October 2011 Archives
Plans for some Pomona Unified School District projects from its latest school bond will have to be scaled back until the value of property in the district increases, consultants told school board members this week.
Dale Scott, the president of Dale Scott and Co., told board members that the assessed value of property in the district has been declining, making it necessary to delay future bond sales until the values increase. Money to pay off the bonds comes from residents' county property-tax bills.
Walnut Valley students were mixing it up for National Mix It Up Day on Oct. 18. Activities ranged from flash mobs to lunch groups in the busy school district.
But at least the kids were mixing it up for a good cause. They were learning to be tolerant of others, that our differences make life exciting.
The student leaders at Suzanne Middle School in Walnut really got into the national event by forming flash mobs throughout the busy school day.
Between class periods, students leaders, PALS and drama class pumped up the music and danced to a student choreographed routine.
Throughout the day, the dancers taught other students the 1-minute routine. During lunch, the school had 800 kids mixing it up.
Read more in Richard Irwin's story Dance.
The Walnut Valley Unified School District will soon begin accepting applications for a lottery program that allows children living outside the district to enroll in its schools.
According to a news release from Walnut Valley Unified, applications will be made available starting Tuesday at 8 a.m. at district headquarters, 880 S. Lemon Ave., or on the district's website at www.wvusd.k12.ca.us.
The district will automatically mail applications to the homes of out-of-district students already enrolled in Walnut Valley schools as part of the "District of Choice" program.
Rowland Unified School District students are ineligible for the program due to a court case Rowland Unified won against Walnut Valley last year.
Pencil to paper may soon be a thing of the past for students. And if that's the case, some sixth-grade students at Pantera Elementary School are getting a head start.
The Pomona Unified school has launched a tablet computer pilot program, giving about 50 of the school's students an iPad.
For the rest of the school year, Ana and her peers will use Apple's iPad 2 to assist them in day-to-day instruction in their classroom as well as with homework support.
And it's already making a difference.
Read more in Pantera.
You don't have to be mad to be a scientist
but it helps. At least that's the opinion of youngsters at Ybarra
Academy of the Arts and Technology in Walnut.
The students huddled in the wind as they pondered the questions formulated by their Mad Science instructors.
"Who remembers the difference between kinetic energy and potential energy?" asked instructor Erin Song.
A young girl's hand shot up. Then the youngster explained her answer.
Find out her answer in Rich Irwin's story Science.The race among five candidates for two school board seats has not re-lit the fuse of past fireworks for several reasons.
Opponents of the two Confucius Classroom language programs, one at Wedgeworth Elementary and the other at Cederlane Middle School, did not obtain a single signature on a petition to recall board members Anita Perez, Joseph Chang, Norman Hsu and Jay Chen, who all voted for the program. The recall fizzled in June when chief opponent Rudy Obad, 74, said, "we'd be better off ... getting two people who think like us" elected on Nov. 8.
Also diminishing the flames was Hsu's decision to retire and not run for re-election. Hsu, who served for 20 years on the board, supported the Confucius Classroom program and was seen as the venerable leader of the Chinese-American community in Hacienda Heights.
Read all about the candidates in Steve Scauzillo's story Board.
Walnut Valley Unified School District has topped the 900 mark, scoring 903 on the 2011 California Academic Performance Index (API).
On Monday, the school board recognized all 15 schools during its Oct. 3 meeting. Students, parents, teachers, staff, and administrators were a part of this celebration of academic excellence.
Walnut Valley is one of the 17 school districts in the state that have an API of 900 or above.
There are 1,050 unified school districts in California, 330 are unified (K-12) school districts.
The district is one of only seven unified schools in Los Angeles County to top a 900 API score.
Bow wow wow yippy yo yippy yea, hopefully CIF will let Corde play.
Corde and Cordell Broadus, sons of famous rapper Snoop Dogg, checked into Diamond Bar High School this week after playing football at Long Beach Poly this season.
Corde, who played some special teams this season at LB Poly, is seeking to gain immediate eligibility from CIF. A decision on that won't be known until after all pertinent paperwork has been filed.
Cordell, a 6-foot-1 receiver, is already on the Brahmas freshman team and could have a big career ahead of him, according to varsity head coach Ryan Maine.
"Once he gets used our system, he'll probably be the best freshman we have based on his size," Maine said of Cordell. "He's really a good respectful kid, too.
Read more in Aram Tolegian's story Snoop.
They are among 16,000 academically talented students in the country who will have the opportunity to continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships worth more that $34 million offered next spring.
About 1.5 million juniors in 22,000 high schools entered the program by taking the PSAT exam. The semi-finalists have the highest scores in the state and represent less than 1 percent of the high school seniors in the country.
The Walnut High students are Nitin Agrawal, Daniel Chen, Hong Chen, Roger Chen, Jonathan Chun, Jeremy S. Hsu, Justin Kang, Andrew Koo, Peter Lee, Allan Peng, Brittany Tsou, Parth Visrodia, Wesley Wu, Stephany Yong, Yalun Zhang.
Diamond Bar High students include Michael Cheng, Siri Guntupalli, Jason Hung, Richard Koh, Laura Mo, Ian Pan, Vincent Pang, Nadia Shakfeh, Joseph Tang and Crystal Zhang.
-- Walnut Valley Unified School District
Phillipe Rodriguez was only 6 years old when he attended his first science camp at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont. Now, at 17, he is contributing to National Science Foundation research.
Over the summer the Los Altos High senior interned in the physics department at Cal State Fullerton, conducting experimental research with Professor Murtadha Khakoo. Khakoo is doing the research under a grant from the National Science Foundation.
"I usually take only one or two students as assistants during the year," Khakoo explained. "Phillipe is a very dedicated student, he was very motivated."
While the rest of his Hacienda Heights classmates were enjoying their summer vacation, Rodriguez found himself immersed in a physics lab at the university for six weeks.
Read more in Rich Irwin's story <a href="http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_19032533">Intern.</a>
In August, a gay water polo coach at Charter Oak High School was fired after a parent complained about photos of him online posing with drag queens.
And last week, a preschool teacher in the United Kingdom was banned from the classroom for two years after officials discovered she had created an elaborate Facebook scam intended to fool her ex-boyfriend into believing she had given birth to his child and gone to Australia.
Experts say conflicts such as these are becoming increasingly common as more people embrace social media. And school districts are struggling to produce policies on how to handle such situations.
"I think because of the personal nature of social media, it's raising new questions no one ever thought about before," said Jane Ballinger, a professor of communication at Cal Poly Pomona.
Read more in J.D. Velasco's story Social.
