By Richard Bammer

Before Vacaville Unified leaders opened a new school in her honor, she recalled “a wonderful career that I would do again in a heartbeat.”

“It was my calling and I loved going to work every day,” said Shelley Dally in a brief email just hours in advance of the Wednesday dedication of the Shelley Dally Early Learning Village at 621 S. Orchard, the former home of the Bethany Lutheran School, across the street from Alamo Elementary.

And moments before she grasped the obligatory oversized scissors to cut the white ribbon emblazoned with VUSD lettering, Dally, a former district trustee serving for 10 years, reflected on the event’s meaning, saying the district’s newest campus is a place “where from the very beginning of a student’s education, they can come to a place that is based not only on giving them a great start in life but on equity,” a school where special-needs students “are included from Day 1 with general education students.”

Source: What’s in a name? Honor for a retired longtime Vacaville educator – The Vacaville Reporter

The Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District has placed a new weather and air monitoring station at Markham Elementary School.

Supervisor John Vasquez“Markham Elementary School’s new air monitor and weather station is an interactive and educational tool for teachers and students to connect with their environment through data collection, math and science. It is also a useful tool to help keep children safe and indoors when our air quality reaches hazardous levels.” Supervisor John Vasquez, who sits on the air district board, said in a statement released Friday by the air district.

Source: Vaca elementary school gets new weather station for science work

By Nick Sestanovich

Science lessons are not limited to just the classroom. As scores of third-graders throughout Solano County will learn over the next two months, they can be found by going outside, and one place where the lessons of nature can be found in abundance is in local waterways.

Through March 23, Solano Resource Conservation District (RCD) is hosting a series of field trips to local watersheds to give students an opportunity to learn about their local tributaries, what wildlife can be found there and what steps people can take to ensure they are kept clean. On Monday, third-graders at Fairmont Charter Elementary School visited Lagoon Valley Park, where they observed fauna, studied invertebrates and planted native grass.

Lee Ascencio, Solano RCD program manager, said Lagoon Valley was a great showcase for watersheds and one that not all students had been to themselves.

Source: Fairmont third-graders become Watershed Explorers – The Vacaville Reporter

By Nick Sestanovich

Walking through Buchanan Miles’ fourth-grade classroom at Hemlock Elementary School, it is already apparent that he is a highly exalted teacher. Sitting atop a bookshelf of grade-appropriate novels in his classroom’s Reading Corner is a set of trophies in the shape of Oscars and racing cups proclaiming Miles as the “Best Teacher” as well as an award from KUIC naming him the Teacher of the Month for Dec. 2013.

Now, Miles has a new award he can add to his shelf: one proclaiming him as Vacaville Unified School District’s Teacher of the Year for the 2022-23 year.

Miles, who is in his 23rd year of teaching at Hemlock, was honored by his peers for his selflessness, dedication to his students and contributions to the school’s culture of positivity.

Source: Buchanan Miles, 23-year Hemlock teaching veteran, is Vacaville Unified’s Teacher of the Year – The Vacaville Reporter