Fillmore High School juniors, seniors, and non-graduates from the Classes of ‘08 and ‘09 will have the opportunity to take the CAHSEE exam. On Tuesday, November 3, 2009, FHS will be giving the ELA exam. Then on Wednesday, November 4, 2009, FHS will give the mathematics exam. Testing begins promptly at 8am in Room 49.

This testing cycle is only offered to students who have not passed one or both parts of the CAHSEE. Later in the school year, sophomore students will test.

For more information on CAHSEE testing, please contact Fillmore High School Assistant Principal Ellen Green at 524-6109 or egreen@fillmore.k12.ca.us.

Ellen Green is the Assistant Principal in charge of state testing at Fillmore High School.

The Fillmore Lions Club has announced that this year's Student Speaker Contest will be held on Monday February 1,2010. The topic will be "Universal Healthcare-How will it affect us?" The topic is very timely and important to all of Fillmore's students and citizens because it is about our good health and our finances. The outcome of this debate will affect all of us for years to come.

Chair Bill Edmonds states that the total prize money going to the overall winner will be $21, 325 in college scholarships and cash. The local Fillmore winner will get $75 with the runner-ups getting $25.The winner will go on to compete with the winners of other near-by communities. All High School age youth who live within the Fillmore Unified School District boundaries are eligible to compete .This includes home taught students as well as Fillmore residents who attend other high schools as well. This also includes foreign exchange students.

Students who wish to enter may contact Bill Edmonds (524-4839) or Josh Overton-the FHS drama and language arts teacher. Edmonds emphasized that this public speaking exercise will be very worthwhile to the students and interesting to their parents and the community. Public speaking competition will also look very good on college applications and resumes. Students should get started early because it takes time to develop and practice a good speech.

VENTURA: The Survivor Empowerment Project encourages survivors and friends and family members of survivors of domestic abuse, violence and rape to design t-shirts in an attempt to break the silence and end the violence. The Project will be hosted by the Psychology Club on October 28 (Wednesday) from 8 a.m. — 2 p.m. on the lawn between the LRC and the Science Building. T-Shirts are provided and the public is invited to participate by creating a tribute t-shirt, visiting the resource booths and hearing the speakers.

SPEAKERS
• Domestic Violence within the Hispanic Community, 8:30-9:am in UV-2
• Victims Advocate, District Attorney’s office, 9-9:20am in UV-2
• Domestic Violence, Cycle of Violence, 9:30-10:20am in MAC 201
• La Shonda Blunt, Date rape & date rape drugs, 10:30-11:20am in UV-2
• Dawn Reid, Sexual Abuse, 11:30-12:20pm in UV-2
• Julie Mairs, Violence and Sex Trafficking, 12:30-1:20pm in UV-2

INFORMATION AND REFERRAL BOOTHS:
• Interface Children and Family Services
• UCLA Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center
• Rainbow Alliance
• Tri–Counties Domestic Violence Services
• Planned Parenthood
• Lideres Campesinas
• District Attorney’s Office-Victim Services
• Soroptimist International of Los Angeles
• VC Health and Psychological Services
• Coalition to End Domestic Violence

For additional information, please contact Professor Lucy Capuano Brewer at 654-6400 ext. 1395 or Public Information Officer Alisa Moore at 654-6462.

The Fall Harvest Festival will be Thursday Night Oct. 29th at San Cayetano. This year the festival is being sponsored by The Wells Fargo Foundation. The festival is from 5-8PM. All four elementary schools will participate in the event. There will be lots of fun games and plenty to eat! We look forward to seeing you at the event. Stop by and say thank you to Wells Fargo for supporting our elementary schools!

