Monthly Archives: January 2014

Solano College automotive tech shop seeking Vallejo approval – Vallejo Times Herald

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By Jessica A. York

Solano Community College officials looking to open a student automotive shop will go before the Vallejo Planning Commission tonight to ask for a special exemption.

The college is hoping to move its recently revived automotive technology program from the Fairfield high school space it has resided in since the fall to a vacant former Ford dealership lot in Vallejo. The move and shop upgrade is funded by the voter-approved Measure Q bonds.

via Solano College automotive tech shop seeking Vallejo approval – Vallejo Times Herald.

Public meeting on bond tonight – The Reporter

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By Reporter Staff Posted:

As expected, Vacaville Unified School District leaders have planned a community meeting in advance of a possible decision to propose a bond measure for the November ballot.

An effort to gain public input on the matter, the meeting will be from 6:30 to 8:30 tonight in the Vacaville High School cafeteria, 100 W. Monte Vista Ave.

In a press release, Leigh Coop, the district’s director of facilities, said staff members will offer information on the plan-ned first steps in the process, including compiling of a “facilities needs list” for governing board members .

via Public meeting on bond tonight – The Reporter.

MLK, teacher recalled at Vacaville High School event – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech is immortal, and the beloved Vacaville High teacher who for many years recited it dramatically on campus also shared some immortality through 21st-century technology on Tuesday.

Steve Green, for more than three decades an English teacher and Bulldog football coach, died Aug. 9 at age 56 after a long battle with cancer, and, on Tuesday, lived again for a brief time in photos and an audio clip as part of a tradition that he started at the West Monte Vista Avenue campus.

via MLK, teacher recalled at Vacaville High School event – The Reporter.

Career Pathways Trust – Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education)

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SACRAMENTO—California is taking a major step toward helping to keep more students in school and better prepare them for careers and well-paying jobs as schools and education agencies across the state can now apply for grants from the state’s new $250 million California Career Pathways Trust fund. The request for applications for programs designed to build seamless pathways between schools, higher education, and careers was announced today by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg.

“We want every student in California to graduate prepared for college and careers,” Torlakson said. “We need students to be able to seamlessly transition between high school and post-secondary education, training programs, and gainful employment. Partnerships between our schools, community colleges, and businesses have the potential to make that happen.”

via Career Pathways Trust – Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education).

What’s inside that yellow school bus? – Daily Republic

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By Letter to the Editor

Have you ever wondered what’s inside the yellow school bus that is always stopping and blocking traffic?

That big, yellow and slow-moving vehicle carries “precious cargo” that will someday grow up. But now, they are little people and many have special needs.

California has the highest standards for a school bus driver. The drivers are some of the best-trained in the country, with many hours of classroom and behind-the-wheel training, fingerprinting and background checks before being hired, and they receive constant training. We’re on the road before the sun rises, picking up children for various schools, some of us doing about 100 miles a day, just around town.

via What’s inside that yellow school bus? Daily Republic.

Friends of Dixon May Fair accept scholarship applications Daily Republic

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By Amy Maginnis-Honey

The Friends of the Dixon May Fair will award $12,500 in college scholarships to seven Solano County students enrolled in a California college and majoring in agriculture or an agricultural-related field.

The deadline to apply for the scholarships is 5 p.m. March 1.

Over the past 11 years, they’ve awarded more than $100,000 in college scholarships to Solano County students pursuing agricultural-related careers.

via Friends of Dixon May Fair accept scholarship applications Daily Republic.

CBO to school board: No fiscal-year funding woes expected | The Benicia Herald

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By Keri Luiz, Assistant Editor

Benicia Unified School District Chief Business Official Tim Rahill presented to trustees last week a report on Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2014-15 budget proposal, saying that while the budget will go through changes known as the May Revise, overall “It is a positive budget for schools,” and “We will see additional funding here in Benicia.”

The specific amount is yet to be determined, he said, because of the new funding formula known as the Local Control Funding Formula LCCF. However, Rahill gave trustees a basic funding outline.

