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.

Board also names West Hills Gymnasium for David C. Hunter

By Jonathan Goetz

Photo: Steele Canyon High School 2017 CIF-SDS Football Champions - Division II, 2017 CIF SoCal Regional Football Champions - Division 3-A and 2017 CIF State Champions – Division 3A, January 22, 2018

January 23, 2018 (El Cajon) - At Monday’s Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) Board Meeting, recognition was given to top sports teams for their victories and their “sportsmanlike” conduct.

Helix Charter, Monte Vista and Steele Canyon high schools all won CIF-SDS 2017 Champions, and West Hills Gymnasium is named in honor of David C. Hunter after a GUHSD vote, while the Steele Canyon 2017 SoCal Regional Football Champions and “West Hills Way” were accoladed as being “sportsmanlike.”

By Miriam Raftery

January 21, 2018 (La Mesa) – A video showing a La Mesa Police officer  slamming a handcuffed 17-year-old  female student at Helix Charter High School to the ground Friday afternoon has drawn over 17,000 views on social media, with a protest planned Monday morning on campus.

East County News Service

January 11, 2018 (El Cajon) – After a teacher received a tip about a photo on Snapchat showing a student holding a gun in a classroom, administrators placed Granite Hills High School in secure campus mode briefly and notified authorities, NBC 7 reports.

By Miriam Raftery

January 9, 2018 (Alpine) – Two key hearings that could determine the future of students in Alpine are coming up: a court appeal and a State Board of Education hearing  January 19 at which the Board will consider a recommendation by the Department of Education to deny a unification petition, and a January 11 appeal of a lawsuit over funds to build the long promised Alpine High School.

By Miriam Raftery

January 3, 2018 (Dehesa) – Karen Kirkpatrick has been named a provisional appointee by the Dehesa School Board to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of Vincent Blanco.  Kirkpatrick will fill the vacancy until the election on November 3^rd, unless a petition calling for a special election is filed with the County Superintendent of Schools within 30 days of the December 18^th appointment.

East County News Service

December 13, 2017 (La Mesa) — On December 5^th, Helix Charter High School dedicated its new Student Services building, and celebrate the modernizations of its Career Technology Education (CTE) classrooms and labs for Computer Technology and Sports Medicine, weight rooms, team rooms, student leadership classrooms, and activation of its new 2.36 megawatt solar carport. 

East County News Service

December 7, 2017 (Dehesa) - The Dehesa School District is seeking applications from interested residents within the school district’s boundaries to serve as an appointed member of the Governing Board to fill the balance of a four-year term, which would be up for election November 2018.

Source:  Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District

November 24, 2017 (El Cajon) - For the past decade, a Grossmont College Occupational Therapy Assistant class has proven that necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

To help answer the perpetual question of what an occupational therapy assistant does, students each year put on a fair to demonstrate simple, low-cost devices they’ve created to make everyday tasks easier for family members and others with physical impairments.

By Miriam Raftery

November 18, 2017 (La Mesa) – A Go Fund Me page has been set up to restore funds stolen during the PTA Halloween fundraising carnival at Lemon Avenue Elementary School in La Mesa.