FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Monday, July 2, 2012

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Education Headlines

Monday, July 2, 2012

School districts get $52M to pay for controversial construction plan

Two Coachella Valley school districts have received about $52 million for school construction projects from the state allocation board.

O.C.'s public face of education retires

For the past decade, Bill Habermehl has served as the unofficial Ed McMahon of the Orange County education scene, bursting into classrooms with balloons and cameras and an entourage to deliver trophies and $15,000 checks to Orange County's Teachers of the Year. Habermehl, 69, an unabashed cheerleader and champion of Orange County schools, retired Friday after 11 years as county schools superintendent.

Outgoing Twin Rivers trustee finds vindication in grand jury report

After years of being dismissed as an ill-informed troublemaker, Twin Rivers Unified School District outgoing trustee Alecia Eugene-Chasten is feeling more than vindicated in the wake of Thursday's release of a critical grand

Clock is ticking on pay for Sweetwater boss

Sweetwater schools Superintendent Ed Brand — just approved to stay on through December at $20,000 a month — might not do so.

Citizen protests $11 million no-bid contract

An El Cajon woman has demanded the Grossmont Union High School District rescind its award of an $11 million no-bid construction management contract - even though a renegotiation saved 12 percent in management costs.

Some felony charges dropped against Ivy Academia Charter School founders

Six felony charges were dropped Friday against the husband-and-wife team who founded Ivy Academia Charter School, although the couple still faces three dozen counts in the alleged theft of up to $120,000 in public funds, officials said.

L.A. district weighing graduation of students who failed class

After three seniors failed a class, made it up in a few days and graduated, teachers criticized the turnaround. But officials say they worked within the system.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Rio approves budget, delays vote on fact-finding report

The Rio School District board approved a budget on Thursday that would result in a negative ending balance in 2013 while putting off a vote on a fact-finding report that calls for a pay cut across the district.

Ventura Unified puts parcel tax on November ballot

Voters in the Ventura Unified School District will be asked in November to back a parcel tax to maintain academic programs in the 29-school district.

Defeat of Calif. teacher bill shows union power

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa slammed it as "cynical political manipulation," Los Angeles schools Superintendent John Deasy termed it shameful, but for the California Teachers Association, it was a victory.

Pajaro Valley USD approves budget for 2012-13 school year

Leaders of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District on Wednesday passed a $173 million budget for next school year that they described as stable, preventing layoffs and program cuts.

Mill Valley's student bulge could push out Ring Mountain Day School

The Mill Valley School District's bulging enrollment is putting pressure on the district to look for ways to expand, and now that pressure is being felt by the private Ring Mountain Day School, which learned this week that it may have to begin looking for a new campus.