Vacaville Unified School District governing board will meet briefly tonight in open session, then go into a closed session to discuss employee group negotiations.
The meeting, at the Educational Services Center, 401 Nut Tree Road, begins at 5:30 p.m.
FAIRFIELD — A host of local organizations were honored Tuesday for helping Solano County be recgonized by America’s Promise for Youth as one of the “100 Best Communities for Young People” in the United States.
More than 70 civic leaders and representatives from community groups were honored at the Solano County Administration Center, 675 Texas St. in Fairfield.
“Thank you all for the work being done on behalf of kids in Solano County,” said Supervisor Linda Seifert, the Board of Supervisors chairwoman.
via Vallejo organizations recognized for making Solano good for young people.
A big reason California students are pushed to take higher math in high school is to see that they satisfy the admission requirements to a state four-year university. And yet 68 percent of students who haven’t passed one of the required courses, Algebra II, by the end of 11th grade don’t even enroll in math as seniors, giving up on the possibility of applying to a UC or CSU school.
That puzzling statistic is among the data from an extensive research study by San Francisco-based research organization WestEd’s Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning of math courses that 24,000 students in two dozen districts took – or didn’t take – in middle and high school. Those findings point to great success for a minority of students – about one out of five – who take Algebra I by the end of eighth grade, geometry by the end of ninth and Algebra II by the end of tenth; many of those students then go on to complete pre-calculus in 11th grade and calculus as seniors.
via Many math students are flailing, repeating courses without success – by John Fensterwald.
By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor
Benicia City Council-School Board Liaison Committee will convene Thursday for the first time since September, hearing and discussing reports on a variety of topics including the possibility of closing Benicia High School’s campus.
That’s not a new issue, having been raised most recently in an October presentation before the Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees by Benicia High Principal Damon Wright.
On Thursday, the joint panel will hear “an update of where we are,” Superintendent Janice Adams said this week.
via Liaison panel to convene, hear closed campus, drug ‘diversion’ presentations.
Students from 12 middle and high schools across the western United States put their minds and some engineering skills to use at Vanden High School’s fifth annual Vex Robotics Competition.
Participants included Vanden High School,Vacaville High School, Fairfield High School, Vallejo High School, Golden West Middle School, Grange Middle School, Willis Jepson Middle School, and B. Gale Wilson Middle School. A few new teams from outside the county participated coming from as far as the big island in Hawaii.
via Students from 12 middle and high schools across the western United States put th….
As the Vacaville Unified School District begins the process of hiring a new superintendent, it is inviting the community to weigh in.
Leadership Associates, the firm hired to find suitable candidates, is conducting a forum tonight to see what qualities the community is looking for in its next education leader.
via Live Blog: Help Vacaville Unified find its next superintendent ….
In about two weeks, Vacaville Unified School District leaders will get a 30-page report from an executive search firm on just what kind of new superintendent, specifically noting the candidate’s personal and professional qualities, is best suited for the district.
The report largely will be a distillation of comments gleaned from a daylong series of meetings and a public community forum Tuesday managed by Leadership Associates, the company hired to help select a successor to John Niederkorn, who will step down June 30.
via Vacaville Unified School District trustees await firm’s report on ….
BENICIA — A 25-year-old Benicia man was arrested Monday morning after a foot pursuit, following a report he was allegedly loitering at a school, police said.
Benicia Middle School staff contacted police at about 8:50 a.m. about a man seen on the east side of the school, walking into a physical education class.
via Benicia man arrested after entering middle school grounds.
The award winning Fairfield High School Scarlet Brigade Bagpipe Band performed before a very appreciative audience at the annual California School Boards Association Conference this past Friday Night. Band Director Brian Swetland was presented with a $1,500 donation from the evening’s host, WLC Architects, Inc.
via The award winning Fairfield High School Scarlet Brigade Bagpipe Band performed b….
Changes proposed to the diagnostic guide used by psychologists, including substantial changes to the definition of autism, are all but final.
Late last week, the American Psychiatric Association’s Board of Trustees approved the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM-5, which will be available when the manual is published in the spring.
via New Definition of Autism Drops Asperger, PDD-NOS Distinctions.
In a matter of weeks, we’ll know which districts are sharing $400 million in the latest Race to the Top competition, which targets the district level.
But in the meantime, there are a lot of unanswered questions about this contest. Let’s start with these five:
via Five Unanswered Questions About District Race to the Top.
