Second Place, Amanda Vassaur, 17 of Fillmore.
Enlarge Photo

Third Place, Joel Mayorga, 13 of Ventura.
Enlarge Photo

May 13, 2012 - Ventura County children in Grades 5 through 12 competed in the third Ventura County Fair Poster Contest with entries that illustrated the Fair's 2012 Theme: "Rides, Ribbons & Rodeos". Of 45 entries, three were chosen by a panel of judges as the winners of the 2012 Ventura County Fair poster Contest.

First Prize went to Sam Coultas (18) of Ventura for his rendition of the Fair with an exciting Rodeo Rider in the foregrounds and a sweeping view of the Fair that includes the ocean and Channel Islands as well as an array of Fair Prize Ribbons. The work is rendered with amazing detail in watercolor paint with ink illustrations in a playful style that is colorful and fun.

Second place was won by Amanda Vassaur (17) of Fillmore for her vivid illustration of a Rodeo Rider in a style that is unique and skillfully colored. Visions of the Fair seem to leap off of the page as your eyes are drawn into the people, places and Fair things in this mesmerizing illustration.

Third place was awarded to Joel Mayorga (13) of Ventura for his electrifying depiction of a Fair Ribbon against an unmistakable Ventura County landscape peppered with creative images of carnival rides, Fair booths and people having a good time at the Fair. The artist's style illustrates the theme with whimsy and color.

"Congratulations to the talented winners of this year's contest," said Barbara Quaid, Fair CEO, adding "every artist who entered can be very proud of your uniquely crafted contributions to our community. You have told us many personal Fair stories, each in your own talented way. We thank every child who participated and encourage all children to continue creating and making art to share with us at the annual Ventura County Fair."

Cash Prizes are being awarded to the 3 winners and their artwork will be used to promote the 2012 Ventura County Fair. All contestants receive a prize and are invited to ride with the Junior Fair Board on a float in the
2012 Ventura County Fair Parade on Saturday, August 4. All contest entries will be displayed in the Youth Expo at the Ventura County Fair, August 1 - 12.

For more information about the Ventura County Fair, and to see the winning designs, please visit www.venturacountyfair.org.

Participants and Winners of the State Migrant Speech and Debate Competition are recognized for their achievement.
Enlarge Photo

Board Member John Garnica and State Tournament English Speech Winner Yulissa (8th Grade) Fregoso
Enlarge Photo

Board Member John Garnica and State Tournament Spanish Speech Winner Beatriz Tovar-Salcido (11th Grade)
Enlarge Photo

School Board Member John Garnica presented Jonathan Gonzalez the “Migrant Student of the Year” award. Gonzalez is a senior at Fillmore High School and plans to attend the University of Oregon in the fall.
Enlarge Photo

Board Member John Garnica and Migrant Parent of the Year Maria Pascual
Enlarge Photo

Jennifer Weir being recognized for her work with students and families. Jennifer is the Special Populations Student Support Coordinator for Fillmore Unified School District.
Enlarge Photo

Tron Burdick, Labor Relations Representative with the CSEA, voiced serious concerns about Fillmore Unified's negotiation practices.
Enlarge Photo

Superintendent Nishino and Board Members discuss the budget cuts.
Enlarge Photo

There were a number of agenda items discussed at May 15, 2012 Fillmore Unified School Board Meeting beginning with honoring the winners of the State Migrant Speech and Debate Competition. Other items were the Teaching Strategies Task Force Report and approval the Alternative Governance Board Findings for Fillmore Middle, San Cayetano and Piru Schools.

Cynthia Frutos, along with four others, presented a basic overview of the Teaching Strategies Task Force’s progress. Frutos spoke of the collaborative effort of those involved, the use of universal strategies which are not just grade or subject specific and a goal of looking for high yield results, adding “These systems are helping our district move forward.” The next to present was Jenny Bortins who expounded on Bloom’s Taxonomy; a method used that identifies three domains of learning behaviors (cognitive, affective and psychomotor). Originally conceived in 1956, the learning objectives have been revised to: creating, evaluating, analyzing, applying, understanding and remembering. Erin Sebek then presented the teachers “Point of View” and how it will assist during lesson planning. Jennifer Weir then showed a video clip of Raina Arrellano’s classroom using various methods in the teaching strategies and spoke of how computer generated lessons with imbedded links will provide students more information and improve lessons. “The District is committed to this Top Down/Bottom Up approach” Weir stated, and that she would also like to both increase the rigor of what is being taught and promote sharing ideas and strategies through a district website which will be an added tool in the teachers tool box. The final presenter was Diana Vides who highlighted the importance of having highly trained teachers with continued support and training.

