Monthly Archives: May 2016

Vallejo school board gets update on possible bond – Times Herald

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By John Glidden

The Vallejo school board is tentatively scheduled to decide this summer whether to place a bond on the November ballot, the district’s chief operations officer said Wednesday night.

Mitchell Romao gave a bond update to the school board, stating the district is eying a board workshop in June to go over legal and financial considerations, followed by a meeting the same month to review a facilities master plan revision, project priorities, and staff recommendations.

Authorization from the board may take place during a meeting in July to place a measure on the November ballot, he added.

Vallejo City Unified School District board trustee Burky Worel said he has “deep reservations” about placing a measure on ballot this year.

Source: Vallejo school board gets update on possible bond

Jesse Bethel receives good accreditation news – Times Herald

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By John Glidden

Highlighting that it has strong leadership, an environment of safety, camaraderie, and support for all on the campus, the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges has given Jesse Bethel High School a passing grade.

The commission — the agency that accredits schools from kindergarten through college — took action recently, granting the school a six-year accreditation status through June 30, 2022 after officials toured the campus earlier this year.

“Teachers, school leadership, and district administration deserve a great deal of credit for designing a high school model that meets the needs of an extremely diverse student body,” the visiting team wrote. “Staff has made a number of selfless and difficult decisions in the area of staffing, responsibilities, organization, and accountability in order to meet the needs of students and families.”

Source: Jesse Bethel receives good accreditation news

Local libraries to hand out free comic books Saturday – Times Herald

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By Times Herald staff

Local librarians will channel their inner superhero this weekend during Free Comic Book Day.

Six library branches in Solano County will give away free comic books to children and adults beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The effort is part of a nationwide movement to promote the art form of comics.

The day first came into existence in 2002 to coincide with the opening of ‘Spiderman’ the feature film. Since then, it has grown to include more than 3,000 retailers and locations in more than 30 countries. The following are participating branches of Solano County Library: Fairfield Civic Center Library, Fairfield Cordelia Library, John F. Kennedy Library of Vallejo, Rio Vista Library, Springstowne Library of Vallejo and Suisun City Library.

Source: Local libraries to hand out free comic books Saturday

Old-school Armijo musicians to rock benefit concert – Daily Republic

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By Tony Wade

Armijo High School celebrates 125 years in 2016 and the Armijo Alumni Association, itself celebrating 25 years, is throwing a fundraising concert for scholarships called ARMIJO ROCKS!

Getting The Malibus, a band of friends who are all graduates of the school, to headline was the granddaddy of all no-brainers.

The Malibus formed in 1963 and include Class of 1966 grads bassist Dana Byerley and rhythm guitarist Scott Lockwood, as well as Class of 1967 grads drummer Dean McMillen and lead guitarist Rick Lowe, currently of The Time Bandits.

Source: Old-school Armijo musicians to rock benefit concert

Big Measure A contract, property lease agreement on VUSD agenda – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

A major construction project contract under Measure A, a public hearing about “sunshining” a wage and benefit agreement with school-support employees, and a letter of intent to lease property for Independent Study offices and rooms are on the agenda when Vacaville Unified leaders meet tonight.

Trustees are expected to approve a $3.6 million contract with Lister Construction Inc. for the Vacaville High School parking lot expansion and tennis courts project. A Vacaville firm, Lister submitted the lowest of three bids. Work is expected to begin two days after the 2016 graduation ceremony, on June 6. Costs will be paid for under Measure A, the $194 million bond measure passed by voters in November 2014.

Source: Big Measure A contract, property lease agreement on Vacaville Unified agenda

School nurses: Just what the doctor ordered – Daily Republic

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By Amy Maginnis-Honey

The pace can be hectic, the demands varied and there’s the fact school nurses often see youth in need of care.

That’s fine with Kathy Boyajian. After staying home while raising her children, who are now adults, she went to school and became a nurse to help others.

Boyajian has been with the Fairfield-Suisun School District about six and a half years. She worked as an emergency room nurse prior.

Working every other weekend and every other holiday, in addition to the night shift, was the impetus behind making the jump.

Source: School nurses: Just what the doctor ordered

Vacaville district boasts county’s top teacher, classified employee – Daily Republic

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By Ian Thompson

A Vacaville High School history teacher and a Vacaville administrative assistant are Solano County’s 2016-17 Teacher of the Year and 2016-17 Classified School Employee of the Year.

Ana Farina, who teaches history and advanced placement psychology, was picked Tuesday night as the county’s Teacher of the Year from a field of seven candidates.

