This is one in a series of Q&A’s with employees new to Denair Unified in 2023-24.
Family: Husband and two sons
School: Denair Middle School
Subject taught: Special education
Experience and education: I worked as a paraprofessional for 1½ years in the district, but am new to teaching special education as a teacher. I tutored for nine years for all ages and taught preschool for 9½ years. I have a BA in political science and MPA. This fall, I will attend Teacher’s College of San Joaquin.
What attracted you to Denair? I like the small district.
What most inspires you about teaching? I enjoy seeing students succeed, especially after working so hard on something.
What is a challenge you look forward to tackling this year? Building relationships with all the students and having them be comfortable to learn.
What is your favorite teaching tool or activity? Group assignments, which allow students to interact with each other.
What do you want your students to remember? I want my students to remember the experience they had at DMS and how they were welcomed in my class.
How can parents support what you do? Open communication and understanding of their child’s behavior.
What would surprise people about your job? How rewarding it is, and the relationships that are built.
What do you do for fun? I play with my boys and my husky. I enjoy watching a baseball game (especially if the Giants win), fishing, creating with Legos and attending car shows.
This is one in a series of Q&A’s with employees new to Denair Unified in 2023-24.
Family: Husband, and children Samuel (college student) and Isabelle (second-grader)
School: Denair Middle School
Subject taught: Dual Language Immersion history (sixth, seventh and eighth grades) and English (sixth grade)
Experience and education: I have a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in Latin America Studies from Notre Dame de Namur 1999, an MBA from the University of Phoenix and graduated from the Teacher Preparation Program UC Merced. I was a substitute teacher from 2088 to 2020 and taught at Denair Middle School in 2021.
What attracted you to Denair? The dual language program at DUSD is the type of program I believe in. El programa de educación bilingüe en Denair es el tipo de programa en el cual yo siento que es mejor.
What most inspires you about teaching? Helping students to be lifelong learners is my goal every day. Ayudando a estudiantes que aprendan a lo largo de toda su vida.
What is a challenge you look forward to tackling this year? The biggest challenge for me this year will be being the new teacher on campus and getting to know the staff at DMS as well as my students. El mayor reto para mí este año será ser la nueva maestra en la escuela y conocer al personal de DMS, así como a mis estudiantes.
What is your favorite teaching tool or activity? My favorite activity is “Charade Vocabulary” because I enjoy watching students use new words to guess the correct vocabulary word. Mi actividad favorita es “Charade Vocabulary” porque disfruto observar a los estudiantes mientras usan nuevas palabras para adivinar el vocabulario correcto.
What do you want your students to remember? I want my students to remember that we are all “a work in progress” and therefore what this means is that “we never stop learning”. Quiero que mis alumnos recuerden que todos somos “un trabajo en progreso” y, por lo tanto, lo que esto significa es que “nunca dejamos de aprender”.
How can parents support what you do? Parents can create a no television, no cell phone, no tablet, no distraction “environment” for a few hours each evening so that their kids can focus on reading and homework. Routines create a stable environment in this hectic world. Padres pueden crear un ambiente de no televisión, no celular, no tableta y no distracciones por unas horas cada tarde en la que sus criaturas pueden leer y terminar sus tareas. Las rutinas nos ayudan a todos en estos tiempos tan apresurados.
What would surprise people about your job? I am amazed every day about how much teachers care about their students. Me fascina cada dia cuanto los maestros/as se preocupan de cada estudiante.
What do you do for fun? I enjoy going to the beaches around the world and camping whenever I can. Enjoying nature is important to me. Me encanta disfrutar del medio ambiente en la forma de ir acampar o visitando las playas del mundo.
Parents still have time to enroll their children into kindergarten and transitional kindergarten for the upcoming school year at Denair Elementary Charter Academy.
Interested parents must pick up a registration packet for the 2023-24 school year at the DECA office at 3773 Madera Ave. between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Families do not need to live in Denair to enroll their children at DECA.
