November 11, 2015 (Alpine)--The Alpine Education Foundation (AEF) hosted its second annual PunkinChunkin Competition Sunday, November 8 at Joan MacQueen Middle School in Alpine.

Pep rally march, war memorial ceremony and homecoming carnival among events

SDSU Media Center

November 11, 2015 (San Diego)--San Diego State University will host several events this week, leading up to its nationally televised homecoming football game against the Wyoming Cowboys at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14 at Qualcomm Stadium.

Aztecs of all ages are invited back to campus to share in SDSU's Aztec pride with weeklong Homecoming 2015 events and are invited to follow the hashtag #SDSUHomecoming2015 on Twitter and Instagram.

November 9, 2015 (Lakeside)-- Lindo Park Elementary School, a K-5 school that has served the Lakeside community for over 60 years, received a $5,000 education grant earlier today from the Barona Band of Mission Indians. The Lakeside school teaches students to excel in a global society by integrating a research-based curriculum in a 21^st century environment.

The grant, which was sponsored by Assemblyman Brian Jones, will be used to purchase Life, Earth and Physical Science materials for the school’s fourth and fifth grade science laboratories.

November 9, 2015 (El Cajon)--As student loan debt is reaching record proportions, Congresswoman Susan Davis (D–San Diego) will host a forum on college affordability on Tuesday, November 10 at 6:30 p.m.  (Registration is at 6 p.m.) The forum will include representatives from the Department of Education and financial aid officers from local colleges, as well as a Legal Aid Society lawyer will discuss student consumer rights.

Experts will be on hand to answer questions about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), other types of student aid for high school and college students, the applications process, as well as responsible loan ownership. Learn about recent changes announced to the FAFSA.

Source: Cuyamaca College

November 5, 2015 (El Cajon)--About 30 military veterans, now students at Cuyamaca College, enjoyed a barbecue and received school supplies at a Veterans Week commemoration hosted on campus Wednesday by the El Cajon Elks Lodge. The event, which also included a raffle for prizes including T-shirts, gift certificates from merchants and a pair of tickets to a Chargers’ football game, marked the second year that Elks Lodge 1812 joined the college in honoring student veterans.

East County News Service

Updated November 4, 2015 with reactions and Judge Pressman's final ruling.

November 3, 2015 (Alpine) –California’s 4^th district court of Appeal has handed down a ruling in favor of the Alpine Union School District and Alpine Taxpayers for Responsibility  against the Grossmont Union High School District– a ruling in apparent conflict with Superior Court Joel Pressman’s  most recent action.

The ruling comes just hours after Pressman announced a decision to throw out the lawsuit entirely (dismissing it with prejudice)  – reversing his earlier decision to set a December trial date and upholding his tentative ruling from last week.  In so doing, he contradicted his own earlier findings and instead, determined that Propositions H and U did not obligate the GUHSD to build a high school for Alpine.   

But the appellate court found just the opposite.The appellate court found the district violated its promise to build the Alpine High School and affirmed Pressman’s earlier order for the GUHSD to set aside bond moneys sufficient to build the school, pending full adjudication of the claim’s merits at trial.--a trial that may never occur, based on Pressman's latest action.

By Miriam Raftery

October 29, 2015 (Alpine) – For Alpine parents, it sounds like a Halloween horror story.  But it's an unexpected treat for the board majority at the Grossmont Union High School District.  Today, Superior Court Judge Joel Pressman (photo) issued a tentative ruling granting Grossmont 's motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Alpine parents and taxpayers. 

The suit sought to  force the district to turn over funds to build an Alpine high school, which voters twice voted to approve in Propositions H and U. The board's action drew scrutiny from the County Grand Jury, which issued a scathing report titled "Fool us once, fool us twice?"

The tentative ruling comes as a shock since Judge Pressman  previously denied an attempt by Grossmont to dismiss the case and set a trial date for early December, as ECM reported. In his earlier ruling, the judge rejected Grossmont’s arguments that it did not have a contract commitment with Alpine to build a high school and that the text of Prop U did not compel the district to build the long-promised school.

Updated October 24, 2015 with recall details from the Registrar of Voters

By Mike Allen

October 21, 2015 (El Cajon)--At a sometimes raucous Oct. 20 meeting attended by union and non-union construction workers, the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District board voted 3-2 to table a vote on a proposed project labor agreement, saying it needs to meet with a citizens committee that oversees spending of bond funds.

Photo, left: One of several new buildings funded at Cuyamaca and Grossmont College by recent bond revenues

East County News Service

October 15, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) -The San Diego County Taxpayers Association is calling on the board of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District to honor its pledge of fair and open competition for contracts to build taxpayer-funded projects,” according to a press release issued by the taxpayers’ group.

SDCTA says it will revoke its support for the GCCCD’s Proposition V bond measure if trustees vote on Oct. 20 to put in place a blanket project labor agreement for construction projects funded with proceeds from the 2012 measure. A project labor agreement requires that only contractors using union workers may bid on these publicly funded projects, a tactic that aims to assure good wages for local jobs.

By Devoreo Bell

October 13, 2015 (Ramona)--The Ramona Unified School is scheduled to hold a public hearing on this Thursday evening, October 15 at 7 p.m. to make sure students have enough school materials and textbooks for the 2015-16 school year.

Source: Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District          

October 5, 2015 (El Cajon)--Omali Yeshitela, founder of the African People’s Socialist Party and the African Socialist International, is the featured speaker at Cuyamaca College’s Diversity Dialogues workshop, “Day in Solidarity with African People: Reparations for Stolen Black Lives,” set for 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, in the Performing Arts Center. The workshop is free and open to the public.

By Liz Alper

September 30, 2015 (San Diego) - Two San Diego State students are in danger of losing their rights to attend SDSU for displaying patriotic flags.

Cameron Box, an active duty Coast Guard member, and Connor Fenwick, who is in the Army ROTC, proudly display the U.S. Coast Guard flag, an Army flag and the American flag from the balcony of their on-campus housing unit at San Diego State.  However, the school is threatening to expel them, citing a “fire hazard”, also claiming that the flags “block visibility.”

East County News Service

September 19, 2015 (Santee)—Santana High School’s cheerleaders have an event for golfers to “cheer” about:  a charity golf tournament Friday, October 9 at the Carlton Oaks Golf Course in Santee.

By Liz Alper

September 16, 2015 (San Diego) - CBS Sports reported Tuesday morning that the SDSU men’s basketball team is under investigation for alleged improper benefits allegedly given to prospective student athletes.

"This is fiscal irresponsibility...The bond oversight is a joke." -- Nick Marinovich, bond oversight committee member who recently resigned in protest (photo, left).

"I don't think the public is aware of the damage being done by a handful of special interests." -- Jim Kelly, board member, referring to Alpine parents and taxpayers who sued the district over its failure to build the Alpine high school

By Janis Russell; Miriam Raftery also contributed to this report

September 15, 2015 (El Cajon)- At the September 10^th Grossmont Union High School District board meeting, president Robert Shield gave his report regarding a lawsuit the board is facing filed by citizens of Alpine. An update on Propositions H and U was presented to the board. The majority approved an agreement with CliffordMoss and John Hoy to study  the likelihood that voters would re-authorize Prop U bonds or issuance of new bonds.

That could be a tough sell to voters, since the district is being sued by Alpine taxpayers for failing to spend Prop H and U bonds on building an Alpine high school as spelled out in the bonds. The district has claimed enrollment triggers weren't met, though multiple knowledgeable insiders have repeatedly reported that triggers were met.