July 2009 Archives
Formerly the assistant principal at Laguna Hills High School, Sam Oramas joins Rowland Unified from Saddleback Valley Unified. Oramas was responsible for discipline and attendance in Laguna Hills. He is now a new vice principal at Nogales High School.
Earlier in his career, Oramas served as dean of students at Temple City High School, where he handled discipline.
Oramas also taught math and social science at Downey High School for seven years. There he worked with at-risk students, as well as English language learners.
Fluent in Spanish, Oramas received his doctorate in law from Brigham Young University and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.
Doi Johnson is glad to be returning to his alma mater, Nogales High School, as a new vice principal. He looks forward to working with Principal Nancy Padilla at his old school.
Johnson had been an assistant principal at Lynwood High School, where he was responsible for discipline, attendance and security.
For 16 years, Johnson taught physical education at Jordan and Jefferson High Schools in Los Angeles. He had also been a special education math teacher at Gardena High School. Johnson also taught history and language arts at Eliot Middle School in Pasadena.
Rowland's newest administrator received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from Whittier College. He earned a masters in administration from Pepperdine University.
Johnson also has had many years of coaching experience. He served as president of the Los Angeles Football Coaches Association from 1997 to 2007. The popular coach has won many coaching awards, including Coach of the Year from the "Los Angeles Times."
Thousands and hundreds of thousands of votes were cast in one month's time early this summer in Big Lots Lots2Give video contest.
And though Miramonte Elementary School in South El Monte didn't get the top prize, they still won big with a $2,500 cash prize for second place. Miramonte's video, created and starring seven sixth-graders, showed viewers the school's trouble with their sound system. Read the story here.
Hopefully when students return in the fall, they will be able to update their old sound system that made it difficult to hear anyone at assemblies or school productions. Miramonte is part of the Mountain View School District.
Along with Miramonte, twenty-five other schools across the United States will have some extra cash for class this year as part of the Lots2Give contest and winners of the 2009 Lots2Give video contest. Out of 46 schools that took part in the contest, only 26 schools were chosen by online viewers to share $80,000 in cash prizes.
Big Lots asked participating schools to submit a short video and brief essay explaining why their school is in need of financial support. From mid-June to mid-July, the public voted for their favorite video at www.lots2give.com. More than 300,000 votes were cast.
In addition to the video contest, Big Lots established an in-store donation program to help the 103 schools participating in the Lots2Give program. From May 2 through July 12, Big Lots customers were invited to make $1 or $5 donations at participating Big Lots stores, with 100 percent of donations going directly to participating schools. This initiative raised more than $74,000 to help participating schools.
Miramonte Elementary School will also receive $1,590.83 from their share of the donations collected in-store throughout the Los Angeles market. Other local schools also participated in the Lots2Give program and will be receiving $1,590.83 for each of their schools:
- Baker Elementary School in El Monte
- La Primaria Elementary School in El Monte
- Maxson Elementary School in El Monte
To continue to give back, Big Lots stores across the country will host an in-store Teacher Appreciation Day on Saturday, Aug. 1. ll educators with a valid school identification card will receive 10 percent off their total purchase.
Miramonte Elementary school will be presented with a check for their second place prize on Monday, Aug. 3 at 1 p.m. at the Big Lots store at 11130 Washington Blvd. in Whittier.
For more information and a complete list of winners, visit www.lots2give.com for a complete list of winners.
Rowland High School's new principal, Mitch Brunyer, meets with ASB students, from left, Secretary Lillian Tao, President Alyssa Catinding and Treasurer Benson Chen.
Mitchell Brunyer used to wrestle at Rowland High School. Now the former Raider will be wrestling with budgets and schedules at the local high school.
Brunyer is the new Rowland principal, one of a handful of administrators to lead the Rowland Heights school. He is one of the new administrators named by the Rowland Unified School District, including two new vice principals at Nogales High School.
The 1989 Rowland grad replaces Robbie Robinson, who retired to spend more time with family after 40 years of service to Rowland Unified.
The new principal looks forward to many years at his alma mater. The 38-year-old is glad to be back.
"I always had a positive experience at Rowland High," Brunyer said. "I've stayed in touch with teachers and classmates."
Find out about Brunyer's trip back to Rowland in Thursday's Rowland Heights Highlander
Music Specialist Judy Brunelle introduced her students as they received Certificates of Award and color copies of their artwork. The winning entries appeared in the June issue of the Music K-8 magazine. There were several categories of winners.
The top winners were: Samantha Yang of Quail Summit Elementary, who was first runner-up and won $125; Eunice Chung of Maple Hill, also a first runner-up and winner of $125; and Serris Lew of Westhoff, who was a second runner-up and winner of $100.
The top finalists were Sarah Wang, Jessie Wang and Nadine Linn of Westhoff; Victoria Shen, Betty Kim and James Park of Maple Hill; and Eric Chen of Quail Summit.
