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News ReleasesMarch 24, 2006 March 10, 2006 August 30, 2005 June 6, 2003 June 19, 2002 February 22, 2001 June 9, 2000 May 18, 2000 February 24, 2000 October 11, 1999 October 5, 1999 Press Release March 24, 2006 Community leaders go back to school during Principal for a Day EUREKA— For one day, eight Eureka business and community leaders will go back to school as a “Principal for a Day” and learn firsthand about the challenges and the achievements in Eureka City Schools. Principal for a Day is scheduled for Wednesday, March 29 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. “Principal for a Day engages our participants to get involved at the point of change in our schools,” said Jim Scott, superintendent of Eureka City Schools. “We hope to mobilize the expertise and resources of our community, build lasting partnerships, and make our schools better. Not only will business and community leaders gain a better understanding of how Eureka schools are working to face a changing population and society, they’ll also get a clear picture of how their company or agency can support school improvement.” The media is encouraged to attend any of the participating school sites. This year’s Principal for a Day participants are: Alexis Walker, Target store team leader, at Alice Birney Elementary, 717 South Street, 441-2495. Marge Custis, retired educator and community volunteer, at Grant Elementary School, 3901 G Street, 441-2552. Bonnie Neely, Humboldt County supervisor, at Lafayette Elementary School, 3100 Park Street, 441-2482. Lynn McKenna, retired teacher and community volunteer, at Lincoln Elementary School, 216 West Harris Street, 441-2446. Julie Ryan, AmeriCorps volunteer coordinator for Volunteer Center of the Redwoods, at Winship Middle School, 2500 Cypress Street, 441-2487. Brent Rasmussen, owner CoxRasmussen & Cross advertising agency, at Zane Middle School, 2155 S Street, 441-2470. Bob Marino, DG Fairhaven Power Plant general manager, at Eureka High School, 1915 J Street, 441-2508 Ken Skaggs, financial management consultant, at Zoe Barnum High School and the Eureka Adult School, 674 Allard Avenue, 441-2467. During their day on campus, the new school administrators will participate in a variety of tasks as they job-shadow the school’s principal. Principal for a Day activities might include learning about school technology, facilities management, partnership opportunities, school–to–career, curriculum, service-learning, accountability measures, and classroom observations. All Eureka City Schools have ongoing educational partnerships with local business and community groups. For additional information regarding Principal for a Day 2006 contact Sheldon J. Reber, director of school at community relations, at 441-2416. ###
News Release March 10, 2006 Healthy Kids Survey given in April EUREKA— Eureka City Schools will be administering the California Healthy Kids Survey in April. It is given every other year to 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th grade students. It is voluntary and anonymous. Students do not have to participate and no names are used. The survey results will help us plan programs to assist students. The survey asks questions about student behaviors, such as: physical activity and nutrition use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs bullying, teasing, weapons, and school violence feelings of safety at school and out of school feelings of connection with a teacher or other adult (does someone care about them at school and out of school) Signed consent is required for all 5th grade students from their parent or guardian. Parents/guardians must sign and return the form, either giving or denying consent. Signed consent is not required for 7th, 9th, and 11th graders’ parents or guardians. If you do NOT want your child to participate, fill out and return the withdrawal form. If you allow your child to take part in the survey you do not have to return the form. Consent/withdrawal forms were mailed to all 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th grade student addresses. If you did not receive it, call your child’s school or 476-1601. You can read a copy of the actual survey at your child's school. Each school office has a copy in English and in Spanish. ###
Press Release August 30, 2005 Eureka City Schools expands award-winning EAST program EUREKA— Eureka City Schools has big plans to offer its award-winning Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) program to four elementary schools, the Transition Opportunity Program (TOP) and Zoe Barnum High School during the 2005-06 school year. “We are the first school district in California and third in the nation to bring EAST to this level,” said Michelle Hutchins, the district’s learning director of education technology. Eureka City Schools recently received a $230,000 Enhancing Education Through Technology competitive grant from the State of California, to expand its EAST program, offered at Eureka High School and Winship and Zane Middle schools, to include four elementary schools, TOP and Zoe Barnum High School. “We are now the only district in California where students in grades 4 through 12 can experience the collaborative learning environment provided by the EAST experience,” noted Hutchins. “The EAST program will now serve a total of 800 students as 500 additional students join from fourth through twelfth grades.” Eureka City Schools pursued the expansion of EAST to include grades 4 and 5 with the belief that early introduction