By Sharon Penny

February 15, 2014 (El Cajon)--At the February 13 Grossmont Union High School District  (GUHSD) meeting, the Governing Board provided some recent positive outcomes in the district (see side story: Grossmont District Schools Shine Academically), but took a step back for democracy.

By a vote of 4-1, the Board adopted a resolution: “In Recognition of the Citizens’ Board Oversight Committee (CBOC) and Their Service to the Grossmont Union High School District.”  It  praises the District’s bond oversight committee-- but also aims to muzzle school board members from giving testimony to the oversight comittee.

By Sharon Penny

February 17, 2014 (El Cajon)--Ralf Swenson, Superintendent of the Grossmont Unified High School District (GUHSD) proudly discussed recent academic success rates throughout the district’s 11 high schools at last week’s board meeting.

District seeks to muzzle whisteblower Priscilla Schreiber (photo, left)

By Miriam Raftery

February 8, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – Last week, Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) trustee Priscilla Schreiber testified before the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC) to urge examination of a Grand Jury report and other evidence, as ECM reported.   In response, the District’s board has proposed a resolution to prohibit its trustees from speaking to the Oversight Committee unless specifically invited to do so by the chair or a majority of committee members.  The items is on the agenda on February 13.

ECM asked general counsel Terry Francke at Californians Aware (a nonprofit that works to protect open government), if this resolution was legal or not.  “It's legally unenforceable," he responded via e-mail. "School trustees have the same First Amendment, Brown Act and Public Records Act rights as anyone else to attend meetings of a bond oversight board and obtain any documents that pertain to or result from its work.”

February 5, 2014 (San Diego)-- To encourage science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) among high school students, Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) announced she is holding a House App Contest in her congressional district.  Students who are interested in participating can get more information at Rep. Davis’s website.

Elected officials, school district urge student participation at college aid workshops

January 25, 2014 (San Diego)--High school seniors, local elected officials and San Diego Unified School District representatives announce plans to increase the number of San Diego-area high school students applying for free college financial aid. Students are urged to attend one of 13 upcoming “Cash for College” financial aid workshops.

In 2013, San Diego region workshop participants were offered more than $3 million in federal and Cal Grant aid.

Seniors who attend a workshop and apply for a Cal Grant by the March 2 deadline could also qualify for an extra $1,000 Cash for College scholarship offered at each workshop. The workshops, titled “Free Application for Federal Student Aid & Califiornia Dream Act Application Workshops, will be held between January 25 and March 1. Workshop information is available in a pdf document here and also at www.calgrants.org/workshops.

January 20, 2014 (Spring Valley) -- Cierra Conwright, a junior at Mount Miguel High School in Spring Valley, has been  nominated to attend the Congress of Future Medical Leaders in Washington, DC on February 14-16.

The Congress is an honors-only program for high school students who want to become physicians or go into medical research fields. The purpose of this event is to honor, inspire, motivate and direct the top students in the country who aspire to be physicians or medical scientists to stay true to their dream and to provide a path, plan and resources to help them reach their goal.

By Janis Mork and Miriam Raftery

Julian Rudd-Falls, Mark Gavit also contributed to this report

January 15, 2014 (La Mesa)- Students, faculty and community leaders turned out to celebrate yesterday’s dedication of the new performing arts complex at Helix Charter School.  The new center features a spacious theater, a black box room for smaller productions, dance room, a digital music lab, choir room, scene shop, and prop storage.

The dedication opened with students playing bag pipes and included the official ribbon cutting by Helix executive director Dr. Mike Lewis, a tour, speeches by education leaders and elected officials, and a dramatic musical performance from some of the students. 

“This landmark facility will benefit our students for many years,” said Grossmont Union High School District  (GUHSD) Superintendent Ralf Swensen.

January 12, 2014 (La Mesa) – Grossmont Union High School District will hold a dedication ceremony on Tuesday, January 14 at 2 p.m. for a new, $15.2 million Performing Arts Complex at Helix Charter High School.  The event will include tours of the facility, a ribbon cutting, student performances in the theater, and music by the Helix Highlander bagpipers.

Click to buy this book

On Teaching Well: Using Classroom Instructional Strategies to Increase Your Teaching Effectiveness, by Dr. Dee L. Fabry (Ready or Not Press, Cheyenne, Wyoming, 2012).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

January 5, 2014 (San Diego)--Dee L. Fabry, Ph.D, along with 18 eighteen high school teachers in a graduate level course on effective teaching practice, shares their journey of improving the cognitive skills of students in Fabry’s groundbreaking book; On Teaching Well: Using Classroom Instructional Strategies to Increase Your Teaching Effectiveness.

