December 3, 2004

DYNAMIC DUO—Avalon teachers Anitaand Robert Rockwell are the secondhusband-wife team in the Long BeachUnified School District to earn NationalBoard Certification, the top distinction inthe teaching profession. The two areamong 17 new nationally certified teach-ers in the school district, bringing thetotal here to 76. Fewer than 1 percentof teachers nationwide earn the highhonor each year.

Seventeen more teachers in the Long BeachUnified School District have earned the highestprofessional distinction in teaching, NationalBoard Certification.

The newest certifications bring the totalnumber of nationally certified teachers in theschool district to 76. The rigorous certificationis an exhaustive year-long process thatinvolves writing extensive portfolios, videotap-ing classroom instruction and answering four90-minute essay questions during a June exam.Fewer than 1 percent of the nation’s 3 millionteachers – or about 16,000 – earn the certifica-tion each year.

New National Board Certified teachersinclude Heather Evans, MacArthur; CindyGalloway, Stanford; Susan Garcia, Powell;Arlena Gilmore, Webster; Cara Hanes, Poly;Nicole Jackson, Tucker; Nina Jackson,Franklin; Bonnie Jones, Cabrillo; PamelaJones, MacArthur; Julianne Kendall, Whittier;James Laub, Franklin; Paula Libby, Cabrillo;Catherine Lunniss, Stanford; Rita Marks, Poly;Anita Rockwell, Avalon; Robert Rockwell,Avalon; and Vanessa Uy, Burbank.

The latest group of nationally certifiedteachers includes a husband and wife teamfrom Avalon, Robert and Anita Rockwell. Thetwo supported each other throughout thelengthy process.

"We could cry on each other’s shouldersand read each other’s papers," said RobertRockwell, a high school science teacher. "Itwas nice because we understood what eachother was going through. The process reallymakes you inspect what you do, how you do itand why you do it."

Rockwell and his wife are the second hus-band-wife team in the school district to earnnational certification. Kerrill Kephart and hus-band Don earned national certification whileteaching at Poly in 2001.

The school district has made a commitmentto support teachers who are interested inapplying for National Board Certification.Teachers who are accepted and successfullycomplete the pre-candidacy program are eligi-ble for district payment of National Boardapplication fees, a $2,300 savings.

"The pre-candidacy program really preparedus," Rockwell said. "It helped to answer a lotof questions. I would not have wanted to gointo this cold. I’m glad the school district didthat for us."

Teachers who obtain National BoardCertification receive 5 percent salary increasesand, should they choose to serve as mentorteachers, receive additional 5 percent salaryincreases.

California also rewards its nationally certi-fied instructors with $20,000 over four years ifthey teach at high-need schools.

A national credential is not required like astate credential, but to be certified by theNational Board for Professional TeachingStandards is an extremely high distinction.

The National Board is a nonprofit, nonparti-

san, nongovernmental agency created to estab-lish rigorous standards for what accomplishedteachers should know and be able to do. It is avoluntary system to assess and certify teacherswho meet high standards, and it advances edu-cation reforms to improve student learning.The board was created in 1987 by a team ofteachers, policymakers, academics and corpo-rate leaders.

Teachers whose names do not appear in thisarticle but who have received National BoardCertification this year should contact MyrnaAlmas at ext. 2901.

Seventeen More Teachers Nationally Certified

Coffee With ChrisThe next Long Beach Unified Family

Committee meeting will be held Monday,December 6, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in theJordan High School Library.

The informal meetings encourage open dia-logue between employees and SuperintendentChris Steinhauser. All interested employeesare invited to attend.

Volunteers Celebrate35 Years of Service

Volunteers In Public Schools, known inevery Long Beach Unified School Districtschool and office as VIPS, recently celebratedits 35th anniversary.

Now more than 5,000 members strong,VIPS provides direct assistance to thousandsof students in classrooms throughout the dis-trict.