of EAST program tenets will increase student commitment to their learning process. EAST students are encouraged to find a school or community problem to solve, document their progress, and present their results/status using technology. The EAST model was chosen because of a nationwide history of success and the success experienced by Eureka City Schools’ students. Based on a limited study over the past four years, Eureka EAST students experienced a 15 percent increase in attendance and a 40 percent decrease in incidences involving discipline. In addition, at-risk students are less likely to transfer to independent study or alternative education if they are involved in EAST. Almost 90 percent of Eureka EAST projects directly involve the community and 20 percent of student projects concern issues about race and ethnicity. Students from the Eureka High School, Zane and Winship EAST programs attended the 2005 EAST Partnership Conference held in Sacramento where each program received “Superior” ratings. Several EAST projects with significant community impact were recognized with awards at the annual conference including “Youth Relay for Life,” “Gotta Serve Somebody; Humboldt Vietnam War Memories,” and “Youth Ready to Respond,” a cross-age disaster preparedness education program. More than 2,000 middle school and high school students were there to represent the hard work of over 20,000 EAST students from over 220 schools in 6 states. Hutchins credits the EAST Lab facilitators for creating a dynamic program. “The success of our EAST Labs is a testimonial to the awesome instructors we have directing these programs; Jennifer Johnson and Ron Perry at Eureka High, Jamie Bush at Zane, and Dana Jacobs at Winship.” The new elementary EAST program, serving students in grades 4-5, will allow teachers to develop lessons rich in real-life experiences. Much of their initial work will focus on analysis of instructional methods and student learning through video work. With this information, they will refine their lessons and include technology as a component for increasing student access and achievement. “Assuming we can secure the funding, we plan to include the remaining two elementary school in the near future,” said Hutchins. Both Washington and Grant Elementary Schools will each receive 32 laptops with wireless network capabilities that will all connect to the Internet from several buildings on the campuses. Adding to the existing technology, the laptops will be dispersed between target classrooms to ensure daily integration of EAST philosophy. Laptops provide flexibility to the number of computers used with students on a given day resulting in the number of students per computer averaging 2.4 students per computer at Grant and 3.4 students per computer at Washington. Jefferson Elementary School will receive 10 multimedia workstations dispersed throughout 3 classrooms that will bring the number of students to computers to 5:1. Lafayette Elementary School will receive 15 multimedia workstations located in one classroom that teachers will rotate their students through on a daily basis. The shared classroom will provide 2 students per computer initially, but after renovations are complete and computers are dispersed, classrooms will have a 7:1 student to computer ratio. All computers purchased are designed to run advanced software applications. Several of the applications come with campus licenses and some with home licensing for students. “The home licensing and laptop check-out programs will address the needs of students who would not have the means to acquire experience in these applications any other way thus helping to address the “digital divide,”” remarked Hutchins. The four elementary schools will have their EAST programs up and running by October, according to Hutchins. The EAST program at TOP School and Zoe Barnum High School will serve academically at-risk students, provide teachers a professional development center and host family technology nights. The classrooms will be used after school for various programs and become a place where students and their families will have access to technology for the purpose of learning. ###
Press Release June 6, 2003 Eureka City Schools announces new principal for Lafayette School EUREKA— At its regular board meeting on June 4, the Governing Board of Eureka City Schools approved the appointment of Laurie U. Alexander to the job of principal at Lafayette Elementary School starting the 2003-04 school year. Alexander will replace Jim Sanders who will be retiring after a stint as elementary summer school principal in July. Alexander comes to Eureka from Oceanside Unified School District where she has served in a variety of capacities since 1986. Her broad experience includes elementary classroom teacher, master teacher, language arts resource teacher, and summer school program coordinator. She also served as district coordinator for categorical programs and educational support. Most recently, Alexander has been administrator on special assignment assisting underperforming schools to improve instructional programs and academic achievement. Alexander received a B.A. from University of California, Santa Barbara, and an M.A. in Educational Administration from Chapman University in 1996. For more information, contact Sheldon J. Reber, director of school and community relations, at 441-2416. ###
