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
A new exhibit, "Illuminated Palaces: Extra-Illustrated Books From the Huntington Library," will be on view at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens through October 28, 2013.
From the 18th to the early 20th century, extra-illustration or “grangerizing” as it was often called flourished in England and America. The pastime involved collectors embellishing books by pasting into their pages original art, prints and engravings, maps, autographed letters, sections of other books, manuscripts and memorabilia.
Day 1: Green Day. Day 2: Elvis Presley.
If this sounds like a dream itinerary, you’re the type of kid Rock ‘n Roll Band Camp was made for.
The 2-week course is being offered through the Claremont Educational Foundation’s annual S.L.I.C.E. summer enrichment program for the first time this year. Its aim is to turn a rag-tag group of kids with fair to middling instrumental and vocal skills into a cohesive band with a toe-tapping sound.
So far, the class, taught by Claremont High School jazz band instructor Rick Melanson, has delivered on its promise.
Forbes has ranked Pomona College in second place overall in its annual list of America’s Top 100 Colleges, up from 9th place last year.
Forbes has deemed Pomona, the oldest school among The Claremont Colleges, to be the second best school in the west and the second best among private colleges in the United States.
Forbes’ rankings of 650 colleges and universities are based on return-on-investment, criteria such as tuition costs, the likelihood of graduating in 4 years, post-graduation employment potential and the average amount of student debt.
This summer is a happy blur for Claremont High School junior Riley Evans, center.
Since late June, she has served as an intern with the Claremont School of Theatre Arts, a job that will culminate with performances by the program’s 6th through 9th grade participants on July 25-27.
Then there’s the cross-country practice that begins at 5:30 a.m. And earlier in the summer, she headed east with her family to explore the campuses of Boston University, Sarah Lawrence College, NYU, and more. Oh yeah, and then there’s the UCLA writing class that’s about to start, which focuses on writing before college.
Still, she has that niggling feeling she should be doing more. COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
Since 1999, Claremonter Sue Keith has been a member of the Citrus Community College Board of Trustees, working to represent students of the Glendora community college. With her election this last May to the California Community College Trustees Board of Directors, she is taking that advocacy statewide.
The organization’s aim is to “promote student access and success by strengthening colleges through leadership development, advocacy, policy development and district services. Ms. Keith, who just returned from her first CCCT meeting in Sacramento, took a moment to explain various aspects of this mission.
As many as 100 young bookworms flooded the multipurpose room on Wednesday afternoon as the local library kicked off its summer reading program with the promise of free prizes and a full schedule of programs through August 31.
Giddy children with books in tow were invited to kickstart their reading with a little bit of fun—and a few furry friends—as magician John Abrams presented his Animal Magic Show to a packed crowd of youngsters. Check out our fun-filled story.
COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
Steven Boyd, the principal of San Antonio High School and Community Day School, has been removed from his administrative position and reassigned to a position at the Claremont Unified School District’s district office.
The news first came to light at the Thursday, June 21 school board meeting when, during the public comment period, 2 community members spoke to express their dismay at the reassignment of the administrator of the local continuation high school.
Neither the CUSD board or administrators at the meeting addressed Mr. Boyd’s reassignment.
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