Monthly Archives: October 2012

California Watch: K–12: Students support, but don’t always eat, new school lunches

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Joanna Lin

In a taste test of new lunch items last year at the Long Beach Unified School District, the “fiesta salad” received a nearly 73 percent approval rating. One student even declared that the dish of pinto beans, cilantro, corn, tomatoes and cayenne pepper was “better than McDonald’s.” Yet the salad was a flop when the district put it on the menu this year.

Long Beach Unified isn’t the only district in California dealing with lunchtime trial and error. In an effort to feed kids healthier foods, new federal nutrition standards require schools to offer more fruits and vegetables, regulate calories, and emphasize whole grains, among other changes.

A new statewide survey shows that while students overwhelmingly support the new nutrition standards, most are tossing the foods they don’t like. About 40 percent of students say they eat school lunches in their entirety, according to the survey commissioned by The California Endowment, which provides funding to a number of media organizations, including California Watch.

via Students support, but don’t always eat, new school lunches.

California Watch: K–12: In search of quality teachers, charter network trains its own

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by Lillian Mongeau

Amy Youngman’s seventh- and eighth-grade humanities students had left for the day. Other than some shouts from the after-school program in the courtyard, all was quiet in her second-floor classroom here.

Youngman’s day of teaching at Oakland’s ERES Academy – part of the Aspire charter school network – wasn’t over, though.

Nor was Danny Shapiro’s day of learning. Shapiro, not 13 but 30, is learning to be a teacher. Youngman, three years younger than Shapiro but with six years of teaching already under her belt, is his mentor.

via In search of quality teachers, charter network trains its own.

Daily Republic » Opinion: Facts lead to ‘no’ vote on Measure Q

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by George Guynn Jr.

Before you vote on Measure Q, the Solano Community College bond, think about these facts about the past, present and future.

The past:

  • Solano County citizens passed a $125 million bond for the college in 2002. We already pay $19 per $100,000 assessed valuation, which has given the college approximately $10 million a year for college buildings. Everyone will continue paying for another 20 years. Measure Q will add to this debt.
  • The 2002 Solano Community College Bond promised its money would bring our facilities into compliance for the handicapped, fix health and safety issues and retrofit them for earthquakes. Yet Measure Q says the same thing. Why weren’t these things fixed with the first bond measure?

via Facts lead to ‘no’ vote on Measure Q.

SacBee: Funding fight on if Prop. 30 fails

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By Kevin Yamamura

Long before political ads dominated the airwaves and arguments erupted over which Nov. 6 tax initiative best serves schools, Gov. Jerry Brown sought crucial support from county officials in a cramped conference room one block from the Capitol.

County leaders in January had one priority – to ensure the state would continue sending them several billion dollars to assume former state responsibilities such as housing lower-level inmates and watching parolees.

Some wanted to pursue their own initiative without the tax hike because they represent conservative voters or thought the governor’s initiative didn’t stand a chance.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/23/4930852/funding-fight-on-if-prop-30-fails.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy

via Funding fight on if Prop. 30 fails.

Dan Walters: Is Jerry Brown worried about Proposition 30?

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As Election Day – and Halloween – approach, Jerry Brown may be getting spooked that his tax increase, Proposition 30, won’t make it.

The California governor once exuded confidence that voters would endorse a sharp increase in income taxes on the wealthy and a token, quarter-cent boost in sales taxes that everyone would pay, portraying it as a way of shoring up support for schools, the single most popular way government spends money.

A cornerstone of that confidence was that he had neutralized potential opposition from business, leaving tax increase foes relatively poor, while raising tens of millions of dollars, mostly from unions, to drive home his message.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/23/4930753/dan-walters-is-jerry-brown-worried.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

via Dan Walters: Is Jerry Brown worried about Proposition 30?.

The Reporter Opinion: Measure Q: Affordable education critical for everyone

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By Jesse Branch

 

Measure Q offers families, veterans affordable education, critical job training.As a 30-year veteran who served in the military while attending school at night, I understand the value of education and the opportunities that Solano Community College can afford our local students and veterans.

Measure Q offers hope to returning war veterans — many of whom have been hit hard by the recession and some even face living with permanent disabilities. Measure Q improves access for disabled students and expands the job placement programs and facilities that returning veterans need to re-train and strengthen their skills in order to re-enter the civilian workforce.

via Measure Q: Affordable education critical for everyone.

