Sorry kids:
classes resume
Monday
—
Sierra Star/Lacey Rees
Bus mechanic Poncho Capuchino
checks the oil on one of the 20 school buses in the combined Yosemite High
School and Coarsegold school districts’ fleet. The buses will be out on the
road Monday morning [August 19].
by Lacey Rees - of the Sierra
Star
It’s the day parents have been
waiting for — and maybe even some kids — the first day of school. All Mountain
Area schools, except those in Chawanakee School District will begin classes on
Monday [August 19]. Chawanakee’s schools (Spring Valley, North Fork, Mountain
Oak) will begin on Wednesday [August 21].
Following is a brief overview of
what’s new at each school including new employees, enrollment, changes in
facilities and any new programs.
Bass Lake Elementary — Bass Lake Elementary will begin its school year with an
interim principal, Michael MacChesney, who is superintendent of Bass Lake
School District. There are no new teachers or staff.
Coarsegold Elementary — Randy Haggard, who has been assistant principal at
Yosemite High School, is now principal of Coarsegold Elementary School. See
story in this edition.
Chawanakee Home School — Chawanakee Home School has been running since 1992. Doug
Waltner, its principal since its beginning, is now its director of alternative
education.
Eleven teachers cover the 220
students in its kindergarten-through-eighth-grade program and four teachers
handle its adult education program plus the 60 students in its high school
program. Since the district is in the process of unifying with Minarets High
School District, there may be some changes coming for the entire home school.
The enrollment is always
increasing. There is an office at Yosemite Lakes Park and some students meet
there. The teachers also travel to various locations to meet with students.
Gateway Christian School — Gateway Christian
School, after operating for 22 years, has closed. See story in this edition.
Mountain Home School — Michael Cox, who
has been the principal at Oakhurst Elementary School the past three years, is
Mountain Home School’s new principal.
Enrollment is up, he says, and
there are “more than we can accommodate for the time being.” The staff if working to see how they can
accommodate those who have interest in the program.
Joanne Cable, a veteran teacher
from Oak Creek Intermediate, will divide her time between Mountain Home and
Bass Lake Elementary as a special education teacher.
“The big news,” Mr. Cox says, is
“we started a second school, a new school, Glacier High School Charter”
It will operate much like Mountain Home
School Charter does but will serve high school students.
Glacier High will begin with
about 20 students and will be governed through the Yosemite High School
District, but based at the same site as Mountain Home School. Mountain Home is
part of Bass Lake School District. We
are anticipating starting the year with 20 students. Glacier High will serve mainly those who are already home
schooled or who need individual attention, among other reasons.
“I believe in the home schooling
model.” says Mr. Cox He is glad that
“the district has the vision to make room in its structure for that sort of
thing.”
Mountain Oak High School — Mountain Oak High School, which used to called Willow
Creek High School, has as its principal Marihelen Westrick. The school is no
longer a continuation school but is a comprehensive high school.
The school, located in North
Fork, expects about 25 students to enroll. The school will have the AVID
program which offers tutors and study skills in preparation for higher
education.
Along with a curriculum focused
on preparing students for higher education, the school plans to have an
Academic Decathlon and will focus on ROP computer technology and forest management
for sophomores through seniors and the freshmen will have a choice of three
“hands on” classes.
The new office has been built for
the secretary/registrar, and a partition has been put in so people don’t go
directly into a classroom upon entering a building. Also an extra classroom has
been made available for students needing more one-on-one attention. A new
social science teacher, Jeremy Becker, has been hired. He will also teach wood
shop.
It is expected that the students
will have a basketball team and cheerleaders, as it did last year, and may add
a golf team to its athletic department. Buena Vista High School, which serves
students in the Valley areas of the school district, offers programs similar to
Mountain Oak.
North Fork Elementary — Enrollment is stable at North Fork Elementary at about
350 students. There are no new teachers or staff but “a lot of shifting around”
of teachers, says “Grandma” Elaine Fink, the school secretary. The county-run
Head Start program has moved up the hill to the elementary school campus this
year from its former quarters at Town Hall.
Oak Creek Intermediate — Bob Guizar, principal of Oak Creek Intermediate, says the
school’s enrollment is “up a little bit.”
Three new staffers have been
hired. Kelly Fleck, from Coarsegold is the school’s new librarian. Trudy
Kensel, who moved from the Valley, is the new resource teacher. Tim McGrew will
be the new seventh-grade teacher. He and his wife just recently moved to the
Mountain Area from Southern California where he taught school. He will replace
Tom Allcock who is now the principal/superintendent at Raymond.
Other than those changes,
“everything seems to be working real well,” says Dr. Guizar.
Oakhurst Elementary School — Kathleen Murphy is the new principal of Oakhurst
Elementary as Michael Cox, the former principal has transferred to Mountain
Home School. See accompanying story on Mrs. Murphy in this edition.
She says the enrollment is about
the same as last year.
The school has installed new
playground equipment over the summer.
The school received $5,000 under
the California Reads program which will be spent on books. “You can never have
enough books,” she say. Many of the new books will support the school history
and social science programs and its accelerated-reader program.
Raymond Knowles Elementary — Tom Allcock is the new principal of the school and
district superintendent. In the past,
Mr. Allcock taught at Oak Creek Intermediate for six years and was its vice
principal. Before that, he was a teacher at Wasuma for 19-and-a-half years. He
remains chairman of the Yosemite High School District Board of Trustees.
