Monthly Archives: January 2021

Kairos director concerned about state school reopening plan – The Reporter

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By Nick Sestanovich

The executive director of Kairos Public Schools is not too happy about a proposal by Gov. Gavin Newsom to provide financial incentives to school districts that adopt safety and reopening plans.

In a news release, Jared Austin felt the plan would jeopardize his schools’ ability to continue teaching students in person, which it has been doing since Oct. 13 after applying for a state elementary school waiver and receiving guidance from Solano County Public Health.

“Although we appreciate the governor focusing on the safety of our students and staff, this new plan really concerns me,” he said.

Source: Kairos director concerned about state school reopening plan – The Reporter

FSUSD Completes Project at Mary Bird Early Childhood Education Center – Daily Republic

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By Kris Corey

January 21, 2021 – Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District (FSUSD) has recently completed a construction project at Mary Bird Early Childhood Education Center. Since opening in 2016, the school has served as a model preschool program to districts across the state, and has received recognitions and awards for successfully serving children ages three to five years old. Now, Mary Bird has three new, spacious 1,250 square feet classrooms, each with a student restroom, three hand-washing sinks, built-in storage, and solar tubes (alternative skylights) to allow for more natural daylight. This brings the school’s total to ten classrooms, each designed to meet the specific needs of a preschool program. Adjacent to the classrooms is a new 1,953 square feet main office as the previous location was inadequately sized to serve as the main office and enrollment center for all State Preschool sites across the District. In addition, the site received a new parking lot and an expanded kitchen. The expanded parking will allow the parents and numerous staff serving the District’s youngest students adequate space to park and safely access the campus.

Source: Press Release: FSUSD Completes Project at Mary Bird Early Childhood Education Center Receives New Classrooms and Main Office

Applications being taken for Operation Recognition diploma program – The Reporter

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Applications are being accepted for Operation Recognition, a program that provides high school diplomas to United States veterans and Japanese-American citizens who were unable to finish high school due to wartime circumstances.

“We have been privileged to honor local veterans with retroactive and posthumous diplomas for more than a decade now,” Solano County Superintendent of Schools Lisette Estrella-Henderson said in a statement. “We look forward to this special day each year because these diplomas mean so much to the veterans and families who receive them. Being able to say thank you from the Solano County community means so much” to the Solano County Office of Education.

Source: Applications being taken for Operation Recognition diploma program

SCOE seeking veterans for retroactive diplomas – The Reporter

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By Nick Sestanovich

Once again, the Solano County Office of Education (SCOE) is seeking Solano veterans who were unable to receive their high school diplomas due to their military enlistment.

SCOE is now accepting applications for the 2021 Operation Recognition celebration, which is scheduled for June 30.

From the ’40s to the ’70s, many young men and women left high school to serve in the military and were unable to finish high school and receive their diplomas because of their service or Jim Crow laws that were in place at the time. Additionally, many Japanese-American high schoolers were unable to receive their diplomas because they were forced into internment camps during World War II.

Source: Solano County Office of Education seeking veterans for retroactive diplomas – The Reporter

Kairos eighth-graders witness a moment in history – The Reporter

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By Joel Rosenbaum

As he stood on the western steps of the United States Capitol with the eyes of the world on him, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. spoke of uniting the country.

Locally, the eighth-grade students of Jason Railing’s United States History class at ​Kairos Public School Vacaville Academy watched in rapt attention as the newly sworn-in president delivered his inauguration address Wednesday morning proclaiming that “democracy has prevailed.”

What Railing wanted his students to take away from the inauguration and the speech was the message of unity.

Source: Kairos eighth-graders witness a moment in history – The Reporter

SCOE partners with Solano Library, First 5 to deliver backpacks – The Reporter

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BY Nick Sestanovich

The Solano County Office of Education (SCOE) wants to ensure even the youngest learners have the tools needed for education.

The agency has partnered with the First 5 Solano Commission and Solano County Library Literacy Services to provide 5,500 backpacks filled with school supplies to kindergartners and transitional kindergartners at Solano public schools.

