Source: City of El Cajon

April 1, 2018 (El  Cajon) -- The City of El Cajon Recreation Department will be hosting an afternoon of pool safety and fun - called “April Pools Day!”  This family event will be held on Friday, April 13 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Fletcher Hills Pool, 2345 Center Place in El Cajon.

Source:  Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District

Photo:  Cuyamaca College Ornamental Horticulture students and their instructor, Donald Schultz, (top right) celebrate their wins in the National Collegiate Landscape Competition.

March 26, 2018 (Rancho San Diego) - The Cuyamaca College Ornamental Horticulture program is turning heads after yet another standout performance at the National Collegiate Landscape Competition.

Nine students took part in the 42nd annual event, and their average score topped the average scores for students at any of the 62 colleges and universities taking part in the competition at Alamance Community College in North Carolina. Competing against major institutions such as Brigham Young University, Virginia Tech and the University of Georgia, Cuyamaca College was the only school with three students finishing among the top 25 in total points.

By Miriam Raftery

March 21, 2018 (Alpine) – The Alpine Education Association will hold its sixth annual Spring Gala on Saturday, April 21 at 6:30 p.m. at Viejas Casino & Resort in the Oak Ballroom. The event includes a buffet-style dinner, silent and live auctions, music and dancing – all to improve education for children in Alpine schools.

For tickets, visit https://aef4kids.org/events/aef-gala-2018//.

East County News Service

Photo by Ron Logan:  Write Out Loud Executive Director Walter Ritter, San Diego Regional Champion Kylie Greaves and Write Out Loud Artistic Director Veronica Murphy

March 15, 2018 (San Diego) -- Kylie Greaves, a Senior at Grossmont Middle College High School in El Cajon took first place in the 2018 countywide Poetry Out Loud competition on February 6th at The San Diego Central Library downtown. Greaves will represent San Diego at the upcoming state finals March 18 and 19 in Sacramento.

By Miriam Raftery

March 13, 2018 (La Mesa) – After 14 years as Superintendent of the La Mesa0Spring Valley School District, Brian Marshall will retire on December 31^st, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Marshall has a long career in East County and San diego.  After receiving his Masters of Arts degree in Educational Administration from San Diego State University and a teaching credential at the University of San Diego, he became vice principal of Lakeside Middle School in 1993 and in 1995 was named principal of Tierra del Sol Middle School in the Lakeside Union School District.

By Eric Bartl

March 5, 2018 (San Diego) - San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan told East County Magazine that San Diego County has seen a surge in threats from students against schools since the February 14 school shooting in Parkland, FL. She said there is good news and bad news.

By Miriam Raftery

File photo: Students testified to GUHSD board on behalf of an Alpine High School, before board reversed its decision to build the school.

March 2, 2018 (Alpine) – In a joint press release, the Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD), Alpine Union High School District (AUSD) and Alpine Taxpayers for Bound Accountability (ATBA) announced a resolution to end the prolonged legal battle over the never-built Alpine High School.

The AUSD and ATBA have agreed not to appeal to the state Supreme Court, after an appeals court ruled on behalf of Grossmont that an enrollment requirement to build the school had not been met and that therefore, Grossmont is not obligated to build the school.  In exchange, the GUHSD has agreed not to seek recovery of its court costs from the Alpine district or the Alpine taxpayers group.

By Miriam Raftery, East County Magazine

February 23, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) – In the wake of a deadly school shooting in Florida, threats have been reported at several San Diego County campuses including East County locations, though thus far none have been deemed credible by law enforcement.

By Miriam Raftery, East County Magazine

Photo cc by Fabrice Florin

You can sign up to join or lead a march in your community at www.MarchForOurLives.com.

February 20, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) – Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida have a message for lawmakers and the national media in the wake of a mass shooting that killed 17 people on their campus last week.

$11.5 million PE and Food Services project will begin construction in late spring

East County News Service

February 9, 2018 (El Cajon) - The Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) and Erickson-Hall Construction are hosting a Contractor Outreach Event, designed to bring the District’s construction management team together with local general contractors, subcontractors and small and/or historically underutilized businesses looking for opportunities on the upcoming construction of the new PE and Food Services Buildings at Granite Hills High School.

By E.A. Barrera

February 6, 2018 (San Diego) -- It is slightly less than 3,000 miles between the tiny village of Mompos, Colombia and Washington D.C. But of course it is in many ways farther then traveling to the moon. On a bright day in early 1961, my father, Ernesto Martin Barrera, and 16 other Colombian college students made the trip to America as part of a visiting tour of young leaders. They got to shake hands with a young American president who had his own dreams of trips to the moon, and they got to tour America.

Adela de la Torre becomes the ninth permanent president of SDSU and the first woman to serve in that role.

Source:  SDSU News Center

January 31, 2018 (San Diego) - The California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees has appointed Adela de la Torre to serve as president of San Diego State University. De la Torre currently serves as vice chancellor, student affairs and campus diversity at the University of California, Davis.

By Jillian Hymer

January 26, 2018 (El Cajon) – At a StoryTent pitched outside the El Cajon Library last week, children listened to stories read aloud and enthusiastically chose books to read. It’s all part of Traveling Stories, a local nonprofit that focuses on “inspiring children to learn to read so they can read to learn.”  You can bring your children ages 2-12 to weekly readings at three locations in San Diego County, including the El Cajon Library each Wednesday from 3:30-5:30 pm.

A StoryTent is set up where staff members, volunteers and parents all pitch in to “empower kids to outsmart poverty…by helping kids fall in love with reading by the 4th grade,” said Hezhi Naseem, the Field Director.

By Paul Kruze; Miriam Raftery also contributed to this report

Hear court audio

Read appellate decision

January 21, 2018 (Alpine) -- Just as students returned to school after winter break last week, lawyers for the Alpine Union School District (AUSD), Alpine Taxpayers for Bond Accountability and Grossmont Union High School District returned to court in front of a three-judge tribunal headed by Associate Justice Patricia D. Benke of the 4th District California Superior Court of Appeals.  

But a week later, the court panel upheld an earlier ruling by Judge Pressman against Alpine, agreeing that the GUHSD need not keep millions of dollars set aside for an Alpine High School that now may never be built, despite previous bond measures approved by voters that included funds for the school. Then on Friday, the State Board of Education denied Alpine's unification petition that would have enabled the AUSD to build the high school. The double losses may prove to be knock-out blows for the hard-fought effort to bring a high school to Alpine.