Three school boards meet in Alexander Valley

Joint discussion eases student transition from 5th-6th and 6th-7th grade
On Nov. 7, three Healdsburg school districts came together – the Healdsburg Unified School District (HUSD), West Side Union School District (WSUSD) and the Alexander Valley Union School District (AVUSD) – to discuss the ramifications of Common Core Standards and to help streamline the transition of students from Alexander Valley and West Side schools to the Healdsburg Junior High School (HJH) in 6th and 7th grade.
Most of the discussion centered on changes that would affect all three districts, such as changes to food, changes to technology and new standards.
In the historic Old Alexander Valley Schoolhouse, superintendents Jeff Harding of HUSD, Bob Raines of AVUSD and Rhonda Bellmer of WSUSD convened for dinner with the trustees of their respective school boards. The meeting was run by Steve Smit, President of the AVUSD School Board of Trustees.
The first order of discussion was related to the dinner, which was provided by HUSD food service supervisor Rosa Rubio and nutritional consultant Annette Boussina. Dinner was quinoa sautéed with organic leeks and cranberries, roasted Willie Bird turkey breast and beets, followed by a desert of pie a la mode. The presentation was meant to serve as an example of changes to food being implemented in Healdsburg school cafeterias.
“The purpose is to feed you guys and introduce us, and give you a little glimpse of the direction we are going in,” said Boussina.
“As a district, it’s been very important for us to collaborate on all sorts of extra services,” said HUSD superintendent Jeff Harding, “one of them being the child nutrition program. We wanted to highlight this because we provide lunches for many of your students as well as our students.”
In addition to the food, board members discussed the transition of students from elementary school to the Healdsburg Junior High, and called upon students present at the board meeting to comment on their experiences. The students said that sports, prior visitations, and students they knew from their own schools, as well as an integrative home room program, helped get them oriented. Overall, they felt they were prepared for the transition, for the homework load, course material, and use of technology.
“Hearing from the students of Alexander Valley and West Side that the transition to junior high school was smooth and welcoming validated our efforts to create a positive culture at all our schools,” said HUSD superintendent Harding. “The message from the students seemed very clear. We need to continue down our path of inclusion and involvement for new students on our campuses.”
The boards also discussed the importance of new Smarter Balance testing, to replace old STAR testing with the implementation of Common Core Standards.
“Smarter Balance will be an online computerized test,” said AVUSD superintendent Raines. “There’ll be selected response with multiple correct answers. In selected response, students will have to write, and then defend their answer…children will have to really go in-depth to show their understanding.”
Raines believes this new form of testing will reveal more about a student’s understanding and where they need improvement than the old STAR testing did, with more complex questions that change based on a student’s answer to identify exactly where a student might be confused about a problem.
“We will be getting a lot more information regarding each student from this test,” said Raines. “And the way they do that is this wide range of questions.”
“Curricular articulation between our districts will be increasingly important as we implement the Common Core Standards,” said HUSD superintendent Harding. “We must remain focused on aligning the curriculum between our schools as the new rigorous standards enter all our classrooms.”