San Benito County Education Digest

More than 80 county residents participated when the San Benito High School District held a community town hall as part of its planning to build a second high school.

Districts are trying to create or expand vocational training programs that “integrate” students with disabilities into careers and into society.

The proposal aims to help working artists become arts teachers in elementary schools.

At a Jan. 23 meeting, parents and students lined up to ask the board to allow the trips. Some accused the board of violating the Brown Act, claiming the board changed its policy without informing the public.

Rancho San Justo Middle School held a grand opening of the Bronco Well and Resource Center with about 60 people in attendance, including school and district officials and students.

Concerns over the history of Indigenous people, the need for diverse education courses, and representation in government were discussed at BenitoLink’s most recent Community Vision listening session.

Families have a lot of questions right now about how much help they’ll get paying for college—questions that financial aid offices can’t yet answer.

A Cal State systemwide strike secured what more than half a year of negotiations and partial strikes couldn’t: a deal.

Gavilan College hosted a Topping Off ceremony Jan. 17 at the new campus, where 80 San Benito County community members signed the last beam to be placed on the new college’s main building.

After UC Irvine-affiliated groups on the platform Discord were targeted by trolls spreading gory images, students banded together to block the attack.

Community college students who have taken two years off can apply to have a limited number of units cleared from their GPA.

The Golden State earned a moderate rating from the National Council on Teacher Quality, showing strength in some areas and weakness in others. Only 12 states earned a strong rating.

We need to have a serious discussion about supporting our education investments with stable revenue.

Milt Commons, long-time stage manager for El Teatro Campesino, willed his book collection to the San Juan Bautista City Library, where some volumes will form a new theater studies section.

After months of negotiations, university officials offer a 5% pay raise. The union is seeking 12 percent and plans to strike at the end of January.

The 2024 California Children’s Report Card from an organization called Children Now noted that the state has failed to improve economic disparities for students. The report also dings the state for things like STEM offerings, early intervention and special education.

San Diego Unified School District has received more than $700 million in federal and state relief funds since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with these funds ending, some schools could be facing serious deficits.

Two-thirds of community college students in California admit to struggling to meet basic needs. The California Community Colleges’ Student Ambassador Program has empowered more than 50 students to act as resource guides to help them.

“Progress remains slow,” according to a recent report on faculty diversity at California’s community colleges. For Nikia Chaney, the sole full-time Black faculty member at Cabrillo College, the experience is personal.

Emery Unified took a targeted approach, including paying teachers extra to stay after school and tutor students.

In a report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, researchers instead lay out a plan for what society might do to improve adolescents’ interactions with social media.

The Hollister City Council unanimously agreed to accept a $5 million grant for San Benito High School District to build a student union, which will include a cafeteria and other amenities.

The San Benito High School District announced John Corrigan resigned from the Board of Trustees, leaving a vacancy for Trustee area 5.

The financial aid application for undocumented students is cumbersome and confusing, and many students aren’t completing the forms. A new law streamlines the process.

The California Faculty Association has announced it will strike in January at the state’s 23 CSU campuses. It’s part of an ongoing effort by the group to obtain a 12% raise for the 29,000 professors and lecturers it represents.

The number of nursing students enrolling in high-priced private programs has nearly doubled over the past 10 years as the state’s public universities have stagnated in growth. Private universities charge up to seven times the tuition of public schools for a bachelor’s degree, but nurses say their starting salaries are worth the cost.

Despite a few improvements, results show students are still struggling on several fronts.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has formally backed an August motion by two law groups to keep the Temecula Valley Unified School District from being able to notify parents about transgender children or censor instruction about race. A hearing for the motion is scheduled for Jan. 24.

Salaries for school superintendents in California have risen as much as 60 percent in the past decade. This comes as good superintendents have become more difficult to hire and retain.

A Cal Poly Humboldt professor is partnering with USDA researchers to study biochar, which results from heating dry plant-based materials at high temperatures without oxygen. The CO2 in the charcoal then stays in the soil for hundreds of years, rather than in the atmosphere.

Homeschool students in San Diego County are up by 88 percent since the 2017-18 school year, based on Washington Post data analysis. This tops an overall increase in the United States of 50 percent for this same timeframe.

Oakland School District teachers planned lessons for students related to the history of Gaza. District superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell emailed parents and staff to say the teaching isn’t approved or sanctioned by the district.