School Board Recognizes Outstanding Schools

The Milpitas Unified School District has a lot to be proud of. At the school board meeting on Oct. 11, all of twelve schools received awards for outstanding achievement.

"This was literally a banner year," said assistant superintendent Michelle Dimas. "We have never done this well!"

School progress was measured through a number of factors, including overall student achievement and closing academic gaps. Academic Performance Index (API), a benchmark score that schools use statewide.

All schools in the district were recognized as having excelled except for Zanker Elementary School.

, for instance, has an API of 812; only 28 percent of high schools in California manage to score over 800 points. The highest API score in the district went to Curtner Elementary School at 913. 

The school board also recognized Milpitas police sergeant Gene Smith for his service to the students of MUSD and his work with the Drug Awareness Resistance Education (DARE) program. Officer Mark Doyle will now be in charge of the Character Counts program, one that will be implemented in the school district this year and replaces the DARE program.

October 23-31 was approved as Red Ribbon Week in the Milpitas Unified School District, in honor of drug prevention. Board member Danny Lau reported that the Knights of Columbus will be holding a car wash on Oct. 23 to benefit Milpitas High School's special education department. The car wash will be held at . 

The board also approved Richard Julian as assistant principal for Burnett and Spangler elementary schools. Julian comes to Milpitas from the Los Altos School District, where he is currently a 5th grade math teacher. He has 22 years of experience.

"I'm really happy that my administrative career is going to begin here in Milptas," he said.