The Benicia Unified School District this week will seek to fill a vacancy on its board.
The vacancy, created when Trustee Dana Dean was appointed to the Solano County Board of Education, will be discussed in a special meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
If a new school board member is chosen, he or she will be sworn in immediately.
By Keri Luiz, Assistant Editor
The resignation of Dana Dean from the Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees on March 6 created a vacancy.
At a special meeting on Wednesday, the board will seek to fill that vacancy by choosing one of seven applicants to join its ranks.
Strike a pose! Students from all Workability Programs in Solano County walked the runway and showed their appreciation for local employers on April 19 at the Workability 1 Employer Recognition and Fashion Show at SCOE
via Strike a pose! Students from all Workability Programs in Solano County walked th….
Parents of a Vallejo school joined forces Saturday to celebrate the 43rd Earth Day, and raise money for the school’s art program.
About 100 people attended Vallejo Charter School’s Earth Day festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the school’s campus. The event was organized by its Parent Teacher Organization.
via Vallejo Charter School observes Earth Day, raises money for art.
A new wave of research shows that in disciplining students, out-of-school suspensions don’t help. More often, suspensions push students so far behind academically that dropping out becomes increasingly likely.
Critics of suspensions, and the zero-tolerance policies that fuel them, advocate for restorative practices, which have been making inroads across the country to demonstrated positive effect.
Knife skills? Check. Recipes? Check. Great attitude and team work? Check.
Seventeen Vallejo students put on their chef hats and tied their aprons Saturday for the first-ever cooking competition, Junior Chef Challenge, at Dan Foley Recreation Center.
The students from Loma Vista Elementary School, Elsa Windenmann Elementary School and Solano Middle School worked in teams, according to their schools, to compete for an opportunity to submit a recipe to First Lady Michelle Obama’s Healthy Lunchtime Challenge.
More than 400 Vallejo students reached English proficiency this year — a fact celebrated Friday by the Vallejo City Unified School District.
“Thank you for everything you did to prepare for this year,” said Steffan Manor Elementary School Principal Lucius McKelvy as he handed his students certificates marking their achievement.
On April 18-19, students in K.I.Jones’ magnet program explored classes in robotics, bridge building, Rube Goldberg machines, squid and crawfish dissection, solar energy, interpretive drama, Van Gogh painting and percussion. Special thanks to former FSUSD teacher Jerry Harwood (Rube Goldberg machines), FSUSD Board member Judi Honeychurch (Van Gogh art) and Music Matters (percussion) for your participation in this great event!
via On April 18-19, students in K.I.Jones’ magnet program explored classes in roboti….
It’s National Bus Driver Appreciation Day! Debbie Hunt, Director of Transportation celebrated with a luncheon catered by our Food Services staff. Thanks to all our drivers who safely transport our students to and from school and other events every day!
via It’s National Bus Driver Appreciation Day! Debbie Hunt, Director of Transportat….
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing will now require non-credentialed Teach For America teachers and other intern teachers to receive more training in how to teach English learners and to get weekly on-the-job mentoring and supervision.
The Commission’s unanimous vote last week followed two hours of public testimony and debate among commissioners over 14 separate recommendations aimed at improving the rigor and preparation of interns to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to teach the state’s 1.4 million English learners.
via State toughens regs for interns teaching English learners – by Kathryn Baron.
Brianna Boyd, Editor
Close to 10 percent of Dixon Unified students were suspended in the 2011-12 school year and nearly 25 percent were reported truant at least once, according to new data released Friday by the state.
Tom Torlakson, the state superintendent of public instruction, released information on student suspension, expulsion and truancy rates Friday for the state, county and local levels. This marks the first time the state has released information on suspension and expulsion rates utilizing the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System.
via State releases data on suspension, expulsion and truancy rates
Murray Bass, Fairfield
What was it that Yogi Berra said? “It’s deja vu all over again.” He could have been talking about Solano Community College and its apparently chronic inability or unwillingness to plan.
Recall, back in 2005, the college “busted” an accreditation examination. You can see a detailed history of the school’s accreditation problems by doing an Internet search for “‘Solano Community College Accreditation.” Some old problems still exist. In fact, the college is still on the warning list as of February.
Cindy Yee, Fairfield
The Fairfield-Suisun school board voted recently to change Fairfield’s high school boundaries. As a result, homeowners in the Castlerock and Rolling Hills communities of Fairfield can no longer send their kids to Rodriguez High School.
Rob Thomas, Suisun City
I read that the new school superintendent of Fairfield-Suisun School District is taking a hefty cut in pay to come aboard, compared to her predecessor, and is doing so with full understanding (April 11, “Vote expected to confirm next schools chief”). Well, I think that’s great; Solano County supervisors, did you read about that?
FAIRFIELD — Some Measure C money is being put to “green” usage in the Fairfield-Suisun School District.
Solar roofing material will be used as part of a large project that will bring a new administration building at Armijo High School, said Kim Van Gundy, the district’s director of facilities and construction.
By Keri Luiz, Assistant Editor
The Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees approved a new contract Thursday between the district and the Benicia Teachers Association.
Carleen Maselli, president of the BTA, spoke briefly during public comment, saying her union’s vote in favor of the new contract was overwhelming.
“We had 80 percent of our teachers vote, and 90 percent ratification for ‘yes,’” Maselli said. “It was a year-long process, and sometimes it got a little bit grueling.”
SACRAMENTO—About one California student in 20 was suspended from school and one in 1,000 was expelled in the 2011-12 school year, according to data released for the first time using the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS), State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.
The data show a total of 366,629 students suspended and 9,553 students expelled among the more than six million public school students in California, a suspension rate of 5.7 percent, and an expulsion rate of 0.1 percent.
The Vallejo City Unified School District’s graduation rate for the 2011-2012 school year has significantly increased over past performance. On Tuesday, April 9th, 2013 the California Department of Education released information about the graduation and dropout rates for all California schools. In 2011-2012 the graduation rate for VCUSD high schools jumped to 59% for a 5 percentage point gain. This is in contrast to the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years where the graduation rate remained stalled at 54%.