District News

On September 30, 2021, the Campbell Union School District Governing Board provisionally appointed William Slade to the seat vacated when Member Pablo A. Beltran resigned in August. 

Slade, an accountant and managing director, lives in San Jose and represents Trustee Area 3. His son is in fourth grade at Blackford School. 

“We had some really strong candidates to choose from,” said Board President Richard Nguyen. “We think William’s skill set and perspective as an involved parent will be a strong addition to the board.”

An active school volunteer, Slade also served as president of the Blackford School Site Council, which he found gratifying because he could apply his day job skills to a very different industry.

“My father preached that a solid education is the great equalizer and stepping stone to improve oneself,” Slade said. “To be involved at the 10,000-foot level allows for the general shaping of our future. My time on the School Site Council gave me a small window into this function. To work toward those goals at the district level is an exciting opportunity.”

A person appointed to fill a vacancy holds the office only until the next regularly scheduled election for district governing board members. In November 2022, an election will be held to fill the vacancy for the remainder of Beltran's term, which expires December 2024. 

To the non-educator, the goal “Every Child a Reader by Third Grade” may seem simple. It isn’t.

“Learning to read is complex,” said Whitney Holton, Campbell Union School District’s Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services. “And teaching reading requires deep knowledge of the curriculum, identifying the obstacles to student learning, and professional expertise for advancing the student’s ability and desire to read and write.”

The district is focusing resources and teacher professional development on strengthening those skills for every student, especially in the early primary grades. A long-term study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that students who were not proficient in reading by the end of third grade were four times more likely to drop out of high school than proficient readers. Reaching literacy by third grade has long been a goal of California schools and a key benchmark in measuring and predicting student success. 

Skilled reading is developed over time. Learning to read and then reading to learn are fundamental to student success.

“Our teachers use a systematic scope and sequence of phonics skills and multiple strategies and methods to establish strong foundational skills in literacy and to address any learning gaps that emerge,” said District-wide Administrator of Literacy Tiffany Spaudling. “At the same time, teachers are building vocabulary and language comprehension through exposure and discussions about rich texts.”

For the younger students in transitional kindergarten through second grade, teachers are using the CKLA curriculum to further the goal of “Every Child a Reader by Third Grade.” Teachers who participated in the LETRS course identified the need for more resources for teaching phonemic awareness and some teachers are piloting the Heggerty curriculum as a supplement. 

LETRS is a two-year course written by Louise C. Moats, Ed.D., a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Carol A. Tolman, Ed.D. Thirty-four CUSD teachers have completed the full two-year program, and 62 more have finished year one or are just starting this year.

For the older students, grades 3 through 8, teachers are using various approaches to strengthen specific skills to support individual student needs. To address gaps in phonics, they use the Sonday Essentials curriculum to identify specific missing skills. Teachers use flexible groupings so students can receive targeted instruction specific to their needs. 

Supporting Literacy At Home

“Whether your student is starting to hear sounds in words, bringing home stories to read that align to the phonics lessons they have learned in class, talking about echo and choral reading to improve their fluency, or getting to spend time with other teachers at their school, know that all of this is a sign that they are building their reading skills,” Spaulding said.

At home, she advises pulling out a great story or nonfiction text, talking about what you are reading and discussing new words your student may not know. If you want more ideas on how to support this at home, visit this website.

Campbell Union School District invites you to view some special work by talented students on display through October at the Campbell Historical Museum's Ainsley House.

Students in the district's Summer FUN program worked with artists from Arthouse Studio who taught them the importance of imagination and creativity in their lives by giving them a glimpse into their potential as innovative thinkers, problem solvers and change makers. The City of Campbell and Arthouse Studio arranged for the exhibit, which is sponsored by Gitlab.

The Summer FUN program is one of several ways that the Campbell Union School District is providing students with supplemental instruction and support for social and emotional well-being that the community said were priorities. The program was made possible through one-time Expanded Learning Opportunity (ELO) grant and community partnerships.   

Classrooms across the district tuned in to the 2021-22 Wonder Wednesday series this week and developed a clearer picture of how different school is now compared to decades past. The monthly series will also support student teams that participate in the 2021-22 Design Challenge in which students will create exhibits to display at the Campbell History Museum in April.

In the September 15 episode, Campbell History Museum Director Kerry Perkins shared photos showing what schools were like when the district was formed over 100 years ago. She described how rural this region was and how schools grew from one-room school houses where students from all grades were together with one teacher into bigger schools with a room and teacher for each grade. 

Campbell Union School District Superintendent, Dr. Shelly Viramontez, spoke about her experience in the district, which began as a kindergarten student in the late 1960s.

With photos, she described the differences between what going to school was like for her versus what students experience today. 

“We didn’t sit on balls or have furniture that could be moved around easily. We sat in rows at our desks and moving around was frowned upon,” she said. She added that students didn’t use Chromebooks or apps. “Our technology was a pencil.” 

Wonder Wednesdays are a monthly online feature aimed at inspiring students’ curiosity and creativity. Information is online at https://cusd.link/3zbt0dr.

  Save the Date!  CUSD Centennial Celebration!

Saturday, April 30, 2022

Featuring Students’ Design Challenge Exhibits in Campbell History Museum

Student Art and Music Performances

Downtown Campbell Concert (with two professional bands)

More information and photos on our Centennial Website.