Monthly Archives: May 2014

Assist-A-Grad awards 168 students scholarships – Daily Republic

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By Ian Thompson

Vanden High School student Tyler Koss, who spent some of his free time preparing meals at the Fisher House, hopes to attend the Air Force Academy and plans to become a pilot with the financial help of the Order of Daedalians Flight 5 Scholarship he was awarded.

Carolina Rodriguez plans to attend the University of the Pacific to become a psychologist with the help of an Armijo Class of 1965 Honorary Scholarship while Klara Reece wants to attend California State University, Fullerton, and become a registered nurse with the help of an Armijo Alumni Scholarship.

These students were three of 168 Fairfield, Suisun City, Vacaville and even Dixon students who came with their families to the Fairfield Community Center Sunday afternoon to accept scholarships that will help them meet their educational dreams.

via Assist-A-Grad awards 168 students scholarships Daily Republic.

Congressman visits Vallejo student health clinics, touts proposed bill – Vallejo Times Herald

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By Lanz Christian Bañes

Student health was the topic Thursday during a visit by Rep. Mike Thompson to a Vallejo elementary school.

“I’ve got great admiration for what you’re doing,” said Thompson, D-St. Helena, to the staff of the Elsa Widenmann Elementary School health and dental clinics.

Thompson took a quick tour of the facilities, the only student dental clinic in the Vallejo City Unified School District and one of two health clinics. The other is at Pennycook Elementary School.

Thompson also met with a few families whose children use the clinics as part of their regular health care.

via Congressman visits Vallejo student health clinics, touts proposed bill – Vallejo Times Herald.

Vallejo, Benicia students compete in Special Olympics – Vallejo Times Herald

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By Lanz Christian Bañes

Adam Wisnieuski loves to run.

That’s probably why the 9 year old from Dan Mini Elementary School got a first-place ribbon in the 50-yard dash Thursday during the Vallejo Special Olympics.

“Hercules!” Adam said, smiling and flexing his arms after competing in the javelin throw.

Nearly 200 Vallejo and Benicia students attended the event at Vallejo High School’s Corbus Field. Braving the sunny weather, students competed in the 50-yard-dash, the hurdles and the javelin throw (using pool noodles rather than the more traditional weapon). Participants included students from the Vallejo City Unified School District, Benicia Unified and Spectrum School.

via Vallejo, Benicia students compete in Special Olympics – Vallejo Times Herald.

VUSD board hears draft accountability plan – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Vacaville Unified leaders on Thursday heard and reviewed the first draft of a new document that largely will serve as a roadmap for teaching and testing in the 12,500-student district for years to come.

After months of work and meetings, a panel of district administrators, led by Assistant Superintendent Danielle Storey, presented the district’s Local Control Accountability Plan during a governing board meeting in the Educational Services Center.

LCAPs, as they are called for short, lay out what educators, governing boards, and teachers must do to educate students and how they are going to measure results.

via VUSD board hears draft accountability plan – The Reporter.

Fairfield children songs bring joy – and some American tears – Daily Republic

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By Ryan McCarthy

Fifty-nine children from Laurel Creek Elementary School dressed in red, white and blue went Thursday to convalescent facilities in Fairfield to make an early Memorial Day visit and sing “America the Beautiful,” “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “American Tears.”

Several people in wheelchairs at La Mariposa Nursing & Rehab on Travis Boulevard were tapping their fingers to the music as third-graders sang “You’re the emblem of the land I love” from composer George M. Cohan’s 1906 song about the American flag.

Austyn Knox, 9, said at the Greenfield Care Center on Travis Boulevard that a fast reward comes with the performance for residents.

via Fairfield children songs bring joy – and some American tears Daily Republic.

School District honors best academic students – Daily Republic

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By Barry Eberling

They are the 86 students who during their soon-to-end local high school careers made getting A grades routine.

On Thursday evening, they stepped to the balloon-lined stage at the Fairfield Community Center to be celebrated. They shook hands with the local mayors and school board members and other dignitaries as the crowd applauded.

But before the 2014 Highest Honors Award Ceremony came four years of striving. The highest honors students had to master the secrets of academic achievement.

via School District honors best academic students Daily Republic.

Local colleges pleased with funding in May budget draft plan – Vallejo Times Herald

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By Sarah Rohrs

Following years of painful budget cuts, California is singing a different tune these days thanks to tax windfalls for state coffers, according to the governor’s office.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s draft spending plan, a prelude to summer talks and deliberations for a new budget, calls for record levels of spending, state offices announced.

The governor is projecting a $107.8 billion general fund to pay for day-to-day- operations — about $1 billion more than what he proposed earlier this year.

