Twelve members of the community have been selected to
participate in what could be a lengthy process, drawing boundaries
for the new Sobrato High School.
Twelve members of the community have been selected to participate in what could be a lengthy process, drawing boundaries for the new Sobrato High School.
“All of the applicants were well-qualified and would be an asset to the committee,” Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Branco said last week. “After reviewing the applications, we decided the best way to handle it was lottery style. We basically put all the names in a hat and drew until we filled the 12 slots.”
The committee met for the first time Thursday evening.
Members chosen from a pool of 19 applicants were: Sohrab Rashid, parent; Christopher Corpus, parent; Cheryl McDowell, school bus driver; Trudy Parks, Live Oak High instructional aide; Tracie Shumate, Live Oak High secretary; Teresa Jennings, parent, Home and School Club vice president, School Site Council member; Tracey Ciccone, parent; Monica Reese, parent; Laurie Faulk, parent; Dana Buch, community member; Frank Serrano, community member; and Blanca Serrano, community member.
Bob BrownKorbel, Live Oak teacher, Anita Woodson, parent, and Bobbi Rodriguez, parent, were not selected but can attend the meetings, Branco said, and serve as alternates, filling vacancies that occur. Three late applicants, Jennifer McGlothin, parent, Dan Brown, parent, and Kari Brown, parent, were also mailed a letter from the district saying they were welcome to attend the meetings.
Branco, who will chair the committee, said the committee will be composed of approximately 30 members, including 10 faculty, three district office staff, two transportation staff, the 12 parents/community members and three seats left for city, police and public works representatives.
“With our most recent boundary changes, establishing boundaries for Barrett Elementary, we saw what a difficult process this can be,” said Branco. “It was a lengthy process, and we found we started out with a large number of committee and people dropped out.”
The School Board recommended district staff and the committee also take a look at the middle school and elementary school boundaries where appropriate. The possibility of certain elementary schools becoming feeder schools for each high school and middle school also will be considered.
During the Dec. 13 School Board meeting, Live Oak Co-Principals Nancy Serigstad and Rich Knapp presented information on the development of a five-year plan for the two high schools.
“There are four high schools out of 1,200 in California that are not 9-12 configurations,” Knapp said. “Our ninth grade teachers and our tenth grade teachers just can’t collaborate as they need to as the situation stands now. Once or twice a year is just not enough.”
The plan, the co-principals explained, would be built on a plan approved in 1998, when Rob Gaskill was superintended and Knapp was Live Oak principal. Knapp and Serigstad propose to use the 1998 plan as a model, while gathering input from parent and community forums, teacher forums and district committees, working closely with the Ed Spec III committee (educational specifications), which is composed of parents, students, teachers, administrators and community members.
The board directed the co-principals to proceed with the plan.
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