Monthly Archives: August 2017

Backpack giveaway helps area youth get back to school – Daily Republic

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By Susan Hiland

Students benefitted Sunday from two generous people who are working hard to make a difference in the community with what they call “The Giveaway.”

Tara Cruz graduated from Sem Yeto’s Young Mothers program and as a young parent she found herself utilizing county programs, including backpack giveaways.

“I have always held a job since I was 14, but there were still times that my job wasn’t paying enough for me to take care of my daughter and pay bills so I went back to school to further my education,” she said.

Source: Backpack giveaway helps area youth get back to school

School district says doubled homeless youth count is correct – Daily Republic

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By Ryan McCarthy

Homeless youth are accurately counted, the Fairfield-Suisun School District says in a draft response to the 2016-17 Solano County Grand Jury Report that stated the number of homeless students in the district nearly doubled in one year when almost 500 more youths were identified.

School district trustees meeting Thursday take up the draft response by Superintendent Kris Corey.

The grand jury, in its report released June 16, said school districts in the county presented conflicting statistics in reporting the number of homeless youth and recommended all data be verifiable.

Source: School district says doubled homeless youth count in grand jury report is correct

10 Free Apps and Tools for Starting Out (and Staying) Organized | Edutopia

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By Monica Burns

The start of a new school year is a great time to reflect on what’s really working for you and what isn’t quite cutting it. When it comes to staying organized, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. It’s all about finding a system that works for you and picking apps or tools that you will actually use. There isn’t a tool that will work perfectly for everyone—you may love a particular feature of one tool but use another that colleagues prefer to connect and collaborate with them.

As you sort through the following free tools, don’t try them all at the same time. Pick one or two, use them for a month, and then reflect on how well they’re helping you stay organized. You may choose to add a website or app to your tool belt as you explore another resource, or you may decide to scrap it and try something new.

Source: 10 Free Apps and Tools for Starting Out (and Staying) Organized | Edutopia

ESSA’s New High School Testing Flexibility: What’s the Catch? – Education Week

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By Alyson Klein

When the Every Student Succeeds Act passed, one of the things that educators were most excited about was the chance to cut down on the number of tests kids have to take, Specifically, the law allows some districts to offer a nationally recognized college-entrance exam instead of the state test for accountability.

But that flexibility could be more complicated than it appears on paper.

Here’s a case in point: Oklahoma, which hasn’t finalized its ESSA application yet, has already gotten pushback from the feds for the way that it had planned to implement the locally selected high school test option in a draft ESSA plan posted on the state department’s website. In that plan, Oklahoma sought to offer its districts a choice of two nationally recognized tests, the ACT or the SAT. Importantly, the state’s draft plan didn’t endorse one test over the other—both were considered equally okay.

Source: ESSA’s New High School Testing Flexibility: What’s the Catch? – Politics K-12 – Education Week

Youthful Meyers takes over as Rodriguez football coach – Daily Republic

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By Paul Farmer

Being named head coach of a high school football team before his 28th birthday wasn’t on Stephen Meyers’ to-do list.

It just turned out that way.

Meyers, 27, was hired earlier this year by Rodriguez High to replace Greg Sutter, whose teams were 5-15 on the field during his two years as coach, though three victories in 2016 were forfeited because the Mustangs played an ineligible player.

“I can’t say I thought I’d be a head coach at 27,” said Meyers, who was an assistant coach under Berwyn Hutcherson in 2014. “The opportunity presented itself and I couldn’t pass it up.”

Source: Youthful Meyers takes over as Rodriguez football coach

Locals recall earliest best-loved books – Daily Republic

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By Mayrene Bates

During the summer, some like to find a good book and head to the beach or even the backyard. Then, others like former councilwoman and Rotarian Noreen O’Regan read non-stop year-round.

The Pew Research Center in its annual “Book Reading” survey conducted in March and April 2016, reported that though reading for Americans has remained about the same in the last few years, how we’re reading is changing with e-books and audiobooks.

Source: Locals recall earliest best-loved books

SCOE report: Fewer homeless students in 2017 – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

The number of homeless public school students in Solano County has fluctuated in the past four years, from a record 2,200 in 2013 to 1,425 in 2015 to 2,080 in 2016 to 1,545 in 2017, and Vacaville-area districts this past year, reflecting county trends, tracked decidedly decreased numbers, the county Office of Education reported Wednesday.

Districts with fewer numbers from the most recent reporting period, ending June 30, include Vacaville, with 197, down from 237 in 2016; Travis Unified, with 91, a sizable drop from 264; and Fairfield-Suisun Unified, Solano’s largest district with more than 21,500 students, somewhat surprisingly with 687, down from 950.

Source: SCOE report: Fewer homeless students in 2017

Armijo grad DeVries to be inducted into USTA NorCal Hall of Fame – Daily Republic

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By Paul Farmer

When you refer to Steve DeVries as a hall of famer, it’s quite an understatement.

Already a member of the Sac-Joaquin Section and University of California halls of fame, DeVries is set to be inducted into the United States Tennis Association Northern California Hall of Fame.

