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May 2008--Newsweek ranks PCS 13th in the list of top US public high schools

December 2007--U.S. News ranks PCS # 2 public high school in the nation

November 8, 2007--State Superintendent Jack O'Connell nominates PCS to be a national Blue Ribbon School

May 21, 2007-- Newsweek recognizes PCS as among America's "Public Elite" High Schools

2007 California Distinguished School

2007- College Board names PCS  top AP World History program in the US.

2006 -California Charter School of the Year

                          PCS--A School that Challenges and Rewards:

Pacific Collegiate School ’s mission is to provide exemplary, standards- based college preparatory and fine arts education for public middle and high school students of Santa Cruz County and bordering areas.  Our vision is to offer any student the same quality of education offered by the most academically distinguished schools in California .  Our graduates will be prepared to enter and thrive at the world’s finest colleges and universities.

In addition to a core college preparatory curriculum, Pacific Collegiate School will emphasize international, cross-cultural, and technological education in order to prepare graduates for life in the 21st Century.  Pacific Collegiate students will be introduced to the rich variety of world cultures and become fluent in at least one foreign language.  They will become proficient in the basic information technologies essential for cultural literacy in the 21st Century.

July 2, 2008

1. Office Closed – July

The PCS office is closed for the month of July.  Please make appointments with faculty and/or staff for August.

2. Transition Coordination - July/August

The PCS Board has appointed Shareen Bell as Transition Coordinator for the months of July and August.  During this period, Shareen will be the “go to” person for all issues, while the Board continues to focus on the Interim and Permanent Principal search.  Shareen’s involvement in this transition will ensure that the administrative re-structure proposed this past spring is rolled out in a coherent and timely manner. 

3. Cleary Family Update

Thank you to all families that have come forward to help the Cleary Family after the loss of their home in the tragic Bonny Doon Fire.  An amazing work day up on the Cleary Property happened this past Sunday.  

Financial contributions are still being accepted at the Bank of America.  If you want to mail a check, send it to the following address:  Bank of America, Attn. Corrine Cherry, 104 River Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060.  In the payee line, write "Cleary."  In the memo line, write Acct. #0176668011. 

4. Another Family Affected by Fire

Noa Morales’ (PCS 9th grader) dad, Mario Morales, lost his home in the Trabing Fire.  What he most needs is temporary housing.  He works in San Jose, so the home could be anywhere from here to there.  Thank you for any leads you may be able to pass his way.

5. Registration Packets & Annual Fund Drive Letters

Registration & Annual Fund Drive Packets have been mailed to families. Please fill in the requested material and mail them back to PCS by August 1, 2008.

6. Volunteer Hours Reporting

The volunteer reporting system is currently under construction.  Please wait to report summer hours until the new system is up and running.  We plan to have it completely ready when school starts at the end of August.  This system will make it much easier for your family to report and track your 40 hours of volunteerism for PCS.  We are working the kinks out!  Thank you for your patience!  Contact Susan Thornhill – s.thornhill@sbcglobal.net .

7. Facility Update

While there is much work to do to ready our Swift Street campus for the upcoming school year, the PCS Board is responsing to our facilities challenge by:

• continuing to call for interest-based negotiation /mediation with the Santa Cruz City Schools (SCCS)
• gathering and analyzing the information we need to prepare for a Proposition 39 request for facilities
• exploring our options for acquiring  a site independent of SCCS (through partnership, lease or purchase/build), as well as analyzing our financial capacity to do so.

 Many parents have already contacted us to offer assistance – thanks to all of you.  If you have expertise in Finance, Planning, Design and Construction, or Commercial Real Estate, or are not afraid of getting into the details of Prop 39 data analysis, we can use your help!  This will be an open community based process, so if you are interested in participating, please contact Ken Cole, Chair of Facilities, via e-mail at kcole@scshelter.org, to become involved.

8. Interim Principal Search

Do we need a full-time interim? For what duration do we need one? What skills do we need that person to possess to help us move forward with our goals for the year? What do faculty and staff need from this leader?  These are a few of the many questions we’ll be answering over the next two weeks as we begin the process of our Interim Head Search.  

Presently, a timeline and related tasks have been mapped out for the process. The Board and Administration worked collaboratively for six months on administrative restructuring to align our core business functions and effectively support our faculty and staff.  These structure changes and the expectations around them will be considered as the Board and Management Team continue to assess our needs related to an interim leader.  Our needs assessment will be completed in mid-July at which time a hiring committee will be appointed. Our intention is to have an Interim Head in place by the start of school to continue the smooth transition facilitated by Shareen Bell over the summer. Betsy Ronzano, Executive Committee PVA co-chair (pbk3@sbcglobal.net), will be leading the interim search process.

9. Permanent Principal/Superintendent Search

The first step in our search for the next Principal/Superintendent will be for the full Board to meet in August to discuss our needs and options, especially in light of our new administrative structure.  A search committee will be formed soon afterwards.  This will be one of the most important decisions we make together, and we plan to give it the time and resources it deserves.