2017 Model School Attendance Program Winners – Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today that 27 school attendance programs were recognized as Model School Attendance Review Boards (SARBs) for innovative and effective practices to reduce suspensions, expulsions, and chronic absenteeism.

“Students need to be in school to learn. The terrific work of the review boards is a testament to the collaboration between the school, parents, and community so that all students have the opportunity to succeed on their way to 21st century careers and college,” Torlakson said.

The number of districts that applied to the Model SARB Recognition Program tripled since 2016. The State SARB, an expert panel appointed by Torlakson, reviewed the applications.

Source: 2017 Model School Attendance Program Winners – Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education)

FSUSD recognized for its Model School Attendance program – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Like all educators, Fairfield-Suisun Unified leaders take chronic absenteeism seriously, but their engaged, coordinated efforts to deal with students who are absent more than three weeks during a school year have been recognized by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.

In a press release issued Thursday, he cited the district as one of 27 statewide with Model School Attendance Review Boards (SARBs), taking into account “innovative and effective practices to reduce suspensions, expulsions, and chronic absenteeism.”

“Students need to be in school to learn,” Torlakson said in the prepared statement. “The terrific work of the review boards is a testament to the collaboration between the school, parents, and community so that all students have the opportunity to succeed on their way to 21st-century careers and college.”

 

Source: FSUSD recognized for its Model School Attendance program

Self-study of Public Safety Academy gets school board approval – Daily Republic

By Ryan McCarthy

A self-study of the Public Safety Academy stating the school that opened in 2012 has a higher attendance rate than other schools in the Fairfield-Suisun School District, few suspensions and “is doing very well,” won approval Thursday by district trustees.

The study is part of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation.

Former Fairfield Police Chief Walt Tibbet, former Suisun City Police Chief Ed Dadisho and retired school district Superintendent Jacki Cottingim-Dias originally conceived the Public Safety Academy program, the report states.

Source: Self-study of Public Safety Academy gets school board approval

Robotics students get $500 contribution toward trips – Daily Republic

By Ryan McCarthy

Fundraisers begin Monday for Fairfield-Suisun School District students to participate in robotics competitions in Houston and Kentucky.

The first fundraiser will take place Monday at Mary’s Pizza Shack in Fairfield, with events to follow April 14 at Panda Express and May 3 at Chipotle.

School district trustees meeting Thursday reviewed a waiver of state law to allow the district to help pay for a $20,767 trip by eight students at Grange Middle School and Armijo High School to compete in the VEX Robotics World Championship scheduled April 19-22 in Kentucky.

Source: Robotics students get $500 contribution toward trips

Guidelines designed to help districts implement new science standards | EdSource

By Carolyn Jones

Thorough, comprehensive teacher training and textbooks that appeal to a diverse array of students will be key to successfully implementing California’s new science standards, according to guidelines released by the standards’ creators.

“Implementation is complex. There’s a lot of moving parts,” said Vanessa Wolbrink, program associate at Achieve, the education nonprofit that helped craft the new Next Generation Science Standards. “We hope this will help.”

The new standards, adopted by California in 2013, focus on hands-on science projects, critical thinking over rote memorization, and crossover between scientific disciplines. They also include curriculum for all grade levels, which will be a major shift for some elementary schools that have not in the past emphasized science instruction.

Source: Guidelines designed to help districts implement new science standards | EdSource

‘Matthew Turner’ ship launching Saturday – Benicia Herald

By Donna Beth Weilenman

A labor of love that began nearly four years ago with the laying of a brigantine’s keel will take an important step forward Saturday when the “Matthew Turner” is launched in Sausalito. Named for the famous shipbuilder who constructed record-setting vessels in Benicia, the Matthew Turner is patterned after the “Galilee,” the ship that covered the distance from Tahiti to California under sail at such speeds that the produce it carried arrived fresh enough to sell to awaiting customers.

The Galilee still holds the speed record – 22 days – for ships under sail from Tahiti to San Francisco.

Alan Olson, who founded the Call of the Sea and Educational Tall Ship education programs, has been dreaming of the day a ship built along Turner’s own designs would become the San Francisco Bay Area’s tall ship.

At one time, the Hawaiian Chieftain held that honor. That ship is an original design that recalls the packet ships that delivered mail and cargo along the Pacific coastline and inland via rivers, or outward across the ocean.

Source: ‘Matthew Turner’ ship launching Saturday

Vacaville school leaders, in a workshop tonight, to hear details, priorities of LCAP – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Vacaville Unified leaders, when they meet tonight in a workshop, will discuss the 2017-18 Local Control Accountability Plan, a document that lists priorities, from student achievement to parental involvement to school climate, and guides much of the school district’s spending.

