Education Buzz for Sunday, Dec. 11
Global Charter school enrolling in Visalia
Visalia’s new Global Learning Charter School will open in the fall of 2017 and is enrolling students until Feb. 7, the Visalia Unified School District announced.
The school will open on the current Fairview Elementary School campus as a kindergarten through sixth-grade school, but will include seventh and eighth grades by 2020, the district said.
The charter school, which recently was approved by the district’s board of trustees, will focus on community involvement and provide a technology and language-rich environment with Spanish instruction at all grade levels.
Parents and teachers were involved in the development process of the school, with a stakeholder development team of parents, teachers, community members and district staff creating a vision, theme and elements of instruction.
Parent information meetings are scheduled for December and January, and enrollment forms are available at Fairview Elementary School and the district office.
For more information, visit the Visalia Unified School District website at www.vusd.org/glcs.
Chancellor forums set at West Hills
Finalists for the West Hills Community College District chancellor position will take part in a series of forums where they will answer questions from the public and speak about their qualifications and goals, the district said.
Finalists Sandra Caldwell, president of Reedley College; Melinda Nish, executive adviser to the president at the College of the Marshall Islands; Jill Stearns, president of Modesto Junior College; and Stuart Van Horn, interim president of West Hills College Coalinga, will participate in separate forums on each day.
West Hills College Lemoore will host a forum on Monday in Room 25; West Hills Coalinga will host on Tuesday in Room R10A/B; and North District Center in Firebaugh will host on Wednesday in Room 31. Each forum will run from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.
Finalists will be interviewed by the board of trustees on Thursday.
Building to be named for FUSD trustee
Fresno Unified officials and community members will gather at 1:15 p.m. Monday to rename the Hoover High School Academic Building after Janet Ryan, a longtime school board trustee and Hoover region community member. The board voted at its Oct. 26 meeting to rename the building the “Janet Martino Ryan Academic Building.”
This week marks the end of Ryan’s 12-year tenure as a Fresno Unified trustee.
“Renaming the academic building for Trustee Ryan will memorialize her outstanding efforts as a Board of Education member, but, more importantly, as an excellent community member,” Superintendent Michael Hanson said.
Hoover High School is at 5550 N. First St.
Tractor company provides garden grants to schools
Tractor Supply Company will provide grants to elementary schools in California, Utah and Pennsylvania that will kick-start a garden program named “Dig It.”
“Dig It” is a hands-on program designed to teach students in kindergarten through fifth grade about responsibility and teamwork, all while learning where food comes from.
A $500 grant will be awarded to 44 elementary schools in California, 11 in Utah and 65 in Pennsylvania.
Bond refunding saves West Hills millions
Millions of dollars were saved after West Hills Community College District completed its refunding of more than $14 million in general obligation bonds.
Dale Scott and Co. helped the district through the process of refunding the bonds and taking advantage of lower repayment interest rates.
The refunding is expected to save local taxpayers nearly $2.8 million, and the interest rate was lowered from 6.22 percent to 3.97 percent.
The bonds that were refunded were approved in 2008 and used for construction and facility improvement financing at West Hills Colleges Lemoore and Coalinga.
West Hills Community College District Chancellor Frank Gornick said the district remains vigilant for ways to continue saving taxpayer money.
About $13.8 million was refunded in 2012 and 2015.
Fresno State hosts dried meats forum
The Fresno State Meats Lab partnered with the American Meat Science Association and North Carolina State University to host the first edition of the “Salumi 101 – Merging the Art and Science of Dried, Cured Meats” workshop last week.
Fresno State faculty and staff helped lead the hands-on lab that taught about the production of artisan-style meats such as salami, prosciutto and pancetta. The workshop included a tour of Busseto Foods, a dried meat producer in Fresno.
The curriculum was created by John Henson, Fresno State Meats Lab director, and Dana Hanson, North Carolina State associate professor of meat science.
Scholarship fund honors late CSU Chancellor Reed
The Charles B. Reed Scholarship Fund for California State University students has been established to honor the CSU chancellor emeritus who died Tuesday.
Reed, 75, served as the CSU’s sixth chancellor, leading the 23-campus university system that includes Fresno State from 1998 until his retirement in 2012.
“Charlie will always be remembered as a formative figure in our university’s history and as a tenacious, passionate champion of public higher education,” CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White said in an announcement.
Donations may be made to the scholarship fund at calstate.edu or by mailing a check to the CSU Foundation, 401 Golden Shore, Sixth Floor, Long Beach, CA 90802.
This story was originally published December 11, 2016 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Education Buzz for Sunday, Dec. 11."