Thursday, May 10, 2012
Unlike other school districts, Poway Unified and the teachers union sit down together and go over the budget line by line.
With all the mistrust between teachers unions and school districts across the county, the relationship between the Poway Unified School District and the Poway Federation of Teachers is noteworthy. Voice of San Diego interviewed PUSD Superintendent John Collins and PFT President Candy Smiley about “how they came to trust each other.” Click here to read the full story.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The Poway Unified School District is recommending that Mt. Carmel Assistant Principal Ron Garrett replace retiring Abraxas Principal Rudy Casciato.
With the upcoming retirement of Abraxas High School Principal Rudy Casciato, the Poway Unified School District has announced that Mt. Carmel High School Assistant Principal Ron Garrett is being recommended for the position. The PUSD board will be asked to ratify the selection of Garrett as the next principal at Abraxas at its next meeting on May 21. Garrett has been serving as assistant principal at Mt. Carmel since 2002. “I’m really looking forward to working with the entire Abraxas community to continue the mission of college and career readiness toward the success of all our students,” Garrett said in a statement. Garrett, who lives in Rancho Peñasquitos with his wife Jodi and their two children, was a science teacher at Poway High …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
This week's Evil Mother Lady confession: Ever notice how cute truly little people are when someone else is entertaining them and chasing after them?
So, now it is time for the next confession—ever notice how cute truly little people are when someone else is entertaining them and chasing after them? At the airport, flying away from my little people, I found myself gravitating where the little people were. Each flight, I was in front of or behind a toddler. Sitting at the gate, I parked near the overly energetic preschooler whose parents were frantically trying to burn some of that energy off before we had to sit still for our second four-hour flight. During the flight, I played “got your finger” with the 18-month-old in front. Whenever her “requests” penetrated my earplugs, we played until something else captured her attention. I chuckled to hear another parent singing a made up song …
Monday, May 7, 2012
The new school, fundraising and employee contracts are on the agenda.
The board of the Poway Unified School District has scheduled a special meeting/workshop from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday at the district office, 15250 Avenue of Science, San Diego. On the agenda (full agenda attached):
The funds will come from the state government.
The San Diego County Office of Education will receive $22,500 in state funds to enforce tobacco-free school policies and collect data on the prevalence of tobacco use and other behaviors that put students' health at risk. More than $410,000 in Tobacco Use Prevention Education dollars from the state Department of Education went to 30 districts across California. The winners in TUPE competitive bidding demonstrated the greatest tobacco-use prevention efforts, and proposed programs that will likely be effective, said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. "Schools can help our kids learn to avoid dangerous behaviors -- including tobacco use—early," Torlakson said. TUPE is a three-year, $16.5 million competitive state grant…
Friday, May 4, 2012
Many seniors were honored this week for years of volunteer hours helping children learn to read in the Seniors Helping Our Kids (SHOK) program.
A longrunning reading program that partners local seniors with children in the Poway Unified School District celebrated a milestone this week: the first round of volunteers who have been giving back for 20 years. The announcement: On May 3, members of Seniors Helping Our Kids / OASIS Tutoring (SHOK/OASIS) gathered at Westwood Elementary to honor the program's five-year, 10-year, 15-year, and 20-year volunteers. SHOK/OASIS members volunteer in the Poway Unified schools. Westwood Elementary Principal Mike Mosgrove and County Supervisor Pam Slater-Price's representative Steven Hadley assisted program director Jane Radatz in presenting the awards. Each expressed his appreciation for the contribution made by the volunteers. At the conclusion of…
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Three parent group presidents were selected as overall district volunteers of the year.
The heads of parent volunteer groups at three schools have been named the Poway Unified School District Volunteers of the Year for 2012, it was announced Thursday. Ron Cole (Black Mountain Middle School in Rancho Peñasquitos), Sharon Stephens (Chaparral Elementary School) and Pilar Gross (Poway High School) were chosen from a pool of three dozen school site volunteers of the year for the overall district honors. Stephens died in March from breast cancer and was honored with a moment of silence at the April school board meeting. See below for more about each of the district winners from a PUSD announcement. A full list of the 2012 PUSD Volunteers of the Year is attached. Also see: PUSD Teachers of the Year PUSD Classified Employees of the …
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
The elementary and middle school students showed how San Diegans save water.
Seven local students have been honored among the 19 winners of the 12th annual Water Conservation Poster Contest, hosted by the City of San Diego Public Utilities Department. The local winners (listed below) come from Turtleback Elementary School in Rancho Bernardo, Mesa Verde Middle School and Park Village Elementary School in Rancho Peñasquitos and home school. The students were recognized during a City Hall ceremony on Tuesday. "San Diegans continue to do a great job conserving water and these youth have reinforced our conservation ethic,” Mayor Jerry Sanders said, according to a news release. “It is important to remember that San Diego still imports most of our water supply. Let’s continue to educate our youth about the value of water …
Body of Chargers legend, 18-year NFL veteran linebacker, found at his Oceanside home.
Updated at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Former San Diego Chargers star Junior Seau died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound at his beachfront North County home Wednesday, authorities reported. According to Police Chief Frank McCoy, Seau's girlfriend found him at about 9:35 a.m. with a gunshot wound to the chest. Medics tried in vain to revive 43-year-old Seau before pronouncing him dead at the scene. "This case at this point is being investigated as a suicide," the chief said outside the home. "A handgun was found near the body." Authorities said they did not find a suicide note and are not releasing the name of the girlfriend. The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said it expects to complete an examination in the case Thursday. …
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
The film “Race to Nowhere” caught our attention a year ago with its anti-testing, anti-homework message. Now the movement is at it again, heralding New York’s recent call to pull nonsensical questions about a pineapple from a standardized test.
Last week, an eighth-grade standardized English test gained notoriety when students started going around repeating the moral of a fable in it over and over like some kind of private joke. The Facebook chatter was raucous.The last line, and moral, of the story was: “Pineapples don’t wear sleeves.” Comprehension questions following the nonsensical story were so confusing that state officials eventually pulled them from the test after so much notoriety. Anti-testing advocates, meanwhile, have taken up the pineapple story as their banner. This “pineapple incident” that was spotlighted by The New York Times reminded me of last year when I wrote about a local screening of the anti-testing, anti-homework documentary Race to Nowhere at Park Dale …
Elm Park Preschool
8:38 am on Friday, May 11, 2012
My hat is off to the PUSD and the Teachers Union for working so closely together. The open dialogue and transparency while dealing with budget issues have helped keep our district strong. One of the many reasons why Poway Unified is the best district in the county. Jennifer Dodds www.elmparkpreschool.com more ›