Compton Unified’s Commitment to Excellence Honored

The Compton Unified School District has been placed on the Sixth Annual AP® Honor Roll list by the College Board. We are one of 425 School Districts to be honored this year.

Your high schools are being recognized for both increasing the number of students who are enrolling and successfully completing Advanced Placement (AP) classes. AP classes can be as challenging as introductory college courses. They are fast-paced, cover more material than traditional courses, and require independent work like research, writing, and analysis.

While students from all backgrounds can benefit from taking challenging coursework in high school, data from 2015 show that among African American, Hispanic, and Native American students with the potential to succeed in AP, only about half take AP courses.

I believe strongly that EVERY child has the capacity to succeed in school and in life. It is why we live by the motto of having our students “college and career” ready. And we know (and believe) that if students are given the opportunity to succeed at the highest level, many will seize the opportunity.

It is why increasing the number of students who take and succeed in AP was a goal that we outlined in our Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), which we adopted after engaging parents, educators, employees and the community.

Inclusion on the Sixth Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on the examination of three years of AP data from 2013 to 2015. These nationwide measurable achievements in AP classes are noteworthy and newsworthy.

It was Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. who said “Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life.” He wrote that in 1947 when he was in college. If he wrote it today, he would say “a man and a woman.” But the message is clear. For our children to succeed, they must be put in opportunities to succeed.

That’s what we are doing every single day at Compton Unified. Congratulations to our hard working young men and women and their teachers and parents for making us all proud.

2016 Begins and So Do We

Welcome back to school. I hope that all the families of Compton had an enjoyable holiday break. We are ready to get back to work --- and know that our students, teachers and staff are poised for a great second half of the school year.

We will continue our efforts to increase graduation rates in the Compton School District. Teachers and administrators are working with our students, particularly those who are struggling in the classroom to continue the upward trend in high school graduation rates that we’ve enjoyed in recent years. Earlier intervention with students whose grades are below a “C” has been helping students improve. We’ll continue that tactic.
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I hope you’ve had a chance to see the new look underway at Emerson Elementary and Bunche Middle School. Since the holiday break we’ve been put the finishing touches on new fields at the two schools. The transformation is remarkable. We continue to upgrade our facilities at the Compton schools knowing that when you transform how a school looks, you often transform the school itself.
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One of the big issues facing us in the classroom is the adoption of new Language Arts materials for our students. We’ll be informing you about that in the coming days and weeks.

Did you know that students who are involved in extracurricular activities do better in the classroom? If your child isn’t involved in some activity in school, urge him or her to do so.

Finally, congratulations to School Board Member Satra Zurita who was elected the new President of the School Board in December. Also, it’s a pleasure to welcome Sandra Moss, our newly elected board member.  We look forward to working with them and all our school board members to make sure that our students (and your children) are college and career ready.
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Happy New Year!

Superintendent's Blog - Parents: Get More Involved In Compton Schools

All parents want their children to do well. I surely do. Every single parent I’ve met feels the same way.
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One way our children succeed is by doing better in the classroom—and believe it or not, that’s where the parents come in.  Parents need to be more involved in their child’s education.

The research conducted right here in Southern California by a coalition of groups devoted to education tells an important story.  The more parents are engaged in their child’s education, the greater chances he or she will have for academic success.

At Compton Unified we absolutely believe this to be true; an important truth that can, if we all work together, improve the lives of our students by making school a place where they can succeed. It is true for everyone, regardless of ethnicity, age, geography, income or a parent’s education: Engaged parents are vital for student success.

And in Compton Unified, we don’t just talk about parent engagement—we’ve put it into action.

Greg Ogomaka, our Director of Special Projects and Adriana Real, our Parent Involvement Coordinator, have put together an amazing team of Community Relations Specialists (CRS) at all of the Compton schools – people who are on the front line of our parent engagement efforts. 

There’s Claudia Soto at Mayo Elementary School, who is featured on our community and district websites. This video shows her work as an example of how Compton Unified is working to make sure that parents are true partners in their children's success in school.

