Description
The cuts to California’s education budget this year are unprecedented and have had a serious impact on our schools, with the SRCS district receiving $1,000 less per student. HeadsUp is working hard to blunt that impact.
For a number of years, HeadsUp has supported all the schools in San Rafael in a variety of ways. Here is a description of this year’s funding priorities:
2012-2013 HEADS UP FUNDING PRIORITIES
K-8 LIBRARIES
HeadsUp is restoring library-clerk hours at every K-8 school in the SRCS district. Replacing these hours--which were eliminated by budget cuts for the second consecutive year--ensures that all district students will have access to the library skills training, research, and reading materials they need to make the most of their school experience.
4th and 5th GRADE MUSIC PROGRAM
HeadsUp funds and oversees 4th and 5th grade music instruction at every SRCS elementary school, providing a foundation for success in our excellent Middle School music programs.
MIDDLE SCHOOL MUSIC SUPPORT
HeadsUp funds three sections of middle-school music instruction (one at Venetia Valley; two at Davidson), ensuring that SRCS’s award-winning middle-school music program can continue to offer a full selection of band, orchestra, chorus, and steel pans courses to interested students.
OUTDOOR EDUCATION
By paying the stipends that allow teachers to accompany their students to Walker Creek’s Outdoor Education center, HeadsUp ensures that this invaluable program continues to be available for all 5th graders in the district.
COLLEGE SUPPORT PROGRAM
HeadsUp funds college support services at both San Rafael and Terra Linda high schools. An onsite consultant provides basic admissions advice, including help with college searches, applications, essays, interview preparation and appeals. In a program designed to assist students of all academic levels and socioeconomic backgrounds, the consultant will work with juniors and seniors in one-on-one meetings, small workshops and larger seminars.
TRANSITION PROGRAMS FOR INCOMING 6TH- AND 9TH-GRADERS
HeadsUp has provided training to set up WEB (Where Everybody Belongs) at the middle-school level and Link Crew (at our high schools). These transition programs are designed to welcome incoming students and make their first year a comfortable and safe experience. Each new student is connected with a trained WEB or Link Crew leader/mentor. These programs provide schools with a structure in which students make real connections with one another. Through WEB and Link Crew, students learn that people at school care about them and their success.
CONSISTENT ACHIEVER AWARDS EVENT
This annual luncheon ceremony, co-sponsored by HeadsUp and the Dixie School District’s CanDo foundation, allows our schools and the community to recognize students from each SRCS and Dixie school who demonstrate personal and academic excellence regardless of the challenges they face.
Together San Rafael City schools serve over 6,300 students from Kindergarten through high school at 12 schools. Our schools represent the diverse, multicultural community that makes up San Rafael. Please join us in our effort to support our school district’s mission to build a school system of unparalleled quality that helps all students acquire the knowledge and skills they need to become productive, responsible citizens of the future.
