Internet Safety Tips
TIP: Know who children are exchanging e-mail with, and only let them use chat areas when you can supervise. Limit chatroom access to child-friendly chat sites. |
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Honoring Our Volunteers
Sally Arosteguy of C.W. Dillard Elementary School 
Sally Arosteguy was recognized as an Education Partner at the September 18, 2012 meeting of the Elk Grove Unified School District Board of Education. Arosteguy has been an integral part of many activities at C.W. Dillard Elementary School. She has brought many areas of expertise to the Dillard community. Her knowledge in technology and art has been invaluable in many activities. The amount of hours Arosteguy spends working on projects at Dillard is tremendous, as she has the unique ability of always being in the right place at the right time. Even if her children are not involved in a program, she is the first to assist. Arosteguy is the ultimate team player. Arosteguy is married to Steve Arosteguy. They have six children: Charlie, Joe, Mike, Julie and Andy - all graduates of Dillard - and Danielle, who will graduate from Dillard in May 2013. |
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Attendance Campaign Poster Contest now accepting entries
The ever-popular No Excuses - Go to School Attendance Campaign Poster Contest is now underway and accepting entries. For the seventh year in a row, students in grades K-12 are invited to create drawings illustrating one of 12 attendance-related rhymes. Each school is assigned a rhyme and one finalist from each school site will be selected to enter the final round of judging for the top 12 posters. Students can use any art medium they want to create their drawing, but must create their artwork on the poster entry form provided. Students can obtain an entry form from their school's front office. The deadline to submit entries to the school office is Friday, October 19th. Overall, 12 winners will be selected at the district level. Winners will receive a certificate of recognition from the Superintendent and be recognized at an upcoming Board of Education meeting. Winners will also have their posters reproduced and sent out to all schools in the district to help promote the Attendance Campaign. Click here for more information about the No Excuses - Go to School Attendance Campaign Poster Contest. |
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EGACE selected to receive $160,000 grant from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Elk Grove Adult and Community Education (EGACE) has been selected to receive a $160,000 grant to help promote immigrant civic integration and prepare permanent residents for citizenship from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) through its Citizenship and Integration Grant Program.
EGACE was one of 31 immigrant-serving organizations from 21 states and the District of Columbia selected to receive the grant. The grant will be dispersed over two years.
EGACE will use the grant to launch Project Naturalize Now!, in partnership with the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, an experienced naturalization legal services provider. Through this program, EGACE expects to serve low-income, permanent residents from Latin America, China, Vietnam and Russia and anticipates providing citizenship instruction to 300 permanent residents and naturalization application services to 240.
"Our goal is to help provide English-as-a-second-language and citizenship instruction and naturalization workshops for at least 300 lawful permanent residents over the grant period," said Kathy Hamilton, director of career technical education, adult education and charter schools for the district. "We are also very fortunate to have a partnership with the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF). Through our partnership, law students from the University of California, Davis, will help guide and advise people as they go through the naturalization process, including assistance with the N-400 form, mock interviews and fee waivers."
This year marks the fourth year USCIS has awarded competitive grant funding to immigrant-serving organizations. The Citizenship and Integration Grant Program is part of a multifaceted effort to provide citizenship-preparation resources, support and information to immigrants and immigrant-serving organizations. Click here for more information about the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program.
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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
At the September 21, 2012, Board of Education meeting, the Elk Grove Unified School District's Board of Education adopted a resolution in support of Proposition 30, the Schools & Local Public Safety Act. If passed, Proposition 30 is designed to direct billions of dollars to public education, providing an important short-term funding solution for California's economy.
Since the 2008-2009 school year, public education has experienced unprecedented funding reductions and apportionment deferrals. In EGUSD, this has translated into $110 million in cuts over four years. After years of cuts, California schools now rank 47th out of 50 states in per-pupil spending.
In EGUSD these reductions have meant: increased class sizes; delayed textbook adoptions; reduced district-wide supply budgets; reduced elementary workbook allocation to curriculum; discontinued funding of the Math Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) program; the elimination of school site computer support technicians; the reduction of district-level administrative assistants; the reduction of grounds maintenance; the reduction of research and evaluation; the reduction of fiscal services; the reduction of secondary counseling services; the reduction of school clerks; the elimination of secondary library technicians; the reduction of elementary library technicians; the reduction of interscholastic athletic programs (including male and female freshman sports); the reduction of elementary, middle and high school vice principals; the reduction of Resources Specialist Program and Learning Center paraprofessionals by 50% in special education; the reduction of clerical staff at the district office; furlough days in 2009-2010, 2010-2011 and 2011-2012; and salary rollbacks in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.
The Elk Grove Unified School Board is committed to making policy and financial decisions that enable the school district to provide quality educational programs and services to school-age children living in the district's 320 square miles. The 2012 state budget is currently predicated on voter approval of Proposition 30 in November 2012, without which schools will receive $5.4 billion in mid-year trigger funding reductions ($441 per student) that will result in additional cuts in services and programs to students.
