Education Now for week of Sept. 27

The inaugural College Expo and Student Athlete Symposium comes to the Ontario Convention Center this week.

Designed to engage students from sixth to 12th grades, the event is a program of National College Resources Foundation, which aims to help students find money to pay for their education.

The event is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at 2000 Convention Way.

Colleges, former pro athletes and other sports programs will be on hand to show how to be successful in college, particularly as an athlete.

Seminar topics include "How to Find Money for College," "Preparing for College and Careers in Sports Industry" and "NCAA Requirements to Play College Sports."

Southern California Edison will present $5,000 in scholarships to 12th-grade essay winners.

There will be a special segment presented by Athletic Quest featuring an interactive workshop on "How to Get Recruited to Play College Sports" and a segment on the "Business of Athletics."

RSVP: 877-427-4100 or www.thecollegeexpo.org

Construction of a new gym will begin soon at Bonita High School.

Currently the plans are awaiting approval from the state architect. The building will be placed in front of the school in La Verne on the lawn west of the current gymnasium.

Entering the new building from the north, visitors will see the school's Bearcat logo. The new gym will have a seating capacity of about 850.

It will have a competition court and two practice courts.

Once the construction is completed, the current gym will be renovated and used as a practice and wrestling facility.

The gym is being paid for with Proposition AB funds.

Seven Los Osos High School students have been selected as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists.

About 16,000 high school students nationwide were notified this month that they have qualified as semifinalists of the program.

High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT -- which serves as an initial screen of about 1.5 million entrants each year -- and by meeting participation requirements.

Semifinalists are designated on a state representational basis.

To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, semifinalists must advance to the finals

The seven students from Los Osos were announced at last week's Chaffey Joint Union High School District board meeting: Byron Choy, Victoria Greaves, Chloe Kwon, Simon Lalehzarian, David Mao, Jehan Taraporewalla, Kathleen Tzan.

Learn more about the National Merit Scholarship Program at nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php.

At Vineyard Junior High School, Jordan Balabis and Kaylee Beam were chosen as Vikings of the Week.

Seventh-grader Jordan was chosen for excellent effort and being a pleasure to have in class, and eighth- grader Kaylee was chosen for outstanding academic achievement in language arts and citizenship.

Alta Loma Junior High's Warriors of the Week were Victoria Sharra and Joseph Munoz.

Seventh-grader Victoria, of the Cherokee Tribe, is honored for her excellence in science.

Eighth-grader Joseph, of the Seminole Tribe, is a hard worker and motivated to learn.

More than 350 Mission Elementary students met their academic goals during the last academic year.

Each student was an integral part of the school leaving Program Improvement, the federal intervention program for schools that do not make their Adequate Yearly Progress targets for two consecutive years.

The school is only one of 28 schools statewide this year able to exit after spending more than five years in Program Improvement.

The school Academic Performance Index is now 742; the state target is 800.

The school celebrated its second annual Night of the Stars this month to recognize the students who met their goals.

The school is working toward becoming the first Ontario-Montclair School District school to be accepted into the network of No Excuses Universities.

The network says all students have a right to a first-class education that is focused on college readiness.

Raising flu awareness for the public is the goal of a forum for risk managers from San Bernardino County schools and districts on Wednesday.

The event will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at the Southern California School Risk Management office, 1950 S. Sunwest Lane, Suite 102, San Bernardino.

Jessica Holt of the Joey Holt Foundation for Flu Awareness will be a presenter at the forum. Holt's son Joey died of complications from the H1N1 virus last year.

She will be joined by Patrick Schmidt of FFF Enterprises to talk about the importance of the flu awareness campaign.

In addition, members of the county Department of Public Health Preparedness and Response program will offer the latest information on flu vaccinations and give an update on the spread of whooping cough in the county.

"It's vitally important that parents of school-aged children get informed about flu vaccinations, as well as issues with whooping cough, so they can be proactive with keeping their children healthy," said Linda Fabre, the director of risk management services for the county Superintendent of Schools' Office.

Information: 909-386-2413

California's school finance system will be the topic of a symposium at the University of Redlands on Oct. 6.

Sponsored by the Center for Educational Justice at the University of Redlands' School of Education, the symposium will examine issues related to the historic lawsuit requesting California's current education-finance system be declared unconstitutional and that the state be required to establish a school- finance system that provides all students an equal opportunity to meet state academic goals.

The symposium is at 6 p.m. in the university's Orton Center, 1200 E. Colton Ave.

The lawsuit was filed this year by more than 60 students and their families, nine school districts from across the state, the California School Boards Association, the California State PTA and the Association of California School Administrators.

A panel will discuss the lawsuit. One member will be Deborah Caplan, a partner with Olson Hagel and Fishburn LLP, one of the attorneys who will argue the case before Judge Steven Brick of Alameda Superior Court.

Additional panelists are Dick Hamilton, the CSBA's acting general counsel and director of the Education Legal Alliance; Gary Thomas, San Bernardino County's superintendent of schools; Kenneth Young, the Riverside County superintendent of schools; Jesus Holguin, president of the Riverside County School Board Association; and Barbara Flores, a school board member and professor at Cal State San Bernardino.

The event is free and open to the public.

Information: jose_lalas@ redlands.edu or 909-748-8792

The state Department of Education unveiled a new tool designed to encourage teacher collaboration and innovation.

The tool, called Brokers of Expertise, can be found at www.myboe.org.

The site is like Facebook for teachers, said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.

Teachers can use the site to form customized online groups to share experiences and challenges they face in the classroom and collaborate on ways to improve instruction. Users can share instructional practices through links, videos, pictures, or documents that can make it easier for other teachers to replicate innovation in their own classrooms.

"Educators can use this site to innovate and collaborate. Through this virtual social network teachers may share and learn about strategies that improve student achievement," O'Connell said.

Through the Broker's website, the Department of Education can create a community of newly credentialed and experienced teachers who are empowered to further their own professional development and growth.

This tool is the latest in the arsenal to narrow the achievement gap, O'Connell said.

Brokers of Expertise allows educators to search for and follow colleagues and learn from one another.

The website also lists where each resource came from and provides a blog where educators can share their thoughts on the site's effectiveness.

The Kiwanis Club of Upland has established the Dr. Leonard Shaw Mather Memorial Grant.

The grant is intended to assist teachers by providing funds to reimburse their out- of-pocket expenses for instructional programs and projects.

The grant is available to all certified teachers working in Upland. It will award up to $500 for individual classroom or collaborative classroom teaching projects.

Mather served for 48 years in the Kiwanis Club of Upland. He was club president from 1968 to 1969 and lieutenant governor of Division 15 from 1978 to 1979.

Mather attended Upland schools and graduated from Chaffey High School in 1935.

For more information about the grant and the application, e-mail mama.la@ verizon.net with "Kiwanis Club of Upland Grant" in the subject line.