Fourth and Fifth Graders who have perfect attendance through March 2nd.
Fourth and Fifth Graders who have perfect attendance through March 2nd.
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Renae Stovesand, Member of the Sespe School Parent Club is presenting a check to Mrs. Hibbler to purchase AR books with money raised from the Avon fundraiser that the school did in November 2009. The parent club matched that amount so that AR books could be purchased for the library.
Renae Stovesand, Member of the Sespe School Parent Club is presenting a check to Mrs. Hibbler to purchase AR books with money raised from the Avon fundraiser that the school did in November 2009. The parent club matched that amount so that AR books could be purchased for the library.
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Kindergarten and First Graders who have perfect attendance through March 2nd.
Kindergarten and First Graders who have perfect attendance through March 2nd.
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Second and Third Graders who have perfect attendance through March 2nd.
Second and Third Graders who have perfect attendance through March 2nd.
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The Sespe School Walk-A-Thon was on March 12, 2010. Above, 4th and 5th grades eager to start.
The Sespe School Walk-A-Thon was on March 12, 2010. Above, 4th and 5th grades eager to start.
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Kindergarten and First Grades.
Kindergarten and First Grades.
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2nd and 3rd grades.
2nd and 3rd grades.
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Mrs. Hibbler, Principal participating.
Mrs. Hibbler, Principal participating.
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Sespe School Secretary Amelia Ramirez walking with some students.
Sespe School Secretary Amelia Ramirez walking with some students.
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The Western University of Health Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, is pleased to announce that local student William Jolley, son of Susan K. and Robert Jolley, has been seated for the incoming class of 2014. One of the nation’s newest and most innovative colleges of Veterinary Medicine, Western has recently received full accreditation and will seat 100 students out of approximately 4,000 applicants this year. An honor’s graduate of Hart High School, William earned a Regent’s Scholarship to study science at UC Santa Barbara. Switching to Cal Poly to pursue a specialization in Agricultural Biology, he was named class valedictorian in 2005. Since then he has pursued a career of ranch management and beekeeping. William plans to pursue large animal medicine and hopes to specialize in surgery. When he graduates in 2014, he will not be the first, but the second physician in his family. Younger sister Margaret is currently completing her second year of medical school at UC San Diego.
Congratulations, Drs. Jolley!

 
Join hands with all service clubs and non-profit groups in and around our community on April 17th

The "S" Club of Fillmore High School and Soroptimist International of Fillmore is organizing a Community Service Festival. The purpose of the festival is to: *Join hands with service clubs/non-profit organizations in Fillmore and all F.U.S.D. school clubs and work together to showcase our individual club, our non-profit organization and our school clubs. *Raise funds for our club/organization/school. *Provide affordable family entertainment.

We need your support and participation to help us have a good old fashioned festival. The festival will be Saturday, April 17 2010 at Sespe School. All clubs are encouraged to sell three items (ie, food, school spirit clothing, something unique to your club)...All proceeds go to the particular organization/club selling the items. For each item sold the club must also provide a FREE game/event. Such as bingo, craft center, balloon toss...each club decides what they want to sell and which games to provide free of charge.

Advanced registration is required. Please stop at Fillmore Mail Stop, 330 Central Avenue to register and secure your spot.

We will have a final meeting on Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 7:00 pm, in Room # 49 at Fillmore High School. Come find out how you can participate and benefit from this festival. Come to the meeting and share your idea or ask your question and to register.

For more information please contact:
Oralia: 524-4326 / magnoliares@sbcglobal.net or
Kathy: kittyvargas@gmail.com