Education Week: Obama, Romney Link Strong Foreign Policy, U.S. Schools

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by Alyson Klein

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential nominee, tangled over class size, teachers, and education funding during their Monday night debate that was supposed to be exclusively centered on foreign policy.

Both candidates made it clear that they think a strong foreign policy begins with a strong economy at home, a premise they used to reiterate points they’ve previously made about K-12—and about each other’s positions and records on education.

via Obama, Romney Link Strong Foreign Policy, U.S. Schools.

EdSource Today: Common Core will falter if global competitiveness is sole goal

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By Merrill Vargo

Why have public schools anyway? We’ve all heard the answer: Public schools are the engine of our economy, the cornerstone of our democracy, and the avenue for individuals to achieve their dreams.

This list of goals sounds like mere rhetoric, but these three goals are worth thinking about. The first observation worth making about these three goals is that we don’t get to choose; we need to do all three. Second, though reformers like to emphasize the ways that these three purposes overlap, these three purposes also pull us in different directions. This means that when educators start to implement something, they are always doing a balancing act. That’s okay, and in fact puts education in the mainstream in this nation, which has found great strength in finding ways to balance opposing forces. But it’s never easy, and it might help if we admitted it.

via Common Core will falter if global competitiveness is sole goal – by Merrill Vargo.

EdSource Today: Elk Grove sharply reduces suspensions of foster youth

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By Susan Frey

Elk Grove Unified has dramatically reduced suspensions and expulsions of foster youth by applying the principles of the recently passed law, Assembly Bill 1909, long before the bill was written.

The new law, which goes into effect in January, requires districts to notify social workers when a foster child enters one of their schools and to contact the child’s attorney if he or she faces a possible expulsion hearing. Unlike most children, foster children generally lack a parent to advocate for them if they get into trouble. They often shift from home to home, and depend on their social worker and court-appointed attorney, who serve as their advocates and typically know them best.

via Elk Grove sharply reduces suspensions of foster youth – by Susan Frey.

Benicia Patch: Benicia High School Administrators Rating Open Campus Policy

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by JB Davis

Students attending Benicia High School are currently allowed to leave campus during lunch but that policy is being reviewed by high school administrators who are concerned with student safety and disruptions to the learning environment caused by students returning late from lunch forays.

“We’ve been in school nine weeks and there have been 838 tardies for fifth period as of October 18,” said Benicia High School Principal Damon Wright on Monday.

Wright, the new principal at the high school, says the possible policy change isn’t something he initiated but rather one he inherited.

via Benicia High School Administrators Rating Open Campus Policy.

Benicia Herald: BUSD Trustees support Measure Q, Prop. 30 on Nov. 6; say ‘no’ to Prop. 32

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By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

In addition to approving a Strategic Plan last week, the Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees gave a nod to the district’s official stance on Measure Q and Propositions 30 and 32.

Superintendent Janice Adams on Thursday presented a proposal to adopt the Strategic Plan that has been in the works since March, and which still isn’t finished.

“There’s still work to be done,” Adams said. “As staff and I are working to put this in a more finished product I thought to myself, ‘You know, I’m doing this but I haven’t gotten board approval.’”

Though the plan is unfinished, Adams said she wanted the board’s approval on where it stood before it is finalized. “I wanted to make sure that these are the goals that the board supports,” she said.

via Trustees support Measure Q, Prop. 30 on Nov. 6; say ‘no’ to Prop. 32.

SCOE’s Facebook Wall: Advanced PECS Training (photos)

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More than 40 special education teachers, paraeducators, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, and behavioral staff from Vacaville Unified, Travis Unified, Fairfield- Suisun Unified, and the Solano County Office of Education (SCOE) attended a two-day advanced training on the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) at SCOE on October 16. The training was presented by Jo-Ann Matteo, M.A. CCC-SLP, a certified trainer from Pyramid Educational Consultants. Matteo has been working with SCOE programs for the last three years. Adding district partners was a focus of this year’s training. PECS integrates applied behavior analysis teaching and verbal behavior support for students who need specific training to communicate basic needs.

via More than 40 special education teachers, paraeducators, occupational therapists,….

The Reporter Opinion: Measure Q an investment in our community

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By Jowell C. Laguerre

As Solano College president, I have my heart invested in the future of this college and the future of the community. That is why it is so disheartening to read misinformation given about Measure Q for self-serving reasons.

