in any way, or if you have ideas about how we can improve at
Coarsegold School, please contact me at 683-4842, ext. 254 or rhaggard@coarsegoldusd.com.
 Alternative
Education Report
Roberta Tackett, principal
The
alternative schools within the Yosemite Joint Union High School District
had an excellent start this year. By the end of the first week, we had
113 students enrolled in our five schools (Ahwahnee, Evergreen, Foot-hill,
Mountain View and Raymond Granite high schools). Typically, our enrollments
increase as the year goes along, so we are looking forward to a very
good year.
Our opening enrollments were: Ahwahnee, 17; Ever-green, 50; Foothill,
13 in the day classes and six in independent study; Mountain View, 22
and Raymond Gran-ite, 5.
We have some new staff members and some new assignments. Tony Tucker
has joined Rick Solomon at FHS and we are pleased to welcome two new
teachers to the district: Karen Falat and Brandon Brokaw are at Mountain
View. These two new teachers are very enthusiastic about the opportunity
to work with the younger students who attend the school.
This is my first year as a full-time principal and my duties now include
all five of the alternative high schools as well as Yosemite Adult High
School and the Yosemite Community Education Cen-ter which offers fee-based
classes to area residents. I am very excited about the challenges and
opportunities this offers me. It is wonderful to work with such a caring,
strong group of teachers who are making a real difference in students'
lives.
The state recently released accountability reports for all schools,
including Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) and Annual Performance Index
(API).
The only alternative school for which test scores are made public is
Evergreen. The other schools’ scores are not released to the public
because there are fewer than 10 students in each grade or sub-group.
I’m pleased to an-nounce that Evergreen’s scores continue
to rise, up this year to 615. That is a growth of 34 points from last
year. In 2003 EHS scores raised 129 points from the prior year. EHS
met its API growth target this year and its AYP criteria set forth in
the federal No Child Left Behind program.
This is excellent news and speaks well of the students and teachers
who are working hard to achieve success.
Another
area of phenomenal growth has been the alternative schools’ graduation
rate. In 2004 the rate was 97.3 percent, up from 95.2 in 2003 and 70.4
in 2002. It is very gratifying to see our students staying in school
and succeeding. A great deal of credit is due the teachers for their
hard work and caring.
We are also very excited that Ahwahnee, Evergreen and Yosemite Adult
schools are now accredited. This is the first time the alternative schools
have been accredited and we look at this as a real milestone. In the
future, we will apply for accreditation for Foothill and Raymond Granite.
We were accredited by the Western Association of Scho-ols and Colleges
Accrediting Commission for Schools in Burlingame (533 Airport Blvd.,
Suite 200, Burlingame, CA 94010; phone 650-696-1060).
The accreditation committee commended us for “creating such a
nurturing environment and sense of family.” This is what we have
always worked to achieve and it is most gratifying that we were recognized
for our success in this area. We will strive to maintain this environment
for our students.
Rivergold
School News
Bob Rose, principal
On
behalf of the Rivergold educational family, I would like to extend to
everyone a warm welcome for the 2004-05 school year. We are all looking
forward to another exciting year. Our motto this year is live strong,
stick to it, and don’t give up. Everyday we all need to encourage
our kids to do their very best. Here are some action points from the
National Center for Parenting, to help parents as the school year kicks
off.
Action Points for Parents
1. Expose your kids to a wide variety of experiences and pursuits so
they can try many different things and settle on the ones they are most
passionate about.
2. Be actively involved in those pursuits. That shows you’re interested
in their lives and it builds their confidence and self-worth. For example,
if your child likes to read, you could find an engaging book by an author†who
is†still living and read it together. Then, help him write a letter
to the author where he comments about the story and asks about the writer’s
inspiration. Or, if your daughter is curious about a particular sport,
buy tickets to a game or match, and in the days leading up to it, find
out all you can about the people or teams involved, rules and nuances
of strategy.
3. Always be positive. Be extra sensitive when it comes to nurturing
your children's dreams. Even if their dreams seem outlandish, convey
optimism about their future. Tell them, “Anything is possible.”
4. Ask your children, “What are your dreams?” (You can ask
that question of a 7-year-old, a 17-year-old, and even a 27-year-old.)
5. Make sure your children know they don’t have to win to receive
your approval. You love them, no matter what.
6. Help your child get off to a good start this school year: Talk through
his / her daily schedule and ask about new friends he/she is meeting.
Business
report
Srini Vasan, Director of Business Services
 Thank
you Sacramento for passing the budget. Better late than never, the budget
did pass with K-12 education coming out unscathed. Could it have been
better? Yes. Could it have been worse? You bet it could have been worse.
Sacramento showed once again that its priority is education. The Cost
of Living Allowance (COLA) of 2.4 percent will bring in a few more dollars
to help with the step and column (cost of living adjustment) which staff
gets.
With regard to the state of the union of the two school districts, I
am proud to say we are still going strong; our finances are looking
good, we have not closed any programs, and we have not resized the staff.
On the other hand, we are growing. If you have any doubts, just look
around, or better yet, compare us to other school districts that had
to cut their budgets drastically.
I thought I would dedicate this column to explaining where we get our
revenues to run the schools. The magic word is ADA. ADA means Average
Daily Attendance. We get revenue when students attend the school. Warm
seats bring money but if the student is absent because of sickness,
or if the student takes the day off and does not come to school, we
do not get money for that day for that student.
Let me explain in real dollars. For example, if a high school student
attends the school 180 (required) school days, then the school gets
approximately $5,500 in ap-portionment (also known as Revenue Limit)
from the State of California. So, if the student is absent one day,
guess how much the school loses? $5,500 divided by 180 days equals $31
per day (rounded).
So, if we have a student population of 1,300 and if each student - on
an average - is absent one day in a year, we lose approximately $40,000.
Why is this important? As a parent or guardian, you want to make sure
that your child attends the school every day. Illness, I understand;
truancy, I cannot. Every absence costs the school valuable dollars.
Our workers’ compensation crisis is a story that moved from the
back of the business section to the front page of newspapers around
the state in recent months. This is due to the devastating effect that
skyrocketing costs have had on our economy, which inspired grass-roots
advocacy that spurred the government into action.
California employers are paying an average of $6.30 per $100 of payroll,
more than two-and-a-half times the national average of $2.46. These
costs directly affect benefit levels, hiring decisions and job creation.
Employment figures show California added a disproportionately low 5,200
jobs in March out of 308,000 created nationwide, though we are home
to 12 percent of the country’s population.
Yosemite
and Coarsegold Districts
School
News
is a publication of the
Yosemite Joint Union High School District
and the
Coarsegold Union School District
Published at the YJUHSD Office
50200 Road 427
Oakhurst CA 93644
559-683-8801 ext. 338
www.yosemiteuhsd.com
Bill
McCabe, publisher
Earlene Ward, editor
CUSD
Board of Trustees
Sue O’Connor, Chair
Greg Schoonard, Clerk
Kathy Casey
John Reynolds
Christine Wilder
Bill
McCabe
Superintendent
Trustees
can be reached through the CUSD office, 683-8801 ext. 387
45426
Road 415
Coarsegold CA 93614
www.coarsegoldusd.com
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