The finalists were Stephanie Yang, Nicholas Huang, and Sandy Pan of Evergreen; Sejin Park of Walnut Elementary; Jessica Lai of Collegewood; Derek Wan of Westhoff; Mark Shin of Castle Rock; and Nicolas Zhou, Asaan Barlas, Luis Choa, Angela Hou, Brandon Chen and Emily Su of Quail Summit.
The final group of winners received Honorable Mention: Amber Min of Castle Rock; Jedidiah Hu of Walnut Elementary; Eric Liu of Quail Summit; and Gabrielle Thornock and Justin Kim of Evergreen.
The summit is provided by the California Department of Education. Only 80 students statewide received invitations to the program, titled "We the People...The Sacramento Leadership Experience."
During their five-day visit to Sacramento, Cruz and Lim learned about the government and the importance of being an informed citizen. They met many state officials and used the actual Senate Chamber to debate and vote on mock legislative-based issues.
Maureen Scanlon retires after serving the District for 40 and one half years. Her most recent position was associate superintendent of Human Resources. She began as a teacher at Bixby then at Mesa Robles, and advanced into administrative positions at Mesa Robles and Nelson.
Scanlon moved to District positions in 1993, serving as director of Personnel Services and assistant superintendent for Pre-Kindergarten and Child Development.
Her final position began in 2000.
Tom Scanlon has served HLPUSD for 40 years, with most of those years in a district position. He began as a Social Sciences teacher at Los Altos High School, then moved to positions as resource teacher, general consultant and finally as director of Instructional Support/Curriculum.
The district will honor the Scanlons on Aug. 14. They will be officially retired on Aug. 28. We wish them well and thank them for their service.
The Rowland Unified School District will become the first in the state to operate an online high school through iQ Academy.
The School Board Tuesday night approved the virtual charter high school where students will take courses online.
While iQ Academy will operate out of Rowland Heights, it will be open to any student in Los Angeles County and surrounding counties, including Ventura, San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside.
Each student who enrolls in the academy fulltime is provided with a laptop and can take all their high school courses online.
There will be centers available where students can come to get extra tutoring, officials said.
The academy currently operates virtual schools in Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada, Wisconsin, Texas, Washington and Kansas.
Through this federally funded program, the center serves nutritious breakfasts, lunches and snacks to approximately 200 children from birth through age 5.
Income eligibility guidelines are listed below:
INCOME ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES
Effective from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010
|
Household Size
|
Annual
|
Monthly
|
Twice Per Month
|
Every Two Weeks
|
Weekly
|
|
1
|
$20,036
|
$1,670
|
$835
|
$771
|
$386
|
|
2
|
$26,955
|
$2,247
|
$1,124
|
$1,037
|
$519
|
|
3
|
$33,874
|
$2,823
|
$1,412
|
$1,303
|
$652
|
|
4
|
$40,793
|
$3,400
|
$1,700
|
$1,569
|
$785
|
|
5
|
$47,712
|
$3,976
|
$1,988
|
$1,836
|
$918
|
|
6
|
$54,631
|
$4,553
|
$2,277
|
$2,102
|
$1,051
|
|
7
|
$61,550
|
$5,130
|
$2,565
|
$2,368
|
$1,184
|
|
8
|
$68,469
|
$5,706
|
$2,853
|
$2,634
|
$1,317
|
|
For each additional
family member, add:
|
+ $6,919
|
+ $577
|
+ $289
|
+$267
|
+ $134 |
Students must register for classes online at my.mtsac.edu. Before registering, new students are required to activate their new Mt. SAC accounts at https://my.mtsac.edu/claim.html.
This site provides detailed instructions on establishing the student online accounts. Students will receive a permit for their assigned registration date and time. They will not be allowed to register before their assigned time.
For students who do not have computer access, computers and assistance will be available in the Student Services Center, building 9B, during business hours. Telephone registration is no longer available.
New students must submit an admission application online at www.mtsac.edu.
They may also apply in person at the Admissions & Records Office on campus, located in the Student Services Center. The Admissions Office is open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
New students must also contact the Counseling Office to sign up for the required orientation session before registering for classes.
Mt. SAC's fall semester credit classes begin on Monday, Aug. 24.
For more registration information, call the Mt. SAC Admissions & Records Office at (909) 594-5611, ext. 4415, or visit www.mtsac.edu.
Welcome to Mitch Brunyer, the new principal at Rowland High School. Here's a photo of Mitch yesterday, when he met with ASB students, from left, Secretary Lillian Tao, President Alyssa Catinding and Treasurer Benson Chen.
Mitch is actually an alumni of Rowland High, so a Raider will be heading up our high school. If the Rowland Unified administrator looks familiar, that because he last served as vice principal at Nogales High School just down the road.
