| Honoring Our Volunteers
Julia Villalobos of Raymond Case Elementary School
Julia Villalobos was recognized as an Education Partner at the March 15, 2011, meeting of the Elk Grove Unified School District Board of Education.
Julia has spent countless hours as a volunteer in classrooms, a chaperone on field trips, assisting with the book fair and has served as a member of Raymond Case Elementary School's School Site Council, Superintendent's Parent Advisory Committee and as PTO treasurer. She also supports the Case school band, school Olympics and the annual Fall Carnival.
Julia also volunteers at Katherine L. Albiani Middle School. She has assisted in their library and at dances and the spring fair.
Julia is married to Gilbert Arredondo. They have two children - Gabriel, an 8th grade student at Katherine L. Albiani Middle School and Diana, a 6th grade at Case. Both children are GATE students and participate in leadership activities at their schools.
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Calvine High School holds first-ever Career Fair
On March 18, 2011, Calvine High School hosted their first College and Career Day. Presenters from the community volunteered their time to speak to students about various careers and academic choices for their future. Presenters included K-9 officers, crime scene investigators, a dental hygienist, hair stylist, representatives from the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD), the executive chef from Mikuni, as well as representatives from junior colleges, vocational schools and military. "The purpose of this event was to show our students alternative paths after they graduate from high school and to expose them to a variety of career and academic choices," said Lisa Flores, a counselor at Calvine. "Due to the day being so successful, this will definitely be a tradition at Calvine for the upcoming school years. |
EGUSD holds community budget meetings
The Elk Grove Unified School District is holding public meetings throughout the month of March to discuss the state of California's budget crisis and its effect on public education. EGUSD faces a $40 million budget shortfall if Governor Jerry Brown's proposed tax extension measure fails to appear on a special election ballot and pass in June. In order to meet its fiduciary obligations and state mandated timelines, the district has identified a combination of cuts that impacts all district divisions and schools, as well as the use of one-time dollars. The proposed reductions total almost $35 million, potentially affecting nearly 440 full-time equivalent positions. EGUSD is also working on identifying the budget cuts that would be needed should the tax extension measure pass. Although the budget reductions would be significantly less, EGUSD faces a structural deficit in subsequent years following three years of using one-time dollars to retain as many positions and programs for students as possible. The last meeting will be held at Franklin High School in the cafeteria on March 31 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
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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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EGUSD high school teams compete at regional robotics competition
 Teams from three Elk Grove Unified School District high schools - Cosumnes Oaks, Laguna Creek and Pleasant Grove - recently competed at the Sacramento Regional FIRST Robotics Competition held at the University of California, Davis on March 19-20. A total of 53 teams from throughout California, Oregon and Idaho participated in 89 qualifying matches where teams were randomly put into alliances of three teams. Each team played a total of 10 qualifying matches. At the end of the qualifying rounds, the eight teams with the most points were allowed to select two other teams to form an alliance with to begin elimination matches. At the end of the qualifying round, the Cosumnes Oaks "Wolkfpack" team - competing in the competition for the first time - was seeded sixth. Cosumnes Oaks selected the Pleasant Grove "EagleForce" team and Vacaville "Robodogs" team to join their alliance. This alliance advanced to the final round before falling to an alliance led by the De Vinci Charter Academy "Citrus Circuits" team. Only six teams advanced to the final round. The Laguna Creek "LC Robotics" team, also competing for the first time, won the Rookie Inspiration Award for outstanding effort in community outreach and recruiting students to engineering. Additionally, Robert Long, a senior at Pleasant Grove High School, won the Dean's List Finalist Award for outstanding student leadership and effectiveness in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering and engineers - both within their school as well as in their community. Long will now compete at the National Championship in St. Louis for inclusion on the National FIRST Dean's List. Founded in 1989, FIRST is a 501(c)(3) organization devoted to helping young people discover and develop a passion for science, engineering, technology and math. The FIRST Robotics Competition requires teams of 25 or more students to use limited resources to raise funds to build a robot. Teams must also design a team "brand" and develop teamwork skills to build and program a robot designed to perform certain tasks against a field of competitors. For more information about FIRST Robotics competition, click here.
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Elk Grove Elementary celebrates "Pi Day"
For those who love math, the date March 14 holds a special significance each year.
On March 14, students at Elk Grove Elementary School celebrated their love of math with a "Pi Day" celebration. Spearheaded by Matt Lascola, a sixth grade student at Elk Grove, students recognized the special day with a variety of activities, including creating "Pi-ku" poems - Haiku poems about Pi, art projects and math exercises.
The highlight of the day was the assembly for the official Pi Day Contest. Students were given the first hundred digits of Pi to memorize. The students who chose to participate in the Pi Day Contest competed to see who could recite the most digits of Pi from memory. A total of 20 students participated in the contest. All student participants received a piece of pi(e). The top three finishers each took home a trophy. Jonah Zahnd earned first place, Milan McDonald placed second and Zyruss Edjan took third place.
"Pi Day was a wonderful way of incorporating higher level math concepts with an event of fun for all who participated," said Dave Neves, principal at Elk Grove Elementary.
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EGUSD partners with National Summer Learning Association and THINK Together to provide after-school programs
The Elk Grove Unified School District has partnered with the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) and THINK Together to provide summer school opportunities for middle school students during the summer of 2011.
"Elk Grove Unified has been selected as one of 10 school districts nationwide to participate in this endeavor," said Mark Vigario, Learning Support Services Director for the district. "This project will allow us to not only serve approximately 600 middle school students, it will also allow us to provide summer employment for certificated, classified and custodial staff."
THINK Together has also provided after-school ASES programs at Franklin, Roy Herburger, James McKee, Barbara Comstock Morse and Mary Tsukamoto elementary schools since the beginning of March 2011.
NSLA serves as a network hub for thousands of summer learning program providers and stakeholders across the country, providing tools, resources, and expertise to improve program quality, generate support, and increase youth access and participation.
THINK Together is one of California's foremost providers of after-school programs. This non-profit organization serves 50,000 students at more than 200 schools and community centers throughout the Southern California area.
For more information about NSLA, click here. For more information about THINK Together, click here.
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Iota Pi Sigma - It's a Florin Region Thing
For students attending schools in the Florin region of Elk Grove Unified, there is a new organization in town ready to encourage students to do their best.
"Iota Pi Sigma, which stands for Imagine, Perform and Succeed, was created to help encourage and remind the students attending schools in the Florin region about the importance of having an educational plan and staying in school to accomplish that plan," said Yuri Penermon, principal at James Rutter Middle School. "The organization will be implemented at all schools in the Florin region to ensure the message is consistent during their K-12 school career."
Students from Florin High School and Rutter Middle School held rallies for fourth, fifth and sixth grade students at each of the five elementary schools - Florin, Isabelle Jackson, Samuel Kennedy, Anna Kirchgater and David Reese - in the Florin region to introduce the new program throughout March.
In April, Rutter will hold a rally in conjunction with their STAR rally with Florin High School to promote the new program and encourage students to perform well on their academics and other programs in middle school.
"We're hoping to end our campaign at the End of the Year Rally at Florin High School to inform students of what their imagination and performance has done in helping them succeed in school," said Penermon. "We are hoping that we will be able to tell this year's seniors, who have gone through our schools, that they are the first graduating Iota Pi Sigma class and will be recognized as such at their graduation ceremony."
At elementary and middle school promotions, students will receive a pin or patch that symbolizes their status as an associate/junior member of Iota Pi Sigma that they will be able to add to their sash when they graduate from Florin High School.
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