By Amy Maginnis-Honey
Lynne Lee planned this year on her last event being the annual prom after almost 30 years of teaching adaptive physical education in the Fairfield-Suisun School District.
Her plans came true Friday.
Prom began at least 25 years ago as the Spring Fling. It went to the next level five or six years ago, complete with “promposals” and a morning of dancing in the Armijo High School gym.
By Nick Sestanovich
A pandemic and campus closures were not going to be enough to stop more than 100 of Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District’s top graduating seniors from being honored for their four years of hard work.
The district hosted its annual Highest Honors recognition for students who had grade point averages of 4.0 or higher throughout their high school tenure. However, unlike in past years where the event was held in the form of a ceremony, this year’s installment was held in a manner more reflective of the times: a drive-thru celebration in the FSUSD office parking lot, where students could drive up, pick up their signs as well as their golden cords and tassels, and receive cheers from their principals and district staff.
Source: Coronavirus: Fairfield-Suisun USD honors top students in drive-thru celebration – The Reporter
By Peter Fournier
A normal high honors ceremony for Fairfield-Suisun School District honorees would likely take place at Willow Hall near the library with appropriate attire in a formal setting.
But, seeing as the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the world far from normal, the much-better option with the current situation was a raucous drive-thru ceremony that saw the students with greater than a 4.0 GPA honored Friday morning at the school district office parking lot.
District officials said 121 of the 136 high honors students trickled through the parking lot, sometimes arriving on their own and others arriving with their entries families, ready to pick up the gold chords, gold tassels, front-yard posts and hearing enthusiastic support from district staff and even Assemblyman Jim Frazier, who was in attendance.
Source: Fairfield-Suisun high honors students get their moment at district office HQ
By Amy Maginnis-Honey
Shamrock fabric still covers the teacher’s desk, snowflake decorations are hanging around the room and books about Easter and spring fill the shelves.
Those were some of the items frozen in time in Audrey Jacque’s first-grade classroom at K.I. Jones Elementary School.
One student looked to the future and writing 3/16/20 on one of the boards.
Classroom teaching ceased after March 13 in the Fairfield-Suisun School District. Instructors are now returning to their classrooms for end-of-the-school-year packing.
By Amy Maginnis-Honey
It was like a mini-Christmas in May on Monday for 79 children who attend Suisun Elementary School.
They are receiving STEM kits over the next few days thanks to the Suisun City Recreation Parks and Marina Department.
Davis Le, who is in the fourth grade, was one of the first to get a boxed kit from which he can make his own miniature pinball machine.
“It reminds me of the after-school program,” he said after picking up the kit at the Joseph A. Nelson Community Center.
Source: Children at Suisun Elementary ready to build pinball machines, learn about cultures
By Peter Fournier
Although it was just a time to pick up caps and gowns, the energy of a drive-through ceremony Friday for Fairfield High School seniors could have made previous graduating classes in some schools jealous and would put some class reunions to shame.
Horns, confetti, silly string and free pizza were among the things in the air out at the school parking lot just outside Schaefer Stadium, the perfect weather among the positives in the students’ first return to the campus grounds since schools were shuttered during the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic in mid-March.
The event, organized by school activities director and Social Science Department chairwoman Val Quijas, was only expected to draw a handful of staff members to the campus to assist.
Source: Fairfield High seniors reunite, prepare to say goodbye during cap-and-gown distribution event
By Bill Hicks
Part of the reason “high school” movies succeed is because the students are easily relatable, no matter when the story is set – today, the 1980s or the ’50s.
There are the students into sports, the students into academics, the students involved in band, and the students not really into it at all – no matter the era, school experiences have generally been unchanged for decades.
Except for this year.
By Amy Maginnis-Honey
Sem Yeto seniors stopped by Armijo and Fairfield high schools Thursday for new – and hopefully temporary – tradition.
Senior sign day got underway at around 11 a.m. at both locations.
Members of the Armijo High School Class of 2020 collected their caps and gowns during a separate drive-thru event across campus.
Sem Yeto staff began hanging signs at Fairfield High about 40 minutes prior. It also gave them time to create some chalk artwork, complete with directional arrows, on the asphalt.
Source: Sem Yeto seniors pick up yard signs amid cheers, cherished memories
By Todd R. Hansen
Susana Perez had just been announced as the Classified School Employee of the Year for the Dixon School District when it also was announced that she was the 2020-21 Solano County Classified School Employee of the Year as well.
Perez has been a paraprofessional and bilingual parent liaison for Maine Prairie High School for 18 years.
Source: Dixon schools paraprofessional earns Solano’s top classified employee honor
By Richard Bammer
Fairfield-Suisun Unified Superintendent Kris Corey said her administration had decided to hold pre-recorded ceremonies, viewable online, for graduating seniors or graduates at seven campuses: Adult School, Armijo, Fairifield, Rodriguez, Sem Yeto and Early College high schools, and the Public Safety Academy.
The class of 2020 ceremonies will be held on the same day for all, June 17, at mostly staggered times, depending on the school, she told The Reporter during a brief interview Friday.
Source: Coronavirus: FSUSD sets 2020 graduation plans: Pre-recorded ceremonies – The Reporter
By Todd R. Hansen
This group of graduating seniors at the Public Safety Academy can claim something no other class can.
The 51 members of this group are part of the first fifth-grade class that opened the school, and will be the first to navigate the entire class ladder to their graduation.
As is tradition, the year started with a Senior Sunrise.
