Redwood City Schools: News Flash(es)
Last year about this time, I wrote about Orion Elementary in Redwood City in one of our school spotlight articles. Orion, a K-5 school located in downtown Redwood City, is the school my children attended back in the day (and at a different location). This was a mandatory parent involvement school, and I found that it created a real sense of community, and reinforced the notion that it takes a village to raise a child. Everyone pitched in to help every child, no matter if it was your own. My children looked forward to going to school, we actually loved the teachers (to this day I am still friends with my daughter’s 5th grade teacher who moved to Seattle), and the small school environment felt safe. Well, after many years of pioneering a program that sometimes thinks outside the box, Orion Elementary has been named a California Distinguished School. While I have, many many times, thought that they hand these honors out a bit too freely, and have been somewhat appalled at schools that have been rewarded with this distinction, I do think that Orion is deserving, even if it is a decade or two too late. So kudos to the staff and families of Orion. Keep up the good work.
Accolades should also go to Taft School, of which I myself am an alumnus. Located on the east side in an area of SFR, duplexes and apartments, and a large Spanish-speaking population, this school had the best gain in test scores of all San Mateo County. Compared to similar schools statewide, Taft scored a 10 out of 10, which is to be commended. The only other school in the district to score this high is Northstar Academy, where the academic elite walk the halls. Scores for other schools in the district: Adelante, Roy Cloud and Hoover maintained a Similar Schools Rank of 9; John Gill maintained a Similar Schools Rank of 8, McKinley maintained a Similar Schools Rank of 7, and Hawes maintained a Similar Schools Rank of 6. Clifford’s Similar School rank declined from 7 to 5, Garfield’s declined from 8 to 7, Kennedy’s declined from 9 to 7, and Selby Lane’s declined from 9 to 7. Fair Oaks received a Similar Schools Rank of 7, up from 4 last year; Henry Ford received a Similar Schools Rank of 6, up from 2 last year; Roosevelt received a Similar Schools Rank of 4, up from 1 last year. No Similar Schools Rank is available for Orion School or the Newcomer Academy.
Just a reminder than RWC year-round schools will be starting on August 11th, while traditional schools will start class on September 2nd.
