East County News Service

September 4, 2017 (El Cajon) -- Hispanic Heritage Month at the two East County colleges is celebrated from mid-September to Nov. 1 with free events that are open to the public.

Free opportunities include entertaining assemblies and more

East County News Service

August 28, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - As students return to class across the region, the San Diego County Water Authority is offering schools, teachers and students an array of water-themed resources, including several that are free.

By Mike Allen

August 27, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) -- When West Hills High School in Santee replaced its artificial turf field in April, the feeling among the school’s administrators, staff and students was positive.

The old artificial football field in the school’s signature Wolf Pack blue had been wearing down, and needed upgrading, said West Hills Athletic Director Don Rutledge.

East County News Service

August 26, 2017 (Rancho San Diego) - Leaders of the thriving Chaldean community in San Diego’s East County will be on hand for a special Chaldean Culture & Traditions celebration at Cuyamaca College on Monday, Aug. 28.       

East County News Service

August 18, 2017 (La Mesa) – The Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD) has awarded a $89,440 grant to Grossmont College’s Allied Health Division. The grant will be applied towards the purchase of three pieces of equipment that will assist in the training of cardiovascular, respiratory and orthopedic technology students.

East County News Service

August 8, 2017 (El Cajon) – The Grossmont Union High School District board will convene a special meeting on bond refunding on Thursday, August 10. The public session begins at 6 p.m. after a closed-session meeting earlier.

Board passes over ex-PTA president/LMSV bond oversight committee member and former teacher’s union representative to select church worker

By Kendra Sitton

Read full transcript of meeting here.

August 5, 2017 (La Mesa) -- Rebekah Basson received the appointment to the La Mesa-Spring Valley (LMSV) Board of Education during a special meeting on Aug. 3, just two days before the deadline for an expensive special election to be held in its place.

By Miriam Raftery

August 1, 2017 (San Diego) -- A prominent attorney, Cory Briggs, has sent a letter to San Diego Unified School District’s Superintendent Cindy Marten expressing an intent to file a lawsuit after the school board voted to destroy emails after just one year.  Briggs says such action appears to violate state law requiring that all school district records, including electronic ones, be retained for at least three years. He also accuses the district of failing to comply in a timely manner with public records requests.

Society of Professional Journalists has previously voiced concerns over the districts shortened e-mail retention policy and nonresponsive to public records requests by media and/or the public.

Briggs has requested a settlement meeting.  Below is the full text of his letter:

Source: Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego

July 27, 2017 (San Diego) -- On Tuesday evening, the San Diego Unified School Board unanimously adopted a policy to delete all emails from district servers after one year despite a recommendation from the San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists to retain them for two years as other large California school districts do. San Diego SPJ spoke at the meeting, raising concern with this and the fact that district employees will be charged with deciding which emails are public records.

By Terri Steele

July 17, 2017 (San Diego) -- There’s a ray of hope on the horizon for 16 to 24-year-olds looking for jobs, an education and a better future.  It springs from a $1.3 million U.S. Department of Labor grant recently awarded to the not-for-profit Heartland Coalition. 

The hope is with a program called YouthBuild.  And it’s working with East County community partners like Rock Church, Foothills, the County of San Diego and City of El Cajon to help them identify disaffected youth who are eager to get back to work and need an education.

East County News Service

July 11, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - CrazyGames is offering a $1500 game development scholarship to students  - a very creative yet challenging endeavor. Founder Raf Mertens is a Stanford alumni who is passionate about computer science and using those skills in a creative way. (http://cs.stanford.edu/people/mertens/.)  The scholarship is open for any student in computer science or any related computer education program. You can find full scholarship info here - http://crazygames.com/scholarship

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Diego Valley Charter School students protesting to save their school at November 2015 GUHSD board meeting

July 8, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – Several recent court rulings impact the future of many charter schools in California, including several in East County.

Last October, a California appellate court ruled that charter schools can’t expand within their home county by opening campuses outside their own authorizing district.  That ruling affected a suit filed back in 2015 by the Grossmont Union High School District seeking to shut down the Julian Charter School, Alpine Academy and Diego Valley Charter School, all operating within the GUHSD boundaries.

By Jonathan Goetz; Miriam Raftery also contributed to this report.

Photo, left:  David Chong

July 2, 2017 (La Mesa) — At a special session Friday, the La Mesa Spring Valley School District Board of Education voted 4-0 to deny a petition to charter College Preparatory Middle School (CPMS) through the LMSV.

By Miriam Raftery

July 1, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – Newly appointed Grossmont Union High School District Citizens Bond Oversight Committee member Lou Russo has forwarded a copy of the most recent meeting minutes from March 29 to ECM.  There were several items of note including audit results, status of bond projects and other construction at district schools, an update on the lawsuit filed against the GUHSD over the proposed Alpine High School on which the district has spent over $3.2 million to date, and a projected $11.1 million budget deficit for the district.

Below are the full minutes:

East County News Service

June 21, 2017 (La Mesa) - It’s Charley Brown Preschool’s 45^th anniversary and you’re invited to join the celebration honoring its long history of service to East County families.  Former students, parents, friends and neighbors are invited to the event on Saturday, July 15 from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at 5921 Jackson Drive in La Mesa.