 
Getting Ready for Spring, Mountain Vista Elementary School planned a garden workday. Staff and Parents volunteered their time on two Saturdays to assemble planter boxes and fill them with soil.  getting them ready for classrooms to begin planting. Pictured are Darren and Joey Zepeda helping Mr. Castro level a planter box as Mrs. Castro and Marie  Molina look on.
Getting Ready for Spring, Mountain Vista Elementary School planned a garden workday. Staff and Parents volunteered their time on two Saturdays to assemble planter boxes and fill them with soil. getting them ready for classrooms to begin planting. Pictured are Darren and Joey Zepeda helping Mr. Castro level a planter box as Mrs. Castro and Marie Molina look on.
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Mountain Vista parent volunteers, Mr. Castro, Mr. Vargas, Mrs. Aparicio, and Mr. Magana shoveling 19 cubic yards of soil to fill the planter boxes. Classrooms will have the opportunity to plant vegetables and help maintain the garden.
Mountain Vista parent volunteers, Mr. Castro, Mr. Vargas, Mrs. Aparicio, and Mr. Magana shoveling 19 cubic yards of soil to fill the planter boxes. Classrooms will have the opportunity to plant vegetables and help maintain the garden.
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Mrs. Castro digging a hole to plant a peach tree, as Mrs. Anderson, Ms, Bautista, Angel Rodriguez, and Mrs. Gonzalez fill planter boxes. Mrs. Castro’s target class decided to plant a peach tree after reading, “ James and the Giant Peach”.
Mrs. Castro digging a hole to plant a peach tree, as Mrs. Anderson, Ms, Bautista, Angel Rodriguez, and Mrs. Gonzalez fill planter boxes. Mrs. Castro’s target class decided to plant a peach tree after reading, “ James and the Giant Peach”.
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Congratulations MV Kindergarten students for passing the “Principal’s Math Challenge”. Kindergarten students were challenged to complete a matrix, writing numbers from 1-50 with 100% accuracy in 5 minutes or less. Pictured are: (front row) Davian Gonzalez, Edwardo Garcia, Alicia Gonzalez, Olivia Lagunas (back row) Alejandra Magana, Annet Dela Cruz, Nyssa Garibay, Emma Myers, said Raya, Emmalee Perez.
Congratulations MV Kindergarten students for passing the “Principal’s Math Challenge”. Kindergarten students were challenged to complete a matrix, writing numbers from 1-50 with 100% accuracy in 5 minutes or less. Pictured are: (front row) Davian Gonzalez, Edwardo Garcia, Alicia Gonzalez, Olivia Lagunas (back row) Alejandra Magana, Annet Dela Cruz, Nyssa Garibay, Emma Myers, said Raya, Emmalee Perez.
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Information About Grizzly Youth Academy

Thank you for your inquiry on Grizzly. It is a pleasure to share my thoughts with you on this wonderful program. I have been recruiting young men and women to this program for 10 years and in the past have served as a mentor as well. I have also discouraged students from going and have offered other suggestions instead when I think it is not an appropriate option for them. For the record, I DO NOT recruit for any branch of the military and I have always been informed that the Grizzly staff does not recruit or advertise the military as a choice for students either. My only interest is to help students graduate from their high school and to help them with resources that will enable them to be successful in reaching their goals in their adult life.

The reasons why any youth would consider Grizzly vary based on their individual, personal or academic situation. In the end, it is up to the youth and their informed parent(s), to decide if this voluntary program is the right choice for the student. As a counselor, I review the academic history with students and parents, and hand out applications when inquiries are made. In many cases, students can also make the choice to improve their academic situation here at Fillmore High School by asking for help from their teachers and counselors, staying after school, completing their homework, studying for tests, or by enrolling at Sierra High School and/or taking additional courses through Ventura College.

The Grizzly Youth Academy is a very structured CONTINUED »

 

Congratulations to Megan Baker of Fillmore. Megan made the Dean’s List (Scholars maintained 3.6 GPA) at California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks. Megan is a junior pursuing a Liberal Arts degree.

 

The Ventura County Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) is proud to announce a special education staff member who has completed all requirements for the Autism Certification Program in March 2010 and is recognized as an expert. For this certification, candidates participate in a variety of professional development events in order to gain skills and expertise for working with children with autism.

The candidate receiving a certificate is Ventura County Office of Education Education Specialist, Sophia Denise Pannell.

For more information on our Autism Certification Program go to our website at www.venturacountyselpa.com and click the “Autism” button. For more information call the SELPA office (805) 437-1560.

