It’s official – Sonoma Valley High School has a new principal. Unanimously approved by the board at Tuesday night’s meeting, Dino Battaglini will take the reins for the 2010-2011 school year.
Battaglini hails from West Santa Rosa where he has commuted to his job as principal of Tomales High School for the past three years. During his tenure at Tomales Battaglini secured a six-year Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation, aligned course work to requirements set forth by state colleges, and provided academic support classes to ensure success for all students.
Previous to his post at Tomales High, Battaglini spent nine years as the vice principal of Antioch High School in the East Bay and one year in the same role at Pittsburgh High School. He began his career as a counselor at Parkway Heights Middle School in South San Francisco in 1994.
School board student trustee, Sean Hammett was entrusted with giving Battaglini a tour of the SVHS campus last week and said he is excited about the road ahead.
Also at the meeting, Sonoma Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) Assistant Superintendent Justin Frese gave the second interim budget report and discussed ways to continually pare the budget to prepare for further cuts to state education funding. An April 17 study session will specifically address the possible implementation of “green” projects like district-wide solar, geo-thermal, biodiesel and the use of electric bus fleets. According to Frese, converting current utilities could save the district an estimated half million dollars each year. Further, performance-based incentives from state could bring in an additional $600,000. “This could be a major solution to some of our biggest budget issues,” said Frese.
SVUSD Superintendent Louann Carlomagno gave an update on English Language Learners and English Language Development students by way of the 2010 language census. While the amount of both types of students fluctuates by school, the numbers are mostly on the rise with the exception of Sonoma Valley High School. Carlomagno speculated that perhaps ELD students at the high school were actually moving toward proficiency, thus the drop in the numbers.
Regardless, Carlomagno was adamant that English Language Development is not just the delivery of specific classes like social studies and math but rather, targeted classes in the English language, “ELD needs to be the specific teaching of English for learners who are developing their English.”
The school board approved the calendar for the upcoming school year. Important dates to remember can be found in the sidebar.
Important dates on the
2010-2011 school calendar
August 18, 2010
First day of school
November 24 – 26
Thanksgiving holiday
December 20 – 31
Winter break
March 28 – April 1
Spring break
April 25
Furlough day
June 2
Last day of school