That figure represents a 24 percent increase over spending levels in the 2011-12 budget.

Brown’s draft plan also calls for $142 million to address a litany of problems related to the current drought, including firefighting, emergency response, water management, wildlife preservation and food assistance, according to wire reports.

via Local colleges pleased with funding in May budget draft plan – Vallejo Times Herald.

Draft accountability plan on Vacaville Unified School Board agenda – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Facing an otherwise light agenda, Vacaville Unified trustees are expected to learn details about the district’s proposed Local Control Accountability Plan when the governing board meets tonight in Vacaville.

District administrators will present information about the LCAP, as it is called for short, which lays out what educators, governing boards, and teachers must do to educate students and how they are going to measure results.

A key part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula, LCAPs call for meetings with community stakeholders and give more power to school site leaders and governing boards as they seek to focus on student achievement for all and narrow the so-called “achievement gap,” the difference in standardized test outcomes between various ethnic groups.

via Draft accountability plan on Vacaville Unified School Board agenda – The Reporter.

Travis Unified board adopts special tax – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Travis Unified leaders approved a special tax for a community facilities district that will affect more than three dozen single-family lots in east Fairfield.

The five-member governing board on Tuesday approved that tax, its amount unspecified in a district bulletin issued Wednesday.

Michelle Richardson, assistant superintendent of business and operations for the 5,100-student district south of Vacaville, said the tax will be levied on 43 single-family lots in the Gold Ridge North Phase II housing area.

In other matters, trustees approved a 3.5 percent pay increase for the district’s management and confidential employees, the latter a group of nearly 30 workers who have access to confidential district information, often employee-employer relations.

via Travis Unified board adopts special tax – The Reporter.

Student, teacher win 5K, 10K at same race – Daily Republic

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By Amy Maginnis-Honey

Score two for the fifth-grade GATE class at K.I. Jones Elementary School.

Madison Denny, 10, was the top female finisher in the 5-kilometer run/walk at Saturday’s Loop the Lagoon run in Vacaville. Her teacher, Michela Ward, earned the same honor for women in the 10K run/walk.

Ward’s time was 46:48. Madison’s time was 19:51, about a minute more than the record of 19:01 she set at the annual Shamrock run March 16 in Dublin. It earned her a world record for her age group from the Association of Road Racing Statisticians.

via Student, teacher win 5K, 10K at same race Daily Republic.

Vallejo school board, MIT Academy discuss dilapidated facilities – Vallejo Times Herald

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By Lanz Christian Bañes

The governing board of Mare Island Technology Academy presented its counterparts at the Vallejo City Unified School District three options on Tuesday designed to alleviate the charter school’s long-running facilities needs.

“We don’t want to just rehabilitate or build in new portables. We want a true, permanent facility,” said MIT Academy Director Matt Smith during a special joint meeting between MIT’s board and the district’s board of trustees.

MIT Academy is the district’s oldest charter school.

Initially requested in March by Vallejo trustee Hazel Wilson, the aim of the meeting was to address MIT Academy’s facilities, which is composed of dilapidated and aging portables that house classes and activities for more than 800 students.

via Vallejo school board, MIT Academy discuss dilapidated facilities – Vallejo Times Herald.

Solano County leaders give governor’s budget revision mixed reviews – The Reporter

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By Reporter staff Posted:

The governor’s May revise of the state budget was greeted with mixed reviews from Solano County leaders on Tuesday.

While most agreed the revise is not drastic, there are still unfunded programs and needs most felt could be better met than they are under the governor’s plan.

Assemblyman Jim Frazier, D-Solano, for example, commended the Governor on “maintaining the fiscal restraint that has kept the budget balanced” but said the the $2.4 billion increase in state revenues received this year “provides an opportunity to invest in transportation infrastructure, restore some of the drastic cuts the state made in years past and maintain a stable budget reserve in the rainy day fund.”

Frazier said he looks forward to working with the governor and leg

via Solano County leaders give governor’s budget revision mixed reviews – The Reporter.

TUSD board to hear of LCAP, budget – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

The Local Control Accountability Plan and the 2014-15 preliminary budget are on the agenda when Travis Unified leaders meet tonight in open session in Fairfield.

The plan, LCAP for short, is a key component of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula. It details what educators, governing boards, and teachers must do to educate students and how they are going to measure results.

Among other things, the LCAP mandates meetings with community stakeholders and gives more power to school site leaders and governing boards as they seek to focus on student achievement for all and narrow the so-called “achievement gap,” the difference in standardized test outcomes between various ethnic groups.

via TUSD board to hear of LCAP, budget – The Reporter.

