The official web site of the Lowell Alumni Association

New Administrators Include Lowell Alumna
Two of Lowell’s three Assistant Principals are new this school year, although one has been affiliated with Lowell in other ways for years. Lowell alumna Janet (Lee) Tse, from the class of January 1968, is Lowell’s new Assistant Principal for Curriculum. Ms. Tse served as Dean at Lowell from 2000 to 2006 before moving to a position with the school district’s multilingual program. She returns to her alma mater hoping to “provide additional support to students who find Lowell daunting and challenging and help make their Lowell experience a rewarding one.” Our new Assistant Principal for Administration is Michael Yi, a veteran educator who has worked in China, Kansas and, most recently, at A.P. Giannini Middle School in San Francisco. One of Mr. Yi’s priorities is upgrading educational technology at Lowell, as evidenced by his recent establishment of a new online calendar of school events.

The Lowell community also expresses its appreciation and best wishes to our departing Assistant Principals, Janee Montelongo and Mary Streshly. Ms. Streshly is now the Principal at Half Moon Bay High School while Ms. Montelongo serves as a Vice Principal at Sacramento’s Florin High School.

New Staff Lounge Dedicated to Paul Lucey
Principal Andy Ishibashi hosted a special dedication ceremony this past June for Lowell’s new staff lounge, named in honor of long-time Lowell faculty member and administrator and Executive Director Emeritus of the Lowell Alumni Association, Paul Lucey. The lounge sports a bright new paint job, comfortable chairs and sofas and even an electric fireplace. Principal Ishibashi’s goal was to create a space with the look and feel of a residential living room rather than a company break room and, by all accounts, he has more than met that objective. Mr. Lucey was on hand for the dedication and expressed his heartfelt appreciation for being remembered in such a special way.

Lowell Freshmen Face Longer Classes
Members of the entering class of 2012 find themselves spending more time in class this semester due to schedule changes implemented to comply with California law mandating the minimum number of instructional minutes for high school students. In previous years, freshmen were required to log time in one of several resource centers to supplement time spent in classes, but now most freshman classes have been expanded from 200 minutes per week to about 260 minutes per week.

Lowell API Score Soars
Lowell students have consistently performed at such high levels that the school’s Academic Performance Index has been among the best of all California’s public high schools, with little room for improvement — or so it was thought. The recently-released scores showed a 12 point improvement at Lowell, yielding a score of 950 points out of a possible 1,000. All statistically significant subgroups at Lowell posted improved scores, including a 29 point gain by Latino students and a 19 point gain by students from socioeconomically disadvantaged families, who now average 944 points, almost identical to the school’s overall average. Lowell boasts the fifth-highest API score among California public high schools and the highest among public high schools with more than 1,000 students.

Applications for Admission Still Strong
More than 1,900 students applied for admission to Lowell’s class of 2012, with more than 85% of those applicants listing Lowell as their first choice among the city’s public high schools. (Under the current student assignment system, students are allowed to list ranked preferences for as many as seven different schools.) Of the more than 4,300 students seeking admission to the city’s public high schools this year, Lowell was by far the most popular first-choice pick, selected by 38% of all applicants city-wide. Lowell enrolled a total of just over 650 ninth graders this year.

Sports Headlines
Lowell athletes again dominated the Academic Athletic Association this past spring, taking nearly every team title in the league. The Cardinals earned team championships in badminton, varsity baseball, girls’ fencing, girls’ soccer, girls’ softball and boys’ volleyball. At the All-City swim meet, Lowell took the boys’ varsity, girls’ varsity and girls’ junior varsity titles. And at the All-City track and field meet, the boys’ varsity, girls’ varsity, boys’ frosh/soph and overall team titles went to Lowell. You can find the latest schedules and standings for all of Lowell’s sports teams at www.cifsf.org or www.lowellathletics.com.

More Campus News
For the latest and most comprehensive coverage of campus news, visit the website for Lowell’s award-winning student newspaper, The Lowell at TheLowell.org