Press Release June 19, 2002 Eureka elementary readers help their schools gain $5,000 state award EUREKA— Between October and April, Eureka elementary students at five schools read well over 2.7 million pages to qualify their school for the Governor’s Reading Award. On June 18, The Secretary of Education’s office announced the $5,000 award will be given to Grant Elementary School (442,576 pages), Lafayette Elementary School (1,031,878 pages), Lincoln Elementary School (539,250 pages) and Washington Elementary School (741,207 pages). In Humboldt County, 17 schools received the reading award and up to 800 schools statewide could qualify. This is the third year of the Governor’s Reading Award program. Eureka school librarians have encouraged students and parents to create a good reading environment at home and the importance of reading 15-20 minutes every day in a quiet area with no distractions. For more information visit www.ose.ca.gov/ose_programs/reading/index.html or contact Sheldon J. Reber at 441-2416. ###
Lynn Hartley recognized as California Outstanding School Psychologist EUREKA-Eureka City Schools' psychologist Lynn Hartley will be honored professionally for her dedication and 30-years of service to children and families. Hartley will be recognized by the California School Psychologists Association (CSPA) at their annual meeting on March 7 in Costa Mesa. Hartley was selected as Outstanding School Psychologist of the Year from CSPA's region one, which stretches along the North Coast from Marin to Del Norte County. According to Lee Ann Lanning, director of special education, Hartley "coordinates full counseling and special education services at Lafayette Elementary, manages a schoolwide conflict management program, oversees the school's Primary Intervention Program and Healthy Play program, and supervises a number of Humboldt State psychology students. Hartley also attends graduate classes to stay abreast of current changes in school psychology practices." It was during her tenure at Jefferson Elementary, that Hartley was instrumental in developing the Healthy Start grant for ECS. She helped to transform a Victorian home next to the school into the Jefferson House, a Head Start program. "Lynn has been that tireless worker who recognized that the basic needs of family had to be met before the parents could effectively meet their children's needs," stated Russ Shaddix, retired assistant superintendent of special services. "She always finds a way to take care of the families in our school community," noted Lafayette principal Jim Sanders. "This year alone, Lynn coordinated our Adopt-A-Family program and helped 69 families at Thanksgiving and Christmas." Peggy Kirkpatrick, retired Lafayette resource teacher, mentioned "In a profession with many dedicated individuals, Lynn Hartley remains exceptional in her limitless expenditure of time, talent, and boundless energy to get the job done." For more information contact Sheldon J. Reber at 441-2416.
Lafayette students pull concrete benches Egyptian-style Students at Lafayette School in Eureka will have fun pulling concrete benches across the school's parking lot and into the new Peggy Kirkpatrick Reading Garden just like the Egyptians moved stones to build the pyramids. Egypt Day is scheduled for Tuesday, June 13 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. The media is encouraged to attend this fun and lively event. The elementary students will man ropes and drag the concrete benches on top of wood rollers just like the Egyptians did when they moved stone blocks to build the pyramids. Students are encouraged to dress like ancient Egyptians and teachers have designed curriculum around an Egyptian theme. The concrete benches were donated to the school by the City of Eureka. The Coast Guard has donated rope and steel cable. Ted Lewis, from Bethel Church, will place the benches in the garden with his forklift. For more information contact principal Jim Sanders at 441-2482. Lafayette School is located at 3100 Park Street, off Myrtle Avenue, in Eureka.
Lafayette School awarded $5,000 for meeting governor's reading challenge EUREKA-What do you get when you combine a "cheerleading" librarian, a faithful volunteer who files daily, and 400 children who love to read? A $5,000 check from Governor Gray Davis, that's what! Lafayette's library technician, Carol Skaggs, accepted Governor Davis' challenge to all K-8 students and she turned cheerleader/librarian, encouraging and cheering students onward to read and achieve. The Governor challenged all schools to encourage their students to read for a 6month period, having parents and teachers sign reading sheets and keep detailed logs on what students read. The program was well received-a total of 689,465,287 pages were read during the 6-month program by students from participating schools. Lafayette students read a total of 844,536 pages. The state awarded 400 checks to the California schools with the highest pages recorded in this 6month period. Lafayette was one of the four in Humboldt County who will be receiving checks. The other schools were Bloomfield in Arcata, Ambrosini in Rohnerville, and Trinidad Elementary School. Lafayette plans to purchase books for their library using student request forms. Everyone who read will have the opportunity to suggest a book to be purchased and put into the collection. In his May revision of the state budget, Governor Davis proposes to expand next year's Reading Award program to include 400 more schools. For more information contact Carol Skaggs at 441-2482. Information is also available on the Internet at: http://www.ose.ca.gov/govaward/index.html. Lafayette Elementary School is located at 3100 Park Street in Eureka.