The author, Associate Professor at National University, School of Education, Teacher Education Department in La Jolla, serves as the Master of Arts in Teaching Program Lead, teaching classroom teachers returning for their post graduate degrees. This makes her eminently qualified to lead these high school teachers in a graduate level course in effective teaching practice, which has resulted in this innovative book. Her research and scholarship is focused around improving teaching and student learning outcomes.

Senator Joel Anderson Nominated Hill Creek Elementary School for Updated Technology

December 20, 2013 (Santee) – The Barona Band of Mission Indians is ending 2013 on a high note by awarding an education grant to a deserving local school. The program’s most recent $5,000 grant was presented by Councilwomen Beth Glasco and Bonnie LaChappa to Hill Creek Elementary in Santee, fulfilling important educational resources on both students’ and faculty’s holiday wish lists. Senator Joel Anderson nominated Hill Creek Elementary for the grant.

By Janis Mork

December 15, 2013 (El Cajon) – El Cajon resident and high school junior Alana Bianco has been attending Capistrano Connections Academy, an online public charter school, instead of a traditional high school. She is interested in learning more about programming and has also enjoyed acting on the side. ECM recently interviewed Bianco to find out more.

She is originally from Florida and had moved to Newport Beach, CA as she was going to start her freshman year of high school. She and her mother found out about Capistrano Connections by looking online. Capistrano Connections “got good reviews,” Bianco added. She tried out public high school in her sophomore year in Burbank, but she didn’t like it as much as she liked online school. So, she then went back to Capistrano. She’s also been homeschooled while living in East County.

"There is no good faith, no no intentions..." -- Priscilla Schreiber, Board Member, who asserts that the GUHSD response "in no way satisifies what, I believe, the Grand Jury recommended."

"...The statement to the Grand Jury is a complete fabrication. The facts demonstrate there is no “intent” to build the Alpine high school ..." -- Sal Casamassimo, Chair, Alpine High School Citizens Committee

By Miriam Raftery

December 14, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – Back in May, the San Diego Grand Jury issued a report urging the Grossmont Union High School District to "declare unconditionally, by December 31, 2013, if they are or are not going to build the 12th high school using funds from Propositions H and U.”    The report, titled “Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice,” criticized the district Board for failing to build the school despite voters twice approving bond measures to fund the new school in Alpine, as ECM previously reported. The Grand Jury concluded, “Residents of the GUHSD and the greater Alpine area deserve clarity from the School Board regarding the proposed 12th high school."

Yesterday the Board issued the following brief media statement, which falls far short of the unconditional statement or clarity to district residents that the Grand Jury sought:

December 10, 2013 (Boulevard) – Clover Flat Elementary School in Boulevard, CA was awarded $5,000 from the Barona Education Grant Program this morning.  Representatives from the Barona Band of Mission Indians and Assemblyman Brian Jones will be presented the grant to Clover Flat School, which is comprised of students from the Boulevard and Jacumba communities. The grant was written by Alpine resident, Donna Burton. Mrs. Burton is a second grade teacher and assistant principal at Clover Flat Elementary School in the Mountain Empire Unified School District.

Free workshops offered Dec. 14, Jan. 11 and Feb. 8, 2014

December 10, 2013 (San Diego) – Dr. Dee L. Fabry, Ph.D., author of On Teaching Well: Using Classroom Instructional Strategies to Increase Your Teaching Effectiveness will offer three workshops to provide teachers and educators with practical, comprehensive knowledge on how to transform the classroom into a thriving, engaged and energetic learning environment.  Workshops are offered on December 14, 2013, January 11 or February 8, 2014, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Participants can receive a certificate and two hours of professional development credit at the free seminar, which will be held at National University Spectrum Academic Center’s theater, 9388 Lightwave Avenue, San Diego 92123. To register, click here.  For full details and flyer, click here.

By Janis Mork

November 30, 2013 (Alpine)- At the  Alpine Union School District Board meeting on November 21st, many teachers and the community expressed their frustrations at the school board over fiscal issues, many asking why the Superintendent gets a raise when the district is facing a financial crisis and teachers are being asked to take more furloughs and cuts.

Everyone who spoke voiced anger at the school Board or criticized the Superintendent. In all, there were 22 speakers.  Superintendent Tom Pellegrino responded, “I believe I’m the only person who makes less money,” noting that cuts have negated his raise, as he explained in detail in a later interview with ECM.” I do not have an overall raise.”