Dear Friends,

Congratulations!
There are exciting things happening at all of our schools all of the time! This past week we learned that Technology High School has recieved the California Distinguished School Award. This is a well-deserved honor for this innovative secondary program.

Bonny Stene, a teacher at Creekside Middle School, recently received the Outstanding Educator Award from the Sonoma County Conservation Corps.

The Mountain Shadow Middle School Expeditionary Learning program has been awarded a $10,000 grant for their “Project Dracula—Bats, Pest Control and Cultural Myths” from the National Science Teachers Association and Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. This project is one of only fifty recipients for the $10,000 grants awards. MSMS teacher Peter Menth recently accepted the award on behalf of Mountain Shadows.

District Update
At this time of year, district and site staff is already in the midst of planning for the coming school year. Our student enrollments continue to decline. We anticipate that we will drop by approximately 200 students for a total district enrollment of approximately 7000 students for the 2005-2006 school year.

Declining student enrollment results in reduced funding for the District. The Board has approved over $1.3 million in reductions for the coming school year. These reductions were necessary given reduced funding from the State. The Governor’s broken promises to the education community will have a devastating impact on our school and district programs.

A full listing of the necessary budget reductions can be found in the Business Services section of our website.

Staff Recognition
Each May we have the opportunity to “officially” acknowledge our certificated teaching staff via the designated California Day of the Teacher which is May 11, 2005. We also have the opportunity to recognize our classified staff during Classified Employees Week that is May 15-21, 2005.

We are fortunate to have such a talented group of individuals working in our District that make a difference in the lives of students. As these “official” recognition dates approach, I encourage all members of our school community to acknowledge any of our staff who have made a difference for you or your child(ren).

As I hope we all know, we all work with many, many individuals who make significant contributions to the lives of students who do so without fanfare or any expectation of recognition. I want to share with you a mere glimpse of those around us who truly make a difference.

Michael Watenpaugh
Superintendent

superintendent@crpusd.sonoma.edu