We know that parents are busy—often both parents work and if there’s only one parent in the house, that person is even busier. So you can’t always come to meetings or events. There are still many ways for parents to get involved and support their child’s education.

Here are some ways:
Find out more at: http://www.compton.k12.ca.us/Pages/Departments/Parent/ParentMenu.aspx 
    
You can also call Adriana Real at our Parent Center, (310) 639-4321, ext. 54894. She and her staff will help you with questions you may have.

You also can contact your child’s teacher or principal (I strongly encourage you to do that anyway—you’ll find someone who is trying to help your child and the more they know you the better it is for your child). 

For our Spanish speaking parents, let me also suggest this Univision website (https://exito.univision.com/)  which is designed specifically to show parents how to get involved - tips, classes, online resources, experts, videos.

There are many good things happening in the Compton schools. Our students are doing much better in the classroom, our graduation rates are increasing, we have had schools recognized for state and national awards, and there is optimism that we can continue and accelerate this turnaround in the months and years to come.

We can get there if our parents are part of the journey.

Get involved! It’s good for you, your child, and our schools.
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We hope to see you soon!

Improvements at High Schools, Additional Resources for Secondary Music and Athletic Programs

Welcome back from spring break.

We enter the second half of the spring semester with great energy to continue our efforts to
improve our mission of providing a quality education for all students in the Compton Unified
School District.

At Compton High School we have completed work on facilities that will let us dramatically
increase the number of lunch lines available to students.

It is something students recently told us was a problem---and we worked hard to get it solved.
We have added several more lines that will enable all students to access lunch more efficiently,
thereby making lunch less hectic and more enjoyable for all students.

You may have noticed that three of the Compton High buildings were covered during the spring
break. Our friends at Dewey Pest Control have been helping us eradicate pests which had come
into the building when internal construction had to be halted. We did the work during the break
and the buildings are safe and healthy in compliance with state regulations.

Finally, because student and staff safety is a top priority, we added two security guards earlier
this year and have added three security gates to secure the campus as an additional safety
measure. These structural enhancements will further increase our efforts to make sure that
Compton students and employees who teach and serve, are provided with a more secure
campus.

Dominguez High School
Members of the Board and I met with students at Dominguez High School prior to the spring
break. They expressed concern over some issues they felt needed to be addressed by Dominguez
staff.

One of them was the cleanliness of the rest rooms. I personally supervised a site visit and found
that a number of rest rooms had been closed to the students. They are open now and will remain
that way. They also will remain cleaner because we won’t have so many students in so few rest
rooms.

The students also expressed concerns about security, and as was the case at Compton H.S. we
already have added security personnel. In addition, we are planning to quickly add cameras and
other security equipment at the school.

At Dominguez, the issue of long lunch lines was expressed. We already have been working
during the spring break to expand the number of lunch lines. Our director of nutrition services
has been advised to add additional workers to accommodate the need at your site.

We appreciated the dialogue with students and have already begun responding to many of the
issues shared with us. We will continue to work on the other area of concern.

Additional Resources For H.S. and Middle School Bands
Did you know that each high school’s band program has been increased $40,000 and each
middle school’s band has $20,000?

We need to do a better job of communicating with students to inform them of what is occurring
within the school district. While at Dominguez, there were some complaints about the lack of
investment in our music program. Not only is that mistaken, but our investment is the largest it
has ever been! While other school districts have cut and eliminated music programs we remain
committed to providing a quality music experience for all students that are interested in pursuing
this avenue.

We’ll do a better job of telling you these things in the weeks and months to come.

High School Athletic Uniforms
We’ve also budgeted $116,000 for athletic programs at all 3 high schools. Each school will
receive one third ($38,666). It is up to the school athletic director how that many is going to be
spent. I would encourage you to make sure your voice is heard on how these funds should be
spent to enhance the sports programs at your site.

If you are wondering why we invest in extracurricular activities like our music and athletic
programs, it is because when students participate in school activities they tend to do better in
school.

