As the school year starts, Claremont Unified School District Board of Education President Steven Llanusa took a moment to reflect on the board’s most pressing priorities.
In March, the board voted to approve six strategic goals for 2014-2016. The first emphasizes success for every Claremont student: “Our students will achieve their academic and creative potential in challenging, relevant and engaging learning environments that prepare them for career, college and post-secondary opportunities.”
School may not be starting until next Wednesday, but Claremont Unified School District Service Center Supervisor Rick Cota and his crew have been busy all summer long.
One of their most pressing projects has been moving into a new Service Center, just in time for the new school year. It’s an 8,400-square-foot steel manufactured building with a customized interior, located on the site of the district office at 170 W. San Jose Ave.
Claremont Unified School District cafeterias will be offering up a whole lot of healthy, thanks to new federal regulations.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act has been phased in over a two-year period, beginning with the 2012-2013 school year. As of this July, districts that wish to participate in the National School Lunch/School Breakfast programs must fully implement its provisions.
The act, championed by First Lady Michelle Obama and signed into law by President Barack Obama in December of 2010, aims to combat childhood obesity while improving kids’ overall wellness.
Local elementary school students are poised to embark on a new math curriculum this fall, written to support the Common Core State Standards.
The Claremont school board will vote on whether or not to approve the adoption of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s “California GO Math!” series at its next meeting, held Thursday, August 7 at 6:30 p.m.
CUSD parents and residents are welcome to attend the gathering, held at the Richard S. Kirkendall Education Center (170 W. San Jose Ave. in Claremont), to share their thoughts on the K-6 math books during the public comment portion of the agenda item.
On Tuesday, another group of kids graduated in the City of Trees. These weren’t your typical Claremont students but, instead, 39 teens hailing from Weihai Number One High School in China.
The students, 15 to 17, gathered in a multipurpose room at El Roble, accompanied by teachers, administrators and members of their host families to celebrate a milestone. They had just finished the first ever CalSunshine SLICE program, a collaboration between the Claremont Unified School District and a foreign exchange program run by local education advocate and CUSD parent Wei Luo. COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
On Friday, July 11, Shoes That Fit will launch its 2014 Back to School Backpack Campaign, benefitting 250 local school kids and sponsored by Village Marketing Group. Those wishing to sign up and sponsor a child may do so by picking up a free backpack at the following Claremont locations: Bert & Rocky’s Cream Company, Escape Salon, Glorious Treasures, I Like Pie, Jacqueline’s Home Décor, Rocky’s Cleaners, The Last Drop Café, Some Crust Bakery, Sonja Stump Photography and Vom Fass.
El Roble Intermediate School families may have found an unexpected addition to their child’s report card on Thursday, June 19—the grades of another student printed on the back.
The mishap was deemed a “printing error” by the Claremont Unified School District in an email to El Roble families sent at around 7 p.m.
Claremont's own Project Think was out at the Griswold's Old School House showing students from ages four to 13 the wonderful world of oceanography. That included Dylan Sanchez, 12, who had the chance to hold a live sea cucumber. Project Think is a non-profit academic program designed to engage students in a variety of enrichment areas. On Wednesday, a group from the Manhattan Beach Aquarium made a presentation to students. For more information about other summer sessions call (909) 717-7848 or go to www.projectthink.com. COURIER photo/Peter Weinberger
Recent Bates College graduate Anna Munter of Washington, DC has been awarded a Fulbright grant to support an academic year of teaching abroad.
Ms. Munter, the daughter of Cameron P. Munter and Marilyn Wyatt of Sierra Madre, California, and the granddaughter of Leonard and Helen-Jeanne Munter of Claremont, is a 2010 graduate of the International School of Prague. She majored in French at Bates and received an English Teaching Assistantship for Malaysia.
The Fulbright US Student Program sends some 1,500 citizens abroad each year to more than 155 countries.
Nautika Clemons, 17, is exceedingly happy that she was chosen to represent San Antonio at the high school’s graduation ceremony last week.
But she wasn’t always proud to be a San Antonio Lion. At first, she saw her placement at the local continuation school as a failure. During her junior year at Claremont High School, faced with a number of family problems, her grades plummeted.
“I started to go downhill,” Nautika recalled. “I had a bad attitude about life in general and my grades started to slip.”
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.
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