Crocker Highlands Elementary School

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Crocker Highlands Elementary School
Main entrance
Location
525 Midcrest Road Oakland CA 94610 USA
Information
School district	Oakland Unified School District
Enrollment	365 (as of 2005-06)[1]
Faculty	17.6 (on FTE basis)[1]
Student:teacher ratio	20.7[1]
Type	Public elementary school
Grades	K-5
Established	1925
Homepage	School wesbite

Crocker Highlands Elementary School is an elementary school located in Oakland, California, USA that is managed by the Oakland Unified School District. The school serves around 365 students from kindergarten through 5th grade. The principal is Chelda Ruff.^[2]

As of the 2005-06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 413 students and 36.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 11.4.^[1]

Contents 1 Demographics 2 History 3 Principal 4 Activities 4.1 History publication 4.2 Fund-raising 5 Selection procedures 6 Parental initiative 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Demographics

There are 18 faculty members for about 365 students, a student:teacher ratio of 20.7.^[3] The ethnic distribution is 42% African American, 41% Caucasian and 6% Hispanic.^[4]

[edit] History

When the school first opened on August 24, 1925, it contained five classrooms. The total enrollment was 407 students and 12 faculty members. The school operated out of eight portable buildings. Then, during 1929, the school was extended with permanent buildings. It consisted of eleven classrooms and an auditorium.^[5] Today there are ten classrooms, two special education rooms, a library, a music room, and a computer lab.

From 1999 to 2005, under the administration of Principal Gernert Lorenzen, hundreds of photographs he took were displayed on the school's walls. Lorenzen was popular with the students and knew each one of the 380 students by name. Academic Performance Index test scores rose from 730 to 869, and the school went from having enrollment so low that teachers may have been reassigned to other locations to becoming so popular that it had to turn away applicants. By 2005 half of the student body was from outside the neighborhood, a situation which helped create a more diverse student body. Each morning before classes, teachers met in a "community circle" to talk about student social skills, including values such as respect, compassion and understanding. Lorenzen kept his office open for visits from students, parents and others, and gave away gummy bear candies to students for reading (one gummy bear per page). Lorenzen would dress up as characters in books, such as the Cat in the Hat character. Other fun stunts included kissing a pig to raise money for the school and coming to school dressed as a cow for Halloween.^[6]

Margaret Harris, who replaced Lorenzen in 2005, resigned suddenly and without explanation (she said she had "personal reasons" and left it at that) just after the start of the 2006-2007 school year in September.^[7] Former Kaiser Elementary School Principal Katie McLane served as interim principal until the appointment of Chelda Ruff in December 2006.^[8]

[edit] Principal

Chelda Ruff a former vice principal and math administrator from Woodland Joint Unified School District near Sacramento, began her tenure on Dec. 11, 2006. She was also a math and technology teacher in the Travis Unified School District in Fairfield, California, where she developed an algebra curriculum for students in all grades. As a result of the program, in which students received tutoring before and after school, about 90 percent of the 100 students who participated each year passed California math standard exams. She has master's degrees in math education from San Francisco State; in curriculum and instruction from Chapman University, and in educational leadership from the University of California at Berkeley.^[8]

[edit] Activities

[edit] History publication

A published book Oakland: The City of Dreams, covering Oakland's history, culture and architecture, was researched, written, edited and designed by a class of eight-and nine-year old students.^[9]

[edit] Fund-raising

A student at the school, Christopher Rodriguez, was paralysed for life in January 2008 when he was hit by a bullet fired during an armed robbery.^[10] Grade 5 students raised $30,000 for him. This effort was notable for starting as a school initiative but one that expanded to involve the whole community.^[11]

[edit] Selection procedures

Crocker Highlands school was selected by the Oakland Unified School District to trial a new staff selection process. This was used in appointing Chelda Ruff as principal in January 2007.^[2]

[edit] Parental initiative

The school was the center of a parental initiative, in January 2003, to encourage parents to send their children to the local public schools, rather than resorting to private education.^[12]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site (maintained by the Crocker Highlands PTA}