The Baldwin Park High Concert Choir and Sierra Vista High Concert Choir and Vocal Ensemble will join musical forces at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1 to provide holiday cheer at the City of Baldwin Park’s annual Tree-Lighting Ceremony. The choirs will perform “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night,” “Carol of the Kings” and “The Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah, under the direction of Vicki Salmon of Baldwin Park High and Suzanne Brookey of Sierra Vista High. The accompanist for the performance will be Alexander Lansburgh. The ceremony will be held at the Esther Snyder Community Center, 4100 Baldwin Park Blvd., Baldwin Park.
Baldwin Park Unified will honor outgoing Board of Education member Blanca Estela Rubio at a reception at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6 at the District Office, 3699 Holly Ave. Rubio, a classroom teacher, joined the school board in 2003, and was re-elected in 2007, 2011 and 2015. She was elected in November to the California Assembly. During her tenure, Baldwin Park Unified won voter approval of Measure K, a $75.5 million bond measure for school repairs and upgrades, received six Golden Bell Awards from the California School Boards Association, 14 California Gold Ribbons and recognition by Education Trust-West as California’s No. 1 District in closing the achievement gap among students of color in 2013.
Celebrating over 30 years of live theater, Baldwin Park High School’s Brave Theater presents “The Locker Next 2 Mine,” a comedy/drama by playwright Jonathan Dorf, from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18 and Saturday, Nov. 19 at the Performing Arts Center of Baldwin Park, 4640 Maine Ave., Baldwin Park. Set in high school, “The Locker Next 2 Mine” focuses on a new student, Alisa, who discovers on her first day of school that her locker is next to a sprawling shrine for a popular student who recently died in an auto accident. In trying to navigate her way through a new social structure, Alisa enters a parallel world of secrets and recriminations. Directed by BPHS drama teacher Jennifer Nitschke, “The Locker Next 2 Mine” features an all-student cast and crew. Baldwin Park High is a member of the International Thespian Society, which recognizes student excellence in theater.
Baldwin Park Unified, collaborating with the City of Baldwin Park and community partners, is seeking volunteers and donations for the 20th annual Santa Clothes Project, which will provide 300 students in need with a $50 shopping trip at 6:45 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6 to Baldwin Park Walmart to purchase a new set of winter clothes. The effort will match K-12 students with volunteer shoppers to help them select winter clothes. Students will be chosen from Baldwin Park Unified schools based on family financial need. Those wishing to contribute to this effort should make checks payable to the Baldwin Park Charitable Relief Foundation. For additional information, please contact Bernice Acosta in the Baldwin Park Unified School District Student Support Services Office at 626-856-4605.
Follow-up Story: Seven Baldwin Park Unified students received certificates and a teddy bears at the Board of Education meeting on Nov. 8 for winning the District’s 2016 Red Ribbon Week Poster Contest. The winners are Josiah Fabian, a first-grader at Elwin Elementary School; Dominic Garcia, a Pre-K student at Walnut Elementary Head Start; Samantha Rodriguez, a second-grader from Elwin Elementary; Kailey Tapia Vilches, a fifth-grader at Tracy Elementary School; Dulce Herrera, a sixth-grader at Margaret Health Elementary School; David Soto Garcia, a sixth-grader at Santa Fe Elementary School; and Caitlyn Miras, a sophomore at Sierra Vista High School.
Follow-up Story: Baldwin Park Unified educators on Thursday unveiled a $175,000 transformation of Sierra Vista High School’s library that features five tech-infused project centers and other upgrades that foster student collaboration. Already, the changes have prompted a surge in library use, with an expanded cadre of librarians regularly hosting as many as 80 students until the facility closes at 5 p.m. The project is designed to be the first in a series of library makeovers that will provide students with state-of-the-art tools. Foremost among the changes are the project centers, including two located in private study chambers. Each center includes a flat-screen TV that can link to laptops via Bluetooth, wheeled chairs and upgraded Wi-Fi. The private rooms feature stereo sound systems.
Approximately 350 students from Baldwin Park Unified’s Santa Fe School will celebrate good behavior from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, the first such bash under the school’s Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program. The celebration is called a 3Be Event because the students met school expectations to be safe, be respectful and be responsible. The event will include a scavenger hunt that ends with a water balloon battle, an obstacle course, cookie decorating and face painting. Santa Fe School is at 4650 Baldwin Park Blvd., Baldwin Park.
Leaders of the No Excuses University (NEU) movement are hailing Kenmore Elementary School as sterling example of success, specifically lauding the school’s approach to helping English learners become fluent. The Baldwin Park Unified campus is cited as one of six stellar schools in the college-readiness program’s 2016 annual report, released in conjunction with an annual convention held Oct. 20-21. Kenmore, part of NEU’s network since 2009, runs a literacy integration program that draws on a tool called Thinking Maps and a companion writing program called Write from the Beginning and Beyond. The tools also were instrumental in the school’s recognition as a 2016 California Gold Ribbon School.
Follow-up Story: Baldwin Park Unified’s Tracy Elementary held a Día de los Muertos celebration Nov. 2 hosted by Dual Language students, with a focus on the multiculturalism emphasized in the English-Spanish program. Students assembled altars in 12 classrooms. Parents joined in the celebration, creating their own altar in front of the school.
Follow-up Story: Baldwin Park Unified students and educators were prominently featured in the city’s 60th annual Celebrate Baldwin Park Anniversary Parade, including marching bands, drum majors and auxiliary squads from Baldwin Park Unified’s two comprehensive high schools. The parade included Sierra Vista High School’s cheer squad, members of the Board of Education, Superintendent Froilan N. Mendoza, K-12 Teacher of the Year Cynthia Milian and Baldwin Park Adult and Community Education Teacher of the Year Rosalina Ong among the 89 participants involved.
