Monthly Archives: April 2016

3 from Solano College earn high honors – Daily Republic

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By Bill Hicks

Three Solano Community College students have earned recognition for academic excellence.

Jennifer Engel and Michael Saucedo were named to the Phi Theta Kappa All-California team and Nicole Peacock was accepted into the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars Onsite Workshop in Palmdale, according to a college press release.

Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society recognizes an academic all-star team, of sorts, with Engel being named to the first team and Saucedo being named to the third team.

Source: 3 from Solano College earn high honors

$4,200 for ‘How to Train a Llama’ workshop wins school board OK – Daily Republic

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By Ryan McCarthy

A $4,200 contract with Doug Curry, author of “How to Train a Llama,” for a Feb. 27 workshop at Liberty Church with 45 teachers was among pacts that won approval Thursday by Fairfield-Suisun School District trustees.

Teachers from David Weir K-8 Preparatory Academy and Fairfield High School learned classroom management techniques at the event, according to the school district.

Texas-based No Excuses University, through the group TurnAround Schools, provided the professional development for teachers.

Source: $4,200 for ‘How to Train a Llama’ workshop wins school board OK

Student film festival marks 15th run with bevy of flicks – Daily Republic

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By Amy Maginnis-Honey

A music video, two teens lost in Vacaville and a parody of the song “Let It Go” were three of the almost 25 films shown Wednesday at the 15th annual Eye Light Film Festival.

High school students from Solano County and beyond submitted 40 films for the event, which was launched at Buckingham Charter Magnet High School. A short documentary on the making of “Sanctuary” was screened before the student films. It was the film that brought the festival to fruition.

Actor, director and producer Charlie Holliday, who started in “Sanctuary,” was in the lobby at Brenden Theatres to greet and chat with guests.

Source: Student film festival marks 15th run with bevy of flicks

College, city channel team up for programming, training – Daily Republic

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By Amy Maginnis-Honey

A voice from the control room provided instructions. The countdown began and the cameras started rolling inside the television studio.

Solano Community College Sports Network was taping a show to be aired on Comcast’s Channel 28.

A partnership between the college and the city of Fairfield appears to be a win-win for both parties.

Whitney Skillman and Bill Way, who handle the city’s cable access channels, share their knowledge and equipment with the college students and get some much-needed studio space. And, sometimes an intern or two.

Source: College, city channel team up for programming, training

Exercise exposes Vallejo students to drunk driving dangers – Times Herald

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By Matthew Adkins

The silhouette of a helicopter in the sky grew larger as it approaches NorthBay Medical Center Thursday in Fairfield.

As it touched down in the landing zone outside of the emergency room, a team of people moved forward with a gurney ready to receive a patient.

Josh McClendon, 17, a senior at Jesse Bethel High School, was rushed from the helicopter into a staging room where beds and devices had already been prepared. Gruesome gashes sustained only a few minutes earlier during a car crash uncontrollably leaked blood from his forehead and arm.

Source: Exercise exposes Vallejo students to drunk driving dangers

Solano College welcomes German composer, ceramic artist – Daily Republic

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By Daily Republic Staff

Pentti Turpeinen, a German composer, will perform at 2 p.m. April 22 at Solano Community College in the Dorothy Herger Gallery, Building 1300, 4000 Suisun Valley Road.

His performances are often described as “falling somewhere between classical music and performance art.”

Turpeinen has performed, composed and taught music throughout Europe over the past four decades.

His wife Sabine Turpeinen, a ceramic artist, will join him in his visit to Solano College. She will demonstrate Japanese Tea Ceremony ceramics with Marc Lancet in the ceramics/sculpture lab beginning at 10 a.m.

Source: Solano College welcomes German composer, ceramic artist

Three Vaca-area elementaries merit state’s Gold Ribbon honor – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Ten Solano County elementary schools, including three in the Vacaville area, have been selected by the California Department of Education for California Gold Ribbon School awards.

The three local schools are Fairmont Charter, Cambridge and Travis, the latter on Travis Air Force Base.

Others were Benicia, Fairfield-Suisun and Travis unified school districts.

Criteria for an invitation to apply for the honor include “a comprehensive description of the school’s signature practices, and a successful application review,” CDE officials said.

More than 1,200 applications were reviewed for completeness by teams of educators from across the state. Applications considered complete moved forward in the process. Officials from the Solano County Office of Education then coordinated campus visits, as required by the CDE.

via:  The Reporter

People will ‘Purple Up!’ today in TUSD schools – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

To hear someone say, “Purple up!” at Travis Unified campus today will not be odd or unexpected.

