Good news for Pacifica schools!
U.S. Congresswoman Jackie Speier took a few minutes to pose with some of the beneficiaries of the Pacifica School District's "Coaching for Equity and Excellence" program, one of the six projects selected for recommendation by the Citizens' Oversight Panel. Pictured with Speier are (front row, L-R) Maia Cluver, William Hirsch, Cisco Argueta, Sal Argueta, Ellis Manning-Villar, Shannon Manning-Villar, (back row, L-R) Amirah Tulloch, Congresswoman Speier, Neikesha Barnett-McNeil, Ashaye Barnett and Anandah Tulloch. (Photo by Sheila Menlo)U.S. Congresswoman Jackie Speier announced a Pacifica School District teacher training program was recommended in an application process for congressional appropriations.
On April 7, Speier announced the findings of a citizens' oversight committee she formed to evaluate the 59 proposed projects that applied for federal appropriations. After much review, the committee recommended funding nine of those projects.
Pacifica School District's "Coaching for Equity and Excellentce," which coaches teachers in ways to improve stdent achievement in literacy and mathematics, could receive $207,987.
HIP Housing, or Human Investment Project, which matches people in need of housing with homeowners and others who have room to share, may receive $120,000.
Samaritan House's Safe Harbor Shelter, a 90 bed emergency homeless shelter in South San Francisco, provides people with the resources to assist them with housing, case management, employment assistance, literacy services, home econommics instruction, tenant skill instruction, referrals to legal aid for landlord/tenant law and victims rights counseling. Safe Harbor is in line to receive $200,000.
San Francisco State's "Competency Based Education Training Initiative for an Early Child Care Workforce" provides training and internships for early care and eudcation students and matches them with mentor teachers to assure they will be of the highest quality and meet the highest standards. That program could receive $750,000.
University Center's Consortium at San Mateo County Community College District provides opportunities for laid-off workers to get training in new, high demand careers. It may receive $2 million in appropriations.
CalTrain's Positive Control Center System is an integrated signal and communication system that will improve train performance, reliability and safety while allowing Caltrain to respond to demand for expanded service along the U.S. 101 corridor. That program could be awarded $1 million over two years. The San Mateo County Smart Corridors project coordinates multiple jurisdictions to deploy an Intelligent Transportation Syatem to mitigate recurring traffic congestion, improve traffic operations and optimize the use of existing roadways. The project may be granted $3 million over two years.
The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office may receive $622,000 over two years to acuire and equip a mobile command vehicle to asist local emergency responders in the event of emergencies.
South Bayfront Levee Improvements is up to receive the highest award of $6,586.750 to provide protection from flooding in San Mateo and Foster City.
Reacting to the good news for the Pacifica School District, PSD Board Member Eileen Manning-Villar said, "Though funding here is by no means guaranteed, it is quite an honor for the district's project to be selected by the Citizens' Oversight Panel and endorsed by Congresswoman Speier herself for a recommendation for a funding appropriation. I am very pleased that Superintendent Susan Vickrey and the district's grant writing consultant, Peter Zachariou, took the opportunity to present PSD's teacher training program to this innovative panel review process. Quite obviously they did an excellent job."
From Kalimah Salahuddin, PSD parent and President of the newly formed Saving Pacifica Schools PAC, "For me it is was nice to know that through community action we can help in maintaining our high level of education and secure our children's future. This is one victory and we need to continue to keep pressure on our legislature and remind them how vital their continued support is to the children of Pacifica."
From Sheila Merlo, PSD Parent and Vice President of the Vallemar PTO, "Our community is continuing to stand strong in advocating for our children's education and California's future. We have wonderful teachers in this district, but they need our support. Professional development training is one way to do that. As many of you know this program has been largely responsible for raising our API scores and closing the achievement gap between our schools. With the current cuts this program is in jeopardy, but we have an opportunity to keep it funded with the Congresswoman's support. We would like to thank her from the bottom of our hearts, and our children's too."
By Jane Northrop
STAFF WRITER
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