I am a lifetime tennis player.  To understand my style, you would need to watch videos of players back in the 1970's.  While I would love to have the strokes of today's young people, I learned the game during a time of wooden rackets with smaller "sweet spots."  It's hard to adjust when you spent much of your formative life in a different era.

While there's much to admire with this next generation, I find myself particularly drawn to their ability to change and adapt.  The speed of change can feel overwhelming and I wonder if I would be more able if I wasn't stuffed with practices and approaches that worked well in a more primitive, less technological world.

Since we educators are charged with providing wisdom and direction to our young students, it seems to me that embracing growth and change are very important.  Please know that your students are pushing us forward in good ways and we, like you, are hustling to keep up!

Sincerely,

Kevin Skelly, Ph.D.
Superintendent

Mental Health in Schools: A Hidden Crisis

 

According to the latest research, one in five students living in the U.S. demonstrates signs or symptoms of a mental health disorder: anxiety, depression, trauma, etc. However, the vast majority - nearly 80 percent - who need mental health services, won't receive them.

 

Social, emotional and behavioral challenges can have a substantial negative impact on a student's educational progress, including chronic absences, low achievement, disruptive behavior and dropping out. Since every student must attend school, it is a logical and effective place to address mental health needs. In the School-Based Mental Health model the SMUHSD has recently adopted, schools are tasked with identifying students in distress and connecting them to appropriate services.

 

The SMUHSD has adopted a School-Based Mental Health model to address the growing concerns of student mental health. Learn more.

New District Office Breaking Ground Soon!
Business Services and Student Services Relocating to Temporary Office Facility

 

The SMUHSD is saying "farewell" to its antiquated, over-crowded facility and trailers, and saying "hello" to a state-of-the-art District Office scheduled to open in the fall of 2018. To make room for construction, Business Services and Student Services will be located in a temporary facility at 839 Hinckley in Burlingame from this month to the 2018 school year. Business Services is anticipated to move October 7th and Student Services, including Special Education, is expected to move October 22nd.  Click here to learn which services will be temporarily relocated.

Serving More and More of Our Community's Teens Every Year

If you read your student's school newspaper's first issue, the lead article above the fold is about burgeoning student enrollment.  Each comprehensive school's study body is increasing.  As a district, we are up 257 students from this time the previous school year. Overall, Aragon and Burlingame showed the greatest increase in enrollment. Thankfully, all schools have the capacity to accommodate this increase. You can anticipate more growth in our district as we prepare for similar increases over the next three years.

	2015-16	2016-17	Change
AHS	1483	1571	88
BHS	1373	1443	70
CHS	1166	1200	34
HHS	1396	1424	28
MHS	1212	1254	42
SMHS	1633	1687	54
PAHS	232	182	-50
NPS	36	27	-9
Total	8531	8788	257

The Demands and Joys of Being an Athletic Director

Bill Walsh once said about the sport of football that "Football is not fun. Football is rewarding." The same could be said about the Athletic Director (AD) job.  While the daily tasks of being an Athletic Director are far more challenging than fun, the rewards are very significant and worthwhile.

An AD will typically have equal parts planning, weekly and daily tasks, and crisis management. Basically, picture a general contractor who is also a fire fighter.

Read the complete article to learn the challenges and rewards of being an Athletic Director.

United Associated Student Body (UASB):

The Voice of Students, and the Spark of School Spirit and Inclusivity

The United Associated Student Body (UASB) - a group of student leaders from across the district who come together to serve as the "conduit" that connects all SMUHSD schools - has a significant role in helping the district make important decisions and connecting our schools through collaboration.

First, the UASB allows the student voice to be heard on a much larger stage. Every year, a student will serve as the student liaison on the Board of Trustees and will represent a student perspective on important topics such as employee housing, district wide policies, sports programs, curriculum, etc.

Separate, each school has its own goals and traditions that make it unique. UASB aims to unite these individual goals, traditions, and achievements to better serve all district students. Through monthly meetings of UASB representatives and individual school student cabinets, student leaders come together to share experiences, plan events, and make connections. Meeting as a UASB allows schools to develop and grow, as collectively, student leaders bounce different ideas off of each other that have been tried and succeeded in different schools. In this way, UASB leaders and their schools grow as they come to learn and appreciate different environments and new perspectives.
   
Every school has its highlights and specialties, and school collaborations improve the quality of school life for every student. Although UASB meets only once a month, the goals, feedback, and events that each school shares offers a constant valuable source to draw from when student leaders seek to improve their services. As a cabinet, UASB organizes school swaps, trainings, get-togethers, and other district events. The insights gathered at the meetings allow each school to accommodate each other, support each other's events, and even plan individual school events.