The Alternative Governance Board (AGB) presented their findings on Fillmore Middle, San Cayetano and Piru Schools. The AGB is responsible for overseeing the improvement of the Districts schools that are in Program Improvement (PI). All three schools have been in PI for years with San Cayetano going on 6 years.

Anna Merriman with AGB reported that some teachers at Fillmore Middle School are not adjusting the lesson plans to the needs of the students and that GATE, grade level and remedial levels are being taught the same lessons. Also, some teachers had submitted lesson plans but for whatever reason chose not to implement the developed lesson plan in class. Also, while many classrooms had learning goals posted, in a majority of classes it was not used in a meaningful manner to detail proficiency expectations of lesion objectives to the students according to what they were to learn in each class, how they were going to learn it and how they were going to be assessed to determine they had learned it.

It was not all bad news though, in the Fall 41% of lessons were below the students grade level, but in Spring only 30% were below. Also improved, the percentage of lessons in which the teacher related what was being taught to a standard increased from 48% to 77%.

After the first visit to the school it was recommended that the District develop a plan to train staff on various research-based staff development strategies that support the California Standards for the Teaching Profession with a focus on research-based strategies such as checking for understanding, compare and contrast, summarizing and note-taking, connecting to prior knowledge, graphic organizers or non-linguistic representation, listening actively to student responses, interactive groups, and analyzing and giving feedback on homework. Also recommended was the Opportunity Programs be eliminated and that Earth Science be taught every day instead of every other as is now being done.

The AGB reported the quality of instruction at San Cayetano has not improved and that 35% of lessons observed were teaching standards below grade level. It was noted that lesson plans continue to lack the explicit connection between the stated standard and the content of the lesson. For example, in one of the lesson plans, the standard states, “Analysis of how is the value of a dime is different from the value of a penny”; however, the lesson required students to compare the difference between a penny and a dime, which is at a comprehensive level. On their second visit AGB noted explicit direct instruction was absent in 41% of lessons as compared to 10% of lesions on their first visit in the fall. Also, not all teachers at San Cayetano have high expectations of students and not all teachers are turning in lesson plans. AGB recommends that funds be allocated for professional staff development and hiring highly qualified certificated teachers be put in the next budget.

Piru School didn’t do much better. Many students are not taught at the rigor expected during their visit 24% of lesions observed had teaching standards below grade level. Piru also had teachers with low expectations of students. It was recommended that the 6th grade be transferred to Fillmore Middle School.

The Board acknowledged that is was Staff Appreciation Week but there was little to cheer about. Superintendent Dr. Alan Nishino explained how Gov. Brown’s over projected revenue, which now puts the State at almost $17 Billion in the red, will impact education even more severely than previously expected. Nishino informed those in attendance that even if the tax increase measures that Brown has banking on to help balance the budget, does pass, “…we still have to cut, but just not as much…we continue to spend without it coming in.”

The announcement of Staff Appreciation Week brought a bit of controversy as two speakers addressed the Board with scathing comments on the teacher layoffs and furlough days. Tron Burdick a California School Employees Association (CSEA) Rep. stated, “I find it bittersweet that we have Staff Appreciation Week when you cut so many teachers…you now use temporary employees…when we ask for information we’re ignored or rejected…I had to ask six times for information.”

Next to speak was Lola Rogers, CSEA President, who accused the District’s negotiating team of lying. “In 2011 all these groups agreed to 5 furlough days….In July of 2011 a Prior Year Payroll was processed. The Director of Human Resources received not 5 but 10 days extra pay. The Assistant Superintendent of Finance received not 5 but 10 days of extra pay. The Superintendent received 83% of his normal monthly salary, almost $10,000 extra pay. With benefits this came to over $22,000….there were differences in the budget as to what was Board approved and what was actually spent….we do not appreciate being lied to in negotiation….”