A recent letter to the editor had misleading statements, which suggest that projects to be addressed in the bond are not educational priorities. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Measure Q funds many essential upgrades, repairs and education projects, including programs to make our campuses more energy efficient, saving Solano Community College millions in energy costs. This includes systems that allow Solano Community College to collect water and reuse it for nonpotable uses, saving taxpayer dollars and ensuring every dime possible goes into the classroom. That is a smart investment of your resources.

via Measure Q an investment in our community.

Suisun City Patch: FSUSD Elementary Schools Moving to a New Tune

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By Whitney Skillman

The 2012-2013 school year marks the beginning of the third year that elementary students in the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District have been without music or arts due to budget cuts.

While students and parents question this cut, the State of California has made it clear that music and art is only “suggested” curriculum in elementary schools.

But some elementary school classrooms within Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District are keeping the music alive by partnering with a local non-profit group, called the Young Artists
Conservatory of Music, to offer students a program called Music Matters.

via Elementary Schools Moving to a New Tune.

The Reporter: Solano County court program aims to end truancy

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By Ryan Chalk/ RChalk@TheReporter.com

More than a dozen parents filed into Solano County Superior Court Judge Robert C. Fracchia’s courtroom on Wednesday afternoon — some with their child, some without — to either receive praise or plead their case as to why they weren’t getting their child to school regularly.

It’s a scene that repeats itself twice a month. Representatives from the Solano County District Attorney’s Office and county school districts open the files on truancy cases and listen to the parents summoned to court as they provide an explanation.

via Solano County court program aims to end truancy.

KCRA-TV: Substitute teacher charged with abuse of young students

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FAIRFIELD, Calif. —

A Solano County substitute teacher was arrested Friday on four charges of misdemeanor child abuse.

Fairfield police said a parent complained that Joe Yow, 51, had grabbed the throat of her 7-year-old daughter in an attempt to discipline members of a second-grade class.

Police said three other children also complained of being grabbed and assaulted at the David Weir Elementary school by Yow on Thursday.

via Substitute teacher charged with abuse of young students.

Vallejo Times-Herald: Vallejo dual language school hosts harvest festival

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By Lanz Christian Bañes

One of Vallejo’s newest schools held its first Harvest Festival on Saturday — or, as the kids might call it, el festival de la cosecha.

“We had a great turnout,” said Regina Briseño, a member of the Cave Language Academy parent-teacher association and mother of 5-year-old Ramon.

The two-year-old school was established after the Vallejo City Unified School District closed Cave Elementary School as part of its continuing restructuring of the district.

via Vallejo dual language school hosts harvest festival.

Vallejo Times-Herald: Trustees ponder keeping Benicia High students on campus at lunch

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By Lanz Christian Bañes

BENICIA — The Benicia school board continued its discussion Thursday about possibly keeping students on the high school campus during lunchtime.The current policy allows everyone but freshmen to leave Benicia High School during lunch, making it an “open campus.” However, this engenders a variety of concerns, Benicia High Principal Damon Wright told the board.

“As of (Thursday), we recorded 838 tardies for fifth period alone. We’ve only been at school for nine weeks,” Wright said.

via Trustees ponder keeping Benicia High students on campus at lunch.

FSUSD’s Facebook Wall: Tim Halloran, principal, welcomed Olympic gold medalist and FHS graduate Keshia Baker

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Tim Halloran, principal of Fairfield High School, and all of the FHS Falcons welcomed Olympic gold medalist and FHS graduate Keshia Baker. Keishia graduated from Fairfield High in 2006. She is currently working on a double Masters Degree at San Diego State University. She spoke to the students on the importance of education, hard work, and dedication in achieving one’s dreams.

via Tim Halloran, principal of Fairfield High School, and all of the FHS Falcons wel….

Vallejo Times-Herald Editorial: ‘Yes’ on Prop. 30, ‘no’ on Prop. 38: No easy answers

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Rarely do ballot measures present as important or challenging a choice as Propositions 30 and 38 on the Nov.6 ballot. Both would levy taxes, and both promise help for public schools, which most Californians realize are crucial to the state’s economy.

In fact, California’s financial stability may be at stake in this election. The wrong tax directing money in the wrong way could speed the state’s decline.

We are reluctant to recommend raising any taxes during this plodding economic recovery. We are particularly hesitant to recommend a “yes” on such a proposition because we know that many of the financial wounds being suffered in California are self-inflicted, largely by elected officials who simply don’t know how to say no to any influential interest group, be they public employees, business, labor unions or environmental groups.

via Updated: October 21, 2012 7:24:07 AM PDT.

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