The city has planned a tribute Friday to longtime educator and community advocate Mayrene Bates.
A “Memorial of Lights” is set for 4:30 p.m. at the Civic Center pond behind City Hall, 1000 Webster St. There will be a candle launch at the bridge. Members of the community are invited to attend.
Bates, who died Jan. 6 at the age of 88, was a popular columnist for the Daily Republic for many years as well.
Source: Tribute to Mayrene Bates set at downtown Fairfield park
By Nick Sestanovich
Mayrene Bates — a longtime Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District (FSUSD) educator, trustee with the Solano Board of Education and active community supporter — died Jan. 6. She was 88.
“It’s a community loss,” longtime friend and retired Solano Sheriff’s Deputy Daryl Snedeker said.
Bates was born April 15, 1934 in the small town of Liberty, Tenn. At the time, the South was in the midst of segregation, and Bates had to take a bus to attend a high school that was twice as far away as the school that was designated for white students.
By Amy Maginnis-Honey
Mayrene Bates is a “gem” in Solano County.
The winner of this year’s Ruby Award, Bates was nominated by Soroptimist Lynn Recknagel for the award that honors non-Soroptimist women who are making extraordinary efforts on behalf of other women.
It’s named after Ruby Lee Minar, who often preached at Sunday services in place of her father. She went on to earn a master’s degree in biblical studies and patristic Greek.
And, just like Bates, Minar was a teacher. She later became a real estate developer and, in 1922, was selected as first president of the Washington, D.C. Soroptimist Club. Six years later, Minar was chosen as Soroptimist International’s first national club president and helped form the International Federation of Soroptimist Clubs.
Source: Mayrene Bates: Ruby Award
By Tony Wade
The nomadic military life that Jim and Mayrene Bates lived since they wed in 1955 eventually led them to plant roots in Fairfield in 1970. Their initial experiences with trying to purchase a home were discouraging. One Realtor automatically pointed them to predominately African-American neighborhood The Crest in Vallejo, but they wanted to live in Fairfield where they would both work.
Driving around town they saw a Realtor putting a “for sale” sign on a house on Begonia Street. While he did sell them the house, he told them that had they come five years earlier he could not have as it was in a white area.
Source: Back in the Day: Mayrene Bates Part 2: From librarian to legacy
By Mayrene Bates
It’s hard to believe that a new school year is here.
Some parents told me that they could hardly wait for school to start, while others said that summer vacation seemed all too short. As a military spouse and teacher, I could hardly wait to send my two boys back to school, though I did enroll them (when possible) in summer school and library reading programs. It’s very important that school districts, business partners and families provide learning opportunities for students during the summer months.
Research points out that over the summer, many students tend to lose some of their school-year gains, especially in lower-income and rural areas. Some districts in Solano County provide food as well as activities at some schools. In addition, libraries do a good job of providing reading programs as well as fun activities that keep children learning and having fun at the same time over the summer months. It’s also important that school districts find ways to engage parents by promoting more contact with parents, even during the summer months.
Source: Solano Voices: Partnerships between school, home essential
By Mayrene Bates
I wrote in my previous column about a number of events related to education that were accomplished with the support and cooperation of educators, the extended education community, parents and business partners. None of us could accomplish many of these things without the support of our various extended communities working together.
I must admit that I didn’t have Solano Community College on my list of events to attend. But, when husband Jim received a graduation invitation from a former Grange Middle School student, Arica Janel Neary, I just knew that we had to attend. Neary was in one of Jim’s math classes and wanted him to know that she would be receiving an associate teacher certificate of achievement and an associate degree in early childhood education.
By Mayrene Bates
As I do every year, I make every effort to attend as many year-end events as I possibly can. I love to celebrate the accomplishments of educators, students, parents, nonprofits, the business community and, even the newspaper reporters who take the pictures and write the stories.
That’s what makes all of these events so great, because we celebrate as a community the accomplishments of everyone involved. Needless to say, there’s not enough space here to write about every successful program across the county.
Someone once said that throughout history, there have been few events of significance that have occurred purely by accident. We know that success happens, because many care enough to make a difference for the good of all. According to Helen Keller, “Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.”
Source: Solano Voices: Year-end events celebrate accomplishments
By Mayrene Bates
Many agree that technology has made our lives much easier but it has also caused us to become more sedentary at home and in the workplace. That’s why more and more workplace research suggests that we may want to walk to a desk a few feet away or down the hall to confer with a colleague instead of sending a text message or an email.
Research is emerging that notes because we sit more, we are more at risk for diabetes, heart disease and other health-related problems. We are simply sitting too much in the workplace and at home, as we watch more television, use our digital devices and exercise less.
By Mayrene Bates
My children were fortunate enough when they were in school to attend summer school programs.
My oldest son recalls that he really started to understand and like mathematics when he took math classes for two straight summers at Fairfield High School. Today, he is an IT administrator and can run circles around me in math and technology. To think, it all started when he decided – on his own – that he might be able to make better grades in math if he attended summer school.
Growing up in rural Tennessee, there was no summer school, no Girl Scouts organizations or public libraries open to me. So, every year when September rolled around, I was ecstatic and could hardly wait for school to begin, even if I had to ride a shirt factory worker’s bus 32 miles round trip every day – though there was a high school much closer to my home.
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.
By Mayrene Bates
Reading has been called the gateway skill for learning. Many teachers tell us that when a student is underachieving, the underlying cause is many times lack of reading skills. Most research studies agree that poor preschool children hear fewer words than wealthy children.
