Principal's Message

Dear Parents,

Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year. We are off to a great start, and our students are busy with projects already! Thank you much to all of you who attended our Parent Business Night on August 25th or September 8th in Spanish, and a big shout out goes to our Penguin Parent Club who organized and facilitated the event. Thank you for your Family Giving donations to keep New Tech an innovative, cutting edge school for our students. I have been continuously impressed by the community involvement and the level of support from our families and students.

We have our Back to School night on Monday, September 26th from 6:30 to 8:15 pm, and look forward to seeing all our parents again for a night of meeting teachers. Please do plan on attending!

We continue to strive to educate our students so that they are fully prepared to go onto college or into a purposeful career, and want to enlist your support to ensure that your son or daughter has every opportunity to apply to a college, so that he or she knows that college is indeed an option!  Our school counselor, Ms. Martinez-Ramirez, is working diligently to help our students understand the minimum required courses (the "A-G courses") that all students must take in order to qualify for University of California or California State University campuses. Another important step is for all our 10th and 11th graders to take the Practice SAT test (the PSAT). All 10th and 11th graders should sign up for the PSAT by this Wednesday, September 21st in the main office. It costs $15 to take the PSAT, and financial aid is available. Please be sure your 10th or 11th grader signs up tomorrow or Wednesday!! The actual test will be given during school hours on Wednesday, October 12th.

I would like to make sure that I'm available to meet you and your students' needs, and to answer your questions and listen to your ideas and concerns. I am initiating a "Coffee with the Principal" event which will be an informal opportunity for us to meet together. Our first "Coffee" opportunity will be on Monday October 10th at 8:15 am, and will last 45 minutes. If you are able to attend, please just walk into the office, sign in on the sign in sheet, and we'll direct you to our meeting spot. There is no planned agenda for our first "Coffee", it will just be a chance for us to interact.



For those of you who are interested, here's a little bit about my background (feel free to skip this section!) My first day at New Technology HS was July 28th, but I have been following the school since it opened in 1996. I have been an educator for over 20 years, having started out as an English teacher at Cupertino High School in 1991. Back then, I was one of the first teachers at the school to have a Mac connected to the internet in my classroom for students to use. My journey as an educator includes time as a Senior Research Analyst at an educational marketing and consulting firm, as well as an Assistant Principal at a traditional high school. I participated in the start up of a project-based learning charter school in El Dorado County, serving as the internship coordinator and then the Principal. Before coming to New Tech HS, I was the Administrator for Student Learning, Curriculum & Assessment at a charter school in Sacramento with over 3600 students. I feel like it's a dream-come-true to be at New Technology HS, and my husband and two daughters are excited to be starting our lives in Napa.