December 4, 2012 (La Mesa)--Helix Charter High School is a nominee in The Clorox Company's Power a Bright Future grant program and is in the running to win up to $50,000. If we win, the school will use this grant to fund community-based, student-run Senior Projects. All Helix students are required to complete a Senior Project to graduate.

"Currently, many students choose to do projects that benefit the surrounding communities; however, due to the costs associated with a large-scale project, many are done on a small scale. If Helix were to win this grant, the projects would not face those funding limitations and students could affect our community in a much bigger way," says Jenn Osborn, Helix community relations.

November 30, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – Julian Union School District and Lemon Grove School District are among six California school districts and a community organization that have collectively won nearly $336,000 in U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm to School Grants.

The funding is designed to help students understand the food they eat in school cafeterias often comes from local farms.  

By Bree Hernandez

November 27, 2012 (San Diego) -- There are many ways of encouraging young people to go to college, and community events like the popular “college for kids” day are good starting places. Once students enroll, our obligations to them do not end, as today’s post discusses.

Education writer Bree Hernandez takes a look at important new data suggesting that more college-age kids than ever before are suffering from mental illness.

By Bill Weaver

November 9, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – With all precincts counted but 375,000 absentee ballots remaining to be tallied, several local school bond measures appear to have passed, while others failed to win the required 55% majority.

Bond measures that appear to have won passage include San Diego Unified, Cajon Valley, Chula Vista, South Bay, and Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College districts.

Those that appear headed to failure include Dehesa, Mountain Empire, and Ramona.

Below are the results as of last night, per San Diego County Registrar of Voters:

November 9, 2012 (Alpine) -- Last Friday, November 2, Marie Curie, John Muir, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Henry Ford, Orville Wright and Amelia Earhart were spotted at Boulder Oaks Elementary School in Alpine!  Fourth and fifth grade students from Mrs. Newcomb, Mrs. Morales and Mrs. Golden's classes brought famous figures back to life at the school's annual Dead Scientists and Explorers Wax Museum. 

By Bill Weaver

November 8, 2012 (San Diego) –Tuition at 23 California State University campuses—including San Diego State University and Cal State San Marcos locally, will rescind a $249-per-semestser tuition fee hike that had taken effect in the fall term. Fees will now revert back to $5,472, the same rate as last year.

“We are hopeful that the passage of Proposition 30 will be the beginning of the state’s reinvestment in higher education,” CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed said in a statement issued yesterday.

By Bill Weaver

November 7, 2012 (San Diego)—Governor Jerry Brown has announced victory for Proposition 30. The ballot measure will raise income taxes on the wealthiest citizens in the state and temporarily increase the state sales tax by a quarter of a cent to fund K-12 schools, community colleges and state universities. Prop 30 is expected to raise more than $6 billion in revenue. If it had not passed, schools and colleges would have suffered significant trigger cuts in state appropriations.

Update: February 13, 2013:  Councilman Wells indicates that three months after this story ran, he has not been contacted by a Grand Jury and believes that he is not a target of the investigation. 

By Miriam Raftery

November 5, 2012 (El Cajon ) – Updated November 6, 2012 -- Three people, including two members of the Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) board, have confirmed that a Grand Jury is investigating why money from Prop H and Prop U was not used to fund a new high school in Alpine as mandated by the bond language.  

El Cajon Councilman Bill Wells chaired the Prop H Citizens Bond Oversight Committee  (CBOC) and according to multiple witnesses, played a lead role in killing plans to build the district’s 12th high school in Alpine.

October 30, 2012 (El Cajon )--On Thursday, Oct. 25, El Cajon Valley High School celebrated the completion of its 700 North and 700 South classroom buildings with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and program showcase. The two 9,000-square-foot buildings were renovated to improve safety and quality and now provide well-equipped learning spaces for career technical training and art classes as well as outdoor spaces for displays, meetings and comfortable student access. Modernization of the building also featured video production studios and computer labs for students.

By Miriam Raftery

View full forum videos by Paul Kruze:

Video part 1, Video part 2

October 25, 2012 (La Mesa)—Six candidates vying for two seats on the Grossmont Union High School District Board addressed topics ranging from budgets to bond money expenditures (reportedly the topic of a Grand Jury investigation) and from technology to integrity. The forum October 22 was sponsored by East County Magazine and moderated by Donna Barlett-May the League of Women Voters.

The fireworks started in opening remarks, when education advocate Bill Weaver assailed incumbent Gary Woods for a problem with “what I see as honesty,” alluding to use of bond monies that has reportedly drawn the scrutiny of San Diego's Grand Jury.

By Miriam Raftery

October 25, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – Numerous claims and accusations have been flying among candidates running for the Grossmont Union High School District, where the Board majority is reportedly the target of an ongoing Grand Jury investigation over allocation of bond funds.  Which candidates’ claims are true and which are not substantiated by the facts?   Scroll down to read the findings of our hard-working team of fact-checkers.

Students set new records of success on all fronts

October 22, 2012 (San Diego) – San Diego State University students have set new records in graduation and continuation rates. And new campus census numbers released last week show that SDSU continues to be a national leader in eliminating the “achievement gap” between students of color and their counterparts.

The six-year graduation rate, which is the national benchmark for graduation rates, is at an all-time high of 66.5 percent at SDSU, up from 65.7 percent last year. For students of color, that number is at a record 63.5 percent, an increase from 61.3 percent in 2011.

By Janis Mork

October 12, 2012 (San Diego’s East County)- Challenger Barbara Stevens has been a writer/editor for over 35 years. She grew up in San Diego, attended Point Loma High School and San Diego State University.

She wants to focus “on the kids more so than adults, focus on student achievement, education, the students’ and districts’ needs.”Stevens was motivated to run because her daughter went through the district, graduating from Helix Charter in 2008 and recently graduating from California State University San Marcos.

October 16, 2012 (El Cajon)--The World Famous Harlem Globetrotters will be visiting Johnson Elementary School in El Cajon today to meet with students during two assemblies. They'll be teaching students about the "ABC*s of Bullying" - a Harlem Globetrotters pilot anti-bullying awareness program.

The ABC’s of Bullying Prevention program originated through partnership with the National Campaign to Stop Violence. Each year, the nonprofit organization hosts its Do the Write Thing Challenge.  Last year, 60,000 middle-school students wrote essays on violence in their lives—and the most frequent experiences described by students traced back to bullying.

October 15, 2012 (El Cajon) – Make plans to build a better future today! In partnership with the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District, the Grossmont Union High School District is hosting its ninth annual Got Plans? Career & College Fair for high school students and parents on Saturday, October 20, 2012, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Grossmont College.