The backpacks are filled with everything a child needs for learning, including crayons, pencils, paper, and cards to help youngsters learn letter sounds and sight words. Unit counters, a dry-erase board and markers are also included in the backpacks to support virtual learning at home.

Source: SCOE partners with Solano Library, First 5 to deliver backpacks to 5,500 early learners – The Reporter

Local high schools trying to bring back limited sports by February – Times-Herald

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By Matt O’Donnell

February is known for Valentine’s Day, but local athletes might be falling in love with the month for another reason.

The North Coast Section executive committee on Thursday approved a plan for sports that state health officials say can be contested in the most restrictive coronavirus tier to start practice as early as Feb. 1. There have been no prep sports in California since last March due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Most leagues met this week over Zoom to discuss the possibilities. The Tri-County Athletic League met on Wednesday and the Diablo Athletic League met Friday.

Source: Local high schools trying to bring back limited sports by February – Times-Herald

Fairfield-Suisun school board tables talks on resumption of in-person learning – Daily Republic

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By Susan Hiland

A long-awaited decision by the Fairfield-Suisun School District governing board to either return to in-person learning or to continue distance learning is going to have to wait due recent changes from the state.

Schools are currently prohibited across the Bay Area from going to in-person learning due to the governor’s stay-at-home order.

The staff recommended that the governing board table consideration of reopening plans Thursday night until the Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “Safe Schools for All” plan is approved by the Legislature. This would allow the school board to consider the state plan as an option for reopening.

Source: Fairfield-Suisun school board tables talks on resumption of in-person learning

School district’s first-ever Virtual Winter Teacher Recruitment Fair yields results – Daily Republic

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An estimated 90 job-seekers registered and attended the Virtual Winter Teacher Recruitment Fair sponsored by the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, the district announced.

Nearly two dozen have been offered jobs.

Applicants were able to attend via the Zoom video conferencing platform in hopes of securing a teaching position for the 2021-2022 school year.

The district’s virtual teacher recruitment fair occurred Jan. 7. The event attracted prospective teaching candidates from universities throughout California and across the nation.

Source: School district’s first-ever Virtual Winter Teacher Recruitment Fair yields results

More than 5,000 Solano transitional kindergartners get backpacks – Daily Republic

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Backpacks filled with pencils, crayons, paper, letter-sounds, sight word cards and other early learning basics are being delivered to 5,500 transitional kindergartners and kindergartners in Solano County public schools.

The Solano County Office of Education partnered with the First 5 Solano Commission and Solano County Library Literacy Services to provide the early learning backpacks.

The backpacks are intended to serve as a midyear support for teachers, students and their families who are navigating virtual learning, a statement released Thursday by the Office of Education said. They are being delivered to school districts and charter schools that will in turn distribute the items to families across the county.

Source: More than 5,000 Solano transitional kindergartners, kindergartners get backpacks

California details plan to track school cases, reopening – The Reporter

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By John Woolfolk

California officials Thursday ordered schools statewide to begin reporting new coronavirus cases within 24 hours and their reopening status every two weeks as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s broader effort to spur a return of kids to the classroom.

That effort marks a change from last summer when the state was encouraging schools to start the new school year in online-only “distance learning” and had no plans to comprehensively track school cases or reopening. Districts and teacher unions have cited a lack of information about school outbreaks and reopenings as a concern. The infection information is to be reported to the state effective immediately and the reopening status starting Jan. 25, but it was unclear how much would be publicly available and when.

“Getting our kids and staff back into the classroom safely will help us continue turning the corner on this pandemic,” Newsom said in a statement.

Source: Coronavirus: California details plan to track school cases, reopening – The Reporter

U of California groups recommend Smarter Balanced test to replace SAT, ACT | Higher Ed Dive

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By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

The UC governing board voted in May to largely discontinue the use of entrance exams, dealing a major blow to the College Board and ACT, which rely heavily on revenue the tests generate. A federal judge later ruled, and an appeals court upheld, that the system couldn’t use the SAT or ACT when making decisions on admissions or scholarships for fall 2021.