“Ana is so versatile and has brought a wealth of knowledge and experience from her previous district,” wrote Vacaville High School Principal Ed Santopadre. “Our students respond well to her and she gets the best out of them.”

Source: Vacaville district boasts county’s top teacher, classified employee

2016 SACS Budget Release Letter – Financial Reporting (CA Dept of Education)

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The 2016 budget version of the Standardized Account Code Structure (SACS) financial reporting software (SACS2016 Budget) is now available on our Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/sf/fr/. This version of the software includes only those components necessary to complete the 2016–17 budget reports. A second release is planned for early July 2016 and will include, in addition to the 2016–17 budget components, the 2015–16 unaudited actual and the 2016–17 interim reporting components of the software.

This year our efforts were primarily focused on required changes and updating the Criteria and Standards. For additional information on the changes made to the software, please refer to the “What’s New” section of the SACS2016 Software User Guide.

Source: 2016 SACS Budget Release Letter – Financial Reporting (CA Dept of Education)

Dixon May Fair opens today – The Reporter

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By Jessica Rogness

While the Ferris wheels and fair food stands were assembled, local youth were making their own preparations for the Dixon May Fair Wednesday afternoon.

Squawks, bleats, bellows and oinks were heard throughout the livestock area of the fairgrounds from the fowl, goats, sheep, steer and pigs as students and their parents prepped them for showing over the next few days and Saturday’s auction.

Standing beside his four sheep, Tyler Pettey, 10, of the Maine Prairie 4-H Club explained that he has been walking the sheep and practicing showing them by guiding them on a halter.

Source: Dixon May Fair opens today

Loop the Lagoon to benefit Vacaville students – The Reporter

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The 13th annual Loop the Lagoon family fun run is Saturday in Lagoon Valley Park.

The event benefits the Vacaville Public Education Foundation, and partner Fleet Feet Sports in Vacaville said they are determined to make it the best Loop yet.

Event organizers promise family fun, food, music and more.

The event kicks off at 8:20 a.m. Saturday with the 5K run/walk loop around the lagoon.

There is also a 10K run/walk — a double loop around the lagoon — and a 10K Tower Challenge on an all-terrain course with a 730-foot elevation gain and descent.

Computerized timing and results will be in place for the 5K, 10K and Tower Challenge.

Prizes, provided by Brooks Sports, are three deep in each 10-year age category for these races.

Source: Loop the Lagoon to benefit Vacaville students

At Cambridge Elementary, students, families ‘think outside the car’ – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

They were probably thinking more about getting to class on time rather than the commendable theme of National Bike To School Day: “Think outside the car.”

Cambridge Elementary sixth-graders Kelsey Wall, riding a pinkish bicycle, and Alexus Sorenson, using a silvery metal scooter, both wearing safety helmets, pedaled and pushed their way to school early Wednesday, when the special day was observed at the Cambridge Drive campus, elsewhere in Solano County and across state and nation.

Source: At Cambridge Elementary, students, families ‘think outside the car’

Schools See Less Crime, Fewer Students Feel Unsafe, Federal Data Show – Rules for Engagement

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By Evie Blad

Counter to popular narratives, American schools may actually be getting safer.

Reports of student victimization at school continue to decline, and students’ reports of fear of harm at school also keep falling, data released today show.

Between 1992 and 2014, the total victimization rate at school fell from 181 victimizations per 1,000 students in 1992 to 33 victimizations per 1,000 students in 2014, according to the most recent federal data. Those victimizations include incidents such as theft, assault, robbery, and sexual assault.

The data come from an annual report, Indicators of School Crime and Safety, which is producted jointly by the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Source: Schools See Less Crime, Fewer Students Feel Unsafe, Federal Data Show – Rules for Engagement – Education Week

5 Pieces Of Wisdom For Kindergarten Teachers : NPR Ed

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By Elissa Nadworny

When you enter Marissa McGee’s classroom, the first thing you notice is her connection with her students. They’re delighted by her enthusiasm, they pick up on her sarcasm, and they often double over with giggles when she makes a joke.

And this is kindergarten. So McGee’s students — her audience — are 5-year-olds.

“They’re easy to please,” she says, laughing. “I’m not that funny. I wouldn’t even consider myself funny at all.”

Source: 5 Pieces Of Wisdom For Kindergarten Teachers : NPR Ed : NPR

Garamendi seeks to ease student loan interest rates – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Rep. John Garamendi said there is a “cloud” over today’s college students.

In scientific terms, the type of cloud would be cumulonimbus, a dense, towering, vertical cloud, the biggest.

But in financial terms, which American college students are more likely to think of first, the cloud is student loan debt, and it is also dense, towering and vertical, like a stack of freshly minted dollar bills.

