My son and I had an especially great day several weekends ago.
My wife and daughters were shopping for necessary wardrobe updates,
so my son and I were able to spend the entire day together
– just the two of us.
My son and I had an especially great day several weekends ago. My wife and daughters were shopping for necessary wardrobe updates, so my son and I were able to spend the entire day together – just the two of us. We ran some errands, went to lunch, watched one of his favorite movies, and ended our day with one of our favorite activities – inventing wrestling moves like the “Flying Claw,” the “Crusty Crab,” or the “Vise.” As we finished, my son looked up at me and told me, “Dad, I love you.” I assured him that I loved him also, and then he asked me the question children often ask when they have siblings, “Who do you love the most?” Having some experience with this question I explained to him that I love all my children equally, but each for unique reasons like my son’s ability to invent the best wrestling moves.
As superintendent of a district with multiple school sites, I must be aware of the same dynamic and ensure I never play favorites; I must celebrate the successes of each of our sites. Currently there is a lot I could celebrate. The Morgan Hill Unified School District gained 23 Academic Performance Index points as almost all of our comprehensive sites showed some gains. Paradise Valley became the highest performing school in the district at 881 API, and El Toro made it to “Safe Harbor.” At the high school level, Sobrato is only 11 points shy of the state goal of 800 and Central received a three year accreditation.
These and other accomplishments certainly deserve to be celebrated, but I had to choose one for this article, so I chose Live Oak High School. Live Oak High School students, staff, and parents accomplished and continue to accomplish great things. In 2010, Live Oak High School had the highest API gain (46 points) of any comprehensive high school in Santa Clara County. A similar gain this year will put them over 800.
We saw even more impressive growth for student subgroups. Hispanic/Latino students increased 57 points, English learners increased 63 points, socioeconomically disadvantaged students improved 73 points, and white students improved 38 points to reach an API of 768. Live Oak’s success is not limited to API growth. The percentage of students passing Advanced Placement exams increased last year with some classes experiencing an 80 percent pass rate (Passing the AP exam provides a student with college credit). This is especially impressive if we recall that these exams were taken while groups protested in front of the school and helicopters flew overhead (passing the AP exam provides a student with college credit). The Class of 2010 had one National Merit Scholarship finalist and four commended students (commended students are in the top 3 percent nationwide and finalists are in the top 1 percent nationwide). Equally impressive, of the 252 seniors last year, 200 were awarded scholarships totaling more than $850,000.
In reviewing the post-graduation plans of the Class of 2010, 87 percent of our seniors are pursuing higher education, and the list of colleges and universities that accepted our students includes Purdue, Duke, University of Southern California, Pepperdine, St. Johns (New York), Cal Berkeley, UCLA, and many other UCs and CSUs, as well as community colleges. Our students will continue to excel even after they leave the halls of Live Oak.
At the same time that students are doing well in their academic classes, they are also participating and excelling in elective classes and extra and co-curricular activities. The award-winning Emerald Regime Marching Band and Color Guard were Western Band Association State Champions in the Class A Division for the third year in a row and the fourth time in the past six years. The Live Oak Future Farmers of America students run a school farm, take agriculture courses for college credit and compete in a variety of areas related to agriculture. Last year, the Live Oak Chapter received the National FFA Chapter Award at the state competition. Live Oak student athletes have a long tradition of excellence. In 2010, Live Oak teams were league champions and 13 teams advanced to Central Coast Section playoff competition.
Students are not the only ones excelling at Live Oak. Just this week, I was fortunate to attend a Santa Clara County event honoring Teachers of the Year for 2010 and was proud to lend my support to our district’s Teacher of the Year, veteran Live Oak teacher Donna (Foster) Ruebusch. Donna has been an integral part of the success at Live Oak High School and has touched the lives of thousands of students in a positive way through her fashion design class, civics/economics class, and other classes that she has taught and helped to develop during her 35 years at Live Oak High School. It was fitting for Donna to be recognized among the top teachers in Santa Clara County.
So, to all of my other schools, I want you to know that I care about you just as much, but today I wanted to spend a little extra time on Live Oak. I am proud of our students and staff and I am grateful for the support that we receive daily from our wonderful community.
Wes Smith is the superintendent of Morgan Hill Unified School District. He lives in Morgan Hill with his wife and three children, who attend Morgan Hill schools.
