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The Los GatosSaratoga Joint Union High School District is patting itself on the back, and rightly so, says Los Gatos High School Principal Trudy McCulloch. The high schools' California high school exit examination scores were the highest in the state.
At both Saratoga and Los Gatos high schools, 96 percent of students passed the English portion of the test and 99 percent passed the math portion. This comes after the test was recently revised, when it proved too tough for past classes of students statewide.
"We are very pleased with the exit-exam scores," said McCulloch at the district board meeting Aug. 17. "It's very exciting for us." McCulloch also reported that Standardized Testing and Reporting scores were up slightly in all areas. STAR exams comprehensively measure individual student achievement.
McCulloch said that she was concerned about enrollment at Los Gatos High, with1,690 students expected for the new school year, including 451 freshman and 392 seniors.
"Those are pretty high numbers for us," she said.
Superintendent Cynthia Ranii said the search for a new permanent principal for Saratoga High is going well. The district has advertised the position nationally, and she reported that, as of Aug. 17, the district had 30 applications in-house and had an additional 10 to 12 inquiries. Interviews were scheduled to begin on Aug. 22, with an interview committee and technical committee already formed.
An update on construction at both schools was also given at the meeting. Improvements are being made at Los Gatos High in the business, music and art history wings, as well as bathrooms, and a new roof is being installed on the small gym. However, the opening of the dance studio will be delayed, due to the fact that a large percentage of new lighting fixtures that arrived by truck were damaged.
The Performing Arts and Lecture Center being built at Saratoga High is currently on budget, said Richard Meyer, director of building projects for the district. But due to many aspects of the project, he estimated that the contractors working on it might run into financial troubles.
Student representatives for the new school year are Marlana Shile from Los Gatos High and Albert Chiang from Saratoga High. Ranii says she is excited to report a new program being implemented soon that will assign each student representative a mentor on the board, in an effort to further empower students.
The next district board meeting will be held on Sept. 7 at Saratoga High School.
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