On Monday, October 5, 2009, San Cayetano School recognized good citizenship and character at their Peacebuilder Assembly for the month of October. Patty Walker, the Mayor of Fillmore, came to speak to the students about what a good citizen is and how respecting others is important. She talked about how we can be good citizens to help our school and community. Each teacher chose a student from his or her class whom showed excellent character and respect in the month of October. Julian Calderon and Christina De La Mora, the San Cayetano ASB President and Vice-President assisted Mrs.Walker in handing out the Peacebuilder Awards. The Peacebuilders for October are Christian Hernandez, Luke Hernandez, Donovan Estrada, Alotl Aparicio, Evan Almallio, Aaron Carranza, Nathan Alverdi, Robert McElroy, Noelani Sanchez, Gustavo Granados, Connel Ferguson, Robert Gonzalez, Bryan Arnett, Sabrina Belat, Diego Magana, Angel Mejia, Angelica Rivas, Joseph Cronin, Felipe Gonzalez, John Chavez, and Liliana Lemus. Mrs.Walker then announced the San Cayetano Character Counts Award of a $100.00 savings bond sponsored by the Rainbow Foundation. Mrs.Walker presented the Character Counts Award to a deserving second-grade student. Jennifer Martinez from Ms.Harbert’s class was chosen by the second grade teachers as a model of kindness and respectfulness to the other students and school community. To conclude the assembly, students were reminded to turn in their Perfect Attendance tickets. Each month all students who come to school, each day, on time, are given a purple raffle ticket. The students place their tickets in a box and one ticket is drawn. The student whose ticket is drawn is given a NASA backpack with the book Max Goes to the Moon in it. Each month, the tickets will be put into a larger box that will be kept until the end of the year. In June, Mrs. Marholin, the principal, will draw from the tickets to give away two new bicycles. Roberto Magana won the Perfect Attendance Award for October.

This week at the High School is celebrating homecoming! The theme this year is Dr. Seuss. On Monday the week was kicked off with a party at the bus garage. The week will be filled with dress up days for the students. Float Building will be going on all week starting at 3pm and going till 9pm at the Bus Garage. Each class has picked a specific Dr. Seuss book to be the theme of their float. On Friday the floats can be viewed by the public at 2:50pm during the Homecoming Parade. The parade route will start up at the high school and will end at central. Come out and support the classes. During the homecoming game king and queen will be announced. Voting for Class and Senior Court went on in the week prior. The Homecoming Dance will be held Saturday at the Boys and Girls Club. Ticket costs are $2 with ASB sticker; or $5 without sticker. The dance begins at 7 o’clock and ends at 11. Good Luck to all classes and the football team. Let’s have a fantastic week of school spirit!

We are very excited and pleased to announce that Wells Fargo Foundation will again sponsor the Fall Harvest Festival at San Cayetano Elementary School on Thursday October 29th from 5-8PM. This event is a fundraiser for the four local elementary schools. Once again we will feature Lou Hoover’s famous cinnamon rolls as a charity booth. This year’s recipients will be the local fire and police agencies for their Toy Donations during the holiday times. With Wells Fargo as our sponsor we know this year will be bigger and better than ever. The Lions will be BBQing tri-tip sandwiches and there will be games and food for all. Come for the games and stay for dinner. This is truly a community event. Come say hi to your local Wells Fargo personnel. For information about the event or to purchase tickets in advance call 524-6040.

The Fillmore High School Band is alive and well, and happening as a seventh period high school class. The Fillmore Band Boosters are making plans to purchase new uniforms for our hard working musicians. The existing band uniforms were purchased 25 years ago. There are currently 51 members of the marching band, and only 35 uniforms can be pieced together. A band member described the uniforms as old, smelly, and in urgent need of replacement.

Band Director, Greg Godfrey, estimates the uniforms will cost around $30,000. Plans to raise money include designating a portion of every band fundraiser to the uniform account, creating several special fundraisers, and asking the community to contribute. Our students need uniforms they can wear with pride.

The Fillmore Band Boosters are a group of parents and music lovers who support all Fillmore and Piru school bands, which includes high school, middle school, and elementary level music students. The Band Boosters assist the music programs by providing supplementary funding for all areas of the music program including instruments, instrument repair, transportation, uniforms and sheet music.

