County schools, districts honored with awards for distance learning

More than two dozen schools and 10 school districts in San Diego County have been recognized in a new state educational awards program.

The 2022 California Pivotal Practice Program was created this year in place of the California Department of Education’s Distinguished Schools program. It honors schools and districts that began innovative practices during the 2020-21 school year, when distance learning was put into place statewide because of the pandemic. Statewide, 727 schools and 121 school districts are being honored.

“I’m incredibly proud of these schools and districts for their creativity, dedication, and innovation in the face of adversity,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said in a statement. “These schools led incredible efforts to engage students, distribute technology, provide meals, and support the social and emotional well-being of students during an incredibly difficult time for schools and families.”

Because of the pandemic, state law suspended the reporting of state and local measurements on the 2020 and 2021 California School Dashboard. Instead, schools and districts submitted an application highlighting the innovative practices they developed to support their students in one of four target areas: Student Engagement, Distribution of Technology, Nutrition Services and Social Emotional Well-Being of Students.

In San Diego County, the district honorees are: Cardiff Elementary; Carlsbad Unified; Fallbrook Union Elementary; Fallbrook Union High; Grossmont Union High; Poway Unified; Rancho Santa Fe Elementary; San Pasqual Union Elementary; Santee; and Vista Unified.

Twenty-seven individual schools were also honored:

• Carlsbad Unified: Jefferson Elementary, Pacific Rim Elementary
• Fallbrook Union Elementary: Fallbrook Homeschool Academy, James E. Potter Intermediate, La Paloma Elementary, Live Oak Elementary, Maie Ellis Elementary, Mary Fay Pendleton, San Onofre Elementary
• Lakeside Union Elementary: River Valley Charter
• Poway Unified: Adobe Bluffs Elementary, Creekside Elementary, Deer Canyon Elementary, Midland Elementary, Monterey Ridge Elementary, Pomerado Elementary, Tierra Bonita Elementary, Valley Elementary, Willow Grove Elementary
• San Diego County Office of Education: Community Montessori, Dimensions Collaborative
• San Diego Unified: e3 Civic High, Jonas Salk Elementary, Kavod Charter, Mira Mesa High, San Diego Global Vision Academy
• Vista Unified: SIATech

See more about the CAAP Award, and links to the statewide lists of awardees, at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/sr/pp.