Old Adobe District’s ‘bold vision’ proving a success

There are five elementary schools in the Old Adobe School District. Each is a public charter school and each has a different focus.|

One of the most unique school districts in California keeps evolving.

There are five elementary schools in the Old Adobe School District. Four of them are public charter schools and the fifth has been supported to also develop a theme. Each school has a different focus.

“It was a pretty bold vision,” acknowledges Old Adobe Superintendent Jason Lustig Yamashiro. “We are starting to settle into it. We’ve had a lot of success, but there is still work to be done.”

As Yamashiro begins his third year administering the district, there are many changes, and many innovations already made are maturing and growing.

The most obvious change is at Miwok Valley Language Academy, where a facelift has given the school a whole new look. It is the third modernization in the district in the past five years, following renovations at Loma Vista Immersion Academy in 2013 and LaTercera in 2014. Improvements at Old Adobe and Sonoma Mountain are planned in the next few years.

In the classroom, the Old Adobe District introduced the Bridges math program for third through fifth-grade students and the CPM program for students in the sixth- through 12th-grades in all schools last year, and Yamashiro says it has been a great success. This year, the focus will be on writing.

The curriculum continues to grow at district schools. An environmental component has been added to the arts focus at Old Adobe Charter School, and dance has been added to the art and music focus at Sonoma Mountain.

Old Adobe’s commitment to using technology in the classroom continues to grow with Chromebooks available for all students and teachers using MacBooks and iPads along with project televisions in their classrooms.

Yamashiro credits the teachers for embracing the technology.

“They (the teachers) have done an excellent job in the way they have accepted technology to engage the students,” he says, but quickly adds that it is the teachers who are most important. “Technology is a tool. It is not the teacher, and we have some excellent teachers,” he emphasizes.

Also on the bright side, the Old Adobe transitional kindergarten program, instituted two years ago, continues to grow with the addition of two more classes, and Kids Care extended day program continues to grow and evolve.

“It has grown tremendously over the past couple of years,” Yamashiro said in his welcome letter to parents. “It is now at every school and has evolved into far more than just child care.”

The program now includes academic support and a variety of optional activities, including technology classes, more sports, specialized art programs, gymnastics, magic and more.

Reversing a trend toward declining enrollment throughout the county, the Old Adobe District enrollment is up by 10 percent over the past 2½ years. Around 1,830 students now attend classes in the district.

All five school principals return, but there are a couple of changes in the district administration, with Chris Spores taking over as director of student services and Ben Borrego moving from the Fresno area to become the new director of facilities and transportation.

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