September 26, 2004

Hello Millikan Family and Friends,

As of Friday the 24^th we are half way through the grade level orientations for all Millikan students.  Mr. Martinez was first to bring his 9^th grade students into the auditorium.  He had approximately four to five classes per period and it took two days to finish the entire group of Freshmen.  Next up were Mr. Downing's 10th graders.  Ms. Irving will bring her 11^th grade classes on Monday and Tuesday to be followed by Ms. Eveland's 12^th graders on Wednesday and Thursday.  During the orientations, the grade level counselors did an outstanding job of informing the 9^th and 10^th graders of what it takes to graduate from high school.  There was a great deal of discussion regarding being ready for university life.  The grade level administrators did a wonderful job of welcoming their students to RAMHI.  There were discussions regarding what is expected of our students when it comes to behavior, attendance and attitude.  Members of our Associated Student Body (ASB) then spoke to the students regarding ways that students can become involved with extra-curricular events.  I anticipate that the 11^th and 12^th grade classes will have very similar presentations over the course of the next four days.

In an attempt to give our students better organizational skills and prepare them to succeed in university and beyond, we have given every 9^th and 10^th grader a Robert A. Millikan High School planner.  We will give the 11^th and 12^th graders their planners during the upcoming grade level auditorium presentation.  During the presentation, the counselors and assistant principals gave the students ideas on how to use their planner.  As I spoke to the 9^th graders, I informed them that I will ask them to show me their planners during the course of the school year.  I am asking the parents to ask to see these same planners.  In the beginning of the planner is the Millikan High student handbook along with the rules and regulations for the District. Students should be noting all their assignments in the planners and this should be very helpful.  It has been my experience when my niece was a student at Millikan that she never had homework.  Unfortunately, when her first report came to our home, I then found out that homework was assigned by many of her teachers.  For those parents who have experienced similar situations these planners should be a big help!

For those of you who are looking for even more information regarding daily life at Millikan High School may I suggest the daily bulletin that is posted on our website http://www.lbusd.k12.ca.us/millikan/.  This bulletin is supposed to be read during the second period of every school day.  The Millikan website is currently undergoing construction.  Our webmaster, Tom Sutfin, spent many hours this summer revamping the website and making it even more user friendly.  Many parents have come to rely on the grades that are posted on-line.  We expect to see all classes posting their first set of grades for this school year within the next two weeks.

Last year saw the first editions of the Millikan school newsletter, 'The Rambler.'  Although the Rambler has not been seen in the last few years, it was formerly the most effective method of communication that Millikan High School had at its disposal.  Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) president, Tracy McCrabb, personally took on the job of producing last years two 'Ramblers.'  This year the publisher will be P.E.A.C.E. parent, Susie Hipp.  She has requested articles from every one of our smaller learning communities.  There are currently four dates for the articles to be turned into the publisher and they are as follows: October 21, January 14, March 18 and May 6.  I personally want to thank Ms. McCrabb and Ms. Hipp for all their volunteer efforts in regards to the 'Rambler.'  The PTSA has really come through in the past couple of years with a great deal of assistance for to support our mission to give of a superior education to our students.  If you have not joined the P.T.S.A.  I encourage you to do just that at the high school back to school night.  Back to School Night will take place on October 6^th at 6:00 p.m.

On Friday the 17^th of September, several Small Learning Communities on campus had a tailgate party before the football game that evening.  This idea was promoted by Mr. Tom Lind of the Q.U.E.S.T. ACADEMY and was a good time for all.  I can definitely see this idea taking off and becoming a Millikan tradition.

We recently had a fire drill on Tuesday the 21^st at 9:00 a.m.  The Long Beach Fire Department was present during the fire drill and we received a great evaluation.  The Fire Captain in charge of the drill stated that he was very impressed with the behavior of the students and short length of the drill.  It took less than 13 minutes to evacuate all the buildings and relocate the students to the football and soccer fields.

Mr. Woody Williams is once again initiating his recycling program at MHS.  The program is dedicated to intervene reducing in the amount of paper and plastic bottle waste that is produced at our school.  Rather than ending up in a landfill, our students and staff have created a plan to recycle these materials.  Matt Barnett, the campus environmental officer for our student government will be heading up the student effort and students will move the bins to the curb every Tuesday for collection.  Thank you Mr. Williams and Matt for all your efforts.

During the summer, the Goodwill of Long Beach and the Southbay placed a donation center in the north parking lot of Millikan High School.  According to Julie Dover of Goodwill, our center on campus was 'wildly successful.'  There was approximately $39,250 worth of donated goods donated to this non-profit organization.  Many of our students have used these donation centers to attain Service Learning Hours or earn merit points.  At this time we plan to invite the Goodwill back for both the winter and spring break.

Sometimes I will pass on information that is shared with me and this is just such an occasion.  ' Robert Rodriguez (12) earned a place in the gym as the 4th all-time fastest Ram with a time of 15:19 at the Dana Hills Invitational this past Saturday. 10th grader Anthony Granadino earned the honor of 2nd All Time Fastest Sophomore at Millikan with a time of 15:50. Coach White is very proud. '  'Anthony Granadin is a wonder. He could be Millikan's champion in two years. He did not even run cross-country last year. He has worked so hard this year.'  This is an amazing accomplishment for these student athletes.

On Friday, September 24^th, Ms. Brinkman and I attended a luncheon at the Universal Hilton in Universal City.  This luncheon was dedicated to outstanding teachers from throughout Los Angles County.  Our very own Mr. Steven Dublin was recognized as one of the three representatives from the Long Beach Unified School District.  Mr. Dublin is the P.E.A.C.E. Academy's Co-Lead Teacher, Economics/Government and International Negotiation teacher.  Mr. Dublin is one of our outstanding Millikan faculty and richly deserves all the recognition that he received.  I often walk through classrooms to witness the instruction that occurs at MHS.  I invariably stop in Mr. Dublin's class and enjoy the interaction between Steve and his students.  Along with Mr. Dublin, Ms. Sylvia Padilla was recognized as one of the top 13 teachers in LA County.  Ms. Padilla is a teacher of kindergartners at Patrick Henry Elementary School and the proud parent of MHS graduates and a current P.E.A.C.E. Academy student.  Both Steve and Sylvia will be recognized at the next board meeting on October 5^th.

The other P.E.A.C.E. Academy's Co-Lead Teacher, Nader Twal, has recently started tele-conferencing with classrooms in New Jersey and Indianapolis, Indiana.  The Ethics curriculum will focus on Environmental Ethics and the essential question will be: 'What is my personal, social, ethical and political responsibility to the environment in which I exist?'  The program is called ELEVATE and is a direct result of contacts that Mr. Twal made from his Milliken Family Foundation award.  He wrote a grant to purchase the necessary equipment for this project. Mr. Twal has been able to build a business partnership with Verizon and they helped with this project.  He had a great deal of assistance from our school's technology guru, Osvaldo Rios. 

Many of our teachers have been extremely busy over the summer preparing for their Fall classes.  One teacher in particular was busy in his classroom to the point of extremes.  Mr. Healy has been retooling his Architectural Design class and taking this class from the era of paper and pen to Computers and CAD programs.  He wrote a grant to
British Petroleum for the money that he would need to make this conversion.  Mr. Healy received the grant and now has 31 computers in his classroom.  I applaud Mr. Healy's and Mr. Twal's can – do attitudes.

As you can tell we have been very busy at RAMHI.  I want to thank all the staff members who have made the beginning of this school year such a success.  2004/05 will be another great year at Millikan, and we fully plan on continuing to raise the bar.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Principal,

Jeff