New Morgan Hill School Assistant Superintendent
by marilyn dubil staff writer
Morgan Hill – He’s already beginning to feel at home, says new Assistant Superintendent Jay Totter, who started his human resources position with the Morgan Hill School District on Oct. 16.
Totter said he and his wife, Anna Stephanie, who is a career educator in a neighboring district, believe in the value of public education, and their children, Amanda, 18, and Logan, 20, attended public schools and are now attending West Valley College and Evergreen Valley College, respectively.
Totter replaces Stan Rose, who left the district before school started in August to become superintendent of San Benito High School District.
He will oversee human resources , as well as research, planning and communications.
One of his first goals, he said, is to familiarize himself with the history of the district. For now he is relying on others to help him with background as he makes decisions.
Totter started out as a special education teacher, and he was enjoying that position when he was approached about becoming an administrator.
“I didn’t want to do that, I thought I was a good teacher, and I saw myself as being there for the kids,” he said. “But I learned that as an administrator I could serve even more students.”
Totter was the director of special services for the East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD) in San Jose. He served as assistant superintendent, then interim superintendent for the Hayward Unified School District. He also spent nearly a year as the assistant superintendent of special education and human resources for the ESUHSD.
In his 34 years as an educator, Totter has worked as a therapist and teacher, principal, coordinator, director and executive director.
He has a bachelor’s degree in education from State University College at Geneseo, N.Y., a master’s degree in education from State University College at Buffalo, N.Y., and a doctorate of philosophy also from the Buffalo campus. His areas of focus for his degrees were speech-language therapy and special education.
Martin Murphy Middle School Honor Roll
2005-06 Spring Semester
Eighth Grade
Alvarez, Michelle; Anaya, Rafael; Bakin, Rachel; Bootwala, Ali Akber; Boyd, Andrew; Byrne, Matthew; Caraan, Jose Maria; Castillo, Agripina; Cebreros, Iris; Corona, Cristian; Dupin, Kylie; Echalico, Alexandrea; Elliot, Geoffrey; Faizi, Heli; Faulk, Chelsie; Faulk, Stacie; Freitas, Amy; Garcia, Tania; Gavrilov, Pavell; Gonzalez, Daysy; Goyette, Grant; Goyette, Katelyn; Gumbin, Christina; Huynh, Brian; Infante, Brandon; Inouye, Alyson; Ishpuniani, Gurpreet
Jackson, Kamanie; James, Nathaniel; Jegglie, Courtney; Kadiwala, Sagir; Kaldani, Isaac; Kavosh, Rojan; Kellett, John; Koehler, Devin; Kuo, Rose; Langga, Anthony; Luu, Maggie; Mallette, Alexandria; Mammen, Miles; Martinez, Raul; Martinez-Kisso, Michael; Meng, Sean; Meritt, Norris; Miller, Veronica;
Moreno, Yesenia; Newman, Kara; Nguyen, Lan Uyen; Nguyen, Linh; Nijjar, Ramanpreet; Northcott, Emma; Olson, Katlyn; Peterson, Daniel; Pusateri, Nicholas; Puthupparampil, Jebin; Rauschnot, Marc; Reyes Garcia, Yaritza; Rodriguez-Argel, Anthony; Saade, Stephan; Soto, Anthony; Supernaw, Annalisa; Tanguay, Spencer; Tharayil, Ashley; Upton, Scott; Usuki, Sydnie; Velasco, Tanya; Yuen, Eileen; Zhang, Marck.
Mount Madonna School News
Mount Madonna School in Watsonville has created an all-school curriculum on the Pájaro River watershed because American Rivers has named the Pájaro as the most endangered one in the United States for 2006.
Weston Miller, middle and high school science teacher at Mount Madonna School, said most people don’t know much about the problems of the Pájaro because most of it flows through private land.
Mount Madonna School is located at the head waters of Uvas and Corralitos creeks which flow into the Pájaro River.
Miller is hoping the school’s location and educational focus will create an excellent opportunity to raise the public’s awareness about the challenges of the river.
During a press conference today, Mount Madonna middle school students will discuss the school-wide curriculum for the 2006-07 school year. The watershed will be a unifying theme for the school and help to connect the school to the broader communities of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, and San Benito counties.
Pollution is one of the biggest hazards facing the Pajaro River. Some forms of pollution include sediment from mining operations in the San Benito River and people dumping trash near it banks. The river has other challenges, too, like potential flooding in the towns of Watsonville and Pájaro; habitat loss from development and agriculture; many endangered animals, including the California red-legged frog; and threatened species such as the steelhead trout.
Garden Grant – ‘Best Plan’ Nationwide
Amid the apple trees and roses, alongside daffodils just starting to emerge, elementary students at Mount Madonna School now have an easier time working among the plants in their school garden. This is in part to the new garden carts and small shovels purchased with a $250 grant from Home Depot for the Children’s Garden.
Elementary Science Teacher Diane Sampson applied and was awarded the grant, in the category of “Best Plan, Spring 2006,” in the nationwide competition sponsored by Home Depot and the Viva! Garden for Schools Program.
Sampson, who recently received notification of the award (to be used for the 2006-07 school year), said she used the funds to purchase three, two-wheeled garden carts and six small-sized shovels for student use.