 
Before and After: (left) Retaining walls crumbling and (Right) New Retaining Walls have been installed.
Before and After: (left) Retaining walls crumbling and (Right) New Retaining Walls have been installed.
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Thanks to the efforts of a group of parents who support the Piru Charter School petition, the quality of education for the children of Piru Elementary is already improving. At the recent January 25th County School Board meeting to decide on the Piru Charter, parents and community members presented the Ventura County Board members and the County Superintendent with a presentation of pictures of the run-down conditions of the play areas, buildings and other facilities of Piru School. The Ventura County Board members and the Superintendent were distressed by what they saw. One of the County Board members, Dean Kunicki of Simi Valley, said in response to these photos that he had visited the campus the weekend before with his family, and that he had never seen a school in worse condition than Piru. He urged parents to use a State law known as the Williams Act, which requires school districts to provide safe and adequate facilities for all students, informed them that they should file officlal â€Williams Act’ complaints to get the campus fixed, and he turned to the District Superintendent, who was at the meeting, and put the District on notice that the conditions at Piru School were not acceptable and that the District is liable for them. County Superintendent Stan Mantooth personally provided parents from Piru School at the meeting with information on how to obtain the â€Williams Act’ complaint forms, and since then those parents have filed complaints, and this action, combined with the publicity generated by the charter hearing, is bringing much-needed improvements to the campus. Take a look for yourself.

 

The Scholarship Committee of the Alumni Association received twenty seven applications from seniors of Fillmore High for the 2010 alumni scholarships. The committee, which consists of Mark Ortega, Kathleen McCreary, Corinna Mozley, Betty Carpenter, Liz Kemp and Dick Mosbarger, scored the applications, which consists of an autobiography, grade point average and involvement in school and community activities, to determine the top applicants. These seventeen will be interviewed by the committee on Wednesday, April 14 to determine the top individuals in this year's class. All applications will then be sent to Mr. John Lemley, class of 1961, who will also score the applications, and will determine the top two applicants who will receive the John and Nit Lemley scholarships, which consists of a $2500 scholarship for two years plus a one time $500 stipend towards a lap top computer. The remaining fifteen applicants will receive alumni scholarships, which will be presented at the awards assembly in June. The seventeen finalists are: Susana Amezcua, Susan Bolanos, Andre Casas, Esteban Casas, Anthony Chavez, Jazmin Galvez, Armanda Hernandez, Mariela Inda-Ramirez, Alejandra Lopez, Megan Louth, Moneh Magdaleno, Kelsey MacDonald, Kellsie McLain, Conchita Meza, Lena Stehly. Rebecca Vassaur and Deanna Villagomez.

The Alumni Association is also working to update the address files for all alumni members, so if you, or anyone you know has recently moved, please notify the alumni office at 805-524-0416, or at: staff@FilmoreHighAlumni.com so we can keep the files current. We are also asking that those alumni members who are not subscribers to the alumni newsletter, Flashbacks, to please consider doing so, as your subscription not only brings you the newsletter, but it also helps keep the association operating and allows us to support the activities that help the high school. This past year the alumni association has re-started the Shasta Daisy project to provide the flowers for the arches for graduation and has purchased two banners for the gym, which provide the words to the alma mater and to the school's fight song. The Board of Directors would especially like to see all former scholarship recipients sign up to receive the newsletter, which is only $20 per year. The Fillmore High Alumni Association is one of a kind and is only as successful as the support obtained from the members, so please help us by becoming a subscriber.

 
Come meet your micro gravity team before they go into space

San Cayetano is a nationally recognized NASA Explorer School. In 2007 they were chosen through a competitive grant process to earn that title. With that distinction come many opportunities. This year, NASA team member Melanie Chisholm teamed with San Cayetano Principal, Jan Marholin to write a competitive paper about an experiment in micro gravity. Mrs. Chisholm and her students took the lead on developing an experiment that can be flown in reduced gravity and shared that with other team members and their students. The project was chosen as one of 10 in the country for this years flight. The experiment has to do with liquid transfer in reduced gravity. The experiment will be shipped to Houston after the Family Science Night and then the five teachers will follow on April 21st. They will go through astronaut type training in at Johnson Space Center before their flight. Each teacher at their own expense had to be cleared by an Aviation Medical Doctor saying they were ok to fly. We thank Dr. Brian Brantner of Ventura who gave staff a very generous discount. The teachers and the experiment will fly in a C-9 aircraft and do parabolic maneuvers over the Gulf of Mexico. Upon landing and collecting the data from the experiment , the students at San Cayetano will be able to video conference live with them as they get off of the aircraft. These teachers are the first from Ventura , Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo Counties to be chosen for this project. The Micro Gravity Team will be demonstrating their experiment at San Cayetano’s Family Science Night April 8th. Come and meet the team: Melanie Chisholm, Brandi Walker, Rory Maus, Scott Olson, and Viviana Laureano-Magana.

