Sunrise Middle School

Sunrise students grew nearly two years in one in both math and reading this year.

The students grew 189 percent in reading on their local iReady tests, and 179 percent in math.

Alonso Guerrero was one of about 30 after school workers from four counties honored this morning at a California Expanded Learning Department “breakfast of champions” in Gilroy.

The state’s Region 5 awarded him an Excellence Award for his two years as our After School Director and Athletics Director.

Kudos also go to all our after school program staff – also, Renee, Alex, Luis, Helen, Joshua, Jose and Ivette.

Sunrise has one of the best attended after school programs in the state.

Specifically, Alonso, aka Mr. Bo, was honored for his work coordinating between teachers and after school instructors, organizing eight different teams throughout the year, working with parents and 8th graders on high school acceptance and coordinating other fun activities in the after school program. Mr. Bo started at Sunrise five years ago as a paraprofessional in the math classes.

Thank you, Alonso, and all the after school staff, for providing our youth with a nurturing second-home environment!

Sunrise Middle School celebrated its 13th anniversary Friday night with the unveiling of two new murals for the school, depicting the Aztec tradition as well as the fiery force of the phoenix rising!

Student and alumni speakers, student performers and Banda Xclusiva added to the evening’s excitement.

The 13th year has also seen the highest English and Math test results for middle schools in central San Jose, as well as strong reading and math growth of about two years in just the past year. Also, three 2nd place wins in league sports – for futsal, boys basketball and girls soccer. A possible 1st on the way!

Go Aztecs!

Sunrise Middle School outperformed other California schools with similar demographics on the state CAASPP tests last spring, the state of California reported today.

36.7% of Sunrise students scored proficient or higher in English, and 26.56% in math – compared to 31.91% in English and 19.09% in math statewide – for schools with low-income Latino populations. Students statewide, including from affluent schools, scored 46.66% proficient in English and 34.62% proficient in math.

Also – in another great achievement – nearly twice as many Sunrise students scored proficient on the state English Learner (ELPAC) exam as English Learners statewide: 31.34% as compared to 16.50%! Sunrise also scored much better on both exams (the CAASPP and the ELPAC) than nearly all of the other charter and district middle schools in downtown/East San Jose – in some cases twice as well. This was true for English Learners and special education students as well as the whole student population.

Sunrise attributes its strong scores to a well qualified and passionate staff, hard-working students and highly supportive parents.

Sunrise Middle will be reclassifying 34 percent of its English Learners this month, or twice the percentage that schools statewide are able to reclassify.

The school is able to reclassify 45 of its 132 English Learners, based on their scores (4 out of 4) on the state ELPAC and SBAC exams, their grades in English and other classes, and their teachers’ recommendations.

Last year schools statewide were able to reclassify about 15 percent of their students, based on ELPAC test scores and the other standards.

Sunrise Middle’s social studies teacher, Jaeve Luuhoang, was one of ten teachers awarded a Follow Your Bliss award from the 49ers Foundation.

Ms. Luuhoang was honored for her work on social justice and environmental issues with our youth.

Here she is shown with Harry Edwards, the namesake of the award. Mr. Edwards, 88, organized the two black Olympians that resulted in medals with black power fists, now shown on the stadium podium. He is an emeritus professor of sociology at UC Berkeley and leads the diversity program for the 49ers.

Also pictured here is Sunrise paraprofessional Jordan Monderen and the student body vice president, Alex Jose Garcia.

Sunrise Community,

Our hearts go out to all the people who have been affected by last Wednesday’s most tragic turn of events. It appears as if the attack was prompted by a gross misuse of social media.

We as a staff have reviewed this situation numerous times, after the incident, and after we met with our families Thursday evening.

We appreciate all your comments, questions and concerns and have tried to address them all.   We are open to meeting with you further. In addition, we will meet with our two parent advisory committees within the month on this same subject. 

Sunrise has had an excellent track record for safety these past 12 years, and we will continue to keep our school safe. We will not allow this one incident to define our school. We are a group of passionate and dedicated professionals who always put the needs of our students before anything else.

IMMEDIATE SAFETY MEASURES

Following Wednesday’s attack, staff did the following within a half hour: 

• Immediately called the police and 911
• Held back the assailant and brought him to an isolated and secure area
• Retrieved the weapon
• Administered first aid to the victim
• Removed students from the scene and brought them to another area of campus
• Notified parents, within 45 minutes

INTERMEDIATE SUPPORTS

In the days following the incident, staff provided:

• Counseling for all of our students in need
• Healing circles in the classrooms
• Cooperation with police on this matter and related social media issues
• Community meeting with all parents as well as individual meetings

LONGER TERM MEASURES FOR SAFETY

Responding to parent concerns, Sunrise staff has formulated the following measures to ensure future safety for our students:

• Portable metal detector for the school’s Director of Security
• Backpacks locked in classrooms during brunch and lunch
• Additional security before school, during brunch and lunch, after school and in between classes.
• Monitoring of students’ social media
• Advisories educating students on the dangers of social media
• Promotion of the STOPit app for reporting bullying and cyberbullying
• Continued consequences, including behavior contracts and mandatory parenting classes, for those who violate our cyberbullying policy
• Zero tolerance for dress code violations
• Expansion of counseling services
• School Site Council parent advisory committee tasked with oversight for school safety and security
• Expanded supervision of students before, during and after school
• Invitation to all parents to join our staff in supervising during lunch and brunch and before and after school (if interested, please call/text Ms. Ivette, parent liaison, at 650-868-6634.)
• Continued backpack checks in cases of reasonable suspicion
• Expansion of parenting classes to include one on mental health and first aid – contact Ms. Ivette, parent liaison, at 650-868-6634.
• Continued efforts to link troubled students with outside therapists

Again, we refuse to allow this one incident to define Sunrise. We honor all staff and parents who have worked diligently to make the school safe and secure for our awesome students. 

Just like the Phoenix, we will rise from the ashes of this tragic event and become all the stronger! 

It is with your help and continued teamwork that we will make this happen.

Sincerely,

The Administrative Team at Sunrise