El Granada Principal Melinda Fore has accepted the position of Coordinator of Categorical Programs and Accountability for the San Mateo County Office of Education, effective July 1, 2008. Fore, who has held her current post since August, 2003, followed in the footsteps of now-Cunha Intermediate School Principal Mike Andrews. Prior to joining the Cabrillo USD management team, Fore served as Reading Recovery Specialist for the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary District.
“It’s a big loss for the District,” Cabrillo Unified School District Superintendent Rob Gaskill noted. “Melinda is a strong instructional leader and a very caring school principal. I never worried about programs and practices at El Granada under her watch.” During the past five years, El Granada has consistently met the Federal Average Yearly Progress (AYP) goals established by No Child Left Behind legislation. On the State of California’s Academic Performance Index, El Granada scores rose thirty points during that same period of time. Last year, the ocean-side school was one of only 461 out of 6,000 Title I schools in the state to receive the coveted Academic Achievement Award.
El Granada has added a highly successful Readers’ Workshop, housed an expansion of the fast-growing HEAL program, added a science consultant to supplement the instructional program, and reorganized multiple parent support groups under a single Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) banner during Fore’s years of service to the school. “I have a lot of mixed emotions,” Fore noted. “I will miss the kids. For everything I may have given them as Principal, they gave me back something bigger. I am also very proud of how teachers have been empowered at our school— they have become leaders.” “We will be posting this opening internally and externally on Monday,” Superintendent Gaskill commented. “We hope to be able to name a replacement by the next regularly scheduled Board meeting on August 14, if not sooner. We sure have some big shoes to fill.”