Buckingham instructor is Vacaville Teacher of the Year – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

On this day, the California Day of the Teacher, Dave Hawkins, the 2014 Vacaville Unified Teacher of the Year, is already looking ahead to improving his daily classroom lessons for the coming year.

“I’m constantly assessing what I’m doing — it never ends,” said the Warwick, N.Y., native, a 10th- and 12th-grade modern world history and government teacher at Buckingham Charter Magnet High School. “It’s just being professional.”

via Buckingham instructor is Vacaville Teacher of the Year – The Reporter.

Gov. Brown proposes change in tallying of low-income students for funding formula | EdSource Today

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By Jane Meredith Adams

In his May budget revision, Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday proposed a change that will allow school districts to more broadly define who is eligible for a free or reduced-price meal and, by association, who is identified as low-income and eligible to receive extra state education funds. The proposal would affect more than 1 million students who fall into a gray area of free lunch eligibility.

While the new Local Control Funding Formula requires school districts to count low-income students annually, and ties funding to the tally, Brown’s proposal would allow a subset of schools with large numbers of low-income students to count them only once every four years. Instead of individual student data, schools where more than 80 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price meals would be allowed to submit a group percentage of low-income students. The proposal would allow the schools to continue the system they have used for years, although it requires that districts be diligent about verifying student family income levels every four years.

via Gov. Brown proposes change in tallying of low-income students for funding formula | EdSource Today.

Torlakson Reacts to May Revise – Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education)

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SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson issued the following statement in connection with Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s May Revision [http://www.gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18521] of the State Budget:

“Governor Brown’s May Revision reaffirms California’s commitment to local control over education dollars, and continues the state’s progress toward empowering local administrators, teachers, parents, students, and school communities to determine how best to serve our young people. It further frees our schools and districts to do this crucial work by lifting the weight of years of deferred payments.

via Torlakson Reacts to May Revise – Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education).

Travis trustee calls $2,000-a-day for consultant ‘a monstrous payday’ – Daily Republic

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By Ryan McCarthy

A Travis School District trustee said a proposed $47,900 contract for recess consulting that includes a $2,000-a-day, plus expenses, option for additional work seems “outrageously high” for a playground consultant.

“That’s a monstrous payday,” John Dickerson said.

The contract with the Oakland-based nonprofit Playworks includes “recess implementation training,” “consultative visits” and a “coordinated recess system that helps shift the entire school culture.” The pact goes before Travis School District trustees Tuesday.

via Travis trustee calls $2,000-a-day for consultant ‘a monstrous payday’ Daily Republic.

Travis School District kills pact for recess consultant – Daily Republic

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By Ryan McCarthy

A proposed $47,900 pact with a nonprofit to consult about recess died Tuesday without discussion by Travis School District trustees after the superintendent took the proposal off the agenda, where it was part of routine items for approval.

“It’s a dead issue,” Superintendent Kate Wren Gavlak said as she left the school board meeting. “That’s all I’m going to say about it.”

Trustees did not discuss the proposal that included the option for additional consulting at $2,000 a day – plus travel costs – by the Bay Area nonprofit Playworks. But during public comment, two parents of students in the school district sharply questioned the contract.

via Travis School District kills pact for recess consultant Daily Republic.

Vallejo district, MIT board to meet Tuesday – Vallejo Times Herald

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By Lanz Christian Bañes

The board of trustees for the Vallejo City Unified School District and Mare Island Technology Academy will hold a special joint meeting Tuesday.

The session, planned in advance to discuss mutual interests between the district and its first charter school, nonetheless comes less than a week after the Vallejo school board voted 3-2 to relocate Vallejo Charter School to the Springstowne campus — a decision the MIT community had opposed.

MIT, whose campus consists of old portables, had put in a bid for Springstowne when that property was up for sale in 2011. The board rejected it as too low.

via Vallejo district, MIT board to meet Tuesday – Vallejo Times Herald.

Vallejo school board to consider switching charter, former adult school – Vallejo Times Herald

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By Lanz Christian Bañes

The Vallejo school board on Wednesday will consider the relocation of Vallejo Charter School to the Springstowne campus.

Vallejo City Unified School District officials said at a meeting last month that the move would benefit both the Vallejo Charter School, a K-8 school currently at an elementary school site, and the Regional Education Center (formerly the Vallejo Adult School) that now occupies Springstowne.

The Springstowne site at 2833 Tennessee Street was formerly the site of Springstowne Middle School. In 2011, the school board restructured much of the Vallejo City Unified School District, closing several schools and relocating Springstowne to the former Hogan High School campus, renaming it Hogan Middle School.

via Vallejo school board to consider switching charter, former adult school – Vallejo Times Herald.