Just before the honors went to the students who participated in the 2012 Regional Spelling, Speech and Debate Tournaments Nishino stated, “This is a very proud moment for Fillmore.” Nineteen students, 6th-12th grade, attended the tournament and brought home 24 trophies. The California State Speech & Debate Tournament also had a number of Fillmore students bring home trophies; Yulissa Fregoso 8th grade student at Fillmore Middle School, won 1st Place extemporaneous; Beatriz Tovar-Salcido Fillmore High School 11th grade student won 1st place prepared Spanish and 2nd place extemporaneous Spanish. Also participating at the State Tournament: Viridiana Quintana, Luis Montejano, Itzella Iniguez, Neira Hernandez, Mariela Figueroa, Sarahi Pasqual and Banely Arevalo.

Other honors went to Jonathan Gonzalez for Migrant Student of the Year. Gonzalez plans to attend the University of Oregon in the spring. Also honored for Parent of the Year was Maria Pascual, whose two daughters attend Sespe and Fillmore High Schools.

Assistant Superintendent Michael Johnson announced a Summer School math program to prepare students for Algebra and Geometry will be offered. It’s an intensive program that’s goes for 20 day at 3 hours a day starting June 11th through July 13th.

City Attorney Ted Schneider explains the issues of El Dorado Estates to the council at Tuesday night’s meeting.

There wasn’t an empty seat in the council chamber as the May 8, 2012 Fillmore City Council began. It was a joint meeting with the Council and the Film Commission with a number of items on the agenda, but most in attendance came to hear the Council’s decision on the El Dorado Estates conversion proposal.

Other items were the downtown palm trees being removed, weed abatement, the one third retail requirement for the Central Business District, appeal to the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and important financial issues.

Assistant City Attorney Charmaine Buehner gave a presentation on the City’s legal standing and the judge’s rulings in the case of El Dorado Estates vs. City of Fillmore. The City has prevailed in three rulings, yet that has not resolved the situation. The Petitioner/Plaintiff El Dorado Estates continues to sue, leaving the City with a legal bill of $236,000 to date. This all began on March 5, 2009 when the owners of El Dorado applied to subdivide the one 37.5 acre lot consisting of 302 mobile home spaces into 302 resident owned lots. There was a great deal of back and forth between the City and El Dorado as the application process began with the City not being satisfied with what was submitted. That brought on a threat by the owners to sue the City. On September 28, 2009 a lawsuit was filed by El Dorado and a legal battle began.

The owners of the park lifted the age restriction (morphing from a senior only to family park), which is something not subject to City approval and beyond the City’s reach. But this decision brought concerns for the safety of families with small children due to the lack of a safe play area and the additional parking needed for larger families. There is concern that these issues have an environmental impact.

The City objected to CONTINUED »

Nick Medina, a 2007 Fillmore High School graduate, got his first professional role as Vissarion Belinsky in the Shotgun Players version of Tom Stoppard’s “The Coast Of Utopia: Voyage”. The play ran from March 14, 2012 to April 29, 2012 with a total of 34 performances.

Nick gained the role as V. Belinsky while interning at the small Berkeley, California theater group, Shotgun Players and auditioned after being coaxed by director Patrick Dooley as a joke, not thinking anything would come of it. Well, something did come of it, to his surprise he was cast in one of the starring roles.

The “Coast of Utopia: Voyage” is the first in a three - play trilogy and is a dense play about Russia’s struggle for freedom set in the 1833 to 1844 era. Nick, being one of the youngest cast members, did a fantastic job. The Berkeley Daily Planet released a review of the play on April 20, 2012 and had this to say “…One performance stands above the rest: Nick Medina as V. Belinsky, the impoverished, less-educated revolutionary and literary critic, in the midst of aristocrats. Shy and awkward, ragged and a little dumpy among these lithe patricians, when he is aroused his rhetoric about the Revolution is entrancing and makes one want to rise to the Marseillaise. Medina knows how to play Stoppard: he directed a production of his “Travesties” as few years ago”. Another review from For All Events by Richard Connema said, “Nick Medina gives an electrifying performance…”

You may remember him CONTINUED »