Monthly Archives: August 2017

A new day for English classes at Vaca High – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Staffed by a full complement of employees, the Vacaville High main office Wednesday seemed ready for the first day of the new academic year, today: Postcard-sized paw prints, a symbol of the school mascot, a bulldog, in school colors orange and black, decorated computer monitors; a Bulldog Nation bulletin board was affixed to one wall near the principal’s office; and athletic forms and schedules and yearbook order forms were available near the front counter for students. A few students came and left.

But, at first glance the school’s new, two-story English building, with work crews in white hard hats pouring concrete, painters adding finishing brushwork here and there, looked anything but ready for the hundreds of teenagers that will begin filing into its 15 brand-new classrooms.

Source: A new day for English classes at Vaca High

Fairfield-Suisun school year kicks off with day of many firsts – Daily Republic

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By Amy Maginnis-Honey

It was a day of many firsts on the first day of the 2017-18 school year in the Fairfield-Suisun School District.

For Atreyu Jilpas, it was his very first day of school. The 5-year-old waited anxiously with his Super Mario backpack and Star Wars jacket to meet his kindergarten teacher at Crescent Elementary.

In a transitional kindergarten classroom at the school, Paula Clanton was having the first day of her final year of teaching. She retires at the end of the year, having spent 17 of 19 years at Crescent.

Source: Fairfield-Suisun school year kicks off with day of many firsts

Renovated Solano College theater steals show at ribbon-cutting – Daily Republic

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By Bill Hicks

Anyone who had ever been to Solano Community College’s previous Theatre Arts building might have a memory of a theater that was adequate but didn’t necessarily bowl anyone over in terms of aesthetics and general functionality.

The concessions were previously sold, for instance, out of a closet.

That has all changed.

Guests at the college’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday took a tour of the fully refurbished performing arts center and the transformation was monumental.

“It was a full renovation,” college President-Superintendent Celia Esposito-Noy said. “This project was made necessary for a number of health and safety reasons.”

Source: Renovated Solano College theater steals show at ribbon-cutting

School board to kick off 2017-2018 year with Measure S update – Benicia Herald

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By Nick Sestanovich

Benicia Unified School District schools are nearly back in session for the 2017-2018 year, and so are the Governing Board meetings. As is usually the case, one of the items on the agenda is devoted to providing an update on the status of Measure S bond projects.

Measure S is an initiative approved by Benicia voters in 2014 to provide $49.6 million in bond funding for renovation and upgrades of school facilities. Bond projects completed to date include upgrading the technology infrastructure at all seven schools, playground enhancements at all four elementary schools, exterior painting at Benicia High School and repairing the roofs at Benicia Middle School and Mary Farmar Elementary School.Bond Director Roxanne Egan will deliver an update on items that were discussed at the July 25 BUSD Citizens’ Oversight Committee meeting, as well as updates on items being funded by Measure S.

Source: School board to kick off 2017-2018 year with Measure S update

Vallejo trustees narrow search for new superintendent – Times Herald

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By John Glidden

A candidate has been identified as the next possible Vallejo school district superintendent, trustees announced this week.

The Vallejo City Unified School District Board of Education met in closed session over two days last week interviewing several candidates.

“The board conducted two rounds of interviews and then identified a candidate for further review,” Trustee Marianne Kearney-Brown wrote in a news release to the Times-Herald.

The candidate is expected to make a site visit to the district.

Additional vetting of the candidate will occur and the board is “in the process of selecting representatives of key stakeholder groups to participate in the site visit.”

“After this additional work is completed, the board will determine whether to offer a contract or conduct additional interviews,” the release further states.

Source: Vallejo trustees narrow search for new superintendent

Check your kids vaccine record as school starts – Times Herald

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By Tracy Seipel

August — ouch — is National Immunization Awareness Month and the start of school for many, timely reminders why local and state public health​ officials are urging parents to make sure their children are up to speed with their vaccines, preventing diseases like measles and whooping cough that can easily spread in childcare and school settings.

Actually, it’s not just a reminder, it’s the law — and one that got even tougher in California starting last summer when parents no longer were allowed to opt out of immunizations for their children, save for legitimate medical exemptions. Students attending a home-based private school or an independent study program with no classroom-based instruction also are exempted from the law.

In fact, Napa County Public Health Officer Karen Relucio reminded parents recently that children’s vaccinations must be up to date for them to attend school.

Source: Check your kids vaccine record

Measure Q contracts, DoD grant are on SCC board agenda – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Several contract change orders related to Measure Q, a Department of Defense grant, an agreement with the Bay Area Clean Water Agencies for classroom instruction are on the agenda when Solano Community College leaders meet tonight in Fairfield.

