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Exploratorium, bullying, iTunes U, service project, speech contest, boarding schools, budget meetings

Education Roundup

I was pleased to hear that The Exploratorium Project that started at El Verano in 2008 is now being exported to the other four elementary schools in the district. Sixty-two teachers from Dunbar, Flowery, El Verano, Sassarini and Prestwood are being trained in inquiry-based science to promote language acquisition and science skills. Students are learning how to observe, take notes, question and argue in evidence the observations they make.
The program began and continues to be supported by the Vadasz Family Foundation in collaboration with the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation. The U.S. Department of Education also supports the program through their Investing in Innovation Fund. We’ll have a larger story on this initiative later this fall.

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There is now an app for everything … but this app alerts you instantly if your child is being cyber-bullied or subjected to offensive language online, and it is free. You can go to www.eyegardian.com/ and if you have your child’s facebook login password, this site will track any threatening and lewd language linked to your child. It can even screen videos and images.

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October is National Bullying Prevention Month. Do you have story to tell, or thoughts on ways our local schools can better address this issue? Send me an email at ourschools@sonomanews.com.

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Speaking of bullying, Sonoma’s Praxis Peace Institute (on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m.) is offering a talk on “Dignity for All and the End of Bullying” at the Community Center. The speaker is former Oberlin College President Robert Fuller, Ph.D., an internationally recognized authority on rankism, bullying and the demeaning behavior that prevents dignity and self-respect. After earning a Ph.D. in physics at Princeton University, Fuller taught at Columbia University. His books include “Somebodies and Nobodies” and “All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity.” Praxis says this event will begin a series of presentations on conflict resolution, boundary-setting, bullying and respectfully dealing with differences. Tickets are $15 for adults, free for children and teens (available at Readers’ Books).

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The Sonoma Unified School District is hosting community budget information meetings to discuss the budget reduction process that will be necessary for the 2012-13 school year. The first meetings are set for Monday, Oct. 17, at 5:30 p.m. at the high school library and on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 6:30 p.m. in the Altimira library. Childcare is available, as is Spanish translation.

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The San Francisco Business Times (with Pay Scale Inc.) on Sept. 27 released a report analyzing the median starting salaries and mid-career salaries of graduates from all the Bay Area colleges. Their findings may surprise you! #7: USF, #6: St. Mary’s, #5: San Jose State, #4: Cal Arts, #3: UC Berkeley, #2: Santa Clara, #1: Stanford.

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Have you checked out all the free courses and educational podcasts on iTunes U? The site offers more than 350,000 lectures, language lessons, films, labs and audiobooks. More than 800 universities offer content and many, including Stanford, Yale, MIT, Oxford and UC Berkeley – distribute their content publicly in the iTunes store. Other schools are using the site to distribute schedules, syllabi, lecture outlines, study guides, notes, maps – even entire books. Stanford was the very first university to sign on and they are now celebrating their fifth year on the site. The computer science courses, for example, being offered for free are incredible but virtually any topic is available. What a great way for a student to explore topics of interest not available at school or without committing to an entire (expensive) course of study. www.apple.com/education/itunes-u

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Summer Search North Bay, the national nonprofit that provides support to low-income high-achieving youth, has chosen Sonoma as the site of their fall event. On Saturday, Oct. 22, the entire community is invited to participate in a local service project with them (9 a.m. to 1 p.m., details given upon RSVP) and to join them for a celebration in the Sonoma Valley Veterans Memorial Building from 2 to 4 p.m. RSVP by Thursday, Oct. 13 to cklus@summersearch.org. The mission of Summer Search is to find resilient low-income high school students and inspire them to become responsible and altruistic leaders by providing year-round mentoring, life-changing summer experiences, college advising, and a lasting support network. Summer Search works with a handful of high school juniors and seniors each year and has a long history of success helping our students successfully navigate high school and beyond.

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Sonoma Valley High School students interested in Southern Oregon University will have a chance to meet a rep from the college on campus on Monday, Oct. 17 at 1:45 p.m.

