October 16, 2018
SAN LEANDRO, CA: Last Friday morning, San Leandro Unified School District school board trustees, personnel, families and community members came together to celebrate successes from the past year at the annual State of the District address. This year, the event was reorganized as a breakfast and bus tour, in hopes of allowing a more intimate look into the school district, and to provide more of an opportunity to interact with the public. “It’s one thing to talk about all of the transformative work happening in our schools,” said district superintendent Dr. Mike McLaughlin, “But seeing the innovations firsthand is far more informative.”
The event started at 7:30 am in the Fred T. Korematsu gymnasium at SLHS with a rousing performance from the San Leandro High School marching band in full uniform, followed by a special recognition for the district from San Leandro City Mayor Pauline Cutter for being named the College Board AP District of the Year for medium-sized districts. The prestigious award was earned for expanding access to and diversity in Advanced Placement courses while simultaneously improving AP exam performance. SLUSD was the only district recognized for this work in California. While guests enjoyed breakfast served by the SLHS Leadership class, Dr. McLaughlin reviewed the district’s progress on their 2017-2020 Strategic Action Plan.
After the breakfast, guests joined the SLUSD Board of Trustees and administration on a tour of facilities at San Leandro High School, including the Arts Education Center and broadcasting studio, the career technical education classrooms, refurbished cafeteria, and athletic facilities. The group then boarded buses to McKinley Elementary where they toured the modernized library and STEAM lab. The final stop of the tour was John Muir Middle School, where the district celebrated the renovation of all school libraries with a ribbon cutting and keynote speech from retired District Librarian Roxanne Ansolabehere. “Since I’m retired now, I can speak the truth,” said Ansolabehere, “And the truth is this district is very fortunate to have a visionary leader like Dr. McLaughlin.”
For more information about the San Leandro Unified School District’s 2017-2020 Strategic Plan, please visit slusd.us.
