-Author Unknown

Frontier Elementary will become our district's second Blue Ribbon School and is the only school in Sacramento County to receive the prestigious award this year. Click here to read the announcement from the California Department of Education. Congratulations to Frontier's students, staff and families. 
 
Oakdale Elementary has grown a whopping 152 points in the API (Academic Performance Index) in just two years and now boasts an API of 828!  Keep up the great work, Oakdale! 

Two Twin Rivers classrooms had 100 percent of their students proficient in math:  John McBeth's third grade class at Del Paso Elementary and Marci Dixon's third grade class at Dry Creek Elementary.  Congratulations to both teachers and their students! 

Click here to see the recent board presentation on other outstanding Twin Rivers schools' test scores. 
 
A photo taken by Selene Scott-Femenella, a sixth grader in Mr. Pham's class at Creative Connections Arts Academy, will be published in the October edition of Sacramento Magazine.  Selene's photo placed in the "A Day in the Life of Oak Park" photo contest held last fall. 
 
Foothill High School and Grant Union High School hosted students from Seiryo High School in Matsuyama, Japan.  At Foothill the visitors performed, shadowed students and were honored guests at a Japanese Tea Ceremony reception.
 
Twin Rivers Student Leadership Advisory Council, consisting of two or three representatives from all of our secondary schools, met this week to share ideas for increasing school spirit, fundraising and improving school climate.  The Student Leadership Advisory Council will meet monthly and will provide input on the development of district-wide initiatives. 
 
Beginning in October, secondary school's Student Council presidents will meet with Superintendent Frank Porter as his Student Cabinet.  A Student Cabinet representative will also have an opportunity to attend a Board meeting and to report to our Trustees.
 
Project DREAM's Executive Board met this week and approved over $17,000 through twelve grant requests which support and enhance educational experiences for North Area students.  Project DREAM (Developing Resiliency through Education, the Arts and Mentoring) is completely volunteer driven and 95% of all funds go to programs for students.  For more information, visit their website.

Thank you to everyone who assisted in boosting the completion rate of free and reduced lunch applications.  To date this year, about 80 percent of our students have turned in an application.  That's a huge improvement over the 40 percent we received by this point last year!  Keep up the great work and keep those applications coming in!
 
Donations are being accepted for the "Going the Distance" fundraiser to benefit the Shoulder to Shoulder/Freedom Hall program at Martin Luther King Jr. Technology Academy.  This junior high through high school graduation program provides mentoring and support for young men whose fathers are not very active in their lives.  To donate, e-mail your name, site and donation amount to Shoulder to Shoulder GDT Fund c/o Sharon Hally or call 916.566.1600 x 1338. 

We wish the best to the new Foothill High School water polo team.  Their first game is on Tuesday, September 29 at the Rio Linda High School Pool. 

Our own Kirk Williams, Principal of Twin Rivers Adult School, will be recognized for his outstanding service in educational programs for Sacramento's young people at an event sponsored by Emerge, an organization dedicated to equipping youth for life.  The celebration event will take place Tuesday, September 22 at Coloma Community Center, 4623 T Street, Sacramento from 4 to 6:30 pm.  Local mayors will be presenting the awards, and the event organizers are promising a surprise guest speaker. Congratulations Kirk!

Aero Haven Elementary and Oakdale Elementary will be honored as Outstanding Achievement Schools for comprehensive student support at the California Department of Education Ready to Learn Conference.  Donations are being collected to send two Aero Haven and two Oakdale staff members to the November awards ceremony in Southern California.  Call Aero Haven Elementary at 916.566.1800 or Oakdale Elementary at 916.566.1910 to make a donation.
 
A little over a year into the creation of our new
unified school district, Twin Rivers Board of Trustees thanked Superintendent Frank Porter for his "amazing calm, engaging leadership style and tireless effort on behalf of students," and asked him to stay for another three years. At the regular board meeting this week,  trustees presented Frank Porter with a letter of positive evaluation which will extend his contract through 2012.  Learn more. 
 
