Monthly Archives: April 2017

Annual LCAP begins to take shape in VUSD – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

In the coming year, Vacaville Unified’s evolving Local Control Accountability Plan may emphasize lowering the student-teacher ratio, boosting K-1 reading skills, and monitoring the social-emotional needs of the district’s 12,500 students.

In a presentation Thursday, during an LCAP workshop and special governing board meeting, district officials discussed timelines, identified, then developed top priorities and actions for the 2017-18 LCAP, a document that guides virtually all spending under the governor’s Local Control Funding Formula. Both the district’s proposed 2017-18 budget and LCAP must be submitted to the Solano County Office of Education by June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Source: Annual LCAP begins to take shape in VUSD

BMS creative thinking team advances to World Finals – Benicia Herald

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By Nick Sestanovich

As part of the Odyssey of the Mind competition, seven Benicia Middle Schoolers have been working to think outside the box. That type of thinking will take them outside the state when they participate in the World Finals in May.

Odyssey of the Mind is an internationally sponsored competition for students ranging from kindergarteners to college pupils that blends academic education with creative, out-of-the-box thinking. The goal is to bring students together through teamwork as they solve problems.This year, two teams from Benicia participated but only one from BMS— consisting of seventh-grader Aidan Schultz and eighth-graders Aidan Torres, Aly Diaw, Blake Harris, Michael Cerna, Jacob Knott and Jonah Tillotson and coached by Amy Cerna and Carrie Todd— will be advancing to the World Finals at Michigan State University. It all began with the Regional Competition, which was held March 4 at Concord High School and El Dorado Middle School in Concord. From there, they were able to advance to the State Competition at Heritage High School in Brentwood on March 25 and then finally to the World Finals, which Todd said had never happened before.

Source: BMS creative thinking team advances to World Finals

Vacaville Masons to honor VUSD Teacher of the Year – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Masons have long been supporters of public education, beginning with Benjamin Franklin, who became one in 1731, and, nine years later, founded a free school that eventually became the University of Pennsylvania.

Observing that legacy of support for education and educators, the Vacaville Masons on Tuesday will honor the 2017 Vacaville Unified Teacher of the Year, Tracy Ruiz.

A 10th-grade English teacher at Will C. Wood High, she will be feted for her achievement with a dinner at the Vacaville Masonic Lodge, 897 Cotting Lane, near Vaca Valley Parkway and Interstate 505. The event begins at 6:30 p.m., and the public is invited. Cost is $10 per person. For more information about the dinner, email David Johnson, a retired investment adviser and lodge chaplain, at daviddj1933@gmail.com.

Source: Vacaville Masons to honor VUSD Teacher of the Year

Vanden senior bound for West Point – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

His hair freshly cut, clad perhaps a slightly ill-fitting uniform, Vanden High senior Cameron Castillo on July 3 will raise his right hand and take the Oath of Allegiance, entering the West Point class of 2021.

He will be among some 1,250 plebes, or freshman as they are known at the United States Military Academy, who will recite the oath on the sprawling parade grounds, on the granite bluffs above the Hudson River, about an hour’s drive north of New York City, where he will begin the grueling seven-week Cadet Basic Training, commonly called “Beast Barracks.”

In an interview last week, Castillo, who will turn 18 in June, told The Reporter he had just recently received his acceptance letter into the storied co-educational federal service academy, with its long list of graduates who are household names: Grant, Lee, Sherman, Pershing, Patton, Eisenhower, Bradley, Westmoreland, Aldrin, and Schwarzkopf.

 

Source: Vanden senior bound for West Point

Long Beach, Reno and Maryland hotel stays get school board’s OK – Daily Republic

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By Ryan McCarthy

Lodging costs – including $5,058 for seven Fairfield-Suisun School District administrators to attend a conference in Long Beach – won approval Thursday by district’s board of trustees.

The California Association of School Business Administrators conference will occur April 12-15. The board approved the lodging costs – part of warrants on the board agenda – without comment.

Molly McGee Hewitt, chief executive officer of the Sacramento-based California Association of School Business Officials, said in an email Friday that the Long Beach conference provides two general sessions, more than 147 workshops and an economic summit featuring two noted economists.

Source: Long Beach, Reno and Maryland hotel stays get school board’s OK