UASB also serves as a way for the whole district to be united under one mission; this year's mission is inclusion and ensuring that every student feels a part of their high school experience. Together, UASB leaders can help all students and affect a much greater change in the community.

The UASB is made up of remarkable young people who are on a path to be tomorrow's community leaders.

Middle College and Jumpstart Off to a Great Year

 

SMUHSD continues our collaboration with College of San Mateo (CSM) and the San Mateo County Community College District (SMCCD), and this semester really demonstrates the power of our collaboration. Approximately 60 students in Middle College and 28 students in Jumpstart are taking a combination of high school and college courses to meet their high school graduation requirements. Students attend classes at the college and benefit from the college experience. Students earn college credits for their college degree and/or possible transfer to university. They are also saving money by completing college courses prior to their high school graduation because community college classes are free for concurrently enrolled students.

Our Middle College teachers are Jennifer Rohrbach and Greg Lance, and Jumpstart is led by Carolyn Mendez. The principal of these programs is Don Scatena, Director of Student Services. 

Middle College is accepting applications. Jumpstart is accepting applications too. Please see your counselor for information.

Helping 9th Graders Acclimate to High School Life

 

One of our District Office staffers, while attending a first day of school to support our school sites, encountered an overwhelmed freshman. He ran up to her and in a panic, cried, "Help! I'm a freshman and I'm lost!" Of course, he was only a few steps away from where he needed to be, but we all remember that first day of high school - bigger school, older students, new teachers, and the nagging question of "Will I fit in?"

Well, our schools have an answer to that question and the answer is "Yes, you will find your 'home' in high school." They can answer this question confidently because each school does different activities and events to make sure our 9th graders are acclimating to high school life well and are feeling part of their high school "family" as quickly as possible.

Learn what each of the SMUHSD schools do to ensure incoming freshmen get off to a great four years of high school.

Saving Tax Payers Money through Careful Bond Management

 

A good friend of mine gave a talk to parents in which he asked what we wanted for our children.  The answers circled around definitions of success - a fulfilling job, financial security, a loving relationship, etc.

Then he asked what we REALLY wanted for our kids.  The tone in the room turned more somber.  Answers turned to hopes that our children can avoid disappointment and failure - that they don't become sick, lose a job, suffer failure, and the like.

Finally, he asked what we REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanted for our children.  As we grappled with our most fervent hopes for our children, and thought about our inability to control their fates, we agreed that our deepest desire was that our children have the strength to deal with the challenges, failures, and mishaps they will inevitably encounter.

Weren't we really hoping for resilience for our children?

How do our young people acquire the mental equivalent of a strong immune system - resilience?  It seems to me that in our efforts to make sure students are comfortable and successful, we may actually reduce our ability to foster their resilience.  Just like athletes who punish their bodies in practice so they become stronger for their games, our children need to experience setbacks in order to become stronger.  We love our children so much that we want the best for them at all times.  But by making sure they have what we want for them, we are ignoring how that affects what they REALLY, REALLY need.

We all know children and adults for whom "success came too early."  They "had it all" at a precocious age.  And yet some of the most "successful" people we know came from the most humble backgrounds.  There was something about their struggle that was a necessary precursor for their later success.  Perhaps that's why so many immigrants to this country have been so successful - they had to overcome many more obstacles than others and this has made them stronger and, yes, more resilient.

And so how do schools nurture resiliency?  In the same way that life does, perhaps.  Our children will not all be first in their class.  Their strongest efforts on the athletic fields or trying out for the school play will not always result in victory or the lead part.  But these apparent "failures" teach our children how to deal with setbacks and how to persevere.  These skills will serve them well as they enter "the real world" where success and failure, recognition and praise, are much more measured and capricious.

We are able to provide our children with many opportunities that were not possible during our own formative years.  While my wife and I were never deprived, our children's lives were easier than ours.  While this is the essence of the American Dream, I worry about its effect on my children's resilience.

But this doesn't mean that schools and parents have a responsibility to mete out harsh critiques and overwhelming expectations.  Just like parents, teachers and staff need to measure our praise, we also need to help our students deal with criticism and failures appropriately.  This isn't easy and we won't always do it right, but we must be reflective about how making things easy for our students ends up making ultimate success more difficult.

So, as the year throws successes, challenges, and, yes, even failures in our paths, let's remember what we REALLY, REALLY want for those whom we love so much.  Let's match it to what they really need.

Kevin Skelly, Ph.D.
Superintendent