February 2008 Report

 Library Director’s Report- February 2008 

Collections will be a priority this year.  We recently hired a Collections Librarian, Jenny Davis, who will coordinate collection building, evaluation and promotion of our books, electronic sources and media.  Jenny has been working for us assisting with developing our programs for adults, and she has years of experience working at Kepler’s bookstore.

In July, our network will be upgraded to fiber to enhance speed, bandwidth and reliability.  Also, our clumsy network closest will be redesigned to industry specifications for future expansion; this will allow City IT, PLAN and Library IT to help maintain it.

Construction progress continues on the Redwood Shores Library.  The building is 75% complete.  Color wood panels have been installed on the exterior of the building accentuating the building’s shape and form; and the storefront windows and roof are in place.  Library staff continues to work on various aspects associated with the project:

• Dave, Liz Meeks and Jacky Averill attended the annual Redwood Shores Community Association meeting on February 12, held at the Sandpiper Community Center.  Dave spoke about the new library, volunteer opportunities and introduced library manager Liz Meeks. Jacky spoke about the Interpretive Center and provided a very thorough slide presentation. 
• Library staff (Liz, Jacky and Roz Kutler) met with members of the Parks, Recreation and Community Services department, members of the Civic Cultural Commission, City staff and project architect to discuss the feasibility and options of installing public art that functions as a birdbath (there is a sizable private donation to the city for “bird baths”) at the Redwood Shores Library.  Pending approval of the Civic Cultural Commission, the piece will be installed at the site.
• Library staff (Liz, Maria Kramer and Serena Gregorio) met with staff from the Parks, Recreation and Community Services staff to discuss logistics of booking and staffing the community meeting rooms and the after-hours area of the library.
• The sign package for the building is being reviewed and refined.  The Architectural Review Committee approved the exterior monument signs for the facility at its meeting on February 26.
• The furniture package is out to bid for various vendors, with proposals due back by March 19.  Once the package is awarded, the furniture will be ordered.
• PLAN staff toured the site on Tuesday, February 5 and met with library staff (Liz), City staff and the construction staff to review and discuss technology and wiring needs.
• Liz and Dave toured the site with Brian Lee on Tuesday, February 19, to see construction progress to date.

In a program presented jointly by the library and Hoover School, Francisco Jimenez gave a talk to 350 Hoover students, parents and teachers on his experiences as a member of a migrant farm worker family, his schooling, and becoming a writer and professor at Santa Clara University.  His first book, “The Circuit,” has won a number of awards and has been translated into a number of different languages.  Those in attendance heard not only about Dr. Jimenez’s experiences but also about the importance of a good education, not only for the individual but for society as well. 

Major kudos go to Cristina Thorson for developing this program to help with Hoover School’s efforts to strengthen reading scores at the school.  Cristina’s efforts made the evening a great success, but more importantly, gave the literacy effort at the school a big boost and opened the students’ eyes wider to the importance of a good education.  Every 6th, 7th and 8th grader at the school received from the library their own copy of “The Circuit” which was read and discussed in class, and many of the students stayed long after the presentation to have their copies signed by the author. At the end of the evening Dr. Jimenez said that he has been involved with many schools in the past but that this was his first experience with a joint effort between the public library and public school in promoting such a program and he highly commended the work of Cristina and school staff.  Thanks also to the other library staff whose efforts leading up the event and during the program made it such a success:  Caroll Webster, Ethan Annis, Jan Pedden, Maria Diaz-Slocum, Maria Kramer, Hoover staff Wendy Welker, and any others who I may have missed. Thanks for helping Cristina’s vision come to be.

 Cristina and Hoover principal Greg Land attended a City Council meeting to let them know of the successful partnership between the library and school district, and the wonderful learning experience and evening for the Hoover community that resulted. Greg and Cristina also attended a school board meeting before the Francisco Jimenez program in order to invite Board members to attend. The Board was presented with a letter from Hoover commending the library’s role in creating the event.  

Maria Diaz gave a presentation to the Library Foundation on funding options for the Fair Oaks Library.  More technology access and training on how to use it seemed to resonate with many members.  The Foundation has identified Fair Oaks as their focus for fundraising.

 Helping change lives, one life at a time.  Seven teen moms and their toddlers visited the library as part of their training with the San Mateo County Health Services.  They were treated to a story time and a tour, received library cards and a pep talk on the importance of sharing books with children, and got a good impression of the idea as a fun place in which to hang out with kids and other moms.  Each child left with a free book and goodie bag. 

Sarah La Torra visited Menlo-Atherton High School on February 25 for a library card registration drive with two staff from the Menlo Park Library.  They presented Live Homework Help to 353 students and signed up 150 students for library cards.  After the presentations Sarah told the students about all the great events we have planned at the Redwood City Public Library including the SAT/ACT workshops and Jobs for Youth’s monthly workshops.

 February was a big month for the Traveling Storytime Program.  On February 13, more than 60 people celebrated the milestone of having read to more than 100,000 Redwood City children.  Volunteers and their families, providers and library staff members attend the event.  Certificates were distributed to the volunteers (seven of whom have been with the program since it began in 2001), and old fashioned Valentine goodies were enjoyed by all.  The evening was a good vehicle for the volunteers to visit with each other and hear the stories of the providers and representatives of the library.  All of the volunteers walked away with a warm feeling, knowing that they truly are “The heart of the Traveling Storytime Program”.  The Traveling Storytime Program will be presented with a City proclamation at the March 24, City Council meeting.

