Honoring Our Volunteers
John Hanrahan & Cheryl Hanrahan Padilla of Franklin High School
John Hanrahan and Cheryl Hanrahan Padilla were recognized as Education Partners at the September 7, 2010, meeting of the Elk Grove Unified School District Board of Education.
A dedicated grandparent, John Hanrahan has worked with Franklin Theatre since 2005 by being involved with all activities. He helped create the Franklin Theatre Company - the parent volunteer booster group, scheduled the children's theater shows for elementary school performances and has run many errands for show materials. John has served for two years as the Franklin High School Booster President and for three years as a board member. He is also the webmaster for both the theatre and booster websites.
Cheryl Hanrahan Padilla was enrolled in Home Economics during all four years when she was in high school - which included sewing classes. With this training, she has been active in Franklin Theatre for six years - and has spent five years as the costumier. She is responsible for all costuming for the Franklin Theatre Company and is currently working with Civic Theater West in Roseville, CA as a costumier for some of their shows. For her quality and creativity, Cheryl has received four nominations and won two Elly Awards - the Academy Awards of school theater programs - for her costuming for Franklin Theatre. To further enhance her skill, she is currently enrolled in sewing and design courses at Sacramento City College.
Cheryl has had two sons who have graduated from Franklin High School. Alejandro is working in theatre productions and taking courses at Sacramento City College. Esteban is attending the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in the Sacramento area.
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EGUSD to participate in Spotlight Elk Grove
Spotlight Elk Grove, scheduled for Thursday, September 16 from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the S.E.S. Hall, blends a food sampling event with the likes of service industry tradeshows. Upon entering, guests are given an hors d'oeuvres plate, a bag for promotional items and a program for the evening that includes a map of business locations at the event. Tickets are $40 per person.
The S.E.S. Hall is located at 10427 East Stockton Blvd., Elk Grove, CA 95624. To purchase tickets, stop by Raley's, Bel-Air, Elk Grove Commerce Bank or call the Foundation at (916) 685-7118.
The Elk Grove Unified School District will have a booth at Spotlight Elk Grove, the Elk Grove Community Foundation's annual fundraising event. Be sure to stop by the Elk Grove Unified booth to find information on the latest news and programs occurring throughout the district.
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On the Grid
with energy conservation
The Elk Grove Unified School District is searching for great energy savings efforts taking place in our schools and district departments. Outstanding energy savings programs will be highlighted in a video posted on the EGUSD Energy Conservation's webpage "On the Grid." If you know of great things taking place at a school site or in a department, email Communication@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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New academies at Elk Grove Unified
The Elk Grove Unified School District is considered to be a leader in finding new educational opportunities for its students and the district's academy/career pathway programs are no exception. This year, two new academies were added to the list of offerings at Elk Grove Unified. Both new academies are located at Cosumnes Oaks High School.
The Culinary Arts Academy (CAA) teaches students the art of creating menus, food preparation and presentation, waiting, inventory and receiving, managing, catering and serving. The academy utilizes ProStart curriculum, a career-building program that teaches students fundamental culinary and management skills in the classroom.
Currently, there are 90 students enrolled in CAA, along with an additional 300 students enrolled in a variety of culinary courses, including Culinary Chemistry, Baking & Patisserie, World Cuisines and three levels of Culinary Arts. Academy coordinators are working on articulation opportunities with Cosumnes River College, The Art Institute and Le Cordon Bleu culinary campuses.
The second academy is the Architectural Design and Urban Planning (AD-UP) Academy. AD-UP was designed to provide students who have a strong desire and motivation in the areas of "green" architecture, engineering and construction with a concentrated and integrated approach to the "design and build" philosophy that is used within the building industry today. AD-UP teachers also plan on utilizing local connections to help enhance the urban planning aspect of the academy. Plans are being created to partner with the planning offices at the City of Elk Grove, as well as a number of nationally-recognized master-planned communities.
Tenth grade AD-UP engineering students are designing and producing "solar suitcases" that help power medical clinics in impoverished villages around the world. These suitcases plug into large solar cells to offer immediate power to charge a 12-volt battery that can offer power after dark. The solar suitcases can be used as charging stations for police radios and as electrical outlets for lights or medical equipment.