At district schools, including two in Vacaville, and across the nation, people will be encouraged to wear purple clothing items or accessories to show support for military children.

April is the Month of the Military Child, Sylvia Crowder, the Travis Air Force Base liaison, reminded the governing board during their regular monthly meeting Tuesday in the Travis Education Center.

In her remarks to trustees, she noted that several hundred service members are currently deployed from the sprawling military base south of Vacaville.

“It is important to emphasize and recognize the role that military children play while their service member parents are serving the nation,” Superintendent Kate Wren Gavlak wrote in a press release issued last week.

via: The Reporter

Solano commissioner hears DUI case at Rodriguez High – Daily Republic

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By Daily Republic Staff

Rodriguez High School hosted a drunken driving trial Tuesday that was watched by more than 400 students.

A jury of students found Almark Manganaan guilty of a misdemeanor in a trial presided over by Court Commissioner Raymond Wieser.

Manganaan was pulled over by a California Highway Patrol officer in March. He was removed from the car and administered a series of field sobriety tests as three of his friends watched from the car.

Then his friend’s watched him get handcuffed, loaded into the back of the patrol car and get taken to jail.

Source: Solano commissioner hears DUI case at Rodriguez High

Fairfield, Armijo high schools, Fairview Elementary top proposed Measure J priority list – Daily Republic

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By Ryan McCarthy

Projects that include $24.2 million in work at Fairfield High School, $19.6 million at Armijo High and $19.2 million at Fairview Elementary School in Fairfield are among proposed priorities if the Measure J bond wins voter approval June 7.

A total of $16.5 million in work is proposed for B. Gale Middle School and $12.7 million at Grange Middle School is on the list presented Tuesday to Fairfield-Suisun School District trustees.

“It would be a tremendous asset to all of our sites,” board president Judi Honeychurch said of the projects.

The $169.7 million list of priorities will return April 28 for action by the school board.

Source: Fairfield, Armijo high schools, Fairview Elementary top proposed Measure J priority list

What is your tax-tolerance limit? – Daily Republic

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By Barbara Wright

The Fairfield-Suisun School District sent homeowners within the district a community facility survey in January requesting a ranking in importance of conducting routine building maintenance, providing job training for students, providing libraries with space for music and arts, and upgrading classrooms to meet 21st-century learning standards.

This propaganda piece displayed photos of under-sink plumbing, a dirty radiator and a nondescript area of maybe a roof.

The piece touched briefly on the Facilities Master Plan, which addresses school modernization projects. Also mentioned is the need to upgrade the technology aspects of the curriculum.

Source: What is your tax-tolerance limit?

Benicia High School students reminded of dangers of distracted driving – Times Herald

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By Irma Widjojo

Hundreds of Benicia high schoolers were asked a simple question Wednesday morning: What do you consider lethal?

The question was to get these students thinking about the daily and mundane activities that if done while driving could lead to serious, and even deadly, consequences.

Two hour-long assembly periods were dedicated Wednesday to remind all Benicia High School students of the importance of driving responsibly.

“About 75 percent of teen fatalities in accidents are caused by distracted driving,” Vice Principal Kathrine Cole said. “All teens text, eat in the car, or joke around. This program, I find, applies to the broadest group of kids.”

Cole said the Impact Teen Drivers program was introduced in lieu to the bi-annual “Every 15 Minutes” program, which focuses more on drunk driving and its consequences.

Source: Benicia High School students reminded of dangers of distracted driving

Family night at Vallejo school builds relationships – Times Herald

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By Irma Widjojo

It was called “Spring Family Night,” but truly it was a community night at a Vallejo elementary school.

About 100 families of Lincoln Elementary School students spent a couple of hours at the school Tuesday afternoon for some information, resources and entertainment.

“Not a lot of the families, especially in downtown area, are aware of what’s going on in school,” said Angel Banks, the school’s academic support provider. “A lot of the families are just trying to make it, … and they may not be aware of the resources that are available for them.”

The school organizes two family nights each school year — fall and spring — as part of its effort as a full-service community school in Vallejo.

“We want to be able to meet the family’s basic needs, recognizing that meeting those needs directly correlates with the students’ achievement in school,” Banks said.

via: Times Herald

Common Core goes ‘moo’ at Callison – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Snickers was a treat in so many ways Wednesday at Callison Elementary in Vacaville.

