District News

Partnering with our community is a core tenet of ours, and our school-community partnership with the Campbell Historical Museum and Campbell Union School District is another example of this. Some of our TK-8 students throughout the district are putting the history—and the future they imagine—of our district on display in the museum’s Ainsley House/Carriage House as part of the district’s centennial-themed Design Challenge. 

Some 600 students have been researching, designing and refining their exhibits about the past, present and future of local schools and education. Classes across the district have been using design thinking and engineering design processes to create the museum exhibits. 

“We’ve been anticipating and planning for this event for some time and are excited to see this connection to the community and commitment to innovation come to life,” said Superintendent Shelly Viramontez. “Our students are collaborating, innovating, problem-solving, and developing skills they’ll need for their future jobs, all while learning about our district’s past, appreciating our present and imagining what the future will bring.”

If you’re going…

• Bring your smartphone to the exhibit, as many of the projects have a QR code for visitors to scan for multimedia explanations.
  

• Parking is available at nearby public lots.

Castlemont kindergarteners imagine a future school with farm-to-table lunches where food is grown on campus.

Old yearbooks and conversations with alumni helped students learn what school was like in the past.

RHMS Digital Art students created professional-looking magazine covers depicting their “feature story” about the district’s centennial.

Capri students incorporated their study of solar energy and transportation into their futuristic design for a mind-reading teleportation device to get them to school and back.

In an effort to ensure safe return to school after spring break, the Governor’s office provided enough tests for every student and employee to receive two at-home COVID tests.  

This week our schools are distributing test kits to each student and employee as part of the strategy to detect any spikes in the virus. The at-home tests are provided to allow students and employees to test the day prior to returning from spring break (test on April 10) and then again two days later (April 12). 

Any positive cases should remain at home, isolate and report the absence to the schools.  

Congratulations to Monroe and Rolling Hills middle schools for earning Common Sense Education certification from Common Sense Media, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids and families thrive in a world of media and technology.

"It’s a well-deserved accomplishment for both of our middle schools to be recognized as Common Sense Schools," said Julie Goo, Coordinator of Innovation Teaching and Learning. "Our educators strive to partner with our families to prepare students to use technology responsibly and to be lifelong learners and creators in our global community."

Demonstrated Commitment to Digital Citizenship

The certification recognizes the schools’ commitment to taking a whole-community approach to preparing its students to use technology safely and thoughtfully.  They used Common Sense Education's research-based digital citizenship resources to promote positive online behavior and to support the foundational understanding of positive digital citizenship. Students learn  to think critically and use technology responsibly, and to create and participate while learning about  online hazards and challenges, such as plagiarism, loss of privacy, and cyberbullying. 

The resources teach students, educators, and parents tangible skills related to internet safety, protecting online reputations and personal privacy, media balance, managing online relationships, and media literacy. The curriculum is used in classrooms throughout our country with the effort to prepare students for safe and healthy online habits. 

“With the right support at school and at home, kids can take ownership of their digital lives, engage with real issues, and change their communities for the better,” said Whitney Holton, Associate Superintendent of  Teaching and Learning. “The recognition acknowledges our commitment to creating a culture of digital citizenship.” 

"We applaud the faculty and staff of these schools for embracing digital citizenship as an important part of their students' education," said Kelly Mendoza, vice president of education programs at Common Sense Education. "The schools deserve high praise for giving its students the foundational skills they need to compete and succeed in the 21st-century workplace and participate ethically in society at large." 

Learn more about the criteria the two middle schools met to become recognized as a Common Sense School.

If Leela, Mason, Jacob and Emily have their way, parents will have a much easier time one day when bringing students to and from school. Their original idea—a hover bus—took a significant upward turn as they brainstormed about transportation 100 years from now.

“It’s a flying car that takes you to a floating school,” says Emily. Her team took their experience and what they learned in fourth grade about green transportation solutions and applied it to their futuristic idea: a self-flying, affordable (just $500), solar powered “car” that carries them to a school in the sky. Since the vehicle can collapse to the size of a Rubik's Cube, parking would not be a problem either. 

They are among hundreds of TK-8 students participating in Campbell Union School District’s Centennial Celebration Design Challenge, according to Julie Goo, the district’s Coordinator of Innovation, Teaching, and Learning.  

“Students are using the engineering and design thinking process to create real-world solutions and ideas for our community,” she says. First they look at a problem someone is having, brainstorm ideas and possible solutions, then create prototypes to see how the idea might actually work. 

Student teams with the best digital or physical prototypes will be selected as part of a special exhibit in the Campbell Historical Museum’s Carriage House. The exhibit opening and Centennial Celebration is scheduled for the afternoon of April 30th. Details online at www.campbellusd.org/centennial.