By Nick Sestanovich
The Class of 2020 at Public Safety Academy in Fairfield represents a milestone in the school’s history. They were fifth-graders when the school opened and are the first class to have attended the academy for all eight years.
Unfortunately, like all graduating classes this year, their final year has been marked by the widespread impacts of the coronavirus, prompting the campus to close for two months and events like their senior trip, prom, Senior Sunset and Sober Grad Night to be canceled.
However, staff were not going to let the seniors go without some kind of special occasion, so they hosted a drive-thru graduation sign distribution event Thursday.
Source: Coronavirus: Drive-thru sign distribution held for seniors at Public Safety Academy – The Reporter
By Richard Bammer
Most Vacaville area school district leaders say that — for the time being, at least — they are scheduled to reopen classrooms in mid-August, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Tuesday pronouncement about public schools restarting possibly in late July.
“We are paying close attention to Governor Newsom’s comments throughout this pandemic, and making sure we are working with our local partners to ensure we are prepared for any executive order or directive we need to follow,” Vacaville Unified Superintendent Jane Shamieh wrote Thursday in an email to The Reporter.
Shamieh, whose district includes more than 13,000 students enrolled at more than 15 campuses, made no additional comment about Newsom’s proposal, which is not set in stone and caught state schools chief Tony Thurmond by surprise.
Source: Coronavirus: Area education leaders await final decisions on school-reopening dates – The Reporter
By Amy Maginnis-Honey
The horns kept honking Tuesday afternoon.They were followed by a bevy of police sirens and flashing lights. A fire engine was also in the parade honoring Fairfield Police Officer Joe Holecek, who retires Thursday after serving with the Fairfield Police Department for 25 years.
Holecek for the past nine years was a school resource officer at Rodriguez High School, the site of the social distancing celebration, complete with congratulatory signs, some cards and gifts.
Source: School resource officer ends career with sirens, signs, swarm of well-wishers
By Nick Sestanovich
Despite being closed off for the remainder of the year, the Rodriguez High School front parking lot opened up again Tuesday so parents, students, Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District staff and police officers could bid farewell to a retiring longtime school resource officer.
Officer Joe Holecek’s career with the Fairfield Police Department and at Rodriguez High comes to a close Thursday, so a reverse car parade was held to give one final sendoff.
“It’s been a blessing to have him,” Rodriguez Principal Clarence Isadore said.
Source: Rodriguez High, Fairfield PD communities bid farewell to officer after 25 years – The Reporter
By Bill Hicks
The Fairfield-Suisun School District’s trustees honored one of the district’s employees Thursday for being “selfless” and “heroic,” according to a proclamation presented before the board’s meeting.
The proclamation recognizes Tim Stacey, a vehicle maintenance manager with the district, who recently helped put out a vehicle fire.
As stated in the proclamation, Stacey saw a vehicle in flames, instructed a co-worker to call 911 then grabbed an extinguisher and hopped a fence, racing over to douse the flames.
Source: Fairfield-Suisun schools trustees honor ‘heroic’ employee
By Tim Goree
Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District and Solano Library Partnership Offers Digital Access for All Students
Fairfield, CA – April 21, 2020: The Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District and Solano County Library partnered to offer the Student Access Card in the fall of 2019, which acts as a student identification and a public library card in one. The Student Access Card streamlines student access to information and materials by integrating FSUSD Student ID numbers and public library accounts.
Source: Press Release: FSUSD and Solano Library Partnership Offers Digital Access for All Students
By Tim Goree
Suisun Elementary School students are looking forward to their next recess even more than usual! REM Construction began mobilizing at Suisun Elementary on Monday, April 13th to start construction of two new playground structures. Manufactured by Gametime, the new structures will be placed on the lower grade and the upper grade playgrounds.
The equipment is designed to promote physical activity and fitness through active play, which includes six key elements: spinning, sliding, swinging, climbing, brachiating, and balancing. The lower grade structure will include multiple slides, a climbing wall, and gizmo panels; the upper grade structure will include multiple slides, a climbing wall, and swings. Playground construction, which is part of a larger project at Suisun Elementary School, was originally scheduled to start June 15th and end in October. Due to school building closures the project has started early and is anticipated to finish in August.
Source: Press Release: Suisun Elementary to Receive Two New Playground Structures
By Tim Goree
Superintendent Kris Corey announced last night during the meeting of the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District’s Governing Board, that FSUSD will continue distance learning for students through the end of the 2019-2020 school year.
“I had hoped we would be able to allow students to come back to their schools in person during the last week or two of the school calendar, since our school year ends on June 12th, a bit later than most districts. This would have been a wonderful opportunity for students to reconnect and celebrate some of their school’s end-of-year activities. Unfortunately, it seems this won’t be possible,” Superintendent Corey stated.
Source: Press Release: FSUSD Announces School Building Closures for 2019-2020 School Year
By Richard Bammer
In response to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statement, made public on Wednesday, that he expects California K-12 campuses to remain closed for the remainder of the school year, at least two educators have announced their district sites will not reopen until the fall.
Vacaville Unified Superintendent Jane Shamieh and Dixon Unified Superintendent Brian Dolan have announced they will close their respective classrooms for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year, affecting some 15,000 students and thousands of employees.
“This does not mean the 2019-2020 academic year is finished,” Shamieh said in a press release issued Friday. “It means we have to find even more innovative ways to educate our students while adhering to the ‘shelter-at-home’ orders.”
Source: Coronavirus: Some Solano school district leaders to close sites for remainder of year – The Reporter