Lafayette School reschedules PTA Founder’s Day celebration The Lafayette Elementary School PTA has rescheduled its 2000 Founder’s Day Celebration to Wednesday, March 1st in the school’s cafeteria starting at 6:30 p.m. The celebration honors the birthday of PTA and recognizes the valuable contributions of PTA leaders and school volunteers at Lafayette from past to present. Student entries from the PTA Reflection Program “Anything is Possible” will be displayed along with student science fair projects. Refreshments will be served after the program. Lafayette Elementary School is located at 3100 Park Avenue, off Myrtle Avenue, in Eureka. Call 441-2482 for more information.
Lafayette school cook chosen for state award Joyce Thrasher, cook manager at Lafayette School in Eureka, was honored at the Eureka City Schools Governing Board’s regular meeting on September 15 for being selected by the California State Employees Association (CSEA) as its State Employee of the Year in the food services category. Thrasher accepted the prestigious award at CSEA’s state convention on August 4 in Las Vegas. Lafayette cook Joyce Thrasher likes to have a little fun in the school’s kitchen. After all, preparing nearly 400 meals a day for two schools is not an easy task. Much to the delight of students and staff, Thrasher enjoys decorating Lafayette’s kitchen with creative displays and posters according to the season, and she cooks special treats (at her own expense) like valentine cookies and colored hard-boiled eggs at Easter. Last year, at an evening celebration of Dr. Suess’ birthday, she served green eggs and ham to hungry students. These were just a few of the many outstanding qualities Thrasher’s colleagues at Lafayette wrote about when they nominated her for the prestigious CSEA State Employee of the Year award. Thrasher was notified in April that she has been selected by CSEA in the food service category as one of six Employees of the Year. She accepted the award on August 4 at CSEA’s state convention in Las Vegas. Rosemary Kunkler, Lafayette’s secretary, notes, “She’s very much in-tune with the students and their individual uniqueness. No student ever goes hungry. Throughout the day, students know they can get a snack from her. No matter how busy, a smile is there for the students, co-workers, and parents. If she detects a problem with a child, she always follows up.” Cheryl Smith, Eureka CSEA vice president, said, “Thrasher is an excellent member, volunteers to do whatever needs to be done without question or expecting anything in return.” Lafayette principal Jim Sanders points out, “Thrasher takes pride in her work and workplace, and it shows. She always has a smile for our students even when the food line is hectic and under a time crunch.” Thrasher has worked for 21 years in Eureka City Schools’ food services department. We join others in congratulating Joyce on this most deserving and prestigious recognition. For more information contact Lafayette School at 441-2482.
Lafayette school and Alder Bay renew partnership Bill Ruff, administrator of Alder Bay Senior Living Center, presented a check for $500 to Lafayette School’s RAH Reading Program. Alder Bay gives its seven employees one hour a week to come to the school and read to kids and check fluency and comprehension. For their part, Lafayette students travel to Alder Bay and interview residents for the school’s newsletter, participate in arts and crafts, and perform skits. Alder Bay residents are invited to attend school activities such as Apple Days, school assemblies, and seasonal performances. According to Ruff, “The bond between Lafayette’s students and our seniors is very unique. The students learn about the seniors’ history and who they are. For their part, the seniors enjoy the energy and laughter of the students.” Jim Sanders, principal at Lafayette, stated “It’s a win-win situation. Our students are exposed to a whole different aspect of our community. They learn to give back to the community. And our kids receive extra help in reading from Alder Bay employees.” This is the second year of the school’s partnership with Alder Bay. For more information contact Jim Sanders, principal at Lafayette, at 441-2482. |
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Eureka City Schools 3200 Walford Avenue Eureka, California 95503 707-441-2400 |