Volunteers

LOS ALAMITOS – Back in the mid 1990s, Los Alamitos Unified School District planned to sell off an old elementary campus that had lain empty for 13 years.

But after scores of residents protested, district officials decided instead to reopen the school in the quiet Rossmoor neighborhood as a magnet-type campus, open to anyone in the district, with a strong focus on academics.

Fourteen years later, Jack L. Weaver Elementary ranks as one of the best schools in the state – and as the No. 3 elementary in the 2010 Register survey of Orange County's public schools. (Click here to review our database on all 388 elementary schools.)

The school's Academic Performance Index of 980 is the second best in Orange County and 22nd highest in California, out of some 10,000 schools. Last year, 98 percent of students tested proficient in math and 95 percent were proficient in English. Weaver also received a 10, the highest possible academic rating from GreatSchools, a education nonprofit that works with the Register.

Scores like those are what drew Mike Maiter and his wife from New York City to Orange County when their four young children were ready to start school. The family moved specifically to the Los Alamitos area so the children could attend Weaver, he said.

"We knew we wanted to leave New York and move to a warm suburban area, but we didn't know exactly where," said Maiter, a lawyer who spent countless hours on the Internet researching schools across the country. "Then we found Weaver and we knew that's were we belonged."

Principal Erin Kominsky said other families have also moved to the neighborhood – though perhaps not from as far away as New York – so their children could enroll in Weaver.

Maiter and other parents said they're also drawn to the sense of community at the school. A flower-lined reading garden, with inspirational quotes etched on rocks and stone benches, provide students with a peaceful escape. Students also paint hallways with bright rainbows, trees, flowers and whales – the school mascot – to give them a sense of ownership of their campus.

Kominsky, principal since the school reopened in 1996, also attributes Weaver's success to hard-working teachers, strong parental involvement and an innovative curriculum that keeps students excited about learning.

"The staff here is really driven to perfection, but parents are also very devoted to make Weaver the success it is today," Kominsky said.

Weaver is one of a growing number of schools in the county to implement a math program from the MIND Research Institute, which helps students learn fractions, division, multiplication and other functions through music theory and computer games.

In computer labs, an animated penguin named JiJi leads students through games that require them to solve math problems along the way. Students also use piano keyboards in music classes to learn how to read sheet music using math equations.

Weaver was also the first school countywide to implement the Cognitive Guided Instruction program, where math teachers emphasize the logic behind problem solving.

Children are not shown how to solve the problems. Instead, each child solves them in any way that they can, sometimes in more than one way, and reports how the problem was solved to peers and teacher. Students are also allowed to use various physical materials to assist them in solving the problems. Each child decides how and when to use the materials, fingers, paper and pencil; or to solve the problem mentally.

The school also has "an army of parents" working behind the scenes and alongside teachers. The principal said she has an average of 50 parents volunteering each day. Many spend 30 hours or more each week organizing fundraisers, printing copies, supervising during recess, and performing other tasks so teachers can spend more time with students.

"Teachers should be in the classroom, or planning for lessons. That's what we work to do here as parents," said parent Carol Simonet. "People who first step onto the campus are really amazed by all the activities here that are supported by the parent community."