Category Archives: News

Denair High Grad Ken Carder Earns Prestigious FFA Award

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Submitted by Denair Unified School District

Ken Carder will join an elite group of high-achieving ag students at this week’s FFA national convention in Indianapolis.

Carder, a 2015 Denair High graduate, will receive the American FFA degree, which is awarded to only about 1% of students nationally. According to the FFA website, only those members “who have demonstrated the highest level of commitment to FFA and made significant accomplishments in their supervised agricultural experiences” earn the award.

Carder, 19, has been an FFA member for six years and represented Denair many times at the Stanislaus County Fair. He has shown cows, pigs, chickens and goats. In 2012, his Yorkshire pig was named grand champion.

“I’m been raising pigs the longest, so they’re my favorite, but I also like dairy cattle because they’re different to control,” he said.

There are nearly 630,000 FFA members across the country. Of that group, about 4,500 are being honored at a ceremony Saturday morning with American FFA degrees. Carder is one of about 350 recipients from California and the first from Denair High in six years.

Carder now attends Modesto Junior College while working at the Taylor Vet Clinic in Turlock, helping with small animals and occasionally horses. His goal is to transfer to Chico State, Cal Poly, Fresno State or possibly Kansas State, majoring in ag business.

Carder’s stepmother, Michelle Bettencourt, said he promised her a few years he would achieve a higher FFA rank than she did as a student at Downey High in Modesto. Bettencourt got as high as the state level during her FFA career.

“He said he was going to beat me and he did,” said Bettencourt, who will accompany her husband and Carder to Indiana this week.

Carder said it’s the friendships that he will miss most as his FFA ends after this weekend’s ceremony.

“I mainly just focus on the times I’ve spent with my friends at competitions or meetings,” he said when asked about a favorite memory. “I look back and know I couldn’t have done it without their support. They kept me sane.”

Coyotes’ Defense Dominates with 7 Interceptions, 2 Fumble Recoveries in Second Straight Shutout

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Submitted by Denair High School

This year’s Denair football team is unconventional in many ways – in its toughness despite often being physically outmatched, in its versatility because there are so few players and in its ability to make a big play that shifts the momentum in its favor.

All those characteristics were in evidence in the Coyotes’ 32-0 Southern League victory over Ripon Christian on Friday night at Jack Lytton Stadium.

Denair posted its second straight shutout despite never once forcing the Knights to punt. Instead, the Coyotes’ opportunistic, bend-but-don’t-break defense took the ball away time and again – intercepting an incredible seven passes while also recovering two fumbles.

Ripon Christian’s turnovers allowed the Coyotes to turn a taut 6-0 game at halftime into a blowout by early in the fourth quarter. Denair (2-1 in the SL, 4-2 overall) stretched its scoreless streak on defense to nine quarters. It hasn’t given up a point since the third quarter against Gustine on Sept. 23.

“We thought about the shutout during the game,” acknowledged Denair coach Anthony Armas. “It’s a big deal. When the game was over, we thought, ‘Holy cow, we shut them out again.’ ”

Three of the Coyotes’ seven interceptions were made by do-it-all senior cornerback Brendan Curnow, who returned his third pick 21 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown that capped the scoring. As the fullback on offense, he also ran for 124 yards on 20 carries.

Curnow’s latest heroics were nothing new. In the previous game – a 50-0 demolition of Le Grand – he scored six TDs. For the season, he now has 13 touchdowns in six games.

“He’s one of those kids who doesn’t make the same mistake twice,” Armas complimented. “He runs the ball really hard and he’s very physical on defense. Mentally, he’s a smart kid. I think that this year his body caught up with his mental acuity. He’s a little taller, a little thicker.”

One of the critical sequences against Ripon Christian (1-2, 2-4) came to start the second half. Denair committed its only turnover of the night, fumbling the kickoff and setting up the Knights deep in Denair territory. But the Coyotes’ defense stiffened and stopped R.C. on four plays inside the 10-yard line. Continue reading “Coyotes’ Defense Dominates with 7 Interceptions, 2 Fumble Recoveries in Second Straight Shutout” »

Class Act! 10 questions for Tanya Rock

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Submitted by Denair Middle School

Name: Tanya Rock

Family: Husband, Nick; son, Sean (9); daughter, Brianna (7)

School: Denair Middle School

Subject taught: Math

Experience and education: After earning my degree and teaching credential at CSU Stanislaus, I began teaching math at Prescott Junior High.  After four years of teaching, I made the decision to be a stay-at-home mom for a while.  When both of my children were old enough to be in school, I began working part time as a substitute teacher at their school.  This is my first year back to teaching full time.

