Monthly Archives: March 2016

Vacaville Unified School District board to hear updates on school start times, Sierra Vista – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

An update on proposed school start times, an update on Sierra Vista enrollments, and a public hearing to “sunshine” collective bargaining proposals by the school district and teachers are on the agenda when Vacaville Unified leaders meet tonight.

District administrators last month presented the seven-member board with new school start times, which would call for elementary schools to start earlier and middle schools and high schools to start later in the morning.

The plan, as presented by Mark Frazier, the chief academic officer, and others, will affect thousands of families and hundreds of teachers and school-support, or classified, employees.

Source: Vacaville Unified School District board to hear updates on school start times, Sierra Vista

Sign-ups for Solano College Foster Kinship Care Education Program conference still possible – The Reporter

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It’s not too late to sign up for Solano Conference 2016, “Catch a Wave,” set for today through Sunday at Courtyard Marriott, 1350 Holiday Lane, Fairfield.

The 20th annual event, aka the Solano College Foster Kinship Care Education Program Annual Training Conference, offers something for everyone.

From human trafficking to trauma-informed caregiving, from learning how to positively discipline youth to better communication with them, and from youth advocacy and empowerment to navigating the child welfare system, a variety of topics are touched on, organizers said.

Source: Sign-ups for Solano College Foster Kinship Care Education Program conference still possible

Bond refunding, School Accountability Report Cards on Dixon agenda – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Refunding an existing bond measure, School Accountability Report Cards, and information about a lawsuit over disclosure of student information and records are on the agenda when Dixon Unified leaders meet tonight.

The five-member governing board is expected to pass a resolution authorizing the sale and reissue of Measure J bonds, a $29 million property tax measure passed by voters in 2002.

Adrian Vargas, the district’s chief financial officer, will make a presentation before the vote, which will come as trustees are once again considering a property tax measure, likely for the fall 2016 ballot, to ask voters to pay for the building, repair and improvement of the district’s eight campuses, some of them built in the 1950s.

Source: Bond refunding, School Accountability Report Cards on Dixon agenda

Vallejo school board to receive polling results – Times Herald

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By John Glidden

After spending $60,000 for a survey to ascertain whether the Vallejo community will support a possible bond this November, the Vallejo school board is set to receive the results during its meeting Wednesday night.

Last November, the board approved a contract for $26,500 with Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates firm (FM3) to conduct 400 public opinion interviews regarding a possible bond. The contract also allowed a subcontractor, Lew Edwards Group, to conduct information services in tandem with the bond survey. The subcontractor was paid $32,000 for its work.

The board hired FM3 to conduct a similar survey in June 2013 regarding a potential bond measure. About 62 percent surveyed in 2013 said they would support a school bond measure, according to a presentation given to the board.

Source: Vallejo school board to receive polling results

County’s early childhood ed programs get financial boost – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Early childhood education recently got a financial boost late last month, good news for educators who teach infants and toddlers.

The California Department of Education awarded a $146,000 block grant to Solano County Office of Education and the Infant/Toddler Quality Rating and Improvement System, or QRIS.

The money will be used to provide training, technical assistance and resources to help infant and toddler early care and learning providers meet high quality standards, Lisette Estrella-Henderson, SCOC associate superintendent, wrote in a press release.

She said the QRIS Consortium is a collaboration between various early learning partners including, but not limited to, the Solano First 5 Commission, the Children’s Network, the Solano Family and Children’s Services, Solano Community College, and Child Development Centers Inc.

Source: County’s early childhood ed programs get financial boost

Top spellers to gather Monday at county bee – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Will March 7 be a landmark day for Vacaville’s top elementary-school speller, Notre Dame sixth-grader Ellison Domingo?

Will he be hailed, after probably more than two dozen rounds, as the No. 1 speller at the county bee Monday, when the 40th annual Solano County Elementary School Spelling Bee ends at the Joseph A. Nelson Community Center in Suisun City?

The event, open to students countywide in grades four to six, from either public or private schools, begins at 6 p.m. in the 611 Village Drive center.

The county competition is an oral contest. District staff, school staff, and the contestant’s family are welcome to attend the event, said Ken Scarberry, a spokesman for the bee.

Source: Top spellers to gather Monday at county bee

Jepson, a School to Watch, celebrates statewide honor – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Jaguars, Panthera onca, make a variety of sounds, including roaring, mewing, hissing, spitting and grunting.

