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Gold Fun Facts
Harriet G. Eddy was a famous librarian in her day. Eddy traveled to Russia and Yugoslavia in the 1920s where she created library systems for both countries. |
| Honoring Our Volunteers
Heidi Guyton and Tuan Le of
Union House Elementary School
Heidi Guyton and Tuan Le were recognized as Education Partners at the January 20, 2009, meeting of the Elk Grove Unified School District Board of Education.
Guyton and Le are well-known to the students and staff at Union House Elementary School. Le volunteered to coach the boys' basketball and flag football teams. Guyton has taken on the role of girls' basketball coach. Both Guyton and Le emphasize skills, good sportsmanship and strong values for everyone around them. In addition, Guyton has attended every field trip her son has taken, as well as volunteering in the classroom as often as possible.
Guyton and Le are the proud parents of Zion Le, a fifth grade student at Union House. Guyton attended California State University, Hayward where she majored in broadcast journalism. She currently works in the entertainment field. Le attended Stanford University where he lettered for four years in football. |
Toby Johnson Middle School student to receive Presidential Volunteer Service Award
Ambrielle Auble, an eighth grade student at Toby Johnson Middle School, was presented with the President's Volunteer Service Award on Tuesday, January 13, 2009.
The President's Volunteer Service Award program - created by the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation - serves to thank and honor Americans who, by their demonstrated commitment and example, inspire others to engage in volunteer service. The award recognizes individuals, families and groups that have achieved a certain standard - measured by the number of hours served over a 12-month period or cumulative hours earned over the course of a lifetime.
Auble earned the President's Volunteer Service Award at the Gold Level.
Auble earned the award for volunteering over 100 hours at the Eskaton Lodge - Gold River. Auble worked with patients that have dementia and Alzheimer's in Eskaton's memory care unit.
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Calvine High School receives donation from Safeway Foundation
Calvine High School was the recent recipient of a $750 donation from the Safeway Foundation to support their RSP Culinary Café program. The donation will be used to purchase food items to provide students with independent living skills and opportunities for career exploration in the culinary arts field.
The Safeway Foundation works in partnership with local organizations, schools and individuals to improve the quality of life in the communities they serve. The Safeway Foundation carefully directs their fundraising efforts and the generous contributions of the company's employees and customers to support a variety of worthy causes in four key areas: hunger relief, education, health and human services and people with special needs. |
EGUSD students dominate local Voice of Democracy competitions
Six Elk Grove Unified high school students recently won scholarships through the Voice of Democracy scholarship program.
The Voice of Democracy scholarship program is a national audio-essay contest for high school students in grades 9-12. Students from across the country compete in local contests to earn the right to eventually advance to national competition for a $30,000 scholarship and an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C. as the top prize.
The 2008/2009 theme is "Service and Sacrifice by America's Veterans Benefit Today's Youth By..."
The following students earned scholarships in the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Post 2073 competition:
First Place
Alexander Zermeno ($500 scholarship) - Pleasant Grove High School
Second Place
Laurence Ezekiel Tamayo ($400 scholarship) - Florin High School
Third Place
Kassy Sappunh ($300 scholarship) - Florin High School
Fourth Place
Alex Beilby ($50 scholarship) - Florin High School
Fifth Place
Charlotte Last ($50 scholarship) - Florin High School
The following student earned a scholarship in the VFW Post 1267 competition:
Second Place
Nisa Dang ($200 scholarship) - Florin High School
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Samuel Jackman Middle School to host Family Literacy Day
Samuel Jackman Middle School will host the Elk Grove chapter of the California Association of Bilingual Educators' (EGCABE) 2nd Annual Family Literacy Day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 21.
The event will feature opening remarks by EGUSD Associate Superintendent of PreK-6 Education L. Steven Winlock, Ed.D., a keynote address from Dr. Francisco Rodriguez - president of Cosumnes River College, literacy workshops for parents in both English and Spanish and a special workshop for teachers on strategies for closing the achievement gap.