 
Guests include Ty Warner Sea Center, UC Hansen Agricultural Center & Gull Wings Childrens Museum

They will be at the San Cayetano Family Science Night April 8th from 6-7:30PM. This event is FREE for all Fillmore and Piru students. Bring the whole family and experience being put inside of a bubble, hold sea specimens from the Mobile Marine Lab, plant a plant and take it away from the UC Hansen Agricultural Center, try on a spacesuit from the Gull Wings Childrens Museum and much, much more! Also featured with free hands-on science activities will be: Channel Islands National Park, INTELSAT, California Oil Museum, Dept. of Water Resources, California Condor Recovery, United Water Conservation District and Associates Insectary. Try your luck with balloon rockets, paper gliders and impact craters. This free event is being brought to you by The San Cayetano NASA Team and Friends.

 

The exterior painting of the District Offices is part of a much larger painting project. The District recognized a couple of years ago that most of our school sites were looking run down. Beginning with San Cayetano, which hadn’t been painted in approximately 30 years, the District hired two painters to paint all of our school sites. After San Cayetano the painters moved to Piru. Third in line for the cosmetic improvement was Sespe Elementary. The District Office building was chosen as the starting place for the Sespe portion because of high visibility of the building. The District has received nothing but positive feedback from the students, staff and community about the new cleaner look the sites are experiencing. After Sespe is complete, the painters will go to Fillmore Middle School then to Fillmore High School to touch up the exterior paint and finally to Mountain Vista the newest school in the District. There is really no specific time frame for completion, each site takes as long as necessary to achieve the professional results expected. I don’t have an exact breakdown of the cost for repainting the individual sites because of several factors that influence labor and material costs unique to each site. I don’t know the percentage from each funding source but funding for the project comes from several sources including our Deferred Maintenance Account, Bond Funds and Developer Fees to name a few.

The only other project scheduled for the District Offices at this time is to replant the beds along the front of the building. The plants will come from the District’s nursery stock grown from seeds, cuttings and donations. The plants are also used to replant distressed areas of all of our school sites. We are continually searching for donations to replenish our nursery stock.

Our long term goal for the District Office building is to revert the building back into a classroom building for the Sespe site. We are communicating with the State to determine what seismic upgrades need to be done and what grants are available to achieve our goal.

 

Community members and FMS families are ALWAYS WELCOME to the Home of The Bulldogs! Please join staff for our monthly Meet and Greets in our Parent Center, held the last Friday of every month. FMS is hosting its March Meet and Greet this Friday, March 26th at 7:30 a.m. The atmosphere is casual, and provides a great chance to follow coffee, pastries and conversation with a walk through of classrooms with a counselor or administrator.
What is great about FMS will continue to be great…and we will continue to improve each year. We as a staff need our parents and community to help keep us moving forward. Our school’s goals are the same: to maintain open communication among all stakeholders so that we will continuously improve our teaching, the running of a school, and each one of our student’s safety and success. To discuss how to support our students, upcoming events, or any concerns or questions, please call the FMS office at 524-6055 or find us on the web at www.fillmore.k12.ca.us .Call or drop by to make an appointment with Mrs. Godfrey, Mr. Carroll, or any member of our school staff. “Safety, Learning, and Love” are our top three priorities and also how we meet the diverse needs of our middle school students.

 
Mariah Perez
Mariah Perez

Even though it was spring break last week our athletes were still dedicated to their sport. Track had a meet against our rival, Santa Paula Cardinals. JV boys and girls both defeated Santa Paula, as well as our boys varsity; girls varsity however did lose to them. Boys volleyball had a game this week against Nordoff, JV lost 2-1 and varsity lost 3-0. Boys baseball also had games this week. JV and varsity played against Grace Brethren, JV won and varsity lost. They both also played against Nordoff, JV lost 1-0 and varsity had a double header winning both games 5-3 and 8-3. Softball had a game against Santa Paula and both JV and varsity dominated the Cardinals. Coming up is our Centennial Celebration, a dance celebrating 100 years of graduating classes. The event will take place April 10, 2010 from 6-10pm at the Fillmore High School gym. This event is open to the community, those who have graduated from Fillmore over the past 100 years, and of course their date. Tickets will be on sale Saturday, March 27th, in front of the high school. They will also be on sale march 29th-April 9th during school on campus and on weekends. Cost will be $20.00 which includes a t-shirt for the celebration. Also at the celebration seniors will be burying a time capsule. So seniors please come and bring an item to bury. We hope to see many of you there. This Friday, March 26th will be a movie night at the high school quad. Games start at 6pm and the movie that will be playing is “Up”, which will begin at 7pm. We hope to see the community and students get involved and come. Let’s Go Flashes…