But at Willis Jepson Middle School Wednesday afternoon, the Vacaville campus’ mascot assumed its two-legged, human form, mostly 12- and 13-year-olds.

Exuberant and excitable, perhaps merely happy to be out of class, they roared in their own ways, clapped their hands, laughed, and occasionally shrieked during a special recognition ceremony celebrating the Elder Street campus being selected for a hard-to-come-by honor.

Source: Jepson, a School to Watch, celebrates statewide honor

New-look SAT debuts Saturday – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

The new-look SAT, in its biggest redesign in 10 years, debuts Saturday for hundreds of Vacaville-area students and hundreds of thousands more nationwide who will, in most cases, grapple with the hours-long reading, writing and math test that is used for college entrance.

By all accounts, the revamped version seems to be more in line with assessments based on the new Common Core State Standards, with reading portions more focused on current issues rather than passages from classic literature. The math portion, likely more often than not, will be in the form of word problems.

An essay portion — although the results are sought by admissions officers at many colleges, especially elite private schools and some major public universities — is optional. Students who decide not to write an essay would see about 50 minutes shaved off the length of the test.

Source: New-look SAT debuts Saturday

Youth success stories shared at policy forum – The Reporter

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By Sally Schilling

Samantha Ryan, an eighth grader at Willis Jepson Middle School, stood before an audience Saturday at the Third Annual Children and Families Policy Forum. She and Ana Karen Zanabria, a junior at Vacaville High School, explained to the group how the Vacaville REACH Youth Coalition has benefitted them.

Ryan said she was required to join after an incident in seventh grade that landed her in the city’s diversion program. She soon realized the benefit of the group, which helps kids develop leadership skills and volunteer in the community.

Source: Youth success stories shared at policy forum

‘Help wanted’ signs out at Vacaville Unified School District – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

The “teacher wanted” signs are out at Vacaville Unified, and the proof is this: Several district officials are at a major school jobs fair today in Seattle, Wash.

Speaking by telephone Tuesday, Randy Henry, the district’s chief human resources officer, said he and two other district employees are attending the University of Washington Speech & Hearing Sciences Public Schools Job Fair, just one of more than eight recruiting trips his department has planned this year.

“There is a shortage of teachers in Vacaville just as there is in California,” he said. “The University of Washington is probably the top school (in the nation)” for speech and language teachers.

Today’s daylong event is Henry’s third recruiting trip so far this academic year, an effort to make sure the 12,300-student district will have enough trained teachers when doors open for the 2016-17 school year.

Source: ‘Help wanted’ signs out at Vacaville Unified School District

Renewed call to create statewide teacher database | EdSource

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By John Fensterwald

Revisiting a decade-old contentious issue, the Legislative Analyst’s Office is urging the Legislature to create a teacher database that would help lawmakers address a projected teacher shortage.

A new data system would provide critical information that the state has lacked, which has forced lawmakers to “fly blind” when trying to evaluate how to spend money on recruiting and retaining teachers, said Brad Strong, senior director of education policy for the nonprofit Children Now and a longtime advocate of education data.

The Legislature passed the framework for the teacher database, known as the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System, or CALTIDES, in 2006 as a companion to the better-known statewide database that collects information on students, CALPADS (California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System).

Source: Renewed call to create statewide teacher database | EdSource

Facilities plan helps chart Fairfield-Suisun school needs – Daily Republic

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By Judi Honeychurch

The Fairfield-Suisun School District has completed and adopted a comprehensive 10-year Facilities Master Plan. The purpose of the plan is to assure that future facility projects support our educational vision to be a premier learning community that empowers each student to thrive in an ever-changing world.

During 2015, with the architectural firm of LPA Inc., an extensive planning process took place that included a variety of committee meetings, focus groups meetings, community forums and educational workshops.

Source: Facilities plan helps chart Fairfield-Suisun school needs

Former school district superintendent Taylor dies in SoCal – Daily Republic

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By Daily Republic Staff

Darrel Taylor – who ended his full-time educational career in Fairfield and later worked part-time for districts that were between leaders – died Sunday in Southern California, where he had been living in retirement.

Taylor grew up in Iowa and was a star athlete in high school. He attended Pepperdine University in Malibu, which recruited Taylor for the baseball team.

Source: Former school district superintendent Taylor dies in SoCal