POWAY
–
It takes a village to raise a child, according to an African proverb, but the Poway Unified School district thinks there needs to be one special adult outside the home, too.
A new “strategic vision” document for the 36-school system stresses the need for strong, supportive relationships with every student as he or she moves through middle and high schools.
It is part of an obligation “to look out for the welfare of the student,” district Superintendent Donald A. Phillips told the school board in a presentation Monday. The person at a school should act as a mentor or champion at the individual level.
The commitment needs to be strong enough that the district never gives up on a child “even when the child appears to give up,” Phillips said.
The seven-page document – more of a statement of goals than a binding policy – expands on a plan developed six years ago. The board adopted it without comment, with administrators now free to develop a process to put it in place.
For the strategic-vision statement, Phillips asked the board to consider the district's responsibilities to prepare students who may be in the workplace through 2060 and live well into the latter part of the 21st century.
Schools today must prepare students for a world in which they will “change careers multiple times,” Phillips said, making it essential for educators to convey “how-to-learn” skills and not just teach facts.
Phillips said the district has a “moral imperative” to prepare all its high school graduates for a postsecondary education, even if they do not all attend college.
The students have to be actively engaged in learning, finding meaning in their course work, said the report delivered to the board. “When we do not 'reach' students,” it said, “very little real learning transpires and students may become bored, disengaged, and sometimes disruptive.”
“We need to foster the joy of inquiry and learning,” Phillips said, steering students away from a sense that all they need are good grades.
Preparation begins with a rigorous curriculum in elementary grades, then a middle and high school curriculum based on the 15 yearlong courses required for admission to the Cal State and University of California systems. Opting out of the courses should be allowed only in rare cases, Phillips said, and only with parental approval.
Phillips said he wants to set measureable targets to gauge how well the district does at its college-readiness goal.
Jeff Ristine: (760) 737-7578; jeff.ristine@uniontrib.com
