Principal's Log

October 15, 2009

Dear Parents and Guardians!

We are well underway in this new school year.   Currently we have 100 students enrolled in San Andreas.  We opened the school year a little down on our usual opening number, but over the last six weeks we have enrolled around 30 new students.   As always at this time of year we are going through the usual settling routines of building a new and cohesive community of students.   Currently the campus is closed as we work to encourage all students to "get with the program!"

One of our proudest achievements at SA is our graduation rate!   The downside of having a 97-98% success rate is that each year we "lose" half of our school.   The seniors, who are always the steadying elements of any school, even more so at SA, are gone and we have to begin once again building the SA community.  As a staff, we work heard with new students to areaffirm that old behav iors and attitudes will not work at SA!   Over the last six weeks we have been meeting with students to make our expectations clear. Without doubt one of the complaines we hear is, "You can't do anything at SA!"  As we explain to students, our small size means that everyone knows your business and every teacher is invested in making sure students are successful!   Over the next few weeks we will continue to build community with our traditional Halloween BBQ, our Red Ribbon Week activities, our leadership Ropes course and our Thanksgiving Luncheon and talent show.

In much the same way, as we work with students to build the successful community at SA, we also want to invite you, the parents and guardians, to join us and help to shape the way forward for SA.  As a staff, we understand that previous high school experiences may, in some cases, have been a little "rough!"

The staff at San Andreas appreciates the trust you have placed in us to help your student to reach their goals.  Without your support we would not be able to provide the BBQ's and activities that help to reconnect your student to school and to provide the kind of community that encourages students to take risks with their learning and graduate high school.

I look forward to working with you over the next school year and to the opportunity to build stronger ties and even greater participation as we plan for the future at San Andreas.

Gerald Austin, Principal
San Andreas High School
Tamalpais Union High School District
415-945-3773
415-945-3754(fax)