The Foothill High School County Annex has had a long journey, from sharing sites throughout Santa Clara County to portable buildings in San Jose.

But the school's 30 students finally got a new, permanent learning space late last month, when the Santa Clara County Office of Education officially opened the facility, which serves emotionally disturbed students.

COE officials, educators, students and community members gathered Oct. 20 to celebrate the new special education facility, marking the occasion with student-baked cookies, and speeches from County Superintendent of Schools Charles Weis and Principal Nancy Guerrero.

"The dream has become a reality, and we are so excited to be here," Guerrero told the crowd.

Born with cerebral palsy and no use of her arms, Chi Diem Hang never attended school and was labeled "mentally retarded" in her native Vietnam.

But when she immigrated to the United States and enrolled in the COE's Orthopedic Impairments program in October 2007, teachers immediately realized just how wrong Chi's crude label was.

In just three years, Chi has learned English; taken pre-algebra; and used her feet to write, drive her electric wheelchair, and operate her "talker," a machine that vocalizes typed words. Her accomplishments recently earned her special recognition from the Santa Clara County Board of Education.

Read more about Chi's story, and see a video played at the ceremony.

Here's a summary of the Santa Clara County Board of Education's actions at its Oct. 20 and Nov. 3 meetings:

• Honored Claudia Regalado as November's Employee of the Month
• Approved a $298,000 purchase order for a contractor to build two Head Start classrooms at an existing school site
• Received presentations from two charter schools, whose respective petition and renewal requests will be heard later this month

About 200 educators, counselors, parents and community members explored methods of creating safe digital environments for children and thwarting cyber bulling at the recent fourth-annual Digital Citizenship Summit.

Co-sponsored by the COE and Yahoo!, the summit drew attendees from throughout the state.

The group heard presentations from national experts, as well as some best practices from other school districts that can be applied to build a collaborative network of support to help children make safe and ethical decisions online.

"I love the idea of addressing issues early on," said Diana Paradise, a COE Technology for Learning Partnership coordinator who helped organize the event.

"If you create a sound, well-applied, very collaborative system to support our children, our educators and our families, you can address issues so much more effectively," she said.

County voters earlier this month elected Craig Mann to a second term as Board of Education trustee for Area 6, and chose Michael Chang and Julia Hover-Smoot as trustees for Areas 2 and 7, respectively.

All three board members will be sworn into office and begin their terms Dec. 8.

Mann's Area 6 represents Evergreen, Franklin-McKinley, Oak Grove and a corresponding portion of East Side Union High school districts.

Chang assumes the seat held by T.N. Ho, who opted not to seek reelection. Area 2 covers Los Altos, Cupertino Union, Lakeside Joint, Loma Prieta Joint Union, Los Gatos Union, Saratoga Union and corresponding portions of Mountain View-Los Altos Union High, Fremont Union High, and Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High school districts

Hover-Smoot replaces Jane Howard, who also chose not to run again. Area 7 spans Alum Rock Union, Mount Pleasant, Morgan Hill Unified and Gilroy Unified and corresponding portion of East Side Union High school districts.