The Turlock Unified School District board will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Turlock High School Performing Arts Building, 1600 E. Canal Drive.

For the Class of 2013, the next few weeks will be a blur of yearbook signing, senior celebrations and saying goodbye. Among the celebrations will be Gregori High's first graduating class, set to walk in the first event held in its just-finished stadium.

For inspiration, the 460 graduates of the University of California at Merced on Saturday could draw upon the wisdom of an ex-astronaut, their chancellor, and a fellow student and researcher as they chart their futures.

Sylvan teachers have rejected a proposal to change next year's school schedule to give them time to collaborate, leaving the length of school days unchanged for 2013-14, the district announced.

That's a lot of cans and bottles. Shackelford Elementary won a three-month contest among several schools in Modesto to collect recyclables for the Soldiers Far From Home group.

The Denair Unified School District Board will gather Sunday afternoon for a training session, and Monday evening interim Superintendent Walt Hanline will host a community meeting.

Rising costs to transport severely disabled special education students across the county are testing the bonds of a regional oversight consortium.

Fewer California teachers found pink slips in their mailboxes this week, but that was scant solace for Denair Unified teachers. The financially strapped Denair district sent notices to 13 teachers, Interim Superintendent Walt Hanline said.

High schoolers snooze through first period while elementary kids raring to go.

Bands will be serenading seniors with "Pomp and Circumstance" next week across Modesto. Families have hair appointments to make, parties to arrange and graduation tickets to mete out like precious gold. Craigslist posts already offer $20 to $50 each for tickets that seniors get for free.

Cameras flashed as filmmakers and movie stars entered. Programs featured their names and speakers praised their art. Gold statuettes awaited the lucky few.

Anyone whose hand has cramped while signing real estate documents knows the sticker shock of those huge numbers. Spending school bond money, on the other hand, usually happens with an "aye" and a community cheer.

It's not enough to ace the tests. A Johansen High program picked as a model by the California Department of Education grades students on job performance, researching social causes and active citizenship.

Gov. Jerry Brown moved Tuesday to blunt appeals for increased spending, downgrading his budget proposal from January. But the Central Valley stands to gain from a boost to the state average on base funding by grade, with extra dollars to help low-income students and English-language learners.

The Turlock Unified School District refinanced a Measure D bond to save taxpayers $1.76 million, some $600,000 more than expected. In February, the board of trustees approved the refinancing, which at the time was expected to save some $1.1 million on the district's $10.95 million Measure D bond from 2002.

TUOLUMNE COUNTY BOARD TO MEET:

State figures talk to association of bond oversight committee members about problems to watch for and a bill aiming to fix some.

Los Banos Unified School District officials are deciding whether to ask the criminal justice system to prosecute a teacher accused of stealing nearly $2,500 in prom funds, Superintendent Steve Tietjen said. Tietjen said Los Banos High School special education teacher and junior class adviser Jillian Ketcher resigned May 1 after reportedly admitting to taking $2,480 collected from the sale of junior prom tickets.

Fire science instructor Bob Watt trains a team of teens in the Davis High Regional Occupational Program about auto extrication using the Jaws of Life and simpler tools likd axes and oversize hammers.

WATERFORD TO MEET: The Waterford Unified School District board will meet at 7 tonight in the district boardroom, 319 N. Reinway Ave. Board members will vote on a proposal to discontinue state preschool, affecting 24 children, for lack of funds and discontinue a full-day Head Start class for lack of participation. Five part-day Head Start classes will continue. See the agenda at http://bit.ly/WaterfordBoard.

The board of the financially embattled Denair Unified School District will meet at 7:30 tonight in the district boardroom, 3460 Lester Road.

Between stories chastising school districts for spending taxpayer money, let’s take a moment to pretend we’re rich as sultans.

Catherine Everett Elementary will have a 50th anniversary celebration Thursday beginning at 6 p.m. on the blacktop at the school, 1530 Mount Vernon Drive, Modesto.

Students square danced Friday morning during Pioneer Day at Burbank Elementary School in Modesto.

One of the purposes of the statue of Zeus at Olympia was to leave the visitor in awe of the Greek god. Entering the lobby of the new Great Valley Museum on Modesto Junior College's West Campus, one can't help but feel a little in awe as you look at the ceiling and see scale models of our solar system, including Earth and the mammoth planets Saturn and Jupiter — the Romans' name for Zeus — emerging overhead.