LNSD Board Meeting held at Aeolian 2/13/2014

The PREZI that was shared at the meeting by Mrs. Speh can be found by clicking the following link: (Once it loads click on the right arrow at the bottom of the screen to go through the Prezi).

On February 13, 2014, the Los Nietos School Board held a Study Session at Aeolian School. At the meeting Aeolian School Principal Becky Speh described the many accomplishments of her school this year in preparation of Common Core implementation. With pride, Principal Speh showcased the school’s new technology center and demonstrated to the Los Nietos School Board some of the innovative ways teachers are integrating technology into their instruction.

This year all Aeolian students experienced a distance learning opportunity with the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, as K-6 students were able to interact through video teleconferencing with instructors on staff. The interactive teleconferencing as well as a field trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific for all Aeolian students was made possible by a grant that paid for both the instruction and the cost of the field trips.

Principal Speh , utilizing a cloud-based program called, Prezi, showcased the many exciting and engaging instructional activities happening in the Aeolian classrooms and technology center. In addition, 6th grade teacher, Rick Gallardo, introduced to the School Board a computer program called, Wordle. Wordle is a program that creates “word clouds” from text that is typed into the program. Based on the prominence of words that appear more frequently in the source text, the words become larger. To illustrate the program Mr. Gallardo had asked the Board to send him, prior to the Board meeting, five sentences that describe, “What makes the Los Nietos School District unique?” Mr. Gallardo than typed the sentences into the Wordle program. The School Board’s Wordle shows the two most prevalent words in the Board’s descriptions of Los Nietos School District as being “Students and Community”. In addition, Principal Speh detailed the extensive review that her staff had done this year in order to align their instructional goals with the needs of their English Language Learners and the requirements of the Common Core State Standards. All School Board members praised Principal Speh and her staff for the outstanding work they have done this year.

After the Aeolian School Board presentation, the Board of Trustees, District administration, and site administration met for a Study Session regarding Form 700 reporting requirements and the Brown Act.

The Los Nietos School Board will be holding school board meetings at all four school sites this year, Aeolian being the first to host the meeting on February 13, 2014. On March 12th, the School Board will be meeting at Nelson, April 24th at Rancho Santa Gertrudes, and May 22nd at the Los Nietos Middle School.