Deferred payments to California schools and community colleges will fall to their lowest level in five years this academic year, and repayments for previous deferrals is starting sooner than expected. Instead of waiting until January, the state will pay back $1.57 billion it borrowed from K-12 schools next week, and the $300 million owed to community colleges is all scheduled to arrive this Friday rather than half this month and half next.
“It’s yet another indicator that the state’s fiscal condition is continuing to improve,” said State Finance Director Ana Matosantos, giving credit to “a sound budget, diligent debt management, and the passage of Proposition 30.”
via First sign of better times for schools under Prop 30 – by Kathryn Baron.
Benicia Unified School District’s Facebook Wall
via Check out our website to learn about the upcoming Parent Project!.
By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor
The Benicia Unified School District is considering a software system overhaul, and the Board of Trustees will hear a report on a proposed new system Thursday.
“Due to rising costs and continued lack of system support and development, the school districts and the county office of education in Solano County conducted a formal Request for Proposal for a new Financial/Human Resources system,” wrote Chief Business Officer Tim Rahill in a report to the board.
In their summary, the Solano County Education Technology Consortium outlined the process for selecting the new software system.
via BUSD mulls upgrade of financial, human resources software.
Attendance Works, in collaboration with the Healthy Readers Team of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading will host a webinar, Present and Engaged in the Early Grades: Improving Health to Increase School Attendance to discuss strategies for reducing absenteeism due to preventable health issues.
Jessica Tovar, Project Manager for the Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma, will describe how LBACA works with schools and community partners to reduce school absenteeism and hospitalizations due to asthma. In addition, Nurse practitioner Jill Kerr will describe her research demonstrating that outreach by nurses to parents of chronically absent students in the early grades can significantly improve school attendance.
via December 13 Webinar: Improving Health to Increase School Attendance.
What most historians regard as the golden era of the California Legislature ended with a bang three-plus decades ago when ideological and partisan polarization gripped the Capitol.
The passage of Proposition 13 – California’s landmark tax limit – in 1978 was accompanied by election of Republican “Proposition 13 babies” to the Legislature, whom Democrats quickly dubbed “the cavemen.”
In reaction, Democratic lawmakers soon tossed out their policy-minded leaders and elevated political warriors who promised – and delivered – partisan gerrymanders of legislative districts to lock in their control of the Capitol.
via Dan Walters: What will CA Democrats dio with all of their new power?.
Ten Daisies got up close and personal with a police officer Monday afternoon.
Vallejo police Sgt. Brett Clark was invited to a meeting of recently formed Daisy Girl Scout Troop 37005 at the Cave Language Academy for a presentation on respecting authorities, and stranger danger.
Respect for authority is one of the Girl Scout laws.
via Vallejo Daisies learn about respecting authority, stranger danger.
If lawmakers don’t act to head off a series of automatic spending cuts, states and districts around the country will feel a squeeze—but some may be more heavily impacted than others, according to an analysis released today by the American Association of School Administrators.
AASA, which represents superintendents and other administrators, took a look at how every state and virtually every school district around the country would be impacted by automatic spending cuts (known as sequestration), which are set to hit on Jan. 2. Unless lawmakers and the administration can reach a long-term deal on deficit reduction, many federal programs, including most in the U.S. Department of Education would face a cut of roughly 8 percent. Most districts wouldn’t begin to feel the pinch until the new school year starts in the fall. More here.
via Fiscal Cliff: How Would Federal Spending Cuts Affect Your District?.
Five alternative teacher certification programs in California that won millions in federal grants are on track to train nearly 800 math and science teachers and place them in high-poverty, hard-to-staff schools.
The California Teacher Corps, which represents more than 70 of the state’s alternative certification programs, said the projects, which began with planning grants in 2011-12, will receive about $18 million over five years from Transition to Teaching, a competitive grant program run by the U.S. Department of Education. Its goal to recruit and train teachers in science, technology, engineering and math (known as STEM fields). Particularly in high-needs schools, California continues to face a shortage of fully trained STEM teachers.
via Fast track to STEM teaching in state with federal grants – by Kathryn Baron.
FAIRFIELD — Solano Community College will say goodbye to trustee Phil McCaffrey Wednesday night, sending him off with a resolution.
McCaffrey lost to Michael Martin on Nov. 6, leaving after 10 years on the SCC District Board of Trustees. He represented the cities of Vacaville, Dixon and Winters.