Completed registration packets must include a copy of the child’s birth certificate, updated immunization records and proof of residency (such as a utility bill).
Parents must fully complete the registration packet and return it with the proper documentation by Aug. 4. The first day of school is Aug. 9.
For the 2023-24 school year, students whose fifth birthday occurs between Sept. 2 and April 2 are eligible to enroll in transitional kindergarten. Students whose fifth birthday occurs by Sept. 1 are eligible to enroll in kindergarten.
At DECA, parents may choose between two language tracks — the Dual Immersion Program and the traditional language program. Parents who wish to enroll their child in the Dual Immersion Program are requested to attend an orientation on Aug. 3 at 8 a.m. or 5 p.m. These will be the final parental orientations for any families interested in enrollment of in the Dual Immersion Program.
Class lists for both TK and kindergarten will be posted through Parent Square and Class Dojo on Aug. 8.
For parents who have already enrolled their child in TK, kindergarten or first grade, DECA offers an early acclimation opportunity called “JumpStart” on Aug. 2-3 from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. JumpStart is designed to introduce students to the campus, familiarize them with the daily routine, and help them develop essential self-regulation skills. Registration for JumpStart is available through this link.
Parents with questions are encouraged to call the DECA office at (209) 632-8887.
At DECA, students are exposed early on to the importance of attending college. There is a wide range of fun and important electives and after school activities, and an emphasis is placed on being safe, responsible, respectful and kind.
All this occurs on a pretty and well-maintained campus under the direction of an experienced staff who are passionate about educating students.
The dual immersion program continues through Denair Middle School where 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students expand and refine their academic vocabulary in both languages.
Immersion means just that. In kindergarten, 90% of the instruction is in Spanish, in first grade it drops to 80%, then 70% in second grade, 60% in third grade, and 50% in fourth and fifth grades.
Dual immersion teachers in kindergarten through second grade only speak Spanish in front of their students. English instruction takes place with other teachers.
It’s not just dual language immersion students who learn a second language. Students on the traditional track also receive Spanish instruction one to three times a week in the language lab.
In addition, DECA provides a variety of fun and challenging Academic Adventure electives, such as:
When the principal’s job opened up this spring at Denair Charter Academy, the school district didn’t have to look far for a well-qualified, enthusiastic and popular replacement. Jamie Pecot – who has taught in and then led the school’s math program the past nine years – was an easy choice.
“Jamie knows the DCA program very well, has strong relationships with students and has the full confidence of staff. Cheers erupted on campus when her appointment was announced!” said Denair Unified Superintendent Terry Metzger, who promoted Pecot in May.
Pecot is well-versed in DCA’s unique mission in the district – which is to work with home-school parents and their children in grades K-8 and also provide an independent study option for high school students for whom a traditional setting just isn’t the right fit. Pecot’s experience as a teacher gives her a valuable perspective on how to balance those important and very different responsibilities.
“One of the best parts to working with DCA is that we get to make individualized lesson plans for students in order to engage the student and advance them in their education,” Pecot explained.
Thanks to her background in the district – she began teaching math at Denair High School in 2005, then moved to DCA in 2014 – Pecot hit the ground running in her new position. She also has previous management experience as the summer school co-principal for four years as well as filling in during gaps between previous DCA principals.
“Each time, they have been a short-term experiences where I have time to be immersed in the daily workings of a principal and get a taste of the balancing act, then my duties are complete and I have time to reflect on the happenings,” Pecot said. “I feel like I was on the JV team before, getting experience and learning, and now I am ready for the varsity team and make DUSD proud of all the great programs going on at DCA.”
Metzger credited Pecot for having “taken on progressively more complex leadership roles at DCA over the last several years” and believes that background prepared her to become the full-time principal.
“Jamie has already started planning for next year and is working on some ideas to further improve services and programs for DCA students and their families. She’s taking a methodical approach to learning all of the facets of the principal role and I appreciate her thoughtful questions. She’s going to be a great addition to our administrative team,” Metzger said.