Trustees will review and likely approve some half-dozen small Measure Q contracts before considering a significantly larger one with Pacific Gas & Electric for electric service facilities for intersection improvements at the Vacaville Center on North Village Parkway. The contract is nearly $68,000 to relocate a junction vault out of a classroom building driveway. It does not include related trenching work, according to agenda documents. (Measure Q was the $348 million bond passed by Solano County voters in 2012 to improve and modernize college facilities.)

Source: Measure Q contracts, DoD grant are on SCC board agenda

Vacaville school district ranked in detailed income-expense comparative analysis – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Vacaville Unified leaders late last week were nowhere near a school cafeteria but they heard plenty of information from representatives of an advocacy educational resources firm that provided food for thought as the district’s new academic year begins Thursday.

Two employees from the Sacramento-based School Services of California Inc., which offers business, financial, management and support for the state’s 1,000 school districts, laid out the numbers during Thursdays’s governing board meeting, an comparative analysis of district income and expenses side-by-side with a dozen primarily other Bay Area districts for the 2015-16 year (the most recent for which their specific data was available).

School district officials had requested the analysis, Sheila Vickers, a company vice president, told trustees. The analysis and comparisons cast an eye on districts with similar average daily attendance and percentages of “unduplicated” students, that is, English learners, low-income and foster youth.

Source: Vacaville school district ranked in detailed income-expense comparative analysis

Students to get supplies boost from NorthBay program – Daily Republic

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By Todd R. Hansen

Hundreds of students at two Solano County elementary schools will get a better start to the new school year because of donations to the Fill-the-Ambulance program.

“Anytime you can get resources into the hands of kids, it’s going to have a powerful impact,” said George Porter, the first-year principal at Fairview Elementary School in Fairfield.

Also benefitting from the NorthBay Healthcare program is Eugene Padan Elementary School in Vacaville.

Source: Students to get supplies boost from NorthBay program

State superintendent candidates agree teacher shortage must be top priority | EdSource

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By John Fensterwald

At an education conference Thursday, the two announced candidates for state superintendent of public instruction called for more strategies to counter a teacher shortage they said is gripping the state. The comments by Marshall Tuck and Tony Thurmond indicate the issue will factor heavily in their campaigns to replace retiring State Superintendent Tom Torlakson next year.

“The shortage is a massive crisis that few are talking about,” said Tuck, a former president of the Green Dot charter network in Los Angeles, who is making his second run for the office. Adopting short- and long-term approaches “must be the number one priority in the state,” he said.

Source: State superintendent candidates agree teacher shortage must be top priority | EdSource

Vallejo school trustees asked to approve several RFPs – Times Herald

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By John Glidden

Several request for proposals are before the Vallejo City Unified School District Board of Education for approval this week.

Trustees are being asked to solicit RFPs for new fencing at numerous school sites, including Vallejo Charter School, Cave Language Academy, Wardlaw, Cooper, Highland, Patterson, and Widenmann elementary schools. Hogan middle, along with Jesse Bethel and John Finney high schools are also expected to receive new fencing.

“In alignment with the district’s goal to provide a safe and supportive environment for all students, it is necessary to replace existing fencing and add new fencing to certain areas throughout the district,” staff wrote.

Work would include installing 6-foot wrought iron fences, and/or 5- and 6-foot chain link fencing.

 

Source: Vallejo school trustees asked to approve several RFPs

Kairos leaders to discuss board goals, review 45-day revised budget – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Kairos Public School Vacaville Academy leaders, when they meet tonight, will hold a workshop on board of directors goals, hear updates on facilities and enrollments, review the 45-day revised budget, and discuss staff bonuses for eligible employee groups.

The independent charter school’s seven-member board will consider its goals for the 2017-18 academic year, and, once developed, the goals will be adopted at a future board meeting.

Among the proposed goals are fiscal soundness; academic growth and excellence; and pursuit of strategies to increase student diversity.

Jared Austin, co-founder and executive director of the 129 Elm St. campus, which is aligned with Vacaville Unified, will lead the update about facilities, including the Kairos Innovative Scholars Program, or KISP, the TK-8 school’s independent study and home-schooling program, housed on Alamo Drive.

Source: Kairos leaders to discuss board goals, review 45-day revised budget

SCOE lands grant to help homeless students – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

A little help is on the way for Solano County’s homeless students.

The County Office of Education has been awarded a grant of nearly $38,000 by the California Department of Education to aid homeless students. Superintendent Lisette Estrella-Henderson made the announcement in a press release late last week.

She said training will be offered to local school districts to increase awareness among school staff countywide and to make sure consistent, effective practices regarding the identification of homeless students and knowledge about the kinds of resources available to meet their needs.

Homeless public school students are defined under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, a federal law originally passed in 1987 and reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2016. The purpose of the act is to guarantee that homeless students have the same access to education as other students.

Source: SCOE lands grant to help homeless students

Solano Community College welcomes students for new year – Daily Republic

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By Susan Hiland

Students crossed the Solano Community College campus Monday, some heading to classes for the first time and others returning for another year of education.

