The Superintendent's Column --

The Superintendent's Column --
by Roger Pfeuffer, TUSD Superintendent

August 2006

Welcome to the School Year 2006-07

3D"Roger It is exciting to welcome students and teachers back into their classrooms for the resumption of a new school year.

We have declared th= is year The Year of the Classroom<= /span>. It is intended not to introduce a set of new things to learn but rather to focus us to become a classroom-centered organization. As always, TUSD is committed to ensure that every student learns. We'll do this by supporting teachers in their most challenging, yet rewarding, task - specifically, the development of positive, professional and productive relationships with each student. We have 60,000 students in this District, so in order for these relationships to occur and flourish with the frequency necessary, the speci= al environment where they grow must be supported. That environment first and foremost is the classroom.

As we continue the professional development areas we began over the last three to four years, = we need to focus those skills on building relationships with students and colleagues. Our belief is that student achievement and professional satisfaction will continue to grow simultaneously. Through the increasing sophistication of professional learning communities and school councils, the decentralization of decision-making and control of resources, new ways will= be found at each site to make students successful.

With our mission, v= ision and values clearly stated and our six goals developed and described, each school and department can now determine how it can contribute to achieving those goals.

Two years ago I spo= ke of district goal-setting as similar to John Kennedy's now famous declaration of landing on the moon. Our six goals for the next five years are similar. We = know where we want to go, but collectively and collaboratively we must invent wa= ys to get there.

Now, at the beginni= ng of a new school year - the dawn of the new set of strategic goals to achieve, I would like to mention just one of them. That one is the goal we call INTERCULTURAL PROFICIENCY.

It is not intended = as educational jargon - something to dazzle and befuddle the layperson. Instea= d it is simply the set of policies and practices of the District and the set of values, behaviors and skills of the individuals in this District to enable = TUSD and its employees, students and parents to interact effectively and productively in a culturally and linguistically diverse environment.

For you to be interculturally proficient doesn't mean you have to k= now everything about everybody, nor do you have to be an anthropologist. It mea= ns though that you have the information AND the self awareness to recognize how you, because of your ethnicity, culture, language and religion - may affect either positively or negatively - others different from you. It means you h= ave the skills to take advantage of teachable moments to learn about those who differ from you and thus to learn more about yourself.

To highlight this g= oal and because it truly is ALL ABO= UT THE STUDENTS, I'd like to close by sharing with you some exampl= es of student writings collected by a remarkable ESL English teacher at Catali= na High Magnet School, Ms. Julie Kasper. The writings come from a collection called "Finding My Voice: Writings in English by Immigrant and Refugee Students in the Tucson Community."

"I Am"
by Hawo Abdalle
Somalia<= /st1:country-region> Language: Maay Maay=

I am a teacher and the manager of my home.
I wonder if I will go to college and become a teacher?<= /span>
I hear much noise around me.
I see my love coming to me.
I want to go back to my country.
I am a teacher and the manager of my home.

I pretend to be married.
I feel the back of my mother land.
I touch the head of a lion.
I worry I will not be a real teacher.
I cry when I remember that my father died.
I am a teacher and the manager of my home.

I understand that other people will advise me.
I say something that people will never hear.
I dream that my dad will come back.
I try to go to school.
I hope to be a great dancer.
I am a teacher and the manager of my home.

"Always"
by Janeth Zamora
Mexico Language: Spanish

Always have in your mind, That you don't have better friends
Than the one that makes you better.
'Is not a friend who is laughing my laugh
My friend is who is crying my tears.'=

Friendship is the soul of two bodies.
A friend is a person in front of whom you
can think aloud,
sincerity could open your heart.
If you need to flatter a friend to be there for you
or stay quiet because of fear to hurt him,
then it's wise to look for another friend.

These are powerful examples of what we as educators must be able to draw out of each and every student so they can, one by one, and then collectively find their voices and become the citizens this country needs to realize its dream - its moon shot= - of a democracy where all its people are well educated regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, gender or sexual orientation. That is our mission. We can and will do it - together.

Thank you, have a g= reat school year!

--Roger= Pfeuffer, Superintendent