Las Lomitas district is first in state in API test

Congratulations Ken Ranella and the MPCSD School Board for a 20 point increase! Fantastic results! The efforts by the excellent teachers, the supportive parents, the PTO and the Menlo Park Education Foundation are all operating in synch. What a great school district, and community. Thanks everyone for the focus and commitment toward making our schools great! Number 20 last year, number 15 this year, let's break the Top 10 for next year!!

Thank you Eric Hartwig, Larry Thomas and Gerry Traynor for once again helping Las Lomitas School District become the #1 ranked district in the state. Your leadership is much appreciated by the parents of the district and the community. Fantastic!

Lots of kool-aid to go around here. Everyone take a big swig.

The fact remains that our schools systems fail advanced students more than any other demographic. These are the kids that will form the backbone for future American innovation and economic progress, and very little attention is paid to them because "they don't need it". We even fail the kids who might strongly benefit from vocational training. As an engineer, this is very depressing.

Instead, we have districts spending millions of bond dollars on new fancy buildings, large performance stages, and an additional gym instead of directing more community money towards attracting the best teachers and beefing up teacher aides. I'm sure the new large performance stage at Oak Knoll will set the foundation for making sure American kids stop getting schooled by the rest of the First World and BRIC countries in math/science knowledge and performance. When I cast my support for the MPCSD projects at the voting booth and community meetings, I don't think I really thought about trade-offs. My mistake. Then we see an Almanac article with fretting by a MPCSD board member about ballooning enrollment and where they will find money to renovate old facilities in the Willows. Seems like some forethought and critical analysis was in order before running into a wall at 90 miles per hour.

Well, at least we'll have pretty buildings.

API yet another great marketing tool to pump up budgets, salaries, real estate prices. We'll see how things work itself out as the bubble deflates.

Pat yourself on the back for being #1 in api in the worst state. Great job! Keep up the good work and good luck to your disadvantaged students.