Donations are always welcome and may be sent to:
Fillmore Band Boosters, PO Box 1008, Fillmore, CA 93016

The group meets the first Monday of each month, except when it falls on a school holiday, at 6:30 PM in the High School Band Room. For more information, contact Band Boosters at 524-6137. All contributions are tax deductible.

Camarillo, Calif. Oct. 20, 2009 – CSU Channel Islands (CI) has announced a campus and community town hall meeting to be held Tuesday, Oct. 27, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. in Malibu Hall 100 on the University campus.

The town hall meeting, an initiative of the CSU’s Chancellors Office and the University’s Center for Community Engagement, will provide a forum for the University and community to engage in conversations about needs and assets as a result of the current economic crisis, raise awareness of the impacts of the crisis, strengthen partnerships between the University and the community, and provide a foundation of information for the CSU to seek external funders to support community engagement work throughout California.

CI’s Center for Community Engagement, in collaboration with the Martin V. Smith School of Business & Economics, the Political Science program, Student Government, and Ventura County Together – a community collaborative comprised of First 5 Ventura County, United Way of Ventura County, Ventura County Community Foundation, and the Community Commission for Ventura County will host the meeting.

Ventura County Together will begin the program by presenting CONTINUED »

United Water Conservation District, in association with the American Ground Water Trust (AGWT), is offering a great opportunity for local teachers to learn about the science of water. The two-day Groundwater Teachers Institute will provide real-life applications of a variety of areas of science as they relate to providing water for our homes, the environment, agriculture and more.

The Institute is open to high school and middle school teachers from the Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Paula, Fillmore and Camarillo areas and is limited to 30 attendees. And in recognition of the fiscal challenges currently confronting our schools, United, together with several generous co-sponsors, is picking up the full cost of the program, including the cost to the schools of hiring substitutes so that their teachers can attend.

The program, which will be held the evening of Thursday, November 5 and all day Friday, November 6, will include tours of Oxnard’s GREAT Program Desalter and United’s Freeman Diversion Dam, and will have the benefit of presentations by water experts from various disciplines including fisheries biology, geology, agriculture, engineering and more.

Any teacher interested in the program should contact Tony Morgan or Ken Breitag at United Water Conservation District (805-525-4431) or register online at www.agwt.org/teachers/institutehome.htm.

United would like to thank the following sponsors for helping make this program possible: Blois Construction, the City of Oxnard, the City of Ventura, Famcon Pipe and Supply, FGL Environmental, Hopkins Groundwater Consultants, Hydrometrics LLC, Leavens Ranches, Limoneira Company, Nordman Cormany Hair & Compton LLP, Penfield & Smith Engineers, and Ventura County Resource Conservation District.

California State University Channel Islands

Camarillo, CA. - The science clubs at CSU Channel Islands (CI) have planned an exciting event for Ventura County students in grades K-8. The First Annual Science Carnival will take place on Friday, Oct. 23, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at University Charter Middle School, 550 Temple Avenue, Camarillo.

The event was initiated by Dr. Philip Hampton, Professor of Chemistry at CSU Channel Islands. Hampton, who is also the Director of the National Science Foundation’s Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) and the Director of HIS STEM Grant at Oxnard College, is eager to encourage students to investigate STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) majors or careers.

The Science Carnival coincides with National Chemistry Week. Hampton credited the CI biology, chemistry and LSAMP clubs with the creation of the carnival. President Mary Grabiak and Vice President Ashley Bonneau of the chemistry club, the Free Radicals, were instrumental in spearheading the development of the event. Hampton and his students worked closely with Charmon Evans, Director of the University Preparatory School, so that all science content would relate to the science curriculum covered in grades K-8.