VIPS contribute by working directly withstudents or by preparing educational materialsand assisting teachers and other school staff.They assist small groups of students or indi-vidual children. Some keep classroom recordsor perform other essential clerical tasks, free-ing the teacher to focus special instructionalattention where it can be of most benefit tostudents.

Before setting foot in classrooms, volun-teers receive training preparing them for any ofthe roles they may be asked to fill. This train-ing leads to greater teacher confidence in VIPSand less time spent by teachers monitoring theaction of volunteers.

Volunteers are also trained in how to inter-act with students to maximize motivation andhelp contribute to creating a positive classroomenvironment.

“Mother of VIPS” Arlene Solomon, a for-mer Board of Education member, was honoredat a recent Board meeting for her key role infounding the organization.

While serving as president of the LongBeach PTA Council, Solomon opened herhome to VIPS organizers and led the drive tobring VIPS to all schools. Early efforts drew12 volunteers that first year but VIPS soongrew into a national model for school volun-teer efforts that now numbers in the thousands.

Solomon was praised by the Board for her“continuous, enthusiastic support of VIPS.”

Students Send GiftsTo Russian Children

Gant Elementary School and StanfordMiddle School students have gathered hun-dreds of books, toys and school supplies tosend to children in Beslan, Russia, where amiddle school was destroyed in a Septemberterrorist attack.

The donations were coordinated by theLong Beach Sister Cities Organization, whichprovides ongoing cultural and educationalexchanges with Sochi, Russia. Beslan is southof Sochi in Southern Russia. The supplies willgo to Sochi this month and be transferred torepresentatives of Beslan Middle School No. 1,where the attack occurred.

First-grade students from Gant also wroteletters in hopes of starting a pen pal exchangebetween the two schools.

Rotary Raises FundsFor Library Books

Rotary Past President Frank Newell, a PolyHigh School alumnus and local attorney, raisedapproximately $46,000 in donations andmatching funds for Reading by 9 books duringthis week’s Long Beach Rotary Club meeting.

During the meeting, Newell and his fellowRotarians solicited more than $13,000 in dona-tions from the audience in less than seven min-utes. The Los Angeles Times will provide$10,000 in matching funds, and Scholastic, Inc.will match the entire amount dollar-for-dollar,bringing the total to $46,000.

These funds will buy thousands of booksfor Long Beach Unified School Districtschools with the lowest book-to-pupil ratios intheir libraries.

"The wonderful thing about this program isthat the librarians get to choose the books andhow they are used," Newell said.

Long Beach Rotary was honored by the LosAngeles Times earlier this year for the club’sprevious contribution of tens of thousands ofbooks to elementary school libraries in the dis-trict. Rotary’s donation of nearly $100,000,when matched, purchased $200,000 in newlibrary books selected by local school librari-ans.

The club also was awarded 500 new booksfor Cesar Chavez Elementary School by theLos Angeles Times for raising funds to buymore library books for local schools than anyother Rotary Club in Los Angeles, Orange,Ventura and San Bernardino counties.

Each elementary school library in the dis-trict has received from Rotary 1,000 newlibrary books over the past several years.

Names in the NewsRecently honored as Outstanding Volunteers

In Public Schools (VIPS) are Mary Cole,MacArthur; Gina Decker, Emerson; MargaretEddy, Bixby; Norma Escoria, Burbank;Blanche Harris, Fremont; Lori Mae Johnson,Hill; Douglas Kimbell, Gant; JackieMcPheron, Lee; Karen Roa, Henry; andGene Yaffee, Riley.

Anselmo Feliciano, teacher at Burnett,received the Outstanding Teacher Award fromthe Riordan Foundation.

Walkers Help ClinicParticipants from the Long Beach Unified

School District helped to raise more than$12,000 for The Children’s Clinic at the recent14th annual Beach Walk.

The Webster Elementary School team wasthe top fundraising group in the district, fol-lowed by the Millikan softball team andInternational Elementary School.

Students at Webster contributed to the topeffort. Two classes that were saving moneytoward class pizza parties instead donatedthose funds to Beach Walk when told of thegreat need for medical services that the Clinicprovides to children and families.