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Good luck to all the sophomore and juniors taking the PSAT (practice SAT) at the high school this Saturday. More than 150 students signed up and the test results not only qualify juniors for scholarship money, the results also provide detailed information to all the students on areas to work on before the actual SATs.

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On Thursday, Oct. 13, Sonoma Charter will host the San Francisco Opera Guild’s Opera a la Carte. This opera is a comedy about the course of true love made smooth by a “magic” potion, set in Napa Valley circa 1915 and includes student participation. The goal of the program is introduce children to the magic of opera.

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Every year, the Town School in San Francisco hosts a Boarding School Fair (2750 Jackson St.). This year’s event is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 16, in the school gymnasium. The fair is attended by admission officers from Eastern boarding schools, California boarding schools and selected schools from other regions of the country. Both co-ed and single-gender schools are included in the fair. Education isn’t one size fits all and boarding school is a great option for some students (very popular among high achieving students on the East Coast and abroad).

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Earlier this month, I took my family to tour UC Davis with me. What a great college town Davis is! I had never been before and was eager to see the campus. Our youngest is 10 but it is really never too early to tour schools, so I always bring her along. She has seen a number of colleges now and already has opinions on what she likes and doesn’t like about different colleges. We passed the “world’s largest corn maze” on the way there. Throw that incentive in there and your kids are sure to agree to go.

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This is Homecoming and Spirit Week at the high school and they have a lot of festivities planned, from the carnival tomorrow to Friday’s Homecoming parade. This year’s Homecoming Candidates are: Eric Clouse, Sam Morgan, Ky Newman, Jojo Sanchez, Chris Swanson, Karly Burmingham, Cecilia Corona, Olivia Donald, Walker Wicks,and Jersey Witous. Have a fun but safe week, students.

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The Veterans of Foreign Wars “Voice of Democracy” Speech Competition offers cash prizes and a chance at scholarships of up to $30,000 for students in grades 9 to 12. Students record a three to five minute speech/essay on the topic: “Is there Pride in Serving in America’s Military?” Students can see Mrs. Hansen at the high school for an application and more information or visit www.vfw.org/. The deadline is Nov. 1.

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I really enjoyed “Real Women Have Curves” at the Little Theater last weekend. Congrats to cast members Ana Dagio, Brenda Morgan, Maya Smoot, Monica Torres, Stephanie Reyes, Itzel Macedonia Santiago, Yaranara Morales, Cinthya Gamimo, Flor Suarez, Courtney, Bristow and Amelia Metzler and Director Jane Martin.

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Hanna Boys Center has launched a new eNewsletter to keep the community informed on goings on at HBC. The first issue touched on Hanna’s phase-one construction projects; its “Spreading Our Wings” campus development campaign ($3.5 million to date); an inspiring story about Hanna’s Boy of the Year Tony La; and their 2011 summer internship program which provided work for 17 boys at local businesses. If you would like to subscribe, email tstanley@hannacenter.org.

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Holly Bennett, working with The Sonoma Education Foundation, ran a “barn sale” last weekend on Seventh Street East of donated furniture, household items, gardening supplies, decorating accessories, linens, books and more. They also had a bake sale, lemonade stand and mini-farmer’s market. The barn sale proceeds were donated to our Sonoma Valley Public Schools through the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation. Future barn sales will be scheduled shortly. If you would like to volunteer or make a donation, call Holly Bennett at 484-4747.

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For grown-ups and high school students interested in journalism and mass media, The Sonoma International Film Festival is screening the documentary, “Page One,” at the Sonoma Community Center on Thursday, Oct. 13, with a reception at 6 p.m. and the film screening at 7 p.m. This look inside the New York Times newsroom as it grapples with the new digital age should be both entertaining and informative. Tickets are $10 at the door.

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Speaking of Hollywood, when I read that Shakira has joined the Obama administration as an Educational Advisor, I thought I was reading an Onion headline. Upon reading more, it actually makes a lot of sense. Shakira is a role model to millions of Spanish-speaking children, and in her role on the Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, she can likely be quite influential. I didn’t realize she is also very active funding schools in her native Colombia.

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“Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice ... have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”       – Steve Jobs 1955-2011