Some 400 NLMUSD staff members will be honored for their years of service, and special recognition will be given to the teacher, classified employee and administrator of the year for each school and districtwide at Norwalk-La Mirada Unified’s annual Star Awards, held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 12 at Excelsior High School, 15711 Pioneer Blvd., Norwalk.
Glenn High School students who are preparing for careers in teaching will host a track meet as a way of celebrating the athletic skills of the school’s special needs students. Three special education students recently won gold medals for their track and field exploits. One student, Destiny Sanchez, has been chosen to compete with Team USA in the 2015 Special Olympics World Games, to be held July 25 to Aug. 3 in Los Angeles. The track meet is one of several programs underway at the school to bridge different campus communities. Note: The meeting, originally scheduled for Friday, May 8, has been postponed due to poor weather. A new date has not yet been selected.
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified on April 24 marked its 10th annual “Zero Emissions: Bike, Walk to School Day” with an Earth Day celebration in which members of La Mirada High’s Electric Vehicle Club displayed and test drove their student-built, highway-ready “Switch” electric vehicle. Teachers and the president of the Southern California Electric Vehicle Association greeted students walking and biking to school in support of the cause, holding signs proclaiming “No to Vehicles Today,” and awarded pedometers, pencils, water bottles, bike bells and lights for night riding to participating students. Students walking and biking the most miles on Friday will be entered in a drawing. The grand prize is a wireless “bike computer” that measures a rider’s mileage and speed.
NLMUSD’s Edmondson Elementary School principal Jacob Muniz and fifth-grade teacher Gabriela Barrera De Contreras will help lead a workshop on Saturday, April 18 at UCLA’s Moore Hall on expanding dual-language programs in the era of Common Core State Standards. Dual-language immersion programs teach native English and Spanish speakers in an intensive program that creates biliteracy and promotes cultural understanding along with a rigorous standards-based curriculum. Edmondson students receive seals of biliteracy for successfully completing the program in fifth grade. The conference – Open Door Series: Spanish Dual Immersion and the Common Core – runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is being hosted by a statewide network of classroom teachers and university scholars.
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified’s Dulles Elementary School will celebrate its 55th anniversary from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 5 with a community barbecue that will feature student performances for each of the five decades since the school opened its doors in 1960. Dulles memorabilia will be on display and alumni will share testimonials about their time at the school. The event is at the school, 12726 Meadow Green Road, La Mirada.
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified seeking input from parents, staff, community members and students through midnight Friday, April 24 on a survey critical to the first annual update to its Local Control and Accountability Plan, which lays out the District’s vision for students over three years, sets annual goals and lists specific actions it will take to achieve those goals. All stakeholder groups are being invited to provide feedback on how well the District met goals outlined for 2014-15 and comment on funding priorities for the coming year. The survey can be accessed via nlmusd.k12.ca.us">www.nlmusd.k12.ca.us.
Norwalk High School seniors, working on a project that mixes research with philanthropy, have donated $18,000 to 12 charities chosen because of their impact on the lives of students, their families or friends. The project, launched three years ago by civics teacher Dean Gray, has grown into a powerfully moving experience for the students, who vote to select the charities and then spend three weeks raising funds. On March 31, the seniors made their donations during two-hour gathering marked by tears and cheers as they shared emotional stories of the impact of challenges in their lives with more than 450 fellow students and guests.
La Mirada High School’s girls varsity team is celebrating its first-ever uncontested CIF Southern Section Division 4 championship. La Mirada High dominated the CIF tournament, winning five straight games with a combined score of 19-0, culminating with a 3-0 shutout of Moorpark High. La Mirada’s winning streak continued through the CIF Division II State Regional semifinals, ending one win short of an additional title when the squad fell to La Costa Canyon High in an overtime shootout March 12.
Parents from across Norwalk-La Mirada Unified gathered March 26 at La Mirada High School to learn what their students will encounter with the state’s new computerized Common Core-aligned testing system. The parent education night, held by the District in collaboration with the PTA, also allowed attendees to take part of the test themselves.
Board of Education members at Norwalk-La Mirada Unified have reached a consensus on the first round of $52 million in school improvement projects, part of a plan to allocate $375 million in facilities bonds over 20 years. The first-round plan, to be finalized Monday, March 23, includes air conditioning projects, elementary school upgrades, high school athletic facility improvements and technology upgrades.