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School board presents new STMS principal, STHS courses

Isaac Brambila
ibrambila@tahoedailytribune.com

The Lake Tahoe Unified School District Board approved three new high school courses, green-light the expansion of an advocate counseling program for at-risk students and approved support for the South Tahoe Middle School Area Connectivity Plan during its regular meeting Tuesday.

For the upcoming school year, the board presented John Simons as the new principal for South Tahoe Middle School (STMS). Simons, who was accompanied at the board meeting by his family, is currently the principal of Oakdale Junior High School in Oakdale, a community he said is similar to South Lake Tahoe in how close-knit it is.

In a different discussion, the board voted unanimously for the expansion of the advocate counseling program, which started its pilot Feb. 9 in collaboration with Live Violence Free and Tahoe Turning Point. The pilot program included students from South Tahoe High School (STHS), STMS and Mt. Tallac High School.



The Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) for 2014-2015 included a Family Advocate Pilot Project to provide wrap-around services for at-risk students, including English learners, low-income, foster youth and students referred to the School Accountability Review Board (SARB) and the new Behavior Intervention Program (BIP), according to the board’s report. The wrap-around services are aimed to provide assistance with the social and emotional needs of students and families in order to improve academic performance and attendance.

According to counselors who worked in the program, 11 of the 14 students from STHS that were part of the pilot program were responsive and showed at least some improvement. Those 11 showed better attitudes toward school and were more willing to seek or ask for the help by the end of the program. Nine out of the 14 improved their GPA.



The total cost of the two contracts for the pilot program was $22,750.

According to the report, secondary site principals recommend the district continue and expand the wrap-around counseling programs for the 2015-2016 school year.

The recommendation included increasing contact time for students a total of 20 hours for STMS and 34 hours for STHS and Mt. Tallac per week at a cost not to exceed $90,000.

In other business, the board approved the introduction of two math courses to the high school curriculum – Algebra I with Computer Programming and Integrated Math I with Computer Programming. The two courses were adopted from University of California, Davis’ C-STEM Center and are aimed to teach students marketable skills while also meeting required math courses.

The introduction of the courses comes at a point when the district is trying to decide a pathway fort its high school math curriculum, which currently follows a traditional approach of separate algebra and geometry classes. The new considered pathway would run concurrent math classes with both subjects.

The proposed courses, however, could be reshaped to stay consistent with both pathways. The district has not decided which approach it will take. The total cost for the courses is expected to be nearly $12,500.

The board also approved the introduction of a Sports Medicine III course as part of South Tahoe High School’s Sports Medicine Academy. The course requires no new textbooks.

Additionally, the board voted to support the South Tahoe Middle School Area Connectivity Plan as well as the Al Tahoe Safety and Mobility Enrichment Project.

The meeting also included the presentation of $12,121 from the Lake Tahoe Environmental Science Magnet School PTA for installation of LED lighting at the school.


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