It’s another ingredient in the recipe we have for student success at Compton.

Welcome back.

Let’s make the rest of the year great!

Watch Compton High School Spring Break 2015 Projects Video

COMPTON HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL CIF CHAMPIONS

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE COMPTONS BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM

I'd like to congratulate the Compton High School's Boys Basketball team for winning the CIF Southern Section championship on Saturday night.

It is the first championship for the program since 1969 (They've won 8 in all).

For Coach Thomas, this is an especially sweet win. His father Eddie was the Tarbabes' coach for 15 years. Eddie was the first African-American coach at the school. Now his son Tony becomes the school's first African American coach to win the Southern Section championship.

This win is more than just about basketball. It's about the turnaround that is underway in our school district. Our students are doing better in the classroom too. Test scores are up, graduation rates are up and importantly the enthusiasm for our mission of having our students college and career ready is also up.

We are proud of our student athletes who made their own history Saturday night. Congratulations to them, their coaches, longtime athletic director Maxine Kemp, and the families and fans of the Tarbabes.

Good luck in the upcoming CIF State Division 2 playoffs.

CUSD OFFERS NEW OPPORTUNITY FOR INCOMING FRESHMEN

EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM COMES TO COMPTON

There is exciting news to share with you.

The Compton Unified School District, in collaboration with El Camino Community College District, is creating a new Early College High School Program. It will start next fall.

The highly motivated high school students who participate in the program will have an opportunity to earn BOTH a high school diploma AND two years of college credit toward an associate degree.

The Compton Unified School District believes in providing students with an opportunity to get a head start on a college education, while also gaining the skills and knowledge necessary for success at a four-year university or a career and technical education college.

Early College High School students nationwide graduate and attend college at higher rates according to a report by Jobs for the Future. At the national level, ninety percent of Early College High School students graduate from high school, compared to 78 percent of those who do not participate in Early College High School.  

For incoming 9th graders there are many benefits of enrolling in the Compton Early College High School.

ü  They will earn up to two years of college credit toward an associate degree

ü  They will get Free College Classes--including textbooks

ü  They'll earn college credits which will transfer to UC/CSU schools--all while in high school

If you and your eighth grader want to learn more about this early college high school, we are inviting you to one of two public meetings that will be held next week at the Compton High School Auditorium:

·         Saturday, February 21, 2015 @ 10 a.m.

·         Monday, February 23, 2014 @ 5:30 p.m.

We anticipate the meetings to last approximately 1.5 hours.

In the meantime, for more information about the new Early College High School program in Compton, please contact: Office of JaMaiia Bond, Senior Director of CUSD Education Services (310) 639-4321, ext. 55253

Compton Unified School District Announcement

A former employee and two Compton Unified School District (CUSD) employees have been arrested in connection with an alleged Medi-Cal fraud scheme after a lengthy investigation by both the state and the school district.

The employees, who have either resigned or are in the process of being terminated by the district, include Chavez Continuation High School Principal Rudolph Washington, former Centennial High School Principal Jesse L. Jones, and former Dominguez High School football coach Keith Donerson.

The alleged fraud involved bogus counseling sessions for high school students provided by a Compton area women’s medical clinic. While the investigation revealed that students were transported to the clinic without district knowledge or approval, there is no evidence that student safety was ever compromised. In fact, the students involved had no idea they were part of an alleged fraud scheme.

The school district was already investigating Washington for alleged academic improprieties when the CA Attorney General’s Office alerted the district it was investigating Washington and two other employees for fraud. Upon learning that, CUSD officials immediately asked for and received the resignation of Jones and Donerson was placed on administrative leave. 

While the District’s investigation continues, there is no evidence other District staff were involved. The District is reviewing all internal procedures to ensure student safety.

On a personal note, it concerns me that these actions may cause some in our community to reflect badly, even for a day or two, on the hundreds of teachers and staff that work valiantly every day for the benefit of our children.