Focus on Education (01/07/14)

CERES UNIFIED BOARD TO MEET

The Ceres Unified School District board will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday in the district boardroom, 2503 Lawrence St. The board will vote on a $409,568 contract with the city of Ceres for three school resource police officers. Trustees will discuss summer school plans underway for all schools and get an update on the law that could force districts to spend down the bulk of their reserves. The board also will consider three-year extensions for Deputy Superintendent Denise Wickham, the district’s two assistant superintendents and two high school principals. The top administrators’ salaries will remain essentially flat for 2015-16. See the agenda at http://boardmeetings.ceres.k12.ca.us.

WATERFORD UNIFIED BOARD TO MEET

The Waterford Unified School District board will hold a study session on budgeting and special education at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the district boardroom, 319 N. Reinway Ave. The board will hold its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Trustees will review an enrollment update showing a slight uptick from last year in its regular schools. The board will receive the audit of 2013-14. See the agenda at http://agendaonline.net/public/waterford.

TECHNICAL PROGRAM ACCREDITED

DeHart Technical School in Modesto announced that it has received national accreditation by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training, a steppingstone toward being able to offer federal student financial aid. School Director Jeff Painter said DeHart should be able to begin offering Pell Grants and federal student financial aid, to those who qualify, this spring. The school offers training for the HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning), refrigeration and facilities maintenance industry. Programs range from eight to 44 weeks and cost $1,355 to $10,000, according to its catalog. For more, go to www.deharttechnicalschool.com.

JANUARY’S COMMEMORATIONS

Just so you know – January is National Blood Donor Month, National Braille Literacy Month and National Staying Healthy Month. Schools take off Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 19. Two designated days this month are not holidays: Jan. 23 honors Ed Roberts, a pioneer in the independent living movement for people with disabilities and special needs, who died in 1995; Jan. 30 is Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, named for a Japanese-American who stood up to the mass incarcerations during World War II and earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

MERCED SPEECH FESTIVAL

The Merced County Office of Education will host the Merced County Speech Festival from 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 21-22 in the Clark, M and Newbold conference rooms of the county office, 632 W. 13th St. Nearly 200 fourth- through eighth-grade students from 23 schools are expected to participate. Students will compete in these categories: persuasive speech, tall-tale speech, legend speech, fable speech or speech on a report of information. The award ceremony is scheduled at 6 p.m. Jan. 28 at MCOE. For more, contact Stacie Arancibia at (209) 381-5910.

TEACHER RECRUITMENT FAIR

The San Joaquin County Office of Education will hold its 2015 Teacher Recruitment Fair from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. March 7 at the Wentworth Education Center, 2707 Transworld Drive, Stockton. Bring copies of a résumé, teaching credential(s) and unofficial transcripts to the fair. Preregister at http://formbuilder.SJCOE.org/form.aspx?F=346.

This story was originally published January 6, 2015 at 4:46 PM with the headline "Focus on Education (01/07/14)."