Oak Mesa Elementary School second-graders learned how government laws and regulations aim to ensure community safety during a week of mini-civics lessons from City of La Verne leaders. La Verne City Councilmember Tim Hepburn, La Verne police Cpl. Mark Gutierrez and La Verne fire Cpt. Kevin Wilton visited Oak Mesa second-grade classrooms to augment curriculum introducing students to basic facets of American government.
In partnership with Soroptimist International of San Dimas/La Verne, Bonita Unified teachers and administrators treated 70 students to a back-to-school shopping spree at the La Verne Target. In addition to receiving backpacks and school supplies, each student received an $80 clothing budget and a shopping assistant from among 50 volunteers from the Bonita Unified school board, police department, fire department and other local organizations. The “Bonita Children’s Shopping Day” has provided the shopping experience to students annually since 1995.
Bonita Unified Students Prepare for Annual Smudge Pot Football Game
Associated Student Body leaders at Bonita and San Dimas high schools are busy gathering supplies for brightly colored spirit signs and planning events for spirit week, while their bands are practicing pep tunes and half-time shows and cheerleaders are rehearsing routines and chants to keep the crowds pumped during the annual Smudge Pot football game at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. The San Dimas Saints will vie to recapture the trophy from the Bonita Bearcats, who claimed it last year in a 28-14 victory. The game will be held at Citrus College Stadium, 1000 W. Foothill Blvd., Glendora.
Bonita Unified Welcomes Students Back to School
About 10,000 Bonita Unified students at 13 schools across La Verne and San Dimas greeted one another with warm hugs, fist-bumped teachers and high-fived principals as they arrived Aug. 19 for the first day of the 2019-20 school year. San Dimas High School students started the day with Senior Sunrise, and staff joined the ASB to welcome new and returning students with fresh donuts. PTAs across the district set up breakfast and snack bars for staff members and hosted welcome events for parents, such as the Yahoo/Boo Hoo Parent Breakfast at La Verne Heights Elementary. Middle school students in matching shirts clustered around the campus entrance at Ramona Middle School with signs reading “Ramona: Where Everyone Belongs,” “We love 6th graders!” and “Welcome Back.”
Bonita Unified Prepares for Purposeful Start to School Year
Bonita Unified will start the 2019-20 school year on Monday, Aug. 19 with a renewed focus on achieving academic goals through the core values of equity, mastery and a focus on results. A staff orientation day and an all-staff Welcome Back assembly helped energize educators and staff throughout Bonita Unified for their work in guiding about 10,000 students to live their purpose.
As part of a living history lesson demonstrating how periods in time are both similar and different, past and present teachers and students of La Verne Heights Elementary gathered on May 30 to unearth a time capsule buried at the school in 1994. Lauren Barnes, a teacher and student council adviser at La Verne Heights, was a fifth-grader and student council president at the school in 1994 when the time capsule was filled with items from students and buried. Barnes, several of her fellow La Verne Heights alumni, former teachers and Marcia Pateau, who served as principal at the time, helped retrieved the quarter-century old items, which included student essays predicting hoverboards and flying cars, an old diet Pepsi can, a floppy disk and some Pogs. A new time capsule- set for retrieval in 2044- will be buried later this summer when Spencer Gardner, a La Verne Heights alum and Bonita High School student renovates an oak tree monument on the campus as part of his Eagle Scout project.
La Verne Heights Elementary School will open next school year with a new principal, Dr. Jaymi Abusham, who brings with her more than 24 years of educational experience. Dr. Abusham is an assistant professor and program chair for educational leadership at the University of La Verne and has centered her career on equity for students, one of Bonita Unified’s core values.
Bonita Unified culinary arts students cooked up a recipe for success during the 2019 California ProStart Cup, with four student teams earning accolades and scholarships ranging from $3,000 to $6,000 for their kitchen, management and innovation skills. The ProStart Cup, held March 15-16 at the Sheraton Fairplex Hotel & Conference Center, brought more than 200 students from across California to compete in three contests: the Wurstkuche Innovation Cup, the BJ’s Restaurant Culinary Cup and the BJ’s Restaurant Management Cup.
Bonita Unified covered the SAT registration costs for more than 600 students, prompting a 44 percent jump in participation over 2018. The District funded the SAT testing costs for all members of Bonita and San Dimas high schools’ Class of 2020 as part of Bonita Unified’s commitment to equity and to preparing every student to live their purpose.
Bonita Unified Celebrates Accomplishments, Goals at State of the District
Bonita Unified Superintendent Carl J. Coles discussed the District’s accomplishments thus far and the goals for the future, during the State of the District on Feb. 26. The event featured a luncheon with families, community leaders and members, local business partners and educators, and student performances by the District’s high school band and middle school choir group. Photos and video available.