Find out more about Mitch in an upcoming story in the Rowland Heights Highlander. Go Raiders!
The school was packed with kids learning all kinds of science, from chemistry for first graders to Web design for older kids.
The place was really hopping. It's good to see that the busy center has maintained its courses over the recent recession.
Read more in an upcoming story in the Hacienda Heights Highlander.
John Nixon, president and CEO of Mt. San
Antonio College in Walnut, chairs the San Gabriel/Foothill Association
of Community Colleges. Nixon makes some valid point in this guest column.
LIKE all families across California, the family of community colleges in the San Gabriel Valley is tightening its belt more than ever as it braces for severe economic challenges stemming from the state's budget crisis.
The family, known as the San Gabriel/Foothill Association of Community Colleges (SanFACC), is a regional caucus composed of Chaffey College, Citrus College, Glendale Community College, Mt. San Antonio College, Pasadena City College and Rio Hondo College.
Nearly 250,000 students attend SanFACC colleges, but those numbers are likely to drop with the projected budget cuts these six colleges are facing. Collectively, they could lose 21,200 students as well as an estimated net funding reduction of $55 million from the state in 2009-10. It is not a stretch to say that this is the worst economic crisis most of us in education have seen.
Read Nixon's entire column in the Walnut Highlander.
One could say that Natalie Jimenez bowled over the competition. That's why the Hacienda Heights bowler is going to the University of Central Missouri on athletic and academic scholarships.
"We are very excited to be adding Natalie to our program," said head coach Ron Holmes. "Natalie is a tremendous addition to our team and will make an immediate impact."
Which is saying something for a team that regularly places first or second nationally in intercollegiate athletics.
"This year, they ranked second in the country. Nebraska was number one," explained the recent Rowland High graduate.
Jimenez should boost Missouri's chances for returning to the top slot. The 17-year-old is currently ranked first in the nation among young women competing in USBC Sport Bowling.
The local bowler was selected to the 2009 California All-Star Team. The 10-pin powerhouse was also named as one of the nation's top 50 high school prospects by "Bowler's Journal."
Read the rest of her story in the Rowland Heights Highlander.
Summertime and the singing is pretty. So are the dancing and the artwork - at least at the Summer Arts Academy in the Rowland Unified School District.
The students were out in force this fine summer's day, rehearsing for their big finale performance on July 1. They pranced and danced across the make-shift stage on the school playground.
Read all about their talents in this week's Rowland Heights Highlander.
Students at the Rowland Heights school have been taking cooking classes this summer as part of the nutrition program.
On Wednesday and Thursday they'll show off their culinary skills in their own "Iron Chef" competition.
19501 Shadow Oak Drive in Walnut
The students have been rehearsing for the past month.
Deputy Superintendent Bob Wertz will present an update on the state budget and financial implications for Rowland Unified.
The failure of Measure E last week will force the board to revise its budget for next year.
"We had created a restoration list in the event that it passed so we could restore our programs cherished by parents and community members," School Board President Robert Hidalgo said. "We also created a deeper cut list in the event that it did not. All it means is we will revisit that deeper cut list and make some more difficult decisions."
The board will also take action on iQ Academy charter petition.
The Family Day Camp combines movement, language, song, social interaction, deductive and inductive thought.
the Measure E Parcel Tax tjat would have provided $2.5 million annually to prevent cuts and restore programs.
"We had created a restoration list in the event that it passed so we could restore our programs cherished by parents and community members," School Board President Robert Hidalgo said. "We also created a deeper cut list in the event that it did not. All it means is we will revisit that deeper cut list and make some more difficult decisions."
Election returns show 52 percent of residents voted in favor of the tax, while 48 percent voted against it, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar- Recorder/County Clerk.
It required two-thirds to pass.
The School Board will now reassess its budget at a special meeting scheduled for July 7.
If approved the measure would have assessed an annual parcel tax of $120 per home in district boundaries for the next five years.
"The support of our voters reflects their understanding of the impact of the State's devastating reductions to education, especially to the schools in Rowland Unified. We will continue to stay focused on the important work of teaching and learning while implementing unprecedented cuts to our staff and programs.
"Public education is the hope for a better future in California and our nation, and it will take the efforts of everyone in Rowland Unified to stay focused on our mission to realize the potential of each and every child during this fiscal crisis."
As of 8 p.m. last night, 4,193 residents voted in favor of the parcel tax, while 3,938 voted against it. That's 51.57 percent yes and 48.43 percent No. The ballot measure needed 66 percent of the voters in favor of the new tax for the measure to pass.
Meanwhile, the education parcel tax passed easily in La Canada Unified School District. The registrar reported that 4,732 voted Yes, while 1,606 voted No. That's 74.66 percent in favor the tax that will raise money for the district.
