As Superintendent, an important goal of mine is to build up and support strong, highly informed communities around our schools, teachers, and education in Santa Monica and Malibu. This email is part of the process. Each month I want this email to highlight a few key points about schools or students in Santa Monica and Malibu. My staff and I are eager to hear your thoughts, too.  Please e-mail us at superintendent@smmusd.org.

Outstanding School Performance

Yearly results of the California Standardized Tests all students take in the spring have given Edison Language Academy and John Muir Elementary School confirmation of big boosts in student achievement levels with both schools crossing the critical 800 point mark on the California Academic Performance Index. This is considered a key measure of excellence in California. Ten of SMMUSD’s fifteen schools are now above the 800 mark.

The Honor Roll

The California Business for Education Excellence Foundation and Just for the Kids-California, an affiliate with the National Center for Educational Accountability have just named four elementary schools; Franklin, Roosevelt, Pt. Dume Marine Science, and Webster, to the California Honor Roll School for 2007. The recognition is for the schools outstanding success in raising student achievement

State of Our Schools

Public policy Town Hall meetings give everyone in a community the opportunity to participate. On Monday, November 5th and Wednesday November 7, the Santa Monica Malibu Council for PTAs and Committee for Excellent Public Schools are holding a seminar that everyone who has a stake in schools should try to attend.

The State of our Schools will be held on Monday 5th at the Main Santa Monica Public Library and on Wednesday, November 7th at Webster Elementary School in Malibu, 6.30pm-9pm. Speakers include Julia Brownley, State Assembly member for the 41st District; Kathy Wisnicki & Oscar de la Torre, President and Vice-President Santa Monica Malibu Board of Education, a panel of students and teachers, and myself. On Wednesday, November 7th, the Malibu Education Community is invited to a presentation of the seminar at Webster Elementary 6.30pm

» Click here to download flyer (pdf)

Public Schools Week

Come and look inside our schools! We have rescheduled Public Schools Week (postponed because of the devastating Malibu fires) from December 3rd to December 7th. The open invitation is to our community in its widest sense; residents, parents, prospective parents, supporters, extended families, grandparents; to come and join the Principal and Teachers of each of our District Schools at 10am for coffee, short presentation and then tour of the school. Across the District all our schools are ready to host anyone who wants to see inside A Working School.

• Elementary Open School: Wednesday Dec. 5
• Middle Open School: Thursday Dec. 6
• High Schools: Friday Dec. 7
  

Regards,

Dianne Talarico
Superintendent of Schools