Project READ was selected again this year to participate in the Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) program.  RIF is a program designed to motivate children to read by delivering free books to those children and families who need them most.  It’s a great way to help build home libraries and instill the love of reading.  Thanks to RIF, this year Project READ will have the opportunity to distribute an additional 875 free books to the children in our programs.  Children can choose their books at one of Project READ’s story hours each month and from the children’s bookshelves in the Project READ office. 

Project READ staff is working hard to match new volunteer tutors.  Twenty-seven new student tutor pairs were matched in February. Project READ tutors report on their successes each month.  

This report is from the tutor of an 11^th grader: “Complete change in attitude in Jay this month regarding school.  He is disappointed if his grades fall below at B.  This is from the same kid who once asked me, “What’s wrong with a C?” 

One of our adult learners, Jose, originally came to us reading below a first grade level.  This month, he not only passed his Citizenship Test, but also scored a perfect 100%! This was the well-deserved achievement of a long-term goal. Abraham is an inmate learner who came to us as a low to intermediate reader.  After eight months in the program, Abraham has increased his skills enough to start taking GED tests.  He is more than just passing – he is achieving high scores.  At this time, Abraham only needs to pass the Math test before he earns his GED. 

 KIP learners, tutors and staff enjoyed an exciting and successful first week of the “KIP at the Library” Pilot Program.  This pilot program is aimed at expanding the services offered to the KIP youth by introducing them to the many resources and programs available at the library, offering more literacy-building opportunities through the use of the Project READ computer lab and extending learning beyond the classroom by boarding a bus and venturing out of the Fair Oaks neighborhood.  KIP parents were very excited about the new opportunity and over 40 parents and family members showed their enthusiasm by attending the KIP Parents Information Meeting held on January 30^th. 

Pay now, pay a lot less later:

High school dropouts cost state billions

Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, February 28, 2008

If California hopes to stop hemorrhaging the billions of dollars it spends by producing so many high school dropouts, the state needs to give schools better incentives to hold on to troubled students, change its graduation requirements and do more to plug the problem, researchers warn.

Each year, about 120,000 students fail to get a diploma by age 20, according to the California Dropout Research Project, which on Wednesday released detailed recommendations for state lawmakers and educators.

Each annual wave of dropouts costs the state $46.4 billion over their lifetimes because people without a high school diploma are the most likely to be unemployed, turn to crime, need state-funded medical care, get welfare and pay no taxes, according to the report.

“California uses a number of strategies to reduce dropout rates … but together they are insufficient to address the problem,” say the researchers, led by education Professor Russell Rumberger of UC Santa Barbara.

Those strategies include requiring school for kids ages 6 to 18, attaching thousands of dollars in state funding to each student and offering programs for troubled youth.

“We need to change the entire system of education in California,” he said. “Even in this poor fiscal climate,” investing in ways to reduce the number of dropouts “will have the best long-term payoff.”

More reports coming

Funded by private foundations, the California Dropout Research Project began in December 2006 and will produce more than a dozen reports through next September. Last week, the researchers showed that about 80 percent of dropouts come from just 20 percent of high schools – mainly small, nontraditional schools that often function as repositories for the neediest students.

The latest report is an effort to find solutions, and begins with a recommendation that every California school be ranked not just by its test scores but by its dropout rate as well.

Federal graduation requirements should also be tougher, the researchers say.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, high schools have to raise their graduation rate each year by one-tenth of a percentage point – or not at all if they graduate at least 82.9 percent of their seniors.

“The current annual goal is meaningless,” says the report, which concludes that at that rate it would take 376 years for the huge Los Angeles Unified School District to succeed because its graduation rate is just 45 percent.

The state should instead require schools to improve at a faster rate, the report says.

 One way to do that would be for schools to change their graduation requirements and spend less time on academics alone; they should teach more “soft skills” such as how to be punctual, persistent and work well in groups – all valuable “if California wants to truly prepare its students for life beyond high school,” says the report.

Tracking system flawed

But the researchers’ biggest complaint is that California still lacks a system to precisely measure its dropout and graduation rates.

 An accurate student-tracking system is considered the Rosetta stone for understanding the scope of the dropout problem. Currently, educators are never sure if a student who has vanished is a true dropout or may be enrolled at another school here or out of state.

The tracking system – intended to follow students from preschool through college – is still about four years away, say lawmakers, who explain its delay by pointing to its high cost.

But tracking students in schools alone won’t be enough, the researchers say. They recommend including other agencies as well, such as foster care, juvenile justice, welfare, even the workplace.

The goal would be the earliest possible identification of students at risk of dropping out, says the report.

Budget crunch an obstacle

The researchers acknowledge that their recommendations come during a fiscal crisis that is forcing school districts and other agencies throughout the state to slash budgets.

But at least one state lawmaker says several of the group’s recommendations can be addressed in the near term.  

“Personally, I have made the cause of reducing the high school dropout rate my top legislative priority,” said state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who is poised to head the Senate as president pro tem later this year.

Steinberg is the author of SB219, a law that will add dropout rates for grades eight and nine to the Academic Performance Index once the student-tracking system is in place.

“We know we’re in a very difficult budget situation, but we don’t have to wait to lay the foundation for ensuring that when we have the resources, we can end this plight,” Steinberg said.

Online resources

Recommendations: To see the full set of recommendations and other reports from the California Dropout Research Project, go to: links.sfgate.com/ZCOT     

E-mail Nanette Asimov at nasimov@sfchronicle.com.