December 5, 2009 (El Cajon) -- The City of El Cajon Recreation Department is offering a safe and fun camp to engage the kids during the winter break. Hillside Center will be hosting “Winter Wonderland” Day Camp for ages 6-12 on December 21, 22, 23, 28, 29 and 30 from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm.

Pennsylvania community college leader Stuart Savin is unanimous choice

December 1, 2009 (El Caj on)– The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Governing Board has unanimously approved appointment of Dr. Stuart J. Savin as Cuyamaca College president, effective April 12, 2010.

November 18, 2009 (San Diego’s East County)

By Steve Haiman, co-coordinator

The moderator for today’s Grossmont Union-High School Academic League Match pitting the Granite Hills “Eagles” against the El Capitan “Vaqueros” was Valhalla math teacher extraordinaire Brian Andersen. He kept the match moving and in good order with a good sense of humor.

November 7, 2009 (San Diego’s East County) – Grossmont Union High School District’s Academic League competition kicked off on November 4th. The 11-round event will culminate in televised coverage next February.

“Congratulations to first year coaches Brianne Jones (Grossmont) and Dena Rosenberger (El Capitan) for their very first wins. We are looking forward to another great season!” said Steve Haiman, one of three Academic League coordinators, along with Dick Beach and Ruth Weiss.

Varsity and Junior Varsity results after the first match are as follows:

Green Technology Complex at Scripps Ranch High Will Be An Interactive Teaching Tool on Green Careers

By Miriam Raftery

October 29, 2009 (San Diego’s East County) – Students at Scripps Ranch High School will soon be learning about sustainable technology careers in the greenest educational facility in San Diego County. A model of the school’s planned Green Technology Complex was unveiled October 16 at a “Growing Green Careers” forum at Cuyamaca College. Once completed over the next year, the building complex itself will become a teaching tool—complete with interactive displays inside and out.

October 26, 2009 ( El Cajon)--The annual wheelchair basketball game--where the sound of squeaking rubber isn’t from the soles of players’ shoes, but from custom-built chairs pivoting and spinning across the gym floor--is set for 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28 at the Cuyamaca College gym. The five-on-five games feature a mix of Cuyamaca’s basketball team playing alongside members of the San Diego Xpress, a National Wheelchair Basketball Association team formed in the mid-‘80s. Most of the wheelchair athletes have suffered spinal cord injuries, but that hasn’t stopped them from playing competitively.

Teams for Cuyamaca’s game are mixed with players from both sides, as well as anyone who wants to join in, so that the wheelchair league athletes don’t completely dominate the scoreboard, said Mary Asher-Fitzpatrick, a learning disabilities specialist in Cuyamaca College’s Disabled Students Programs and Services office.

October 15, 2009 (San Diego) – Assemblyman Marty Block (D-Lemon Grove) will hold a hearing October 20 on SDSU President Stephen Weber’s recent announcement to suspend guaranteed enrollment for local students.

“As chair of the Select Committee on K-16 Articulation, Access and Affordability, I have called a hearing to examine this issue in detail and to accept testimony on the merits of this policy change,” Block wrote in an e-mail to constituents."

October 13, 2009 (La Mesa)--The Grossmont Union High School District is seeking applications to fill an opening on the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC). The CBOC is responsible for implementation of Proposition H, the $274 million general obligation bond measure passed in 2004 to bring facility improvements and renovations to the district’s schools. In addition, the CBOC also oversees Proposition U, the $417 million general obligation bond measure passed in 2008 to substantially complete modernization of all District schools, provide classrooms and equipment for Career Technical Education, and construct a new high school in the Alpine/Blossom Valley area.

San Diego (October 11, 2009)—The San Diego branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is reacting strongly against San Diego State University’s (SDSU) recent decision to eliminate the guaranteed admissions policy for local students who meet CSU eligibility criteria. The University’s new admissions policy will cap local enrollment in the incoming freshman class at 37%; it will also further restrict access to local community college graduates whose admission has already been severely impacted by repeated policy changes over the past decade, the NAACP says.

October 7, 2009 (San Diego)--San Diego County Sheriff William D. Gore is announcing a unique educational program called “Adopt an SAR Dog.”
 

In its third year, the San Diego Sheriff's Search and Rescue Detail will participate in a program which offers a local elementary school class the unique opportunity to learn all about the various aspects of training a dog for Search and Rescue (SAR) work. Search and Rescue volunteers and their dogs will make regular visits throughout the year to the classrooms.

By Miriam Raftery

October 5,2009 (San Diego)—“Our schools have been left to fall to the bottom of rankings in the nation,” Tom Torlakson told delegates at the San Diego Grassroots Convention in San Diego on September 26th. “In the early ‘70s, we were the best in the nation.”

Gloria Romero, also running for the state’s top education spot, also issued a call to turn around California’s underperforming schools. “It’s shameful that California leads the nation in drop-outs,” she said. “Let’s put education at the top of the Democratic agenda.” She called education “the civil rights issue of our time.” She added, “My mother had a sixth grade education. I have a PhD. That’s the power of education to turn around a life…We spend more on prisons to locok up people than we do on educating our students.”

by SDSU President Stephen L. Weber
 

Sept. 21, 2009 (San Diego) -- As  a direct result of devastating state budget cuts of $571 million, the California State University is reducing enrollment system-wide this year and next by 40,000 undergraduate students. Over the same period, San Diego State will be reducing its enrollment by 4,588 undergraduates.

September 23, 2009 – In response to “devastating budget cuts”, San Diego State University President Stephen L. Weber announced that SDSU will cut enrollment by 10.8%, or 4,588 undergraduate students. In addition, the school will make changes to its admissions policy for incoming fall 2010 freshmen and transfer students. The announcement has sparked concerns and criticisms from community leaders.
 

“These changes are a direct result of devastating state budget cuts of $571 million to the California State University System and SDSU,” Weber wrote in an e-mail sent to faculty members yesterday.

By Miriam Raftery
 

September 23, 2009 (Santee) – If you’re playing hooky in the Grossmont Union High School District, you might get some unexpected visitors . Today, Superintendent Bob Collins dropped in at the homes of truant students in Santee, along with a Sheriff’s Deputy and child welfare worker. Juvenile Detail sweeps also include visits to places frequented by truant teens, from Starbucks to parks to the local mall.

It’s all part of a joint effort that has reduced drop-out rates in the Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) from 7-8% three years ago to under 3% last year.

3 BOARD MEMBERS APOLOGIZE, BUT TAPED SPEECH STILL NOT SHOWN TO MANY STUDENTS

“If you were students in my class, you would not pass.”—Maureen Paolini, teacher and graduate of the LMSV district