Pecot will lead a staff of 24 teachers. DCA’s enrollment currently sits at about 120, but that number always rises in the fall as high school students from throughout the region find their way to the independent study program. Regardless of age or grade level, Pecot said the relationships the staff forge with students and families is the key to their success.
“The staff is an energetic group of professionals with great ideas and a heart for helping students,” she said. “Our staff goes above and beyond to help students and find resources for the families when we can. Each staff member has a certain population of students that he/she really connects with. The difference in the population could be age group or personality type. We do a great job of matching the student with the staff member who is going to help the student reach his/her goals.”
Pecot grew up in Livermore, then came to the Central Valley when she enrolled at CSU Stanislaus. She “fell in love with the community, pace of life and friendliness of the community,” and can’t imagine living anywhere else today.
She has a degree in math as well as an administrative credential. Outside of work, Pecot and her husband enjoy traveling with their two daughters on fun trips. So far, they have visited 13 states and two other countries.
Summer school has a different look and feel in Denair this year. For the first time, the school district has partnered with EDMO, a Bay Area organization that specializes in summer and afterschool programs. The result is a fun-filled, high-energy and academically intense schedule that blends 16 Denair teachers with 16 EDMO employees and eight Denair support staff to present two two-week blocks of instruction in a camp-style environment.
The first block began Monday at the Denair Elementary Charter Academy campus and runs through June 16; the second begins June 19 and goes through June 30. There still is time for parents to register their children at https://enroll.edmo.org/partner_programs/edmo-deca-summer-2023. Only Denair students in grades TK through eight are eligible to enroll. There are about 150 students in the current block and room for at least that many more in the second.
EDMO’s program packs a lot of learning and activities into a full day. Students arrive as early as 7:30 a.m. and are treated to a free breakfast. An all-school rally is held at 8:15 to rev kids up and get them excited for the day. Then the students are broken up by grade level. From 8:45 to 10 a.m., Denair teachers focus on the first academic period – mostly reviewing concepts from the previous year to build retention and minimize the learning loss that can happen during the summer.
At 10, all students have a 15-minute snack break, then they move to the first of two STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) periods. Wednesday morning, for instance, transitional kindergarten and kindergarten students in teacher Betsy Clark’s class used the STEAM time to draw dinosaurs, which were part of an earlier lesson. Across campus at a picnic table outside under a pavilion, seventh-graders working with EDMO camp counselor Yasmin Rivera were learning about chemical reactions when things like iodine, vinegar and water are mixed with salt, baking soda and cornstarch. That built upon fun exercises Monday and Tuesday when the same students learned about fingerprints and the fingerprinting process.
“The idea was they were forensic crime scene investigators,” explained Kayla McCain, EDMO’s site director in Denair. “First, they learned about lifting and identifying fingerprints. Today, it’s about pretending they’re collecting evidence. They have to write down what they observe. It’s a science lesson that includes English skills.”
At 11 a.m., students return to their teachers for the second academic block, which emphasizes reading, writing and math. By 12:15 p.m., it’s time for lunch, which is free for all students, who are grouped by age during that time. After lunch, there is a 30-minute block led by EDMO staff devoted to social-emotional learning, followed by a half-hour of games and recess.
From 2 to 3 p.m., there is more STEAM enrichment time. The formal school day ends at 3:15 after a checkout rally, but many students remain on campus as late as 4:30 p.m., the last time parents can pick them up.
“It’s nine full hours,” said McCain. “It’s a long day.”
The relationship with EDMO came about after DECA Principal Laura Cardenas was intrigued after reading information in February about the organization. She brought the idea to Denair Superintendent Terry Metzger and, by April, Denair officials and EDMO began creating a vision of this summer’s program.
“I’m very excited because I think they’ll be a good partner for us,” said Metzger while strolling through the DECA campus Wednesday. Denair is the first district in the San Joaquin Valley to work with EDMO, which has primarily been in the Bay Area.
Denair is using state money from the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program to pay the $200,000 cost of the month long program.
