ACSA Superintendent of the Year
Dr. Helen E. Morgan was recognized as Superintendent of the Year by Region 14 of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA)
at an awards banquet held on Monday, April 30th in Long Beach. This is quite an honor, as Region 14 consists of over 25 school districts covering an area from Beverly Hills through Palos Verdes. Each year ACSA acknowledges outstanding performance and achievement by individual administrators at its grand awards event.
Per ACSA’s award criteria, recipients must demonstrate strong support for the school management team; exceptional leadership in managing school programs; commitment to educational quality and student achievement; commitment to professional growth; and creativity and innovation in dealing with issues and problems facing public education.
Although she is only in her second year as superintendent of the Hawthorne School District, Dr. Morgan has already recorded an impressive list of accomplishments. While keeping a constant focus on increasing student achievement, she has seen schools earn Title I Academic Achievement Awards, California Distinguished School recognition, and National Blue Ribbon honors. Mindful of the positive impact of a strong home-school connection, Dr. Morgan has worked with principals to establish active parent centers at every school site and has facilitated the recruitment of parent volunteers. During the summer months, she presided over the development of the District’s strategic plan and redesigned the evaluation tool for administrators, aligning it to the California Standards for Professional Educational Leaders. Dr. Morgan has introduced the concept of “sacred time,” periods during which all administrators are expected to be in classrooms observing instruction. While this is only her second year as superintendent, her thirty-year history in the District and previous role as president of the teachers’ association has allowed her to forge strong relationships with both bargaining units, resulting in positive negotiations in the midst of a difficult economic climate. In addition to her duties as superintendent, Dr. Morgan also serves as the District’s chief business official, no easy task in light of the fiscal uncertainty facing public education today.
The staff, students, and families of the Hawthorne School District congratulate Dr. Morgan on this well-deserved honor.
York Elementary School in Hawthorne, CA was the winner of the 4th Annual Lakers Fit for Life Timeout where they were visited by the Los Angeles Lakers players and Laker Girls as their prize. The Fit for Life Timeout is part of Fit for Life with the Los Angeles Lakers, presented by Anthem Blue Cross, an initiative that aims to educate the community about the importance of physical fitness and nutrition.
The Timeout was hosted by Food Networks’ Extreme Chef, Marsh Mokhtari. Mokhtari fused his expertise in healthy cooking and the Extreme Chef physicalitytogether to bring about the Fit for Life Extreme Chef Challenge. Ramon Sessions, Andrew Goudelock and Darius Morris, along with Laker Girls, formed three teams to compete against each other to make the best sandwich and smoothie. 
The three players led their teams in a relay race in order to determine the ingredients they would be using for their sandwiches and smoothies. First place would have their first choice in ingredients, second would be next and third would get the remainder of the ingredients. Morris’ team finished first for the smoothie relay and Sessions’ team came in first for the sandwich relay.
The players and Laker Girls were then put to the test to construct the best tasting sandwich and smoothie in less than 5 minutes. The judges of the Extreme Chef Challenge were Simon Majumdar from Food Network’s Iron Chef, Michael Goldstein, the principal of York Elementary and Mary Hoffman and Kelli Knight from Anthem Blue Cross. After much deliberation they deemed Team Sessions the winners of the Fit for Life Extreme Chef Challenge!
York Elementary School received the Fit for Life Timeout as winners of the Lakers Fit for Life Essay Contest, which asked school administrators to describe how they keep their students fit for life, active and healthy. York Elementary came together with parents and staff to implement several changes last year which resulted in healthier students, staff and parents, and a National Recognition Award (Bronze level) from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Examples of some of the programs they began is a running club, healthy food options in the cafeteria and for school celebrations and a ban on all competitive food and beverage options.
At the end of the day, York students left the Timeout with gift bags from Anthem Blue Cross and a new outlook on how their favorite players stay fit and healthy on and off the court and how to continue to stay Fit for Life!
Welcome to Mr. Luciano Aguilar and a New Class of Kindergarten Students
The Hawthorne School District Board of Trustees appointed a new member to the Board on February 1, 2012. The vacancy created by the election of Mr. Nilo Michelin to the Hawthorne City Council saw twelve candidates submit applications for the open seat. Ten of these candidates interviewed with the remaining members of the Board. After careful deliberation the Trustees selected Mr. Luciano Aguilar as the newest member.