The Carnival will feature hands-on science activities, followed by CONTINUED »

Fillmore Unified School District

FILLMORE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2009
5:15 P.M. – CLOSED SESSION
6:00 P.M. – SPECIAL BOARD MEETING
3811 CENTER STREET, PIRU, CALIFORNIA

AGENDA
The public may review or request a copy of support materials provided to the Board Members where the word materials appears.
5:15 P.M.
I. CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
II. ROLL CALL
III. PUBLIC COMMENT ON ANY CLOSED SESSION ITEMS, PETITIONS
This is the time and place to address the school board on any closed session item. State law prohibits the Board from acting on issues not included on the agenda; however, requests may be made for discussion of specific topics at subsequent meetings.
IV. CLOSED SESSION
The Board of Education will meet from 5:15 to 6:00 p.m. to consider CONTINUED »

Fillmore Unified School District

FILLMORE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2009
5:15 P.M. – CLOSED SESSION
6:00 P.M. - REGULAR MEETING
627 SESPE AVENUE, FILLMORE, CALIFORNIA

AGENDA
5:15 p.m.
I. CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
II. ROLL CALL
III. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NONAGENDA ITEMS, PETITIONS
This is the time and place to address the Board. State law prohibits the Board from acting on issues not included on the agenda; however, requests may be made for discussion of specific topics at subsequent meetings.
IV. CLOSED SESSION
The Board of Education will meet from 5:15 to 6:00 p.m. to consider matters appropriate for Closed Session in accordance with Government Code Sections 3549.1, 54956.7 through 54957.7 and Education Code Section 35146. If the Board does not complete Closed Session discussions at this time, the Board may adjourn to Closed Session at the end of the regular meeting. DISCLOSURE OF ITEM(S) TO BE DISCUSSED IN CLOSED SESSION School District Pupils (Education Code 35146)
o Expulsion Case Number 09-10-03 CONTINUED »

From the start of this process of educational reform, it is has been the goal of Piru Charter School to value and protect the work of our school’s classified employees. During the Piru Reconfiguration Committee sessions held in the Winter and Spring of 2009, the entire staff, with input from classified staff, came up with a list of what we called ‘non-negotiables’, principles that any charter plan must include to be acceptable to the staff. Every single teacher on the staff agreed to these principles. Classified employees were informed of the meetings, given agendas and invited to participate, and those that did also agreed to these principles. The key principles the staff decided upon were:

Salary schedule equivalent or better than FUSD’s
Benefit package equivalent or better than FUSD’s
Pension- remain in STRS and PERS
Due process rights for employees (including classified employees)
Union affiliation with local association (for ALL EMPLOYEES)
Staff participation in governance and decision-making (including classified employees)
Staff selects Curriculum (including classified employees)
Retain current staff (including classified employees)

It is the intent of our charter petition, CONTINUED »

Misinformation has been given out to create fear, here are the facts:
Migrant funds will continue, All migrant programs will remain, Piru School will continue to be a free public school, More parent input (parents will be on local Piru school board), More local control, No more waiting for empty promises (how long do we wait for these long promised grant monies???? Where is the student drop-off turn around???? Where is our new safe field????). Future K-8, Smaller class sizes, Our goal is to do what is best for Piru school students; not for the district. For more information, see our web site: www.pirucharterschool.blogspot.com.

La Verdad de Convertirnos en una Escuela Charter
Mucha desinfornación se ha dado para crear miedo; aquí están los hechos: Los Fondos Migratorios Van a Continuar, Todos los Programas Migratorios Van a Continuar, La Escuela de Piru va a continuar a ser una escuela publica y gratitua, Más opiniones de los padres (padres estarán en la junta local de la escuela Piru), Tendremos un mayor control local de nuestra escuela (¿cuånto tiempo tenemos que esperar becas prometidas? Dónde está el lugar seguro que prometiero para dejar y recojer a nuestros estudiantes? Dónde está nuestra nueva cancha segura que fue prometida?). En el Futuro una escuela del kinder a octavo grado, Clases más pequeñas, Nuestra meta es hacer lo que es major para los estudiantes de Piru, no para el distrito. Para obtener más información, consulte nuestro sitio web: www.pirucharterschool.blogspot.com.

