De Portola's organizational structure can be broken down into three areas including shared decision making, instructional leadership and stakeholder engagement. These three areas encompass the majority of both setting the school vision and implementing that vision. When these visions are combined with effective and powerful lines of communication, they produce a highly effective system for educating young people. Each of these structural elements are described below:
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Shared Decision Making
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Site Governance Team (SGT):
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Comprised of the principal, 3 certificated staff members, 1 classified, 3 parents, and 3 students
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Agenda set by the chair after input is collected from staff and parents
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Reviews school policy and operations
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School Site Council (SSC)
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Comprised of the principal, 3 certificated staff members, 1 classified, 3 parents and 3 students
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Agenda set by the chair
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Responsible for review and approval of Categorical funding driven by data and research based strategies
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Instructional Leadership
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Instructional Leadership Team (ILT)
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Comprised of interested Teachers (volunteers), Vice Principal, Principal
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Provides direction to professional development and instructional focus
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AVID Site Team
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Comprised of volunteer teachers
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Creates and monitors the implementation of the school plan for AVID implementation
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Stakeholder Engagement Groups
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Serra Cluster Council
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Comprised of the principal, a teacher, and a parent from each of the schools within the cluster (8 total)
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Meets monthly
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Intended to facilitate communication between the school sites and foster a stable system for vertical articulation
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Planned "Hang Out in the Hills" annual cluster event
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Foundation
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Comprised of volunteer teacher and parents
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Manages fundraising efforts, school volunteers, and field trips
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English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC)
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Comprised of interested parents of English Learners
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Provides feedback around the school's effort to educate English Learners
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Communication Systems
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Principal's Message (https://sites.google.com/a/sandi.net/de-portola-principal/principal-s-message)
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Video Recording of the principal, recorded every Monday and shown to all students during period 5
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Consists of student birthday recognition, good student habits, random planner check and recognition, school announcements, and character education
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Intended to provide a consistent message about school events to students and staff
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Sunday Message (https://sites.google.com/a/sandi.net/de-portola-principal/principal-s-sunday-message)
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Website based message to parents sent home every Sunday evening.
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Comprised of a review of the last week, calendar events for the coming week and any announcements sent in by staff
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Intended to provide a simplified, direct message to parents including important dates and information
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Accessible from any smart device
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PowerSchool Parent Portal
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Provides parents and students access to grade and attendance information
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All teachers use this system to communicate with families
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Google Apps for Education (GAFE)
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All school staff have been trained and are implementing GAFE at a variety of levels. Examples include:
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Schoolwide use of Google Calendars
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Google Sites with a customized De Portola Template
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Google Forms for discipline referrals, field trip forms... etc.
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Google Docs for home/school communication
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All De Portola students have access
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Website (deportola.org)
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Serves as the medium for many forms of communication and contains up-to-date calendar and policy details
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Professional Development Plan (https://goo.gl/KSjAfh)
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Professional Development meetings
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Assessment Plans
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School Focus
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Equity Levers
These groups and systems provide the structure to keep parents, students, and staff involved in the operation of school so that it runs smoothly. In a survey of parents from July 2017, 96.2% of parents reported being at least satisfied with home/school communication. Overall, De Portola runs very smoothly with a high degree of teamwork combined with a very active community.