Mr. Aguilar served for ten years in the United States Air Force. He currently works as a dog trainer and television personality. He is the father of three children who attend both Ramona and Hawthorne Middle Schools. I would like to thank Mr. Aguilar for assuming this new role and look forward to working with him. He will fulfill the remainder of Mr. Michelin’s term which expires in November 2013.
In addition to welcoming Mr. Aguilar, it is time to begin to welcome a new class of kindergarten students to our district. We will begin registering students for the 2012-2013 school year March 19-30 and re-open registration following spring break on April 16th. It is always exciting to see a new group of kindergarten students enter our district. The parents are always so excited and a little apprehensive to send their little ones off to school. We will continue to welcome kindergarten families to our annual Kindergarten Faire to provide parents with materials and tips for a successful start to the school year. Additionally, we will have Jumpstart Kindergarten for a week shortly before the beginning of the new school year. This is a wonderful opportunity for students and parents to prepare for the kindergarten experience. Much more information will follow regarding these activities. If you know anyone with a child who will be five years old by December 2, 2012 please send them to their neighborhood school office to register for kindergarten.
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Hawthorne's Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Program Featured in Daily Breeze
Dual-immersion programs on the rise in South Bay schools
Daily Breeze Article
By Rob Kuznia Staff Writer
Posted: 3/04/2012 06:04:41 PM PDT
Ramona Elementary School in Hawthorne has had a dual immersion program for 15 years with success. Students start kindergarten being spoken to almost completely in a foreign language and then 50-50 in English by third grade.
Todd Warren's parents don't speak Spanish.
Nonetheless, when the fourth-grader at Ramona Elementary School in Hawthorne was at a Los Angeles Clippers game recently, a group of kids sitting behind him were speaking in Spanish and he surprised them by turning around and joining the conversation.
Fourth grader Kailey Tangarite plays a game which teaches Greek roots of words. (Steve McCrank / Staff Photographer)
Todd, who's black, is among the many students taking advantage of the dual-immersion program at Ramona Elementary in Hawthorne.
Dual-immersion instruction is the upgraded version of its more controversial cousin, bilingual education, which California voters put the kibosh on in 1998.
Slowly but surely, its presence is growing in the South Bay and California.
To date, dual-immersion classes have existed only in less affluent South Bay school districts that are majority Latino. But this coming fall, the offering will spread into the beach cities, with the launch of a new program for kindergartners at Washington Elementary School in Redondo Beach.
Last month, the Redondo Beach school board approved the plan, in which the school will add a grade of dual-immersion each year as the 2012-13 kindergartners matriculate.
"When you're learning a language, your cognitive development is getting stronger," said Washington Elementary
Principal Jackie O'Sullivan. "You're getting both hemispheres of your brain activated."
Unlike the kind of bilingual education outlawed by Proposition 227, which catered only to non-native English speakers, dual-immersion classes strive to include a 50-50 mix of native speakers in each of two languages - usually English and Spanish.
Kindergarten teacher Lourdes Casillas reads a story in Spanish to her class at Ramona Elementary School in Hawthorne. (Steve McCrank / Staff Photographer)
Most schools adopt a model in which 90 percent of the instruction is delivered in the non-English language in kindergarten.
The percentage gradually decreases year by year, until fourth or fifth grade (depending on the program), when students are learning in English for half the day and Spanish for the other half.
Read More . . .
NEW Law - Whooping Cough/Pertussis Immunization Requirement for 7th - 12th Grade Students for 2011/12 School Year
A new school immunization law requires all students entering 7th through 12th grades in the 2011-2012 school year in California to be immunized with a pertussis (whoopingcough) vaccine booster called Tdap.
Pertussis is a very contagious respiratory disease that can be severe and last for months. The immunity received from either early childhood immunization or pertussis disease wears off over time, leaving older students and adults susceptible again to pertussis. Immunization with Tdap can protect students, schools and communities against pertussis.
The new requirement affects all students – current, new, and transfers – in public and private schools. The law has two phases:
- For the 2011-2012 school year, all students entering into 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th grades will need proof of a Tdap shot before starting school.
- For 2012-2013 and future school years, all students entering into 7th grade will need proof of a Tdap shot before starting school.