The district’s chief academic officer, Mark Frazier likely will lead the discussion that will review the current year’s actions and goals — including increasing college and career-readiness efforts, closing the achievement gap, and enhancing school climate — and cite document-approval timelines. Required by state law, school district LCAPs are typically submitted to county and state education officials at the same time the district’s budget is submitted. They can be regarded as something of a snapshot of the district.

Frazier also will touch on the concepts of equality vs. equity and review the district number of “unduplicated students,” that is, English learners, poor and foster youth, which accounts for 42 percent, or 5,250, of some 12,500 students. District schools with the largest percentages of unduplicated students are Markham, Fairmont, Padan and Hemlock elementaries, Country High School and Vaca Pena Middle School.

 

Source: Vacaville school leaders, in a workshop tonight, to hear details, priorities of LCAP

Increased meal prices, large construction contracts on Fairfield-Suisun agenda – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Increased breakfast and lunch prices at middle schools and high schools, contracts for parking lot, field and portable classroom expansion at two schools, and reviews of Title 1 (federal funding) programs at two schools are on the agenda when Fairfield-Suisun Unified leaders meet tonight.

Trustees are expected to approve the meal price increases, effective July 1, that call for breakfast prices to rise from $1.50 to $1.75 and lunch prices to rise from $3 to $3.25 at the district’s secondary schools. Breakfasts and lunches served at elementary schools will remain the same for the time being, however.

According to agenda documents, Margan Holloway, director of child nutrition services, noted U.S. Code 1760 requires schools to charge students not eligible for the free and reduced-price meal program a price that is, on average, equal to the difference between free meal reimbursement and paid meal reimbursement.

 

Source: Increased meal prices, large construction contracts on Fairfield-Suisun agenda

Rodriguez High to host real DUI court – Daily Republic

By Daily Republic Staff

Rodriguez High School students will become eyewitnesses to what can happen if they are arrested and prosecuted for driving while in some way impaired.

About 350 students will attend a real trial conducted Tuesday by Solano Superior Court Judge Raymond Wieser at the Fairfield campus. It will run from 8:10 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.

Conducting the DUI trial at high schools is a strategy to help reduce community alcohol problems, including motor vehicle crashes. Wieser will make a brief presentation after the trial and help facilitate an interactive civics lesson.

Source: Rodriguez High to host real DUI court

Vallejo School board names former superintendent as interim – Times Herald

By John Glidden

A familiar face is returning to lead the Vallejo City Unified School District.

In a unanimous vote Monday night, the school board named Stephen Goldstone as interim district superintendent.

Goldstone is no stranger to the district having served as superintendent from 1995 to 2000 before he was fired by the then-school board.

Speaking to the board after being named interim, Goldstone said he sees himself as bridge between permanent superintendents.

“I see my role as building a bridge from where you are now, from the good things that are in this district, from where Dr. Bishop left this district, building a bridge to your new superintendent,” he said.

Source: Vallejo School board names former superintendent as interim

County pitches in to help Solano students drink healthy – Daily Republic

By Daily Republic Staff

Solano County supervisors on Tuesday approved a $74,000 contract with the Fairfield-Suisun schools and a $59,000 contract with Vacaville schools to install 36 water-filling stations within the districts.

There will be 18 provided to each district.

Funds are provided through the Public Health Department. The funds also support comprehensive school physical activity training with teachers and administrators within both school districts, the county reported.

Source: County pitches in to help Solano students drink healthy

High attendance rate, few suspensions at Public Safety Academy – Daily Republic

By Ryan McCarthy

The Public Safety Academy that opened in 2012 has a higher attendance rate than other schools in the Fairfield-Suisun School District, few suspensions and “is doing very well,” says a self study for its accreditation.

School district trustees take up the self study at their meeting Thursday.

Former Fairfield Police Chief Walt Tibbet, former Suisun City Police Chief Ed Dadisho and retired school district Superintendent Jacki Cottingim-Dias originally conceived the public safety academy program, the report states.

The academy’s 97.3 percent attendance rate from August to December 2016 is higher than rates for elementary, middle and high schools in the district, according to the report.

Source: Report: High attendance rate, few suspensions at Public Safety Academy

Nutritional education, 4-H diversity are Cooperative Extension targets – Daily Republic

By Todd R. Hansen

A University of California Cooperative Extension program chart left Solano County Supervisor Erin Hannigan feeling a little hungry for more.

Hannigan continued her push to develop nutritional education in the area schools Tuesday, telling Morgan Doran, director of the three-county UC Cooperative Extension Capitol Corridor, that a nutritional adviser is needed in the county.

“We really need to work on that,” Hannigan said. “Solano County . . . we just heard about this a week ago . . . has the highest rates of child obesity, the highest rate of diabetes, a lot of really bad long-term health consequences as a result of poor nutrition.”