He said Brown proposes two “rainy day funds,” one specifically for schools and the other for everything else in the state budget.

via CBO to school board: No fiscal-year funding woes expected | The Benicia Herald.

Benicia school board talks budget, bonds – Vallejo Times Herald

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By Lanz Christian Bañes

Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent budget proposals mean good news for the schools of this city, district officials said Thursday.

And, even more money come into the district if officials decide to ask voters to pass a facilities bond measure later this year.

As for Brown’s spending plan, unveiled last week, district officials said they lack details but hope to learn more today.

“It is a positive budget for schools. We will have additional funding here in Benicia,” said Tim Rahill, chief business officer for the Benicia Unified School District.

via Benicia school board talks budget, bonds – Vallejo Times Herald.

Will C. Wood student leads effort to help homeless – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Cooly, calmly, 18-year-old Nathaniel Guzzo strode to the lectern in the Educational Services Center meeting room. He told the Vacaville Unified School District governing board what he wanted to do, about a public service project he envisioned that same day. In the process, Guzzo reminded trustees — and everyone else within earshot — that homelessness remains a serious problem locally and elsewhere.

A senior at Will C. Wood High, Guzzo told district leaders he wanted to donate 60 backpacks to the homeless in Vacaville, Fairfield and Sacramento. Each would be filled with clothing and nonperishable food, among other items.

via Will C. Wood student leads effort to help homeless – The Reporter.

Common Core standards bring dramatic changes to elementary school math | EdSource Today

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By Lillian Mongeau

Teaching elementary school math just got trickier, or at least deeper.

The new Common Core State Standards require students to demonstrate a deeper understanding of math concepts, which means teachers will have to change how they teach those concepts too.

The new standards, adopted in California and 44 other states, have ushered in a whole new set of academic standards for math, with significant changes in the early grades – kindergartners must now be able to count to 100 by the end of the year, for instance, rather than 30. Second graders will no longer learn multiplication tables; that’s now a third grade task. And geometry standards are now less about identifying and measuring shapes and more about building and deconstructing them.

via Common Core standards bring dramatic changes to elementary school math | EdSource Today.

Jim Ernst, former Dixon Unified trustee passes – Dixon Tribune | Facebook

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Brianna Boyd, Editor

James “Jim” Ernst, a lifelong educator who went on to be elected to Dixon Unified’s board of trustees in 2007 at the age of 77, passed away at his home in Dixon on Jan. 8. He was 84 years old. Back in November of 2007, Ernst, a retired teacher and administrator, easily garnered the most votes to win a four-year seat on Dixon Unified’s board of trustees. In that same election, current Trustee John Gabby also won his first term on the board. “We met when we were running for school board,” Gabby said. “We always got along really well. He was a dear friend of mine. I thought the world of him.”

via Jim Ernst, former Dixon Unified trustee,… – The Dixon Tribune | Facebook.

Students create Egyptian museum photos – Dixon Tribune | Facebook

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by Brianna Boyd

The sixth grade students in Diane Chapman’s Gretchen Higgins Elementary classroom used the knowledge they learned this year about ancient Egypt to create a special museum Thursday. During the lunch period and into the afternoon, children in first to sixth grade visited Chapman’s classroom to view the items created by the students.

via Students create Egyptian museum photos… – The Dixon Tribune | Facebook.

Local school district honors top students – Daily Republic

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By Brad Stanhope

Students receive honors, local residents reach lofty goals, a Travis Air Force Base home gets benefits and more crab feeds are on the calendar to top this week’s collection of good news around the region.

School district names students of month

The Fairfield-Suisun School District this week named its four students of the month for January.

John Calonia of Oakbrook Elementary School is the first honoree. He is in a fifth-sixth combination class and is the son of Roberto and Connie Calonia.

via Local school district honors top students Daily Republic.

State Superintendent to visit Fairfield-Suisun schools – Daily Republic

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By Ryan McCarthy

A 7:30 a.m. visit to the Public Safety Academy is among trips State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson is scheduled to make Feb. 3 when he visits schools in the Fairfield-Suisun School District.