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EGUSD students continue to improve on standardized tests
Elk Grove Unified students are continuing to make improvements each year on the California Standardized Testing (CST) exams and California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). These improvements are reflected in a six point growth in the district's 2010 Academic Performance Index (API).
CSTs measure the achievement of students on state content standards in English-language arts (ELA), Mathematics, science, and history-social science.
Overall, the 2010 CST results demonstrated improved performance for EGUSD students from the 2009 results in ELA and Mathematics. In ELA, the percentage of students scoring "proficient" or "advanced" increased in most grade levels, except in grade 11 where it remained the same and in grades 2, 4, and 7 where scores decreased by one percentage point. In Mathematics, the percentage of students scoring "proficient" or "advanced" increased in most grade levels, except in grades 2, 3, and 8, where it decreased by three, one, and two percentage points respectively.
CAHSEE is divided into two parts - English-language arts (ELA) and mathematics. CAHSEE is meant to improve the achievement of students in public high schools and ensures that public high school graduates can demonstrate grade level competency in reading, writing and mathematics. This test helps school districts identify students who are lacking the skills that are necessary for life after high school.
Elk Grove Unified's results on CAHSEE continue to meet and exceed performance targets. The Class of 2012 is the third cohort to exceed the 75 percent pass rate performance target threshold for a tenth grade student's first attempt at the test. The Class of 2012 achieved a 78 percent passage rate, the highest result for tenth grade students taking the test. The Class of 2010 also turned in strong results, posting a 95 percent passage rate - matching the passage rate of the Class of 2009 and surpassing the 94 percent passage rate of the Class of 2008.
Elk Grove Unified's 2010 API is now 791, which is an improvement of six points from the 2009 base of 785. Last year, the district's API score improved by 12 points. For more information, visit the California Department of Education's website.
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EGUSD holds 1st Annual Loren and Kimberly Roberts Golf Tournament
On August 30, young student-athletes representing seven EGUSD high schools came together to compete in the inaugural Loren and Kimberly Roberts Girls' Golf Tournament. The tournament was held at Emerald Lakes Golf Course in Elk Grove.
"Thanks to PGA Tour pro golfer Loren Roberts' generous $70,000 donation last year, we were able to save both the boys' and the girls' golf programs in Elk Grove Unified for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years," said Jim Smrekar, district athletic director. "Today's tournament and the boys' tournament in the spring were created to honor Mr. Roberts' generosity to Elk Grove Unified."
Roberts, the tournament's namesake, created a short DVD presentation showing highlights of his golfing and a personal message wishing the girls good luck before they started the competition.
A total of 38 golfers competed in the event. At the end of the day, it was the team from Pleasant Grove High School that came out on top with the low score. The winning team consists of coach Rob Rinaldi and golfers Danielle Covey, who shot the overall low round of the day, Sarah Debnekoff, Anna Jeffries, Lauren Covey, Jen Blaine, Kelly Davis and Bree Thompson. Pleasant Grove's name will be engraved on a perpetual plaque that will memorialize the girls' and boys' champions each year.
Laguna Creek High School finished second and Sheldon High School took third place honors.
In the spring, the boys' golf teams will take their turn at bringing home the plaque at the Loren and Kimberly Roberts Boys' Golf Tournament. The tournament is tentatively scheduled for the week of February 28th.
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EGUSD seeks input from parents through health survey
The Elk Grove Unified School District is seeking input from parents from throughout the district by conducting a district-wide health assessment as a component of their Student Health Access and Referral Project (SHARP). Kaiser Permanente provided $40,000 for the implementation of the project in December 2009. The survey seeks to determine the most common health issues that students and families are currently facing so the district can provide the appropriate links to resources for EGUSD families.
"Our ultimate goal is to develop a comprehensive master plan of clinics, services and resources available to EGUSD students each year," said Tami Silvera, project implementer for the district. "We will work to better inform our schools and families of these essential services and their availability throughout the district.
SHARP staff have hosted four free oral health screenings which served over 640 students. SHARP staff also partnered with the Cover the Kids program to host an annual Healthy Kids Day in April where over 130 families received resources from dozens of community health agencies. Eventually, SHARP staff hope to have the district approved as a site for the Vaccines for Children program to provide free immunizations for EGUSD families in the fall.
Parents can take the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/65W2VCR. The short survey is completely confidential. For more information about SHARP, contact Tami Silvera in EGUSD's Student Support and Health Services at (916) 686-7568.
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