As part of the system’s initial move to phase out the tests, its leaders said they would study whether they could create or adapt an admissions test to be available for fall 2025 applicants.

Source: U of California groups recommend Smarter Balanced test to replace SAT, ACT | Higher Ed Dive

California school officials push for standardized testing waiver amid COVID-19 spike – Times-Herald

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By Sydney Johnson, EdSource

As Covid-19 cases continue to soar in California, a majority of the State Board of Education is now in favor of pursuing a waiver from the federal government that would remove the obligation to carry out standardized testing for the second year in a row.

The U.S. Department of Education waived federal testing requirements following abrupt school closures in March 2020, but this school year, the department intends to resume testing. Now, as California faces the largest daily number of cases it’s experienced yet, State Board of Education members say they want a testing waiver to be made available for states.

“It would be educational malpractice to require LEAs (local education agencies) to provide results of assessments that really are seriously in jeopardy of being valid going forward,” said State Board of Education member Sue Burr, during a public meeting on Wednesday. “It’s important to make a strong statement about how we feel about that.”

Source: California school officials push for standardized testing waiver amid COVID-19 spike – Times-Herald

Secretary DeVos Announces More than $4 Billion Available to Help Students Continue Learning | U.S. Department of Education

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By Press@ed.gov

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced today more than $4 billion in additional COVID-19 emergency relief is now available to governors to ensure learning continues for students of all ages and at all schools. This emergency relief aid, the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund, has two components: supplemental GEER awards (GEER II) and the Emergency Assistance to Non-public Schools (EANS) awards, which comprise $2.75 billion of the total. These funds are authorized by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021, (CRRSA) Public Law 116-260, signed into law by President Donald J. Trump on Dec. 27, 2020. In total, CRRSA authorizes $81.88 billion in support for education, in addition to the $30.75 billion Secretary DeVos expeditiously provided this spring through the Coronavirus Aid, Recovery, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

“As I’ve said from the beginning of this pandemic, parents are counting on strong and decisive state, local, and school leadership to ensure their students can continue to learn in ways that work for them,” said Secretary DeVos. “While some state and local education leaders have risen to the occasion, far too many parents are frustrated by a stunning lack of access to in-person learning for their kids. Every governor needs to utilize these taxpayer funds to safely reopen schools and ensure all students have the option to learn in person if that is what they want or need. The impact of school lockdowns has been disastrous for our students—especially those from low-income families. And, far too many private school students have suffered because interest groups, politicians, and lobbyists predictably played politics and protected their own lucrative gigs with taxpayer funding. I was pleased to see, this time around, that Congress finally acknowledged what this Administration has said all along: All students and all educators at all schools — private, parochial, and public — are affected by this pandemic, and they all need and deserve support for PPE, cleaning supplies, learning materials, and more.”

Source: Secretary DeVos Announces More than $4 Billion Available in Emergency Education Grants for Governors to Help Students Continue Learning | U.S. Department of Education

Thurmond’s Statement on Governor’s Proposed Budget – Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)

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State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today issued the following statement in response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed education budget for the fiscal year 2021–22:“

At a time when a global pandemic has created extraordinary challenges for our students, families, and educators, the weeks and months ahead represent the most important moment for public education in a lifetime. The investments we choose must help our schools urgently and immediately recover from this crisis and accelerate learning for the students and families hardest hit by a global pandemic that has deepened historic inequities. Our priorities should not only help our schools emerge safely from the impacts of COVID-19, but should immediately double down on our efforts to level the playing field for a generation of students.

“I want to thank Governor Gavin Newsom for proposing a budget that—until our educators, school employees and communities are vaccinated—addresses main areas of need as public schools consider how to safely resume in-person instruction. Today’s budget proposal also represents a strong start at tackling the growing access and learning gaps experienced most severely among our students of color, low-income households, children with disabilities, and students learning English.