He’ll also go to the David Weir School K-8 Preparatory Academy and Crystal Middle School, said Kris Corey, superintendent of Fairfield-Suisun district.

via State superintendent to visit Fairfield-Suisun schools Daily Republic.

School board OKs parcel tax survey – Daily Republic

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By Ryan McCarthy

Residents in the Fairfield-Suisun School District will be asked what they think about a parcel tax and what programs such a measure could fund.

The survey by Santa Cruz County-based Bregman & Associates, estimated to cost between $17,500 and $20,000, won approval Thursday by school district trustees and follows a previous decision to pursue a public opinion survey about a possible tax.

“This is a survey to find out what the community wants,” said David Isom, president of the board of trustees.

via School board OKs parcel tax survey Daily Republic.

Loma Vista Farm freshening up its appearance with volunteer help – Vallejo Times Herald

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By Jessica A. York

It’s a time of changes for Vallejo’s Loma Vista Farm, and how volunteers approach caring for the 5-acre outdoor classroom will be no exception.

On Saturday, the public is invited to take part in the first of a series of monthly coordinated cleanups — Project Clean Sweep — that will culminate with the farm’s 40th anniversary celebration in September. Previous cleanup efforts have been less strategic, said event organizer and Friends of Loma Vista Farm Board President Shelee Loughmiller.

via Loma Vista Farm freshening up its appearance with volunteer help – Vallejo Times Herald.

Vacaville Unified trustees back wi-fi proposal – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

After an hour of vigorous discussion, Vacaville Unified leaders on Thursday approved a contract, up to $500,000, with an El Dorado Hills-based firm to upgrade several district classrooms with wireless computer access in advance of all-computerized testing required by state educational standards that take effect in the fall.

The work — a specific, one-time expense funded by Gov. Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula — also will include increasing the amount of electrical power available to some school sites to meet the testing demands of the Common Core State Standards. (Approved by 45 states and the District of Columbia, the standards define the knowledge, concepts and skills students should have at each grade level.

via Vacaville Unified trustees back wi-fi proposal – The Reporter.

State Board patiently listens, then quickly passes regs for funding law | EdSource Today

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By John Fensterwald

After listening to nearly seven hours of 1-minute testimonies that were impassioned, instructive and inevitably repetitious, the State Board of Education, after little debate, unanimously approved temporary regulations Thursday fleshing out a historic education finance law. The new Local Control Funding Formula will not only transform how K-12 schools are funded, but also how student success is measured, and district budgets, with community involvement, are created.

While the latest draft was passed intact, the regulations had gone through substantial revisions over the past five months, as staff of the State Board sought to bridge the disagreements between civil rights and parents groups and school officials. Both sides acknowledged the final version was clearer and surprisingly close to consensus.

via State Board patiently listens, then quickly passes regs for funding law | EdSource Today.

Solano College brings back police aide program – Daily Republic

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By Susan Winlow

The first day of school at Solano Community College this week started out lucky for one person who got a warning instead of a parking ticket.

The black Toyota was parked in the middle of the driving area of the parking lot and not in the stalls – the driver possibly confused by the reconfiguring of Lot 6 with its blackened out lines that attempt to mask former parking spaces.

Sheriff’s Deputy Adrian Garcia instructed Ben Salazar, 18, to put the warning ticket on the windshield when he was done.

via Solano College brings back police aide program Daily Republic.

Fairfield-Suisun schools switch wins OK – Daily Republic

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By Ryan McCarthy

A projected 284 sixth-graders will move to Green Valley Middle School in the 2015-16 school year as part of a proposal that won unanimous approval Thursday from Fairfield-Suisun School District trustees.

The decision came after several parents said they wanted to keep Nelda Mundy Elementary a K-6 school and raised questions about how well the school district publicized the new plan.

“Eleven-year-olds don’t belong with 14-year-olds,” Marilyn Sweeney, a Nelda Mundy parent, told trustees.

via Fairfield-Suisun schools switch wins OK Daily Republic.