 
Fillmore Unified School District
Fillmore Unified School District

FILLMORE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2010
5:15 P.M. – CLOSED SESSION
6:00 P.M. – SPECIAL BOARD MEETING
627 SESPE AVENUE, FILLMORE, 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 CLOSED SESSION AND 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 CONTINUED »

 
A Civil War instructor shows authentic period pieces to Fillmore Middle School students.
A Civil War instructor shows authentic period pieces to Fillmore Middle School students.
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Fillmore Middle School held their Civil War Reenactment last Friday, March 12. The event was held in the parking lot, from 9 - 11:30. The students wore costumes for the reenactment and there were several displays on site including a cannon.
Fillmore Middle School held their Civil War Reenactment last Friday, March 12. The event was held in the parking lot, from 9 - 11:30. The students wore costumes for the reenactment and there were several displays on site including a cannon.
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Pictured-but not in order are team members: Fernando Trujillo, Roman Tarango, Ian Overton, Ashley Montano, Felipe Gonzalez, Taylor Wright, Dominique Alamillo-Diaz, Joe Giunta. Teacher Coaches were Melanie Chisholm and Brandi Walker. JPL-NASA Referees were Ota Lutz and Carlo Cayetano (No relation to San Cayetano).
Pictured-but not in order are team members: Fernando Trujillo, Roman Tarango, Ian Overton, Ashley Montano, Felipe Gonzalez, Taylor Wright, Dominique Alamillo-Diaz, Joe Giunta. Teacher Coaches were Melanie Chisholm and Brandi Walker. JPL-NASA Referees were Ota Lutz and Carlo Cayetano (No relation to San Cayetano).
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This is the second year that San Cayetano has had a team win the championship. This year was extra sweet as they scored higher than any of the secondary schools that entered the competition. There were 21 teams entered. Through San Cayetano’s NASA Explorer Schools Program, San Cayetano was able to purchase LEGO Robotics and have teacher coaches who attended a Summer Robotics workshop at JPL in 2008. Each 4th and 5th grade student receives thirteen sessions in robotics instruction. This year the program is being expanded with simple programming to include 3rd graders. Each January an after school opportunity begins with robotics teams preparing for the championship and out of those students the team members, by secret ballot choose who can best represent them to win. This year San Cayetano’s sponsors were Fillmore Sunrisers Rotary and INTELSAT. T-shirts were purchased through Waterart Designs, a local business owned by Veronica Morris. One last note that makes our San Cayetano Family very proud- they were awarded a certificate for Good Character as they loaned other teams parts who had broken or forgotten parts so that they may still compete. Isn’t that what life skills are all about!

Currently the competition can be viewed on the web at www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

 
(l-r) Mrs. Reyes-Deutsch, Destiny Orozco, Chad Hope, Alina Cantero, Chris Medrano, Valentino DeLaBarra, Rafael Regalado, Ms. Carolyn Consoli.
(l-r) Mrs. Reyes-Deutsch, Destiny Orozco, Chad Hope, Alina Cantero, Chris Medrano, Valentino DeLaBarra, Rafael Regalado, Ms. Carolyn Consoli.
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The Tobacco Bus is provided through Ventura County Public Health Tobacco Education to our 6th graders in Ventura County. Carolyn Consoli and Kim O’Neil tireless share the “Horrors” of tobacco to prevent future tragedies such as mouth and throat cancer, lung cancer, emphysema and even death!

This program supports our youth making positive/healthy choices in their lives and how to use this information to help their family members as well, even if they have already started using and are addicted to the nicotine. There are over 4,000 chemicals in a cigarette. Some of those chemicals are poisons such as arsenic, insecticides, formaldehyde and of course the by-product of smoke, carbon monoxide.

Here are three important phone numbers that are shared during the Tobacco Bus tour:
· 1-800-5ASK-4-ID, If someone sees a store clerk selling to a minor, they can make an anonymous call to report the illegal sale of tobacco (cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco).

· 1-800-NO-BUTTS, This is the California Smokers Help Line which is a free service to help people quit smoking.

· 201-STOP, The Ventura County Public Health offers free classes to anyone in Ventura County to help them stop smoking. They also provide “free” nicotine patches to help those going through withdrawals.