Candidate for
County Superintendent of Schools; County of Riverside

http://www.rothblatt2006.com

"Let us put our minds together and see what kind of life we can make for our children."

Sitting Bull

Message to Teachers, Classified Staff and Site Administrators

Jim Rothblatt has provided 29 years of consistent, direct service to students, staff and parents on the front lines within schools across the county. In today's time he knows the stresses of the current workload being asked of the people who work directly with students. Through the political influence of this elected position, his primary role will be to reduce staff stress through empowerment for those who actually do the work. He will not ask staff to work harder or longer, but he will use his position to allow them to work together with efficiency.

County-Wide Student Assistance:

Jim Rothblatt is a team player who respectfully values each and every member of his educational teams for the delivery of the curricula to the students by their teachers. Everyone within the educational system exists to support the students and their teachers. It is the responsibility of administration to assess and eliminate any and all barriers to learning. Through an all inclusive open and honest dialogue, ongoing assessment and practical working plans for success for all becomes possible. Inclusion means: students and their families; school and district staff, both certificated and classified; post high school institutions; and the communities that the schools serve. The means for this system of dialogue is simple and can begin immediately and is described in the federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative known in the Riverside County Office of Education as Connect to Achieve.

This communication model has a 23 year history in the Desert Sands Unified School District (DSUSD) Student Assistance Program Model (SAP). Because of Connect to Achieve, this empowerment model of communication is finishing its 4th year in seven other school districts within Riverside County, including the 19 Riverside County Community Schools.

This SAP Model began as the Chemical Awareness Network (CAN) and was co-founded in 1983 in DSUSD by Jim Rothblatt and four other DSUSD staff. Connect to Achieve was written by Jim Rothblatt and Jan Ryan in 2002 and sought to replicate the DSUSD SAP Model in seven other school districts within Riverside County. Here is what has been said about Connect to Achieve and Jim Rothblatt agrees with every word": "Another special project, Connect To Achieve, has attracted $9 million in federal funding. This program was created to help students and families ward off problems with violence, drug, and alcohol abuse. Teams of law enforcement, prevention, and counseling professionals work together with RCAT to increase safety at district schools, which will in turn bolster student academic performance. Over 93,000 students will benefit from Connect to Achieve...."

The Regional Occupation Program (ROP)/Vocational Program ROP is a wonderful program, but under utilized. With the increased stresses put upon students who struggle to meet the current California academic achievement standards and the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), more and more students are opting out or being pushed out of comprehensive schools for alternative education or dropping out of school all together. Increased ROP access is a way to improve school connectedness for more student success and school involvement. Currently, students need to be 16 or 17 years old and usually are at least in the 11th grade before they can access any ROP service. Too many students have already exited their schools by this time. As County Superintendent of Schools, Jim will increase the availability of ROP through Career Awareness, Career Interest and the continued and expanded development of saleable skills for a broader student population. ROP has the potential to be the gateway between the local business communities and the schools. The potential for participating school districts is for a stronger elective program, 6th through 12th grade, that does not fiscally impact the selected schools' master schedules and at the same time offers the opportunity to reduce their average class size because of the increase of teaching staff on their campuses.

Alternative Education:

Riverside County Community Schools range across Riverside County and they are where students who have been expelled from their home districts and/or court ordered go for their education. These RCOE students are overseen by regional Community School Principals. Most, if not all, of these students are under behavioral contracts to complete a certain amount of community service. As County Superintendent of Schools, Jim Rothblatt would work to see that each site was responsible for a systematic approach to this community service responsibility, so that each student would make positive contributions to their community along with learning a saleable skill. Career Awareness, Career Interest, Career Aptitude and Career Skills would be at the center of each of these schools' curriculum, as would academic achievement based upon diagnostic testing. Many of these students already have diagnostic testing, e.g. Individual Education Plans (IEP), because they are Special Education students who happen to be over-represented in this student population as compared to the 23 school districts that they came from.

Along with academic and career development, the social emotional needs of these County Schools Students would also be addressed in a systematic way, enriching a sparcity of the existing support services. Jim Rothblatt has already been able to offer School Counseling to these approximately 3,000 students at the 19 county-wide school sites. This is not nearly enough service, but it is a first step for this important program of student support and behavioral and academic interventions.

By the circumstance of their County Communty Schools placement, these students, along with juvenile hall students, are among the most needy of school support services and they receive the least as compared with their home districts. Jim Rothblatt has been recognized nationally as an expert with a unique vison in working with "at risk" student populations and he will make a difference for these students.

Riverside County Office of Education areas of direct service:

Special Education Head Start/ State Pre-School Alternative Education including Community Schools, Adult Jail Schools, Correctional Education Programs CalSafe Programs (pregnant and parenting teen education) Court Child Care Foster Youth Home Education Migrant Education Training for county-wide staff

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