Student college loan debt is more than $1 trillion, Garamendi, D-Solano, noted during a noontime press conference Tuesday at the University of California, Davis, during which he formally announced that he plans to introduce a bill that would ease student loan interest rates.

Source: Garamendi seeks to ease student loan interest rates

Harnessing the Power of YouTube in the Classroom | Edutopia

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By Monica Burns

There are amazing ways to elevate and energize instruction through using technology tools. One resource that’s popular with students of all ages — from the youngest to the oldest — is the video hosting website YouTube. YouTube lets anyone with a free account upload videos. Many organizations post collections of videos on this site, which is organized into channels. In addition to locating content, teachers can create their own YouTube channels to share videos and showcase student work.

YouTube is so much more than music videos and clips of animals doing tricks. It contains engaging, informative content at all levels. This video hosting site gives teachers the opportunity to take students around the world, listen to experts on a topic, or hear an explanation for a new idea. One of the reasons why people of all ages are using YouTube is because it’s a powerful tool for teaching and learning.

Source: Harnessing the Power of YouTube in the Classroom | Edutopia

Bill would increase funding for adult education by $250 million | EdSource

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By Susan Frey

State legislators are considering a bill that would boost funding for adult education by $250 million – reinstating funds that were diverted to K-12 schools during the recession, causing many adult programs to close or cut back the number of classes they offered.

“Every time I go back to my district, families ask when are the adult schools coming back, especially the English as a Second Language programs in local schools,” said Assemblywoman Patty Lopez, D-San Fernando, who has introduced Assembly Bill 1846 to increase funding. “There are 16,000 people on waiting lists for adult classes just in Los Angeles.”

Adult schools provide free or low-cost classes to Californians who are too old for K-12 schools but not academically prepared for community college, or who don’t qualify for skilled jobs. They serve immigrants, the unemployed, disabled adults, high-school dropouts and ex-offenders re-entering society.

Source: Bill would increase funding for adult education by $250 million | EdSource

#ThankATeacher may say it all – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Understanding Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” The Bard’s play about “star-crossed lovers,” is not so easy for ninth-graders, much less adults.

There’s Elizabethan English, for one thing, which requires slowed-down reading; poetry written in something called iambic pentameter, for another; and what about the play’s subject matter? It’s more than a story about teenage love, isn’t it?

Thankfully, there are well-informed, dynamic teachers, on this National Teacher Day, to make sense of it all, such as Will C. Wood High School English teacher Christina Mitsiopoulos, who, on Monday, held forth during an early afternoon class and, for nearly an hour, managed to focus 32 antsy teens on the playwright’s words.

Source: #ThankATeacher may say it all

A reunion, and also a fond farewell – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Eight years ago, Vacaville’s own acclaimed Honeybee Trio were young, excitable, bursting-with-talent songbirds, one member a preteen, the other two just entering their teen years, but Natalie Angst, Karli Bosler and Sarah McElwain were already creating — pardon this metaphor — a buzz.

In March 2009, emulating the Andrews Sisters with their close harmonies, World War II-era costumes and stage dynamics, the girls packed the Vacaville Performing Arts Theatre, singing behind the Moonlight Swing Big Band, acing tunes such as “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Straighten Up and Fly Right.”

Source: A reunion, and also a fond farewell

Vaca High Students place in “Breathe California” contest – The Reporter

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Two Vacaville High School students have been named winners in a competitive environmental art contest in the Sacramento region.

Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails has announced 12 winners of its annual Clean Air Art Contest.

Vaca High student Cynthia Rendon Aguilar won third place in the Fine Art category. Fellow Bulldog Elena Quintana won third place in the Ceramics and Sculpture category.

Rendon Aguilar and Quintana will be honored at Breathe’s 40th Annual Clean Air Awards Luncheon on May 11 at Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento. The pair and three other Vaca High students who were named finalists in the competition also will have their work shown at Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum and Verge Center for the Arts this summer.

via: Vaca High Students place in “Breathe California” contest – The Reporter

Officials post Solano County Science/STEM Fair winners – Daily Republic

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By Daily Republic Staff

The winners from the 4th Annual Solano County Science/STEM Fair have been announced, with Fairfield-area students earning high marks.

The fair took place April 15 at Vanden High School with students from Armijo and Vanden high schools, Grange Middle School, Bethany Lutheran School and Foxboro Elementary School participating.

There were 207 high school projects and 59 middle school projects entered this year, according to county schools officials. The fair was organized by Marilyn Lewis and Katy Green, science teachers at Vanden High.

Source: Good News: Officials post Solano County Science/STEM Fair winners