Kaitlin Fickas, 19, of Vallejo, is entering her second year at the college where she is studying nursing, taking inspiration from her mother who is a nurse. Fickas just got finished with a summer session and was not nervous about the coming year.

“The money is good in the Bay Area for nurses,” she said. “And I am good at science.”Fickas said she is looking forward to getting her associate degree and starting work.This year the school welcomed 9,600 students.

Source: Solano Community College welcomes students for new year

Vallejo school board declines to support computer resolution – Times Herald

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By John Glidden

The Vallejo City Unified School District will continue to buy new and refurbished computers.

Meeting on Aug. 2, the board of education declined to support a resolution directing district staff to purchase only used computers for classroom and office use during fiscal year 2017-18.

Board Vice President Burky Worel brought forth the resolution, admitting he only did so to put his fellow trustees on record regarding their respective beliefs on the issue.

The handful of teachers who addressed the board offered different reasons on why refurbished computers would not be helpful to students. One teacher said the used computers may not be physically capable of withstanding use in a classroom, nor have the ability to run the needed specific programs.

Former Vallejo trustee Hazel Wilson registered her disapproval with the resolution, stating it would not help the district save money.

Source: Vallejo school board declines to support computer resolution

Kairos leader extols charter school’s positives – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Kairos Public School Vacaville Academy, an independent charter school aligned with Vacaville Unified, has grown by nearly 100 students since its founding three years ago, has some of the highest standardized test scores in Solano County, and will remain on a firm fiscal footing this year and the next two.

Those are among the facts Jared Austin, co-founder and executive director of the Elm Street campus, offered the Vacaville Unified governing board during his annual update presentation Thursday in the Educational Services Center.

Source: Kairos leader extols charter schools’ positives

New era for SCC’s biotech, science programs – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Solano Community College’s biotech manufacturing program has earned a sterling reputation for excellence, turning out graduates ready for 21st-century jobs, and on Monday faculty and students enrolled in the academic discipline will walk into a gleaming, $34.5 million, state-of-the-art structure in Vacaville to continue to enhance that reputation.

The celebratory day, the first of the 2017-18 academic year for SCC, will come a few weeks and a year after school leaders broke ground on the 38,000-square-foot project on North Village Parkway and a just few weeks after the same leaders broke ground on a new $37 million, 44,000-square-foot science building at the main Fairfield campus on Suisun Valley Road.

The projects, clearly a significant boost to the school’s educational mission and perhaps the envy of other colleges, are financed by Measure Q, the $348 million bond measure Solano County voters passed in 2012.

Source: New era for SCC’s bitech, science programs

Students get new backpacks, supplies for new school year – Daily Republic

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By Susan Hiland

Parents and students lined up early in the morning, Saturday, for kids to get much-needed school supplies for the upcoming school year.

St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Fairfield hosted the annual back-to-school day event, with more than 1,500 families coming to get a free backpack.

“This year we have 1481 backpacks to giveaway,” said Tim Goree, Public Information Officer for Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District.

The backpacks came fully-loaded with paper, pencils, pens, ruler, and calculator.

Source: Students get new backpacks, supplies for new school year

Students, parents get taste of fashions for new school year – Daily Republic

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By Susan Hiland

School is starting soon and many parents have begun to shop for new clothing for the upcoming year.

Sunday’s Back To School Fashion Show, hosted by J.C. Penney, gave students and parents a preview of some new fashion finds, which were modeled by students from Oakbrook Academy of the Arts’ dance program and Fairfield High School’s Fashion Club. There were five fashion categories, from kindergarten to 12th grade.

Fashions ranged from graphic T-shirts and dresses to cropped pants and sneakers to sparkling accessories and more.

Source: Students, parents get taste of fashions for new school year

Benicia High grad earns Gold Award for efforts to refurbish Mare Island center – Benicia Herald

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By Nick Sestanovich

After 13 years as a Girl Scout, Emily Radtke of Troop 20640 received the highest honor she possibly could: a Gold Award. The award was a culmination of more than 8 months of work to address Vallejo’s homeless problem.

Radtke, an 18-year-old recent Benicia High School graduate, joined the Girl Scouts at the age of 5 at the Daisy level. She continued with the organization until she recently graduated at the Ambassador level. As one of her final tasks Radtke, chose to work toward a Gold Award, which is no easy task. A scout has to put in a minimum of 80 hours completing an individual service project that address in issue in their community.

Radtke decided to help the homeless population in Vallejo and did so by partnering with the Global Center for Success on Mare Island, a nonprofit organization that aims to help the homeless and lower-income members of Vallejo’s population through such services as life skills counseling, financial and computer literacy classes, GED training, and health and wellness education. Radtke learned about the Global Center for Success after visiting Vallejo’s Christian Help Center, a partner of the center. She decided she would focus her project on helping out there.

Source: Girl Scout, Benicia High grad earns Gold Award for efforts to refurbish Mare Island center