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2009 High School valedictorians
4 out of 5 are former MSMS students
SELPA announces Spirit of Education Award winners
05/06/2009 - The Sonoma County SELPA selected two special education programs to receive its annual Spirit of Education Awards: Grade A Café at Mountain Shadows Middle School and Social Thinking Skills Program at Casa Grande High School. Representatives for these programs were recognized at the SELPA Superintendents’ Council meeting on May 4, where they received a plaque commemorating their achievement and $250 in support of ongoing program operations.
Grade A Café
Mountain Shadows Middle School
Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District
Teachers, Oliver Fraenkle and Jennifer Parchman
Principal, Dr. Laurie Mason
Interim Special Education Director, John Laughlin
Superintendent, Dr. Barbara Vrankovich
Grade A Café is a student-run business within a special day class. The students in this program operate a coffee “catering” service, making and delivering high-quality coffee drinks to the staff of Mountain Shadows Middle School. The program uses a curriculum that is aligned to essential standards in math, language arts, and science. At the same time, it provides meaningful opportunities for students to acquire workplace skills that will help ensure their future work success. Students in the Grade A Café are learning professionalism on the job, organization, teamwork, leadership, accounting, purchasing, and pricing. The teaching team has developed lesson plans, curricular materials, projects, and more, which means that this program can be easily duplicated in other settings. For information about starting a similar initiative, contact Laurie Mason, Ed.D., at (707) 792-4800 or laurie_mason@crpusd.org.
Eighth grader Joseph Pearson was chosen to represent Mountain Shadows Middle School as Honorary Student Mayor of Cotati for the month of January 2009.
Dr. Mason accompanied Joseph to both City Council meetings during the month, where he introduced himself, spoke about his school, talked about his academic goals, and advised the Council of improvements he and his peers would make to the city of Cotati.
