Director’s Report April 2010 ADMINISTRATION North Site Update: Garden: The North Campus has a whole new, green look thanks to Jetty Stutzman and her crew of dedicated parent volunteers and community volunteers! Around each and every corner, blossoming trees and shrubs lovingly planted in wood and terra cotta planters greet students. Rolling up sleeves, getting dirty, and working together – that’s how Jetty and our volunteers beautified South Campus and that’s how they’re turning our North Campus into a surprisingly lovely, garden environment. Prop 39: The district has secured an offer for all of our existing rooms at North Campus for next year. We are still negotiating for additional space, such as a multi-purpose room. Gate: District repairmen have been working to rebuild our broken gate and buzzer system. The gate and lock work has been completed and the buzzer/electrical work should be complete soon. Computers: Our 8th grade students have begun working on our new student, laptop computers. They are learning PowerPoint to use as a tool in presentations. Phone/Internet: We are still waiting for the district to make the official switch from their grid to our own system. All the work required for the switch has been completed. The district had planned a September 2009 completion for this project. Marina Christian Fellowship Update: The South Campus garden and playground beautification day was quite the event thanks to Lisa Cahill, Ruth Steinberg, Ramsey Salem, Claudia Reisenberger and the entire team of OCS parents and students who showed up to transform the playground and plant 21 trees! The Disneyland “Give a Day, Get a Day” volunteer program attracted many folks outside of the community as well as OCS families. Many thanks to Tree People for the generous donation of trees! The Home Depot grant funds covered all other expenses incurred with the project. Plans are in the works to use the remaining grant funds to freshen up the buildings with a new coat of paint.

EDUCATION PROGRAMS Academic Strategic Plan: STAR tests have arrived and are being sorted and organized to distribute to grades 2nd- 8th. STAR testing will occur during the 2nd and 3rd weeks of May, May 10-21st. Teachers will be using a variety of methods (storytelling, bubble parties, practice questions) to prepare students for testing. Math: Mid-year math assessments were administered to all 1st-8th-grade students and teachers reviewed the information derived from the tests with parents during spring conferences. Faculty members will continue to refine the assessments so that they are a true reflection of the OCS standards based and Waldorf infused math developmental octave throughout the grades. Special Education SST/IEP: Currently, 37 students (including 1 exited) have existing IEP’s ( 26 on North and 11 on South). A total of 16 students are in the process of being assessed for special education services. These students were identified through the SST process, 5 on North and 11 on South. SESAC: Frequently Asked Questions Regarding SESAC Question: What is SESAC? Answer: The Special Education Student Assignment Coordination (SESAC) report is designed to maintain a current, unduplicated count of all students for which the LAUSD is responsible who are receiving special education services. It also provides data for compliance with special education laws and regulations. Question: What types of SESAC are there? Answer: The vast majority of SESAC data is now entered electronically at the local school level using either Elementary SIS or Secondary SIS. The paper SESAC method for reporting data is used by service providers at school sites with no SIS connection. Once received, data from the paper SESAC are entered into the Welligent Data System. Question: When is SESAC information due? Answer: Approximately once a month SIS/SESAC data is extracted electronically from schools that use SIS. Paper SESAC reports are also due on the same day as the electronic data extraction.

Needs: The OCS Special Education Program is growing with an influx of students in the process of being identified as having special needs. Another fulltime resource teacher will be needed for the 2010/11 school year. Meetings: Our 5th Special Education meeting took place on March 25th in the Yellow House. We had three staff members and 4 parents in attendance. We reviewed the general principles in IDEA (federal law governing special education) and the differences between an SST, IEP, and 504 plan. We discussed incorporating special education topics that are relevant for all OCS students into next year’s ACG meetings (examples include homework strategies, differentiation in the classroom, and how to address a concern regarding your child), and holding more intimate special education meetings a few times throughout the year for those with particular questions/needs. DIRECTOR DELIVERABLES School Safety Plan & Disaster preparedness: We acquired an Emergency Response and Crisis Management Grant and the faculty and staff receive ongoing Emergency/Disaster preparedness training. The school conducts regular emergency drills on both campuses, including fire, drop and cover, and lock-down. We participated in an official Lock Down Response Drill and were evaluated by the Emergency/Disaster Team. We received recommendations in the areas of General Preparedness, General Response, and Specific Response that we will incorporate in our next drill. The next scheduled evaluation will take place in May. Informal Instructional Evaluations: Performance evaluations for all nonOCTA instructors will be completed by the beginning of June. Enrollment Report: 2010-2011 Enrollment Lottery 549 applicants participated in our 2010-2011 lottery on 3/31/10. This is compared to 386 lottery participants last year. The break down of total lottery applicants by grade: K1=146, K2=110, K3=74, 1st grade=40, 2nd grade=38, 3rd grade=28, 4th grade=38, 5th grade=17, 6th grade=35, 7th grade=18, and 8th grade=5. In addition to the lottery applicants, we have had 35 staff/board/sibling preferenced applicants apply for the 2010-2011 school year as well. All offers will be mailed out by the end of April. Current enrollment We had 2 openings (1st and 2nd grade) but both have been filled as of 4/12/10. Intent to Re-Enroll We have had 3 currently enrolled students identified as not returning for the 2010-2011 school year.

Diversity/Community Outreach: OCS brochures in English and Spanish were updated and distributed by the Diversity Committee to schools and programs with diverse populations of students. A future goal is to work with the Diversity Committee to recruit diverse teachers who have an interest in teaching Waldorf Education in a Public Charter School.