Growing up in the South, my siblings and I were expected to be seen but not heard, and when visitors came, my mom always asked us to leave the room. I hated that, because I loved listening to the adults talk, plus, there wasn’t anything interesting to do outside. So, when it was our turn to make home visits, I preferred to stay home alone and read old newspapers that my mother brought home from work.
By Mayrene Bates
There are so many sad and terrible things happening at home and around the world that it brings tears to one’s eyes from time to time, but it’s also the time of the year that I get the opportunity to attend wonderful events that honor the successes of our schools, parents and business community partners.
Throughout history there have been few events of significance that have occurred purely by accident, someone once said. And, this time of the year, educators, parents, students, volunteers and business partners come together at many sites around Solano County to honor and celebrate educator and student accomplishments.
I try to attend as many events as I can and even for the ones that I do attend, this space would not come anywhere near covering all of them. This is, indeed, a great thing that there are so many accomplishments to celebrate.
By Mayrene Bates
Doug Ford, my colleague on the Solano County Board of Education, loves to compare American education to that of other industrialized countries. Months ago, he shared a book, “The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way,” and passed out several copies but only recently have I had an opportunity to read my copy.
Several years ago, author Amanda Ripley of Time magazine followed three American teenagers for a year who went to live and study in three different countries: Finland, Poland and South Korea. Her book was published in 2013. The American Field Service and Rotary Clubs have been sponsoring such student exchange programs for many years.
By Mayrene Bates
There’s so much gloom and doom around these days that it’s hard sometimes to find a bit of cheer anywhere, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be this way. Maybe we just need to look at things in a different way and focus on what we as an individual can do to spread a bit of cheer here and there.
The other day the phone rang and it was my friend Becky Lum who called to say that she hadn’t seen Jim and me in a while and wanted to know if we were OK. The other reason was that she has been walking past a table in her house with a Christmas and a birthday card from me and she wanted to thank me for thinking about her. We hadn’t spoken or seen each other in several months, so I, too, was pleased to hear from her as well.
Source: We can all do 1 kind thing
By Mayrene Bates
It’s been said that Americans revere the Constitution of the United States, but studies show that most of us know little about it. And if you missed it, last week was Constitution Week and Sept. 17 was Citizenship Day.
During this year’s Republican and Democratic conventions, there was a lot of back and forth about who had read the Constitution and who had not read it. I admit it’s not my go-to bedtime reading, but I do have two small, very portable booklets that I read from time to time. One is “The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States,” published by the Cato Institute. The other is “The Constitution of the United States,” published by the American Civil Liberties Union.
By Mayrene Bates
Just in case some of us may have forgotten, Tuesday was California School Bus Driver’s Day. I am a huge cheerleader for school bus drivers and each year try to make it a top priority to ride, at least, one of the routes – usually out of town.
I always return enthused, as I get to meet a new driver or renew an acquaintance with a driver who I’ve ridden with before like Eliane Medina. I also get to meet the children, of course, as well as greet parents who meet the bus to see their children off to school.
This School Bus Driver’s Day I was excited about taking the bus at 7 a.m. from the Solano County Office of Education’s transportation yard on Clay Bank Road and head out to schools in Fairfield and Green Valley with driver Medina. By the time we returned to the yard, it was time to join everyone for a mouth-watering barbecue to honor theses special heroes of the road.
By Mayrene Bates
February and March are exciting times for many students, educators, parents, volunteers and sponsors.
If you’re thinking Academic Decathlon, you’re absolutely right. While the Academic Decathlon is a competitive event modeled after the Greek Olympics that focused on physical strength, the Academic Decathlon focuses on academic achievement and honors “athletes of the mind.”
The competitions include tests in art, music, language and literature, mathematics, economics, science and social science. In addition, there are communication tests that include the writing of an essay, the delivery of a prepared speech and an interview.
By Mayrene Bates
Reading has been called the gateway skill for learning. When a student is underachieving, the underlying cause is usually that the child cannot read.
It’s clear that not even the impact of TV, the computer, video games, etc. has changed the need for a child to know how to read.
As always, it was great news when I received the call from Theresa Huzel, (super!) fifth-grade teacher at Nelda Mundy Elementary School, to come talk to this year’s class. This is my third year to go there, and it’s always a very special day.
By Mayrene Bates
Parents, for the most part, will forever remain the most important role models that we will ever have.
Though my mother only went to school through the eighth grade and never visited my schools that I recall, she placed a great deal of emphasis on the responsibility for learning on the part of my siblings and me. She also provided us with a strong moral code, and we knew her stance on right and wrong.
Researchers remind us that some students will take advantage of every opportunity offered to learn, achieve and succeed, while others will view school as drudgery. I recently ran across an old International Education Achievement survey report that said, “The variations in test scores is due to the home background – not just the classroom experience.”
By Mayrene Bates
It was such a pleasure to again visit Theresa Huzel and the fifth-grade classes at Nelda Mundy Elementary School.
Huzel is an outstanding, hard-working teacher; the parents, students and the school district are so fortunate to have her. Though we are bombarded with technology on every front, she enthusiastically promotes a love of reading and library use to her students.
How did I meet Theresa Huzel? I met her several years ago at the soup suppers at the home of Gretchen Shilts, who served on the Fairfield-Suisun school board many years ago. Shilts has long served as a strong advocate for the educational and spiritual needs of students, families and the community. I’m always amazed at the caliber of citizens among us in Fairfield.
via Mundy fifth-graders share their thoughts Daily Republic.