For more information or to register for this event, contact Martin Martinez at 686-8484 or maemarti@egusd.net, Abelardo Cordova at 681-8820 or acordova@egusd.net, or Roxanna Villasenor at rvillase@egusd.net. | |
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Welcome to eguNews, an EGUSD email newsletter published every two weeks. If you have questions about eguNews, you can email communication@egusd.net or call (916) 686-7732.
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Budget Update
The Governor and state legislature are close to arriving at an agreement to deal with California's $42 billion budget shortfall projected by the middle of next year, according to media reports. The reported compromise still involves drastic cuts to public education and the Elk Grove Unified School District.
The media has reported that the deal includes $15.8 billion in spending cuts, $14.3 billion in taxes and $10.9 billion in borrowing. Of the spending cuts, public education will incur some of the deepest reductions. Our hope is that some of these cuts will be mitigated by the federal stimulus package.
EGUSD staff members are working diligently to ascertain what both the state cuts and the federal stimulus package will mean to EGUSD. In the meantime, work on addressing the budget reductions continues in order to meet the March 15 deadline to notify certificated staff members of possible layoff.
At the February 4, 2009, Special Board of Education meeting, the Board of Education was presented with an array of preliminary proposed budget reduction options from the district's budget committee. These proposed reductions are the result of weeks of work by the 60 member budget committee and staff and input from parents and community members.
The Superintendent requested that the Budget Committee consider potential cuts through the lens of:
- Cutting things, not people. Education is a people business. People make the difference in the lives of our students. We will cut things before people whenever possible.
- Safety being a top priority at the Elk Grove Unified School District. Students who do not feel safe do not learn well.
- Maintaining cleanliness. Like safety, a clean environment benefits all students, teachers and staff. We have invested millions of dollars in our buildings and campuses and intend to maintain our capital facilities. We will maintain our investments for our community and our children.
- Academic achievement continuing to be a priority. Student achievement is the underlying focus of everything we do and therefore goes into any decision about budget cuts.
The Budget Committee has considered many ideas and suggestions from staff, parents and community members along the baseline of these priorities. The ideas and recommendations presented include a number of items and initiatives that must be negotiated with our labor unions and associations and include a reduction of respective work calendars; the elimination or redirection of lottery bonuses; the suspension of annual step and column increases on the salary schedule; and, changing health benefit plan designs. All of these recommendations have been shared with the respective bargaining units for their consideration as possible strategies to reduce the deficit.
The PRELIMINARY list of POSSIBLE reductions is a result of the ideas and suggestions from staff, parents and the community. The district cannot stress enough that these possible reductions are preliminary and the district will continue to refine this list as we move forward. No decisions have been made at this point. The list is sorted into four tiers. The first two tiers are things - not people. They are not listed in order of priority.
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Elk Grove High School captures Mock Trial title for Sacramento County
Elk Grove High School can once again claim they have the top mock trial team in the Sacramento region.
Elk
Grove was announced the winner of the Gordon D. Schaber (GDS) Mock
Trial Competition at a reception held on Wednesday, February 4 at the
Federal Courthouse in downtown Sacramento. Elk Grove defeated
Sacramento Country Day School to capture the title.
Elk Grove will now represent Sacramento County at the state competition to be held in Riverside from March 19-22.
During
a mock trial competition, students simulate a trial level proceeding in
which students portray the roles of pre-trial counsel, prosecuting or
defense attorney, witnesses, court clerks, bailiffs and jurors. All
high schools throughout the Sacramento region are invited to
participate in the competition. Each year, close to 500 students from
more than 25 high schools participate.
The
program is organized by the Center for Youth Leadership and partners
with the Superior Court of California; County of Sacramento; California
Court of Appeals; Third Appellate District; U.S. District Court and
U.S. Attorney's Office; Eastern District of California; Sacramento
County Office of Education and area districts and schools; Sacramento
County Bar Association/Law Foundation; area firms and legal
organizations; and legal professional volunteers from throughout the
greater Sacramento region.
