There are some welcome changes in the collective bargaining agreement between the Claremont Faculty Association [CFA] and the Claremont Unified School District, most notably a four percent pay increase, retroactive for the 2013-14 school year. The district will also up its contribution to faculty members’ benefit pool from $8,052 to $9,552.
“Before we bargained, we [CFA officers] surveyed our members and found that our greatest concerns were class size, salary and benefits,” said past CFA president and Sumner Elementary School teacher Joe Tonan.
Monique Washington photographs her daughter Aujenique Washington as she receives her diploma last Thursday during the 104th commencement at Claremont High School. Parents and students alike were treated to good weather for the event which can often be very hot. More in our next edition. COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
Claremont High School Principal Brett O’Connor gives last minute instructions to the class of 2014 as they have their picture taken during rehearsal for graduatiuon Thursday morning at CHS. This year is the biggest graduating class ever according to school officials including 599 students from CHS, 33 from San Antonio and 43 from Claremont Adult School. Check out the complete list of the graduates from 2014 inside.
Claremont Unified School District has taken the reins back from LA County in an effort to gain more financial and administrative control when it comes to serving the needs of special education students.
Because of the change-up, room must be made in CUSD and neighboring districts for a number of students once educated through county programs. This means 45 to 60 new students, some severely disabled, will be coming to Claremont schools, according to Assistant Superintendent of Schools Mike Bateman.
As it stands, Danbury Elementary School—home to some 75 kids with physical disabilities and/or health impairments—will welcome an estimated 25 new students.
Fifth grade student Jewel Alawabdeh applies a liberal amount of whipped cream to Principal Christine Malally’s head on Tuesday during a party celebrating the semester’s end at Condit Elementary School in Claremont. The students elected earlier in the spring to turn their principal into a living ice cream sundae as a reward for good performance on standardized testing. Every year Condit pupils select a stunt for Ms. Malally, which in the past included spending the afternoon on the roof and dressing in a chicken suit. COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
As part of a $4 million donation by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Claremont Graduate University (CGU) will expand the San Manuel Tribal Administration Certificate Program, adding another year of advanced courses.
This latest contribution by San Manuel makes for a combined total of $7.4 million donated by the tribe to an endowment at CGU for the program, which provides training and education for tribal management and employees. This program is the only one of its kind in the country.
Graduation ceremonies for Claremont High School and San Antonio High School will be held on Thursday, June 12 on the Claremont High School athletic field. The graduation procession will begin at 4:45 p.m. and the ceremony will commence at 5 p.m.
The gates will open at 3:30 p.m.; seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets are required for the seats on the field.
The soul of the Claremont Museum of Art is its love of the city’s rich artistic history and its heart lay in the many programs created to inspire the imagination of budding artists of all ages. Project ARTstART is one such program and art enthusiasts will delight in the many pieces created by local elementary school students and showcased at the StART It Up exhibition opening this weekend.
Curated and installed by high school students from Project ARTstART, the StART It Up exhibition features over 100 works of art from fourth, fifth and sixth grade classes.
If the job of a commencement speaker is to offer food for thought, Pomona College offered a feast at its 121s commencement, held last Sunday in the school’s Marston Quadrangle.
Four distinguished guests—Obama adviser Valerie B. Jarrett, above, Spanish tenor Placido Domingo, Homeboy Industries founder Father Gregory Boyle and mathematics professor Michael Starbird—took to the podium after being presented with honorary degrees. “Most of us understand almost nothing,” Mr. Starbird said. “And what you revere as core truths may later reveal some kind of disturbing nuance, such as later it will seem completely bogus.” COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
How do you start a revolution? Sometimes the best way is to start small.
At Thursday’s school board meeting, San Antonio High School student representative Mindy Hansen—whose job is to report on the doings of several Claremont schools—shared that the local continuation school is going green in a big way.
San Antonio High School (SAHS), she said, is in the midst of creating a solar-powered student store. Thanks to a three-by-four-foot panel to be installed on its roof, the structure will be illuminated entirely via sunlight.
A proud contingent of kids and staffers from Vista del Valle took a bow at
last Thursday¹s gathering of the Claremont Unified School District Board of
Education.
The board honored the local elementary school for a truly remarkable
disappearing act. The Vista community has reduced the amount of waste
produced at the school by 95 percent, going from nearly 1,000 bags of trash
per year to less than 100.
The environmentally friendly feat earned the school grand prize in Grades of
Green¹s third annual Trash Free Lunch Challenge, a kudos that comes with a
$1,000 reward.
At the Thursday, May 1 gathering of the Claremont Unified School District Board of Education, local educator Debbie Plumley received some much-deserved recognition.
Ms. Plumley, who teaches third grade at Sumner Elementary School, was recognized as the district’s 2014 Teacher of the Year.
There is a longstanding tradition of colleagues pulling the wool over the winners’ eyes when it comes to the presentation of this coveted award. Ms. Plumley, who was told another Sumner teacher had earned the accolade, attended the meeting expecting to cheer for a colleague.
Condit Elementary School principal Christine Malally was the bullseye for a whipped cream pie thrown by Abby Moran, one of the upper grade winners of the annual Spell-A-Thon competition sponsored by the Condit PFA. As is a Condit tradition, the other winners, Danielle Pic’l and Aaron Patterson also got to throw pies at their principal. By the end of the event, Ms. Malally definitely received a face full of the fluffy stuff. There were many other activities at the event, where fun was had by kids of all ages. Photo/Paul Buch
The Pomona College Museum of Art has been awarded a $100,000 Getty Foundation grant to support the research and planning for the future exhibition project “Prometheus 1930/2017” under the Getty Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative.
When José Clemente Orozco completed his Prometheus fresco at Pomona College in 1930, it was the first mural painted in the US by one of Los Tres Grandes of Mexican muralism. Jackson Pollock later declared the mural “the greatest contemporary painting in North America.”