Source: Thurmond’s Statement on Governor’s Proposed Budget – Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)

Fairfield-Suisun Adult School preschool welcomes new mural – Daily Republic

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By Amy Maginnis-Honey

When youngsters return to the Fairfield-Suisun Adult School preschool program they will be welcomed by a completed mural that covers the outside walls of the classrooms and faces the play area.

Artist Stephanie Lombard added many details to the happy interactive scene where toddlers are encouraged to do modified push-ups with a painted raccoon, size their feet with the bear tracks painted on the cement, trace a bee trail and enjoy myriad creatures.

One detail includes a stick figure at two different mural locations – one in a bird’s nest, the other dancing with ladybugs.

Source: Fairfield-Suisun Adult School preschool welcomes new mural

Increasing literacy, online learning? There’s an app for that – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

While COVID-19 has upended the world for nearly a year, it has forced us to put on our collective thinking caps to deal with it, especially when it comes to educating children and adults.

But as our public institutions shut down or scale back operations during the pandemic, with no sign of letting up amid another surge, two area school districts and the Solano County Library have locked virtual arms and reached out to increase reading and literacy and to promote digital learning.

Using wireless technology in an effort to support new generations of lifelong learners and readers, the library system and Fairfield-Suisun and Travis unified school districts have formed what educators and library leaders say is an innovative new partnership to increase access to more ebooks and e-audiobooks for students.

Source: Increasing literacy, online learning? There’s an app for that – The Reporter

FSUSD Proclaims January 2021 as Positive Parenting Awareness Month – Daily Republic

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By Kris Corey

The Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District (FSUSD) Governing Board approved a resolution proclaiming January 2021 as Positive Parenting Awareness Month. First 5 Solano, Solano County Board of Supervisors, and Solano County Office of Education are also supporting this proclamation. The collective goal is to bring awareness to the importance of positive parenting, nurturing healthy children, and resources available in the community to support families.

“This resolution affirms that quality of parenting is one of the most powerful predictors of a child’s future success,” said Parent and Family Engagement Coordinator, Holly Collins. “It encourages parents and caregivers to seek and accept support from community resources and programs, and marks a collaborative effort with organizations outside of our district to provide those services.”

Source: Good News: Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District Proclaims January 2021 as Positive Parenting Awareness Month

Imagine That! is doing school – The Reporter

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By Matt Sieger

Vacaville’s Imagine That! in Alamo Plaza was created to offer a place where kids of all ages can come play, learn and explore all the possibilities. But what happens to a creative program when a pandemic strikes?

Well, the creative people in charge imagined a way to adapt to the crisis.

Imagine That! came up with a unique School Support and Enrichment program which fuses its existing program with support for students’ schooling.

“It started with a throwaway line,” recalls Director of Operations Alex Christensen. “We were talking about doing afterschool programs, and (someone said), ‘Hey, instead of after school what if we just did school for them?’ The director at the time, her ears perked up and she took it to the board. Lauren (Runow, Board president) jumped on it and started talking with the Vacaville Unified (School District).”

Source: Imagine That! is doing school – The Reporter

Angels with food bags for area school kids – The Reporter

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By Nick Sestanovich

They are angels with bags of food for area elementary students who may be food-insecure during weekends when local schools are not offering or distributing free lunches and breakfasts.

As co-director of the Vacaville chapter of End 68 Hours of Hunger — a reference to the weekend time period that gives the group its name — Tinamarie DeStefano of Vacaville said the mission is to give away food to eat, Friday night to Sunday night, to young students in four Solano County school districts, making a difference at more than a dozen schools in all.

The food — nonperishable pantry foods, peanut butter and jelly, granola bars, fruit cups and the like — helps the students, many of whom are from poor families or at-risk, “to focus,” improve test scores, and lessen behavioral problems, such as Attention Deficit Disorder, DeStefano said.

Source: Angels with food bags for area school kids – The Reporter