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New Technology/Digital Arts Academy comes to Elk Grove High School
Elk Grove High School welcomed the Technology and Digital Arts Academy (TDAA), one of the newest academies in the Elk Grove Unified School District, to the campus for the 2008-2009 school year.
Currently, 151 students are enrolled in TDAA, where students learn computer graphic design, video production and digital photography. They also learn how to use the appropriate industry tools for each skill area.
"As we build the academy, we expect to recruit 85 students from each incoming freshman class," said Kent Pickering, creative coordinator for TDAA. "For subsequent years, we would like to maintain an average size of 60 students at the sophomore, junior and senior grade levels."
To enroll in TDAA, students must have an interest in computer graphics or digital photography. They also must have a willingness to develop the work ethic required for career and/or college goals. For acceptance into TDAA, students must fill out an application and complete an interview. Students are enrolled in TDAA for all four years.
A team of teachers and administrators facilitate the academy. They include: Sascha Heckman (EGHS Vice Principal and academy coordinator), Pickering, Linsey Murphy (academy counselor), Margaret Roy (computer graphics instructor), Jenny Medeiros and Elizabeth Loveridge (English teachers), Loretta Perez (math teacher) and Tony White and Dave Teberg (science teachers).
"There are many benefits to joining TDAA," said Pickering. "Students in TDAA enjoy smaller class sizes and experience greater teacher collaboration, as they are required to regularly meet to discuss student progress. Students also experience project-based learning because we are able to emphasize real-world applications of concepts that they will learn."
Elk Grove High received a California Partnership Academy grant to get TDAA started. The three-year grant gave the school $42,000 during the first year of the program. This amount can increase up to $82,000 during the third year. Elk Grove Unified also provides matching funds for the program.
To obtain the California Partnership Academy grant, schools include key components of the academy model as stipulated by the California Department of Education. The components include: curriculum focused on a career theme and coordinated with related academic careers; a voluntary student selection process that identifies interested ninth graders; a team of teachers who work together to implement the program; motivational activities with private sector involvement to encourage academic and occupational preparation; and workplace learning opportunities such as job shadowing, student internships and work experience.
For more information about TDAA, please click here.
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Junior Achievement Program at
John Reith Elementary School
John Reith Elementary students are getting a head start in learning about economics, job opportunities and business management, all through the Junior Achievement Program.
The Junior Achievement Program is one of the world's largest organizations dedicated to educating students about work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on program. The program helps prepare students for the "real world" by showing them how to grow their own wealth and effectively manage it.
"I think that the Junior Achievement program is an excellent addition to the curriculum we have," said Gordon Blackwood, principal at Reith. "The students are exposed to real working people who volunteer their time to enhance student knowledge of how the business world works. Many of our students gain exposure to such concepts as supply and demand, and trade commerce. In many cases, they would not have an opportunity to be exposed to these concepts."
The Junior Achievement curriculum is taught for half a day during regular school hours at Reith. The entire school participates in the program.
Junior Achievement also educates students on how to create jobs to improve their communities and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Through the program, students are able to put the lessons they learn into action - and help strengthen their communities in the process.
Community leaders and volunteers help deliver the curriculum and share their professional experiences.
"The 2008/2009 school year marks the third year we have had the program at Reith and I've seen it grow stronger over the past years," said Blackwood. "It is obvious that Junior Achievement has spent much time on training the volunteers that come out to our school to teach our students. I would love to see the program continue for many years to come."
Even the staff at Reith is benefiting from the program.
"It's amazing to hear from staff members that they have also learned from the curriculum as well," said Blackwood. "They have picked up new tips to help their students understand difficult concepts in any subject."
Any school can participate in the Junior Achievement program. For more information on Junior Achievement, visit www.ja.org.
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