When the Piru Charter School train left the station, few passengers were on board. What was described as a “collaborative” effort now appears to represent the work of only 3 individuals with the consent of an additional few people. There was no effort to get “buy in” from more than a small handful of community members, classified staff members, nor teachers not in “the know”.

The Piru Charter School petition was written in secret. Over a year ago Piru Elementary School staff met to explore reconfiguration at Piru School to parallel the district’s conversations on reconfiguration. The conversations at Piru were to include ways to improve instruction within the current school structure, investigate the concept of a magnet school, and look at charter schools. The conversations, led by then principal Richard Durborow and long time charter advocate Christopher Pavik, began with a broad focus but were quickly narrowed by the leaders to the single concept of charter. In its discussion the Piru School staff had hoped to gain an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages associated with Charter Schools. However, the leaders rapidly took the discussion from investigation of charter schools to joining a charter association and writing a charter petition to make Piru Elementary to a conversion charter school. A conversion charter school requires the existing school to close then the newly incorporated sef-governed school is opened in its place. Many staff members believed at that point the discussion had been derailed and resulted in an end to whole staff collaboration. The conversations continued with a small group of teachers in secret. The product of these secret meetings was the petition presented to the Fillmore USD on September 16 to convert Piru Elementary School to Piru Charter School.

The founding group of Piru Charter School petitioners presenting their CONTINUED »

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On Wednesday, Oct. 7th, Fillmore students took to the streets for International Walk to School Day. Students from Fillmore Unified School District walked to school assisted by police officers along with parents, teachers and community volunteers. All FUSD students and staff were encouraged to walk to school. The event began at 7 am at Fillmore's City Hall (Fillmore area schools) and at the Piru Fire Station (Piru Elementary). Participants were provided with fun early morning physical activities, as well as nutrition and pedestrian safety fun facts. Students were assisted by community volunteers, parents, teachers and local area agencies. Events continued throughout the day at each campus.

Events included Network for a Healthy California—Gold Coast Region Children's Power Play! Campaign, Safe Kids of Ventura County, Dairy Council of California, Fillmore Police Department, Piru Fire Department, Santa Clara Valley Neighborhoods for Learning, FedEx Kinkos, Fillmore City Hall, Fillmore Unified School District, Fillmore and Piru School staff, parents and students. Hundreds of Fillmore students joined in the Walk to School event.
Those walking from City Hall were accompanied by police officers and other community members. Each student had the opportunity to participate in various physical, nutrition and safety activities in their schools.
Walk to School events focus on creating safer routes for walking and bicycling and emphasize the importance of issues such as increasing physical activity among children, pedestrian safety, traffic congestion, concern for the environment and building connections between families, schools and the broader community.

On Wednesday, October 21, 2009 Fillmore High School Seniors will have the opportunity to meet with representatives from UC, CSU, community college, and private colleges and universities at the Second Annual Higher Ed Week at Fillmore High School during periods 1 and 3. College and university representatives will be here from Imperial Valley College; California State University Northridge; San Bernardino State University; San Marcos State University; San Diego State University; SDSU-Imperial Valley campus; Chico State University, University of California, Davis; UC Irvine; UC Riverside; UC San Diego; and UC Santa Cruz. Our local community colleges, Ventura, Moorpark, and Oxnard will also be represented.

Private colleges will include Point Loma Nazarene, University of San Diego, Cal Lutheran and Columbia College,
U.S. Forest Service as well as Southern California Consortium.

Many students will have representatives of their college choice here and it will give them an opportunity to ask specific questions about choosing a major, scholarships, campus, dorms, tour dates, academic requirements and paperwork they must complete in order to be accepted. Higher Ed Week emphasizes the importance of making an informed decision on where to attend college.

For more information on Higher Ed Week, please contact Fillmore High School Counselor Norma Perez-Sandford at 524-6107 or npsandford@fillmore.k12.ca.us

Norma Pérez-Sandford is a Counselor at Fillmore High School.