Candy? No. A bovid ruminant, commonly called a cow, yes.

And there she was, doe-eyed with black and white markings, eating hay and chewing her cud, a 1,200-pound lesson, on four hooves, on science, health and food literacy.

The 5-year-old Holstein, from a dairy ranch in Galt, Snickers was the natural center of attention while standing in her mobile trailer parked on the asphalt playground at the Vanden Road campus.

via:  The Reporter

Several employee wage pacts on FSUSD agenda tonight – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Fairfield-Suisun Unified leaders, when they meet tonight, are expected to OK a waiver request to recover state testing funds and new cost-of-living agreements with several employee groups.

The seven-member governing board, after calling for a public hearing on the matter, likely will approve a waiver request, because of a missed deadline, to recover nearly $39,000 related to the administering of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP, the standardized tests under Common Core.

Trustees are expected to approve several new COLA pacts with three employee bargaining units for the 2016-17 school year. The agreements, after public hearings in each case, take effect July 1.

Source: Several employee wage pacts on FSUSD agenda tonight

Benicia Middle School to have new principal – Times Herald

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By Irma Widjojo

Just less than a year into the job, the Benicia Middle School principal has resigned and will be replaced in the new school year, school district officials said.

At a special meeting Friday, the school board unanimously approved the hiring of Damian Scott to take over the leadership position at the middle school beginning July 1.

Trustee Peter Morgan was absent due to other obligations.

Scott will be replacing Stephen Brady who hailed to Benicia last year from Mount Diablo Unified School District where he was a high school principal for two years.

According to an announcement from Superintendent Charles Young, Scott earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon, received his administrative credential from Fortune School of Education, and received his Master’s Degree from San Jose State University.

Source: Benicia Middle School to have new principal

Children’s Nurturing Project part of Sullivan one-stop service center – Daily Republic

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By Todd R. Hansen

The little boy, just 3 at the time, put his arms behind his back as if they were being cuffed.

The sound he then made, the first in several months working with staff at the Children’s Nurturing Project, was that of a police siren coming to his home.

It was there where he and his two siblings had watched his father violently attack and choke their mother; watched as their father was handcuffed and taken away by police; watched as their mother was taken to a residential rehab program.

“He never laughed. He never really cried. He was very, very emotionless because of what he saw,” said Laurie Hartmann, who was a direct service clinician with the Children’s Nurturing Project at the time.

Source: Children’s Nurturing Project part of Sullivan one-stop service center

Genentech provides grant to foster Kids’ love of science and nature – The Reporter

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Genentech’s Vacaville and Dixon facilities announced last week that they are providing a $100,000 grant to the Explorit Science Center to support the center’s mission to ignite and foster curiosity about science and nature through hands-on exploration.

Specifically, the grant would support the following initiatives:

• “Community Science Project,” which partners with middle schools and elementary schools in Solano and Yolo counties to encourage students in science discovery through a variety of topics. The content is integrated into teachers’ on-going curriculum and aligned with Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core Standards.

 

via: The Reporter

VUSD to offer Independent Study for nonvaccinated students – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

As enrollment for area school districts gets underway, Vacaville Unified is among those offering a learning option for nonvaccinated students, the home-based Independent Study program.

In response to SB 277, which took effect Jan. 1 and disallows personal and religious belief exemptions for some 10 vaccinations, Superintendent Jane Shamieh said that, as a result of the law, some families may no longer have a school to send their children to. The law affects all California public and private schools and daycare centers.

In a prepared statement, Shamieh noted this major change for the 12,300-student district, which has accepted exemptions for students in the past.

Source: VUSD to offer Independent Study for nonvaccinated students

TUSD trustees face light agenda tonight – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Travis Unified leaders, when they meet tonight, face a relatively light agenda, including approval of several textbooks, approval of year-end budget transfers, and approval of a notice that the new Vanden High School Library has been completed.

Sue Brothers, assistant superintendent for educational services, will recommend the governing board adopt “Wonders,” an English textbook series for grades K-5, at a cost of more than $800,000 for eight years; adopt “Springboard English,” English language texts for grades 6-8, at a cost of $160,000 for five years; and “California Collections,” an English textbook series for Vanden students, at a cost of $272,000 for eight years. For the all the book purchases, the money will come from three funding sources: mandated, instructional materials and the California Lottery.

Source: TUSD trustees face light agenda tonight