Claremont High School juniors Charles Jiang, right, and Salma Mohideen, center, with the assistance of Angie Gushue, launched a new free online technology school called Easy Code 4 Kids. The organization currently offers three classes, coding for kids under 13 coding for teens and coding for kids with autism. In addition to Angie they have recruited two more friends, Lucas Rival and Lily Widrig, to be coding tutors. A complete story will be in our next edition. COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
Long serving director of Claremont High School theater Krista Elhai had intended to retire at the end of the spring semester, however the coronavirus shut down has put those plans on hold for a year. There will be some interesting challenges when school begins in fall like what do you do with a team of theater students when you can’t hold theatrical shows. COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
With the popular Youth and Tracks activities centers closed, the City of Claremont announced that it was opening a Virtual Activities Center beginning Monday. “The Human Services Department has launched a Virtual Activity Center (VAC) on the Claremont City website that offers fun and interactive virtual activities in an effort to promote community involvement from the safety of one’s own home,” the city said in a statement.
Chaparral Elementary School teachers line Chaparral Drive and wave to their students as they pass by in a series of automobiles on Wednesday in Claremont. The event, called a “social distancing parade to show our love and support,” was conceived as a way for Chaparral parents, teachers and students to reconnect after weeks of distance learning. COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
People driving past Claremont High School on Tuesday no doubt saw a smattering of homemade signs planted in front of the school with messages like “CHS best teachers ever,” “happy teacher day,” and “thank you,” The signs, which popped up sometime the previous night, were apparently placed to show support for our local instructors during National Teacher Appreciation Week which runs through Friday. COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
With the recent decision to make online learning mandatory and issue grades for the remainder of the 2020 academic year, Claremont Unified School District has sparked a debate among students and parents that touches on issues of privilege, and whether academic normalcy is appropriate during this extraordinarily abnormal time.
“Distance learning,” had been optional since CUSD schools were closed March 14.
Claremont public school students will not be returning to in-person classes for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year following actions last week from the governor on down to our local superintendent. In a letter to “parents, guardians and students” sent on April 1, Claremont Unified School District Superintendent Jim Elsasser expressed his regret in making the difficult decision to extend the school closures, but believes it is the correct decision to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
During a special meeting on Tuesday of the Claremont Unified School District’s Board of Education, former member Mary Caenepeel was appointed to fill the board seat left vacant when Beth Bingham resigned last month. Ms. Caenepeel, who served on the board from 2005 until 2013, will complete the remaining months of Ms. Bingham’s term, which is set to expire at the end of November 2020.
Board member Beth Bingham stepped down from the Claremont Unified School District board of education at last Thursday’s meeting because she has moved out of the area for work.
Ms. Bingham was first elected to the school board in 2007, but decided to not re-run in 2011 to devote more time to her husband, who was facing health issues.
Claremont is known for PhDs and trees. And, apparently, for its active book clubs.
There are 45 book clubs that meet in Claremont. The groups range from eight to 12 book lovers, convening monthly to share their thoughts and reflections on whichever book their group has collectively agreed to read.
Susie Rowan of Caring Transitions of the Inland Empire and Pameal Bergman-Swartz will be presenting the topic “Rightsizing to Happiness and Senior Living,” Tuesday, March 10 at Walter’s Restaurant in Claremont at 12:00 p.m. This event is hosted by the new Luxury Senior Living Community coming to the City of Rancho Cucamonga, “Cadence Senior Living.” Lunch is complimentary. If you happen to know of anyone who is looking to make a move to Senior Living, this presentation will outline the tools available to help make this transition as smooth as possible. Call (909) 918-5546, RSVP is required to attend. The address is 310 Yale Ave., Claremont
Ask any parent of multiple children: though the ingredients may be the same, kids always turn out different from one another.
Even twins can fight like caged animals over the smallest of things, and aptitudes and tolerances can and do vary wildly from child to child.
So why do we toss them all into the same box when it comes to school?
Mountain View Elementary School will open a dual immersion program for kindergartners this fall, with teachers integrating both English and Spanish curriculums.
Dual language immersion aims to build bilingualism and biliteracy, the district says, as native English and native Spanish speaking students “speaking, reading, writing, adding, subtracting, experimenting and singing” in both languages. COURIER photo/Steven Felschundneff
Friends of the Claremont Library selected The Library Book as its community read this year. There are three upcoming events related to the program. All are free and open to the public.
On Saturday, February 29 at 10 a.m., take a visit to the Scripps College Denison Library, which is home to the papers of former Scripps professor and iconographer of the LA Public Library Hartley Burr Alexander.
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