A warm welcome is given to Musa Abedrabbo, Albert Brown III, Shelly Greenwalt, David Jackson and Anthony Ruiz who will be sworn in on Wednesday, September 23, as new Twin Rivers Police Department reserve officers. 
 
DAC (District Advisory Committee) met for the first time this week.  Each school sends a parent/guardian representative to DAC which meets four times each year.  DAC leadership will work on our district's parent involvement policy which will be presented to our Board of Trustees.
 
Twin Rivers teachers are invited to a no-cost workshop presented by Daniel Orey, Ph.D., a math professor at California State University, Sacramento and a Fulbright scholar, who will offer insight on how to embrace the cultural diversity found in Sacramento's classrooms.  Activities include hands-on stations displaying games from around the world and a "math safari" searching for math in architecture.  Participants will receive a copy of the GEMS (Great Explorations in Math and Science) guide, "Math Around the World."  This workshop is offered on Wednesday, September 30 from 4 to 7 pm at SMUD's (Sacramento Municipal Utility District's) Energy and Technology Center.  A light dinner will be served.  Click here for registration information.
 
The Elementary Schools' Soccer and Kickball Jamboree will be at Foothill High School on Saturday, September 26 beginning with a free Pancake Breakfast from 7:30 to 9 am and continuing with activities and games from 9 am to 2 pm.  To donate participation prizes, please call our Director of Student Activities, Gewon Richards at 916.566.1600 x 1264.
 
Our Facilities Planning and Construction Department is sponsoring a bus trip on Sunday, October 25 to the Oakland Raiders vs. New York Jets football game.  Proceeds will benefit the Grant High School Sports Health Academy.  Click here for details. The campaign to build a new sports center for the campus kicked off this week with a reception and walking tour for area community and business leaders.
 
Our Technology Services Department is pleased to announce that Info Security Products Guide has named Stonesoft a winner of the 2009 Best Deployment Scenario Awards in the Firewall Solution category for helping our school district improve the security and performance of our network as well as improving the efficiency of network management which has resulted in cost savings. 
 
Verizon Wireless, the California Dental Association Foundation, University of the Pacific, and the California Healthcare Foundation are teaming up with Twin Rivers to provide free dental care to the district's foster children through an amazing "Virtual" dentistry pilot project. This project will kick off Monday with a press conference at 1333 Grand Avenue.
 
Twin Rivers employees who want to make changes to their current medical/benefit plans are encouraged to attend a workshop at the District Office, 5115 Dudley Boulevard, Bay A on Monday, September 21, from 8 to 10 am or Friday, September 25 from 3 to 6 pm.  Medical/benefit providers will be available to answer questions and review plan options.  Payroll/benefit technicians will assist employees with paperwork.  Those employees not making any medical/benefit plan changes do not need to attend or complete any paperwork.  Additional information is being sent from CalPERS to employees' home addresses.
 
Baton twirler Aryn Bigler was mentioned recently in Around Twin Rivers.  In addition to being the daughter of Madison Elementary teacher, Frances Bigler, we have been notified that Aryn attended Madison Elementary, Foothill Oaks Elementary, Eastside Campus of Westside Preparatory Charter School and Foothill High School. 

Last spring, we reported that Highlands Academy of Arts and Design teacher, Joan Stafford, was being photographed for a LION Magazine story about Helen Keller.  Click here to read the entire story from the magazine's September issue. 
 
There's been a lot in the news about this year's H1N1 flu virus.  Twin Rivers has a dedicated planning team which includes staff involved with emergency preparedness, wellness, nursing, communication, and business support as well as family and community involvement.  We are also working closely with our County Office of Public Health and with other area districts to share best practices and ideas.  We have special cleaning supplies at school sites and a cleaning team ready to deploy to any school or department that needs assistance.  We have shared information in staff trainings and meetings and developed extensive emergency preparedness and communication plans in case of a major outbreak.  For more information about what you can do to help prevent all flu viruses, please visit the special section of our web site created last spring and updated as new information emerges.
 
Foothill High School Class of 1984 25th Reunion will be celebrated on Saturday, October 10 from 5 to 10 pm with a catered BBQ.  Click here for details.