When Ryan McGowan asked his mother for a bedtime story, she happily obliged her son with a tale of her own invention, The Adventures of Popcorn and Persimmon. Twenty-four years later, Betsy MacLaren’s adventure story is making a comeback with a new generation of Claremont kids, and this time the tale is available in print.
The local storyteller has made her literary debut thanks to the assistance of a couple of old friends and the service of a few new ones at Claremont Print
The Claremont Unified School District has announced its policy for free and reduced-price meals for children served under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs.
Each school has a copy of the full policy, which may be reviewed by anyone who is interested. Following are a few numbers to give families an idea of whether they qualify. Children qualify for free lunch if they hail from a family of 3 with an annual income of $25,389 or less or from a family of 4 with an annual income of $30,615 or less.
The Claremont Area Chapter of The Links, Incorporated—one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations—recently recognized outstanding local high school students with a total of $19,000 in Linking to the Future scholarships with amounts ranging from $1,000 to $4,000 each.
The awards were recognized at a scholarship luncheon held at the Kellogg West event center at California Polytechnic University, Pomona. Each student was also presented with a kente cloth and a Claremont Area Chapter Scholarship T-shirt.
In the coming years, Claremont High School students may no longer be required to take 2 semester-long classes that have been graduation requirements.
At a special study session held Monday at the Richard S. Kirkendall Education Center, 4 panels suggested that material included in two 5-unit classes, Technology Education for the 21st Century and Fitness and Health, could potentially be embedded elsewhere in students’ curriculum.
Considering that Homer “Butch” Henderson and his wife Rosemary recently moved from their longtime residence to a house in the Pilgrim Place retirement community—downsizing significantly in the process—he hasn’t had much time to read lately. And yet books have been at the forefront of his mind.
While going through his books, deciding which to give away and which to keep, Rev. Henderson, a pastor emeritus who led Claremont United Church of Christ for 20 years, has taken the opportunity to assess which ones have really shaped his worldview.
At the Thursday, August 15 meeting of the Claremont school board, a proposed agreement with a company that provides software and training to schools transitioning to the new Common Core standards, was temporarily tabled over questions about whether their contract adheres to state educational code.
The district is planning to pay The Synced Solution, LLC $54,000 this year and $42,000 the following year, a course of action recommended by the Common Core steering committee.
Protecting women’s rights from the fundamentalist forces that would curtail them needs to be a collective effort, according to Masum Momaya, a Smithsonian curator and social justice activist who will speak next weekend at the annual Jain Conference on the State of Women in Religion Around the World. Themed “Women’s Perspectives in the Dharma Traditions (and beyond),” the conference is hosted by Claremont Lincoln University.
Community Garden Coordinator Dessa D’Aquila—one of the many district employees on hand at Claremont Unified School District’s annual Food Faire—has some good news.
She will be returning for her second year to help oversee the district’s many gardening projects. The district also is in the midst of turning her position, which was 25 hours per week last year, into a full-time job.
Just as gardening takes time, so does fostering partnerships. Ms. D’Aquila named 3 collaborative efforts as focal points for the coming year.
Moving forward into the 2013-2014 school year, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Lisa Shoemaker is cautiously optimistic about the economic status of Claremont schools.
While the passage of Prop 30 has yielded no additional money for the Claremont Unified School District, it ensured that no additional money will be cut from California’s beleaguered school system. Under Governor Jerry Brown’s new Local Control formula, CUSD is poised to receive a little more funding than it did last year—this after years of seeing “flat or less” when it comes to state money.
After 40 years as a classroom teacher, Teri Tondee is kicking off her retirement by going on a safari, heading to Africa this October with friends. The Claremont educator’s professional life has been a safari of sorts, too, with Ms. Tondee serving as a front-and-center witness to decades of evolving teaching methods.
On June 13, Ms. Tondee spoke about her experiences and felt some pangs as she said goodbye to her class of enthusiastic kindergartners and to Vista del Valle, a school she has come to love.
At their Thursday, August 2 meeting, the Claremont Unified School District Board of Education voted to confirm a new principal of the San Antonio High School and Community Day School as recommended by the district.
Sean Delgado—whose last post was a 2-year tenure as the vice-principal of Nogales High School in La Puente–will be helming the local continuation school.
Before that, Mr. Delgado, a resident of Chino Hills, served as assistant principal at Don Lugo High School during the 2010-2011 school year.
The 2013-2014 school year for the Claremont Unified School District begins Wednesday, August 28.
Registration and orientation for kindergarteners attending Oakmont and Vista begins Monday, August 12. A play-based observation for incoming Sycamore kindergartners will be held Wednesday, August 21 at 9 a.m. at Sycamore School. Sumner kindergartners will meet Thursday, August 22 at 9 a.m. for orientation. Chaparral will host its kindergarten classes on Tuesday, August 27 at 9 a.m. Condit’s meet-and-greet for incoming K’s will be held Tuesday, August 27 at 2 p.m. Be sure to check out our entire story for complete listings.
After a nearly 6-week summer break in school board meetings, it may seem like not much is happening in the Claremont Unified School District. CUSD, however, is gearing up for the November 5, 2013 election.
Three local school board seats are currently open, that of board president Mary Caenepeel, board vice president Steven Llanusa and board member Jeff Stark. Of the 3—who have a deadline of Friday, August 9 to file—only Mr. Llanusa, who has served on the Claremont school board since 2005, had declared his candidacy.
Christopher Lopez, with net, cannot contain his excitement as he helps Andrew Segura land a trout at the Mount Baldy Trout Pools. Camp Claremont brought 56 young people to the pools for a morning of fishing as part of this year’s theme ”The Great Outdoors.” Weekly field trips and swimming jaunts are par for the course for the summer program, which costs $150 and which kids can attend for up to 9 weeks. Considering that many of the children participate in the camp for the entire 9 weeks and stay at the camp from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., it’s a bargain for families and a welcome respite for parents. COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