Source: Nutritional education, 4-H diversity are Cooperative Extension targets

District eyes $20,767 trip to Kentucky for robotics competition – Daily Republic

By Ryan McCarthy

A waiver of state law will allow the Fairfield-Suisun School District to help pay for a $20,767 trip by eight students at Grange Middle School and Armijo High School to compete in the VEX Robotics World Championship scheduled April 19-22 in Kentucky.

Sheila McCabe, school district spokeswoman, said Tuesday that students are raising money for the trip.

The estimated trip costs includes three staff members.

Source: District eyes $20,767 trip to Kentucky for robotics competition

California still has a way to go in offering ‘full-day’ preschool | EdSource

By Louis Freedberg and Susan Frey

Despite continuing efforts to expand learning time for young children, large numbers of low-income California children still lack access to full-day programs in state-supported preschool, according to a new EdSource report.

The report, titled “Expanding Early Learning Time: Accessing Full Day Preschool and Kindergarten in California,” points to compelling research that shows that attending high-quality, full-day preschool is associated with improved learning outcomes for students. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, for example, found that full-day preschool attendance contributed to greater school readiness on four measures: social-emotional development, language development, math performance and physical health.

Source: California still has a way to go in offering ‘full-day’ preschool | EdSource

Vanden, Armijo robotics squads qualify for world championship – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Houston, we do not have a problem, because the Vanden and Armijo high school robotics teams have qualified for world high school robotics championship April 19 to 22 in Houston, Texas.

The RoboVikes and the Armijo Robotics squads earned enough points during the Sacramento Regional Robotics Competition Saturday at the University of California, Davis, to make the trip to the George Brown Convention Center in the Lone Star State’s largest city.

Doug Green, the longtime RoboVikes adviser, was clearly elated during an interview Monday, as he and the students prepared for still more competition this weekend at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho.

Source: Vanden, Armijo robotics squads qualify for world championship

Vacaville Unified School District Teacher of the Year ‘a leader on campus’ – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

The paving of her road to being named the Vacaville Unified 2017 Teacher of the Year may have begun in the San Francisco Giants’ dugout.

In summer 2014, Tracy Ruiz, a 10th-grade Wood High English teacher, was one of 30 teachers nationwide named a Major League Baseball All-Star Teacher, an honor accorded by the Giants, following a Northern California competition, that included tickets to that year’s All-Star Game at Target Field in Minnesota.

As part of their nominating statement to the professional baseball team’s award program, teaching colleagues Lili Fisher and Brenda Hensley wrote “… to truly understand Tracy is to witness what she does for others.” And, they added, “From individual interactions to large-scale rallies and events, Tracy has been the driving force for culture change at school.”

Source: Vacaville Unified School District Teacher of the Year ‘a leader on campus’ – The Reporter

Water filling stations at school on tap at Solano County Supervisors meeting – The Reporter

By Melissa Murphy

Looking to improve the health and well-being of Solano County residents, Solano Public Health is proposing contracts with the Vacaville and the Fairfield-Suisun unified school districts to coordinate, among other things, the installation of 18 water filling stations within each district.

The Department of Health and Social Services recommends that the Solano County Board of Supervisors approve the contract with the Vacaville school district in the amount of $59,000 and the Fairfield-Suisun school district in the amount of $74,000 from March 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018.

Besides the water filling stations, the funds also would go toward promoting healthier lunch options and conduct comprehensive school physical activity training with teachers and administrators.

Source: Water filling stations at school on tap at Solano County Supervisors meeting

Local teams battle it out at regional Robotics competition – The Reporter

By Dom Pruett

Four local high school robotics teams were among the 56 represented at the 15th Annual FIRST Robotics Competition Sacramento Regional Saturday at UC Davis.

The field of 56, which was comprised of teams from high schools in California, Hawaii, and Nevada, included Vanden’s RoboVikes, Vacaville’s RoboDogs, the Robo Knights of Buckingham Charter Magnet High School, and Armijo Robotics from Armijo High School.

The FIRST, short for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology,” Robotics Competition placed three teams together, dubbed an “adventure club,” and pitted them against another trio of teams during a match referred to this year as FIRST STEAMWORKS. The objective: accumulate as many points as possible with your team’s robot.

Source: Local teams battle it out at regional Robotics competition

Travis district offers kindergarten, transitional kindergarten registration – Daily Republic

By Daily Republic Staff

Travis School District begins priority registration this week for kindergarten and transitional kindergarten.

Registration will occur Monday at Foxboro Elementary, 600 Morning Glory Drive, Vacaville; Tuesday at Cambridge Elementary, 100 Cambridge Drive, Vacaville; and Wednesday at Center Elementary, 3101 Markeley Lane, Fairfield.

The time is set by the first letter of the child’s last name: A-G at 5 p.m.; H-L at 5:30 p.m.; and M-Z at 6 p.m.

Source: Travis district offers kindergarten, transitional kindergarten registration