EGUSD Resolution No. 10 states "BE IT RESOLVED that the Elk Grove Unified School District proudly supports California School Boards Association (CSBA) in urging the legislature to work with CSBA and other education leaders to identify long-term adequate funding solutions for public schools; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body, the Elk Grove Unified School District, supports the passage of Proposition 30 because it provides needed revenue to public schools and will specifically benefit the district for the reasons described herein."
Click here to view the entire resolution.
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Franklin High School puts "Teens in the Driver Seat" with new teen driver safety program
Students at Franklin High School in Elk Grove have been selected to be among the first in California to pilot a new peer influence program designed to combat the number-one killer of teens today - car crashes. Student leaders at Franklin High School introduced the Teens in the Driver Seat program, as well as their plans for their program at their school site, at a press conference on Wednesday, September 19 at Franklin.
Two Franklin High School students, Marsela Young and Elle Scherick, spoke at the press conference on behalf of the Teens in the Driver Seat program at Franklin.
"We plan on incorporating the Teens in the Driver Seat curriculum with what we're currently doing on campus," said Jamie Davi, a driver education instructor at Franklin. "Safe driving is already a big initiative at our school so the Teens in the Driver Seat program is a natural fit."
Currently, Franklin has an active Friday Night Live (FNL) program on campus. Through these programs, students have held student assemblies focusing on the dangers of driving, made presentations at middle schools to help younger students form positive attitudes and habits about driving before they begin and conducted seat belt counts by observing students as they drive out of the school parking lot. Most recently, students observed how many parents were either talking or texting as they drove into the parking lot at a football game and announced the number of parents in violation during halftime.
Teens in the Driver Seat is one of the nation's first and longest-lasting, peer-to-peer programs focuses exclusively on driving safety. The program was developed by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and is available to California high schools at no cost through funding provided by the University of California, Berkeley's Safe Transportation Research and Education Center with a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety and State Farm. TTI provides the science, materials and support for the program, which each student group determines how the program will work at their school.
Click here for more information about the Teens in the Driver Seat program.
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"Your Choice, Your Career" seminar comes to Valley High School
Students at Valley High School (VHS) learned it's "Your Choice, Your Career" at a seminar hosted by the VHS Health TECH Academy on Friday, September 21 at the Barbara Morse Wackford Community Center. The seminar was funded by a mini-grant from the Office of Statewide Health and Planning Development.
"The seminar was created to give students a venue to engage in close conversation with industry professionals," said John Buckmaster, coordinator for the Health TECH Academy at Valley. "It's our hope that the student will take what they learned forward and add career elements to displays and presentations they'll create in the future."
Held in a roundtable format, the seminar featured 24 health care professionals from three career pathways - patient care, public health and biotechnology - and included physicians, a psychiatric technician, a medical assistant and others. Approximately 100 Health TECH Academy students from grades 9-12 had the opportunity to speak directly with professionals and gain insight into their careers.
Students also took advantage of the opportunity to network and meet professionals in the health care field by enlisting the help of a professional they met at the seminar to present an event next year with a cultural club on campus.
"We have a second seminar scheduled for March 1 featuring the career pathways of mental and behavioral health, patient advocacy and health care administration," Buckmaster said. "We were also happy to see that professionals from our first seminar were excited and energized about the event and are eager to return in the future. Our initial thoughts are to hold one seminar each year focused on a few pathways. For Health TECH students who are in the academy for at least three years, they will eventually see all career pathways for our academy."
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EGUSD to hold career technical education open house
The Elk Grove Unified School District invites students, parents and community members to come learn about multiple pathways to career success at the annual Career Technical Education (CTE) Open House from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 25 in the multipurpose room at Monterey Trail High School.
Instructors and students representing 18 career academies, seven pathways, 45 Regional Occupational Programs (ROP), two military careers training programs and dozens of individual classes will display their work products and give demonstrations at the open house.
The following 13 industry sectors will be represented at the open house: agriculture and natural resources; arts, media and entertainment; building trades and construction; education, child development and family services; energy and utilities; engineering and design; finance and business; health science and medical technology; hospitality, tourism and recreation; information technology; manufacturing and product development; marketing, sales and service; and public services.
"One highlight of the open house will be the opportunity to tour Monterey Trail High School's Design and Technology Academy (DATA), which features three majors: computer science, engineering and construction design," said Kathy Hamilton, director of career technical, charter and adult education for the district. "Demonstrations will include home and shed construction, culinary arts, animation, digital arts, media production and military science. Featured guests will include representatives from local colleges and post-secondary institutions, area businesses and the Sacramento Works Career Center."
The CTE open house provides middle school and ninth grade students the perfect opportunity to learn more about occupational academies, pathways and instructional programs available at EGUSD to better prepare them for career and post-secondary education. Community members can learn more about the breadth and depth of EGUSD's CTE program.
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