Annual Report

As you may know the LCOE Annual Report has been released and is available online at www.lakecoe.org for your review. There are limited printed copies available for those who need a printed copy. The Annual Report has been presented to the LCOE Board, Board of Supervisors, District Boards and currently, interested community groups. Please take a few minutes to review the report to familiarize yourself with the topics and hopefully recommend it to your friends and neighbors. This is a great opportunity to share the wonderful activities and programs available to our students in Lake County. Click here to view report.

Community Information Sessions

This is the year of change for education in California and especially Lake County! Education has four major initiatives that may positively affect the quality of education for all our students. The Local Control Funding Formula, Common Core Standards, Smarter Balanced Assessment System, and the Local Control Accountability Plan are all in the implementation phase in Lake County Schools. The Lake County Office of Education will be hosting a Community Information Session in two locations to help our community better understand these important education initiatives. Please encourage those interested in learning more about these topics to attend. Scroll down for more information. 

Looking Forward: Parent Engagement Initiative: "The Hero Project"

You can look forward to an exciting new initiative in the near future. The "Hero Project "is being developed to help parents be their child's hero and empower parents to be their child's first teacher. This project will be no "the way we used to do it" project. It will be packed with parent-driven activities, strong media messaging and tons of resources from our partner agencies. Watch for information in the near future. If you are interested in participating in this important initiative, join the 0-8 Task Force or contact Shelly Mascari at LCOE at smascari@lakecoe.org.

Thanks, and have a great week!

Wally

Here's a way to promote and thank your great teachers. Parents and others can let teachers know what a difference they are making with the Thank a Million Teachers initiative from Farmers Insurance. When someone writes a thank you message to a teacher through  www.thankAMillionTeachers.com, that teacher can submit a brief proposal for a chance to win a grant valued at up to $2,500 for use in their classroom through the end of October, 2014. Beginning in March, the public will be able to vote on these proposals and throughout 2014, more than 100 teachers will be selected. Farmers also has committed up to $1 million in funds to classrooms and education programs throughout the country. 

 A special program offered by the Lake County Office of Education is giving veterans and internees the opportunity to receive long-overdue high school diplomas.

Many people were unable to graduate with their high school class due to military service in World War II (Dec. 7, 1941-Dec. 31, 1946), the Korean War (June 25, 1950-Jan. 31, 1955), or the Vietnam War (Feb. 28, 1961-May 7, 1975), or because they were interned in WWII relocation centers for Japanese Americans, the Lake County Office of Education reported.

These individuals may now receive their high school diplomas from the Lake County Office of Education Operation Recognition program.  Read More

2013 Diploma recipients

Ties were neatly tied, skirt suits were impeccable and when it came time to argue, lawyers and witnesses were confident, clear and precise in their statements.

If you didn't already know that the Middletown and Upper Lake high schools were participating in a mock trial, you would never have known. The students stayed in character and jumped at the opportunity to give their characters validity, with genuine reactions, attitudes and commitment to their stories.

Read more at Lake County Record Bee

When former Taylor Observatory-Norton Planetarium coordinator Barbara McIntyre first heard of her future employer, she and her husband went looking for it.

"We drove straight to the top of the mountain," she said. "Because we thought an observatory would be at the top."

On Jan. 31, after half a decade, McIntyre has retired from her position as the coordinator for the Taylor Observatory.

A few weeks ago, I went into Chase's class for tutoring.

I'd emailed Chase's teacher one evening and said, "Chase keeps telling me that this stuff you're sending home is math - but I'm not sure I believe him. Help, please." She emailed right back and said, "No problem! I can tutor Chase after school anytime." And I said, "No, not him. Me. He gets it. Help me." And that's how I ended up standing at a chalkboard in an empty fifth grade classroom staring at rows of shapes that Chase's teacher kept referring to as "numbers." ......

Afterwards, we sat for a few minutes and talked about teaching children and what a sacred trust and responsibility it is. We agreed that subjects like math and reading are the least important things that are learned in a classroom. We talked about shaping little hearts to become contributors to a larger community - and we discussed our mutual dream that those communities might be made up of individuals who are Kind and Brave above all.

And then she told me this.

See what she told me here

Team DUI's Kellie Thein Scholarship Competition 

Team DUI is proud to announce its inaugural Kellie Thein Scholarship competition, named in the loving memory of Kellie Thein, the daughter of Team DUI founder Judy Thein who was killed as a result of a drunken driving tragedy.

There are two scholarships of $750 each available to graduating high school seniors.  The only eligibility requirement is that the applicants attended a Team DUI presentation at some point in their academic career.

Students should contact their high school counselor for the essay prompt and further information.  All applications are due to Robert Young at the Lake County Office of Education by February 28th, 2014.

Read more at Lake County News