About LJCA

LJCA Mission Statement

The La Jolla Cluster Association is to promote and support excellence in education in all La Jolla public schools by:

Working collaboratively to meet the needs of our diverse student population through the K-12 school experience.
Preparing our students for college, careers and life by providing a rigorous, comprehensive, standards-based curriculum that includes technology, the visual and performing arts, physical education, and character education.

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LJCA is an organization that serves the five La Jolla public schools: La Jolla High, Muirlands Middle, and Birdrock, La Jolla and Torrey Pines elementaries. The executive board consists of 10 parents (2 from each school), 10 teachers (2 from each school), and five principals. The board held its first meeting on April 6, 2010.

In creating the cluster association, the founders cited the following goals:

to share ideas and resources.
to identify common goals for K through 12.
to build bridges between schools to ease transitions.
to determine spending priorities.
to have a unified voice when working with the district.
to create an environment of unity instead of competition in our community.
to help shape how clusters are formed and utilized throughout the district.

To volunteer, please visit the Contact Us page.

LJCA COMMITTEES

COMMUNITY EDUCATION:
Members: Parents Sharon Jones, Patty Garay, Melinda Gaffney, Margaret Ohara, and Cynthia Stratton.

DISTRICT RELATIONS:
Members: Parents Lisa Bonebrake, Fran Shimp, and Natascha Vossen.

FINANCE:
Members: Parent John May.

TECHNOLOGY:
Members: Staff members Sigurd Kallhovde (LJES), Andrea Flagiello (BRE), Julie Lin (TPE), James Matulac (MMS), and parents Sharon Jones, Lake Price, Abraham Talerman.

LJCA's PLACE IN THE DISTRICT

San Diego Unified is supportive of cluster organizations. In its "2020 Vision for Educational Excellence" statement, district leaders declared that in the year 2020 "schools and clusters will have increased authority to establish instructional strategies designed to assure the success of each student, and will be accountable for the results of those decisions." They also promised that "schools will offer opportunities that increase the capacity of the communities to meet their own needs." And they declared that by the year 2020 "The primary role of central administration will be one of support for school sites." The district board announced an administrative restructuring in April 2010 that was designed in part to enable the district to better support clusters.

LJCA IN ACTION

Since LJCA was founded, its board members have:

Organized a talk by Lynn O'Shaughnessy, a college admissions expert. She will speak at 6:30 p.m. April 26th at LJHS's Parker Auditorium.
Organized a second screening of Race to NoWhere: The dark side of America's Achievement Culture) for 6:30 p.m. March 22 at LJHS's Parker Auditorium.
Asked for more site involvement in teacher placements (Sept. 2011).
Worked with teachers and principals to identify what needs to change at their school campuses to better serve their students. Will be meeting with union representatives and district representatives on these issues soon.
Organized an internet safety course (May 2011).
Organized the airing of a documentary on education, called "Race to Nowhere: The dark side of America's achievement culture" (Sept. 2010).
Organized a public forum on candidates for school board seats (June 2010).
Protested an across-the-board mid-year budget cut as unfairly administrated. District officials agreed, and returned a portion of funds to schools throughout the district (January 2010).