Other participating school teams came fromBixby, Burroughs, Central Office, Chavez,Cleveland, Emerson, Grant, Hill, Kettering,Lowell, Monroe, Poly, Rogers, Signal Hill,Tucker and Washington.

Retirement SeminarMeetings for certificated personnel planning

for retirement will be held in the Administra-tion Building Community Room, Tuesday,January 11 and Wednesday, February 2, from3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

The presentations will cover CalSTRSService Retirement Allowance, retirementoptions, updates on legislation and disabilityand survivor benefits. It is particularly impor-tant for members who are eligible for retire-ment, considering pre-retirement election of anoption, interested in the effects of new legisla-tion or making long-range financial plans.

The presentations are sponsored by the LosAngeles County Office of Education. Toreserve a seat, call ext. 8214.

W-2s Coming SoonW-2 forms will be sent to employees by

Monday, January 31. To receive W-2 forms,employees should make sure that their homemailing address is current in the school dis-trict's computer system. Change of addressforms are avaliable through payroll clerks. Ifaddresses are outdated the U.S. Postal Servicedoes not forward W-2 forms.

Job OpportunitiesApplications are now being accepted at the

Personnel Commission, 999 Atlantic Ave.,third floor, for maintenance director andtranslator/interpreter-bilingual Spanish.

Holiday ShowsHigh schools in the Long Beach Unified

School District will host holiday performancesat the following times:

Cabrillo—Wednesday, December 15, 6 p.m.Jordan—Thursday, December 16, 7 p.m.Lakewood—Thursday, December 16, 7 p.m.Millikan—Tuesday, December 7, 6:30 p.m.Poly—Tuesday, December 14, 6:30 p.m.

(vocal); Thursday, December 16, 6:30 p.m.(instrumental)

Renaissance—Thursday, December 9,7 p.m.

Wilson—Tuesday, December 14, 7 p.m.(vocal); Thursday, December 16, 7 p.m.(instrumental)

Admission prices vary. Contact each schoolfor information.

SCHOOL BULLETINOfficial publication of the Long Beach Uni-

fied School District issued bi-weekly duringthe school year from the Office of theSuperintendent of Schools, 1515 HughesWay, Long Beach, California 90810.(562) 997-8000. www.lbusd.k12.ca.us

CHRISTOPHER J. STEINHAUSERSuperintendent of Schools

BOARD OF EDUCATIONMARY STANTON, PresidentSUJA LOWENTHAL, Vice PresidentJAMES CHOURA, MemberJON MEYER, MemberFELTON WILLIAMS, MemberCHARISSA GOGGIN, Student Member

Aquarium EssaysThe essays of 14 Long Beach Unified

School District students were chosen for publicreading at the recent Aquarium of the Pacific’sforum, “A Healing Word from Local Kids.”The event was organized in response to therecent senseless killings of two sharks and aray at the Aquarium.

Essayists honored at the event wereAlyxandra Barker, DeMille; GuadalupeBarragan, Washington; Sophie Benson, Hill;Jennifer Criss, Stephens; Karen Dewey,Newcomb; Samantha Hing, Tincher; LatishaJackson, Washington; Joseph Lancaster,Marshall; Stephanie Melancon, Marshall;Raymond Mendoza, Monroe; Madison Miller,Sutter; Kyle Setina, DeMille; SavannaStanford, Stanford; and Glenn Young,Newcomb. The Aquarium received more than500 entries from area students.

In MemoriamMichael King

locker room attendant, JordanNovember 5, 2004

Helen Loopformer senior secretary

November 16, 2004

Julia Redgateintermediate office assistant, Edison

November 24, 2004

HELPING HANDS—Fifth grader CrystalParada was one of 17 Student Councilmembers from Emerson ParksideAcademy who delivered more than1,500 sack lunches to the Long BeachRescue Mission last week. As part of acommunity service project, the school’s650 students donated food and decorat-ed the lunch bags. With the help of 20parent volunteers, the students assem-bled meals of peanut butter and jellysandwiches, cookies, chips and drinks.