Covina-Valley Unified School District will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Health and Wellness Center and Family Resource Room, which will provide a full-service location for students and families in the communities served by the District to access resources that help eliminate barriers to school success. The Center will serve as the hub for the District’s social workers and the entire Health and Student Services Department, including a team of registered and licensed vocational nurses. It will offer a variety of no-cost and low-cost programs and services to children, youth, and families who reside in the communities served by the Covina-Valley Unified School District.
The Kaiser High School Artistic and Theatrical Society (KATS) wowed judges and won numerous accolades for their repertory fall stage performances, earning a main stage invitation to the California Educational Theater Association (CETA) 2022-23 High School Theater Festival, to be held Jan. 13 to 15 at Los Osos High School. After staging two separate plays on alternate nights, the CETA judges rewarded the KATS actors and crew members for their hard work, selecting both plays to be performed in their entirety at the festival, with “Mojada, a Medea in Los Angeles” earning a second-place finish and a spot on the festival’s main stage. The second play, “Lazarus Rising,” earned a ninth-place finish and will perform on the festival’s second stage. Additionally, every KATS member who participated received a CETA certificate of merit, a first for Kaiser High School.
Baldwin Park Unified Middle School Hosts Inspirational Speaker
Baldwin Park Unified’s Olive Middle School hosted inspirational speaker Dee Hankins to share his message on resiliency and coping skills with students during a special assembly on Jan. 11. The event was designed to help families meet challenging experiences with a positive attitude. Hankins has traveled across the country to share his story with middle and high school students and their families.
Returning leaders of Lynwood Unified School District’s Board of Education took the Oath of Office during the Board reorganization meeting on Dec. 15. Alfonso Morales was re-elected as Board President, and Gary Hardy Jr. will now serve as the Vice-President. Additionally, Dr. Alma Carina Castro will serve as Clerk, with members Julian Del Real-Calleros and Maria Lopez completing the Board of Education. The ceremony also included a lively holiday performance from Firebaugh High School students.
The Rotary Club of La Verne presented Bonita Unified educators with a series of mini-grants, totaling more than $3,300 to support classroom projects and related expenses including supplies and books, during the Jan. 11 Board of Education meeting. Rotary Club president Craig Rubin awarded checks to nine teachers representing Bonita High School, Ramona Middle School and Grace Miller, Oak Mesa and Roynon elementary schools.
Covina-Valley Unified Business Students Gain Professional Skills
South Hills High School students are learning the unique skill sets they need to thrive in the world of business thanks to the school’s Business Management Career Technical Education pathway, which offers students the chance to learn and grow by operating as a real company. The pathway consists of four classes: Entrepreneurship, Sports Management, International Baccalaureate Business Management, and Virtual Enterprise. Virtual Enterprise, the most advanced class in the pathway, groups students into different functional departments -- including executive office, marketing, design, finance, and human resources -- and challenges them to design and develop a product of their own.
Baldwin Park Unified Elementary Students Receive New Shoes
Forty De Anza Elementary School students in kindergarten through fifth grade returned from the winter break on Jan. 10 to a special surprise of new pairs of shoes, socks and other goodies, thanks to Southern California Edison and the nonprofit program Shoes that Fit. After the distribution, students tried on their new shoes and then watched as Southern California Edison workers demonstrated how to operate the crane on their utility truck.
Baldwin Park Unified Robotics Teams Qualify for Championships
The middle school-level robotics program at Baldwin Park Unified’s BP STEM Academy qualified for the VEX Robotics State Championships, to be held in March. Two of the three qualifying teams, comprised of seventh-graders, earned spots in the State Championships as a result of their performance at a tournament in Orange County where they were awarded the Tournament Finalist Award.
Whittier Union French Teacher Receives Recognition of Merit
Santa Fe High School students have been saying “Oui, j'aime ça!” (“Yes, I love it!”) in world language teacher Isabelle Teraoka’s French class for more than 15 years, immersing themselves in French culture while channeling the Belgium native’s passion for language, words and sound. For her outstanding leadership and excellence in teaching and service, the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) Southern California chapter has awarded Teraoka its 2022 Recognition of Merit in French Education. Teraoka received her award at the AATF end-of-year dinner at TAIX restaurant in Los Angeles in December 2022. Teraoka teaches four sections of French, Advanced Placement French and Spanish. She also encourages her students to attend extracurricular events, such as Whittier College’s annual French play and the American French Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Fontana Unified Receives Federal Grant for Mental Health Training
Recognizing a need to increase mental health awareness throughout the school district and community, Fontana Unified will begin a comprehensive mental health and wellness training initiative after being awarded a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services worth more than $400,000. The SAMSHA grant, which will be split over four years, will go to the District’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports department to fund specialized training in detecting the signs of mental illness so that District staff can respond in a timely manner to avert a mental health crisis. Training will also be provided to the community so that families can better identify early warning signs of mental illness.