The 1983 Armijo High graduate, as well as San Francisco 49ers radio broadcaster and longtime TV tennis announcer Ted Robinson and three others, will be inducted in a ceremony on Thursday at Stanford University during the Bank of the West Classic.

Source: Armijo grad DeVries to be inducted into USTA NorCal Hall of Fame

Solano health services gets kindergartners ready for school – Daily Republic

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By Ian Thompson

It was like one-stop shopping Wednesday for Dominique Lewis of Fairfield and her 4-year-old daughter Lavella to get the child ready for kindergarten.

The pair were taking advantage of the third annual day-long Kindergarten Round-Up, which was hosted by Solano County’s Fairfield Pediatric Clinic.

“I love that I am getting to learn about her learning ability,” Lewis said while her daughter answered questions from a social services worker.

Source: Solano health services gets kindergartners ready for school

Science, veterans’ center at heart of Solano College ceremony – Daily Republic

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By Bill Hicks

Administrators and trustees at Solano Community College might want to keep a hard hat and shovel nearby at all times.

The college, which has broken ground and finished construction on a small city’s worth of buildings recently, added another Wednesday, breaking ground on a new $37.6 million science and engineering building, which will also include the school’s new veterans’ center.

“This is a very exciting time for Solano College and the communities we serve,” said Superintendent/President Celia Esposito-Noy. “We are working to keep pace with the demands of our students and the workplace.”

Source: Science, veterans’ center at heart of Solano College ceremony

Cal State drops intermediate algebra as requirement to take some college-level math courses | EdSource

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By Mikhail Zinshteyn

A new policy from the California State University system will soon allow some students to take math classes with pre-requisites other than intermediate algebra to satisfy the math requirements they need for graduation.

The new rules go into effect starting in the fall of 2018 and will apply to both CSU freshmen and community college students transferring into the 23-university system. The changes will permit students who are not pursuing math or science majors to take non-algebra based math courses for general education, such as statistics, personal finance or even game theory and computer science.

Source: Cal State drops intermediate algebra as requirement to take some college-level math courses | EdSource

Robert Semple Elementary honored for positive behavioral support efforts – Benicia Herald

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By Nick Sestanovich

Following last year’s designation as a California Gold Ribbon school, Robert Semple Elementary has another honor it can claim: a Silver level recognition by the California PBIS Coalition.

Last week, Robert Semple was one of many schools throughout the state to be honored for its implementation of Positive Behavioral Supports and Interventions (PBIS), an educational approach aimed at helping schools adopt educational-based interventions to improve social and academic outcomes for all students. Goals of PBIS include developing a continuum of behavior, social emotional and academic interventions and supports; using data to help make decisions and solve problems; creating a problem-free environment; encouraging positive social skills and behavior; implementing evidence-based behavioral practices; and continually monitoring student performance and progress. The developed continuum has three tiers: one that provides universal interventions for all students (Tier 1); one that puts together targeted interventions for students that need additional social, emotional and behavioral support (Tier 2); and one that creates individualized interventions for students in parents in need of additional social, emotional and behavioral support (Tier 3).

Source: Robert Semple Elementary honored for positive behavioral support efforts

Trustees OK lighting pact for Fairfield-Suisun schools – Daily Republic

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By Ryan McCarthy

Vitality Construction of Sacramento has been awarded a $198,764 contract for new lighting systems at H. Glenn Richardson Educational Complex, Suisun Elementary, Fairfield-Suisun Adult School and Sullivan Interagency Youth Services Center.

Fairfield-Suisun School District trustees meeting Monday awarded the contract to low bidder Vitality for the new high-efficiency LED lighting technology.

Source: Trustees OK lighting pact for Fairfield-Suisun schools

DeVos Team Clarifies Rules for Evidence in ESSA School Turnaround Plans – Education Week

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By Andrew Ujifusa

The U.S. Department of Education has issued new requirements for how school improvement strategies under the Every Student Succeeds Act must rely on various levels of evidence.

As our colleague Sarah D. Sparks reported Sunday, the department laid out the rules that apply to school improvement and other activities under ESSA. Among other key provisions, the rules would require evidence linked to various strategies to be “relevant” to the students or groups of students identified for additional support—in other words, that the strategy has been shown to help them.

In addition, a state or district would need to show that the strategy it’s using to improve a school matches the parameters of a study showing that strategy’s benefits.

Source: DeVos Team Clarifies Rules for Evidence in ESSA School Turnaround Plans – Politics K-12 – Education Week

DUSD agenda: lunch bills, Oversight Committee, medical billing contract – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Dixon Unified leaders, when they meet Thursday, will discuss solutions to the sizable number of unpaid lunch accounts, legal requirements for the Measure Q Citizens Oversight Committee, a formal resolution establishing the committee, and a contract for Medi-Cal billing services.

The five-member governing board will hear a report from Superintendent Brian Dolan about the rural eastern Solano County school district’s food service program that will require future decisions.

Among them are actions to take when a student has an unpaid balance on their food service account; methods to collect such debts; and a general fund contribution to pay for breakfasts at Anderson Elementary and breakfasts and lunches at Maine Prairie High, a continuation school.

Source: DUSD agenda: Unpaid lunch bills, Citizens Oversight Committee, medical billing contract