Michelle Townsend, who recently
moved from Southern California with her husband, has been hired as a fourth-
and fifth-grade teacher.
Enrollment at Raymond, a
kindergarten through eight-grade school, remains at about 90. The school has
four teachers and one off campus.
Its community day school, a type
of alternative education, will begin this year, with a teacher to supervise.
The school also has the “YES” program,
an after-school enrichment program for any of the students to who want to come.
They can study or do enrichment project in art, music, for instance. Mary Cox
will run the county program.
Rivergold Elementary — This year Rivergold Elementary will add seventh-grade
students to its school beginning this year, says Principal Bob Rose. Two teachers, Holly Fowler and Phil Wimer,
have transferred to the school from Coarsegold Elementary to teach seventh
grade.
Kirsten Reinhart, also
transferring from Coarsegold, has been hired as a part-time physical education
teacher Becky Cano will split her time between Rivergold and Coarsegold as an
art teacher.
Suzi Stewart, who has worked in
the district will be class room instructional assistant and serve in yard
duty. Has been with the district for a
while.
Eileen Hollingshead, who was a
substitute bus driver for the Yosemite High School and Coarsegold, will be bus
driver for Rivergold this year. Gilbert Caserez is a school’s newest custodian.
The enrollment will increase
about 60 students because of the addition of seventh grade. An additional 25
students also enrolled over the summer.
Rivergold will add two new
buildings within the first month, one for
Coarsegold Home School program and the other for the after-school club,
called the Hawk Club.
The Hawk Club, offered from noon
to 6:15 p.m. to any student enrolled at the school, will offer an academically
based program of tutoring, help with homework and enrichment activities such as
art and crafts.
Student care will also be offered
in the morning from 6:45 to 7:45 a.m. New families to the area are asked to
stop by the school office to enroll their children as soon as possible.
Information: 658-7566.
Seventh-day Adventist School — Julie Givens, who has lived in the mountains for five
years, is the school’s new principal and sole teacher. She has a full-time aid
and good parent-volunteer support, she says.
Enrollment at the school is about 18 and is up from last year. The
number may climb before classes starts.
The school already has, and may
yet, pick up some students from the now-closed Gateway Christian School. “We
are open to all faiths,” Ms. Givens points out. The school teaches kindergarten
through eight-grade.
With the purchase of four new
computers, the school is adding a computer curriculum.
“It is a family atmosphere,” she
says of the school. This year they are offering life skills to the program,
such as bread making, woodworking and “maybe gardening.” Also offered are piano lessons to its small music
program.
The school is upgrading its
playground facilities to meet state playground safety regulations.
Spring Valley School — School starts for Spring Valley on Wednesday [August 21].
The school’s enrollment is about the same as last year, around 135. There are
no new teachers, although there will be a new person hired to run its
extended-day program.
“We are starting our garden
reading area” which is accessed from the library, says Spring Valley’s
principal Loretta Pesetski. Kids can go into a garden area to read. It now has
a cement pathway and a committee is planning on benches. Eventually there will
be trees and flowers. Mrs. Pesetski says that all Chawanakee School District
school will build gardens for reading.
The extended-day program will
continue which provides for students before and after school. In the morning,
students can opt for breakfast, and then study, play board games, read or work
on individual projects. After school, until 6 p.m., there is supervised
homework, reading, free snacks, outdoor play plus art, drama and music. It is
available to all students enrolled at the school.
Mrs. Pesetski says the school has
new math and language-arts text books this year. For the third year in a row,
Spring Valley has earned the Governer’s Reading Award for which the school has
received $5,000 to be spent on reading incentives and books. “More books for
the kids to read,” she says excitedly. “More and more books!”
She reminds parents of new
students to register at the office from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on any week day.
Information: 868-3343
Wasuma Elementary School — Glenn Reid, is beginning his fourth year as Wasuma’s
principal. He says the school’s enrollment is increasing. It was 365 at the end
of last school year and a week before school it had grown to 375, “and they
keep coming in,” he says.
Leslie Peterson, who taught at
Bass Lake Elementary last year, will be the school’s new second- and
third-grade teacher.
Eric Hagen will teach junior high science full time. He is on a
temporary contract for one year to replace a teacher taking a year off. Mr.
Hagen has substituted in schools in the Mountain Area previously.
The school reconfigured its
available space to create an extra classroom to accommodate kindergarten which
has increased to two classes instead of the one-and-a-half of previous years.
“We networked the school last
year in January,” says Mr. Reid. “I’m excited about starting out the school
year with it and making sure we know how to use its capabilities.”
Wawona School — Wawona School is a kindergarten-through-sixth-grade
school within the borders of Yosemite National Park. The principal is Michelle
Horner who is the sole teacher with the help of a part-time secretary and
Loretta Lyster, her full-time aid, now called a para-educator.
With enrollment down a bit this
year, it looks like there may be about 15 students.
The school is waiting for a bill
to pass through the U.S. Congress that will give it additional funding. It
hopes to then hire another teacher and offer programs equitable with other
schools in the Bass Lake School District.
Yosemite High School — Yosemite High School has a new assistant principal, Tom
Fiormonti, who will double as athletic director. Albert Nicciolo is the new
special education coordinator and resource teacher. The school has also hired
several new staff. See story elsewhere in this edition.
The parking lot has been repaved
and the campus is now completely fenced. The tennis courts have been
resurfaced, and work continues on the baseball field. Ground is being prepared
for the construction for a music classroom building.