Why most inspires you about teaching? The students.

What are your biggest challenges as a teacher? I’d have to say that my biggest challenge is meeting the students’ needs on the various levels that they are on in the time constraint of 50 minutes per day.

What is your favorite teaching tool or activity?  I find whiteboards to be especially helpful in math.  They allow students to practice problems and work out ideas while allowing me to quickly assess how each student is doing.

How has Common Core affected your classroom strategy? I’ve found it to be more effective to guide the students to discoveries in learning rather than to just tell them things directly at times.

What do you want your students to remember? Math may not always seem easy at first, but everyone has his own way of learning, and with patience and perseverance everyone can be successful.

How can parents support what you do? I would say that the greatest support that parents can give is to spend time with their child and to communicate with both their child and with me.

What will it take to improve academic success in DUSD schools? I am new to the district, so I am unsure of this answer! Continue reading “Class Act! 10 questions for Tanya Rock” »

Denair Unified Trustees Approve 2.37% Bonuses for Teachers

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Submitted by Denair Unified School District

The road to financial recovery took a satisfying turn at Thursday night’s special meeting of the Denair Unified School District board. Trustees approved a 2.37% bonus for all teachers who were on staff in 2015-16, the first step toward restoring painful salary cuts enacted three years ago.

The one-time payment matches bonuses given to classified staff earlier this year.

Thursday’s unanimous decision affects the 65 teachers and school counselors who worked in the district last year – including those who retired or took jobs in other districts this year. The bonuses will be distributed this month and will cost the district $110,861 – money board members and Superintendent Aaron Rosander were delighted to share.

“We owe a big debt of gratitude to all our employees,” Rosander said. “They’ve all been working hard to reposition and recast our district in our community. And it’s working. Now we’re gaining more people because our programs are powerful. And I think the best is yet to come. You can see that we’ve turned the corner.”

When Rosander arrived in February 2014, the district and its employees were reeling from a one-two financial punch of declining enrollment and reduced state funding. Salaries for classified staff were slashed 12%; pay for teachers and administrators was cut 8%. Some employees were laid off.

Enrollment, which peaked at about 1,600 students in 2008, had been steadily eroding and bottomed out at 1,294 children in 2014-15.

“Declining enrollment will bring you to your knees. It will choke you,” Rosander said Thursday night. “The budget gets tighter and tighter. That was the piece that was really vexing to our district.”

Rosander and Chief Business Officer Linda Covello initiated a financial recovery program that maximized the use of so-called “restricted” funds to pay for people, programs and equipment while reducing the burden on the general fund. The district’s food program was revamped, turning a $100,000 drain on the budget into a money-maker. Rosander said “powerful interventions” lowered how many students were assigned to special education programs that are required by the state but not fully funded. Continue reading “Denair Unified Trustees Approve 2.37% Bonuses for Teachers” »

Curnow Scores 6 TDs as Denair Crushes Le Grand 50-0

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Submitted by Denair High School

Brendan Curnow’s six touchdowns Friday night in a 50-0 demolition of Le Grand may or may not have set a school record. When you’ve been playing football since 1946 – as Denair High has – there is a lot of history to chronicle, though not all of it is written down. For sure, Curnow’s performance is one of the best any Coyote has ever had.

And still that may not have been the most interesting takeaway from a game that Denair dominated from start to finish.

The fact is the Coyotes suited up just 13 players – and then had Jarred Carbajal go down with a dislocated left shoulder on the opening kickoff. It takes 11 players to field a team, meaning Denair played the rest of the game with only one reserve. There were many more coaches on the sideline than extra players.

“Every time we had a hard hit, I kind of freaked out until everyone got up,” admitted head coach Anthony Armas.

He said his coaching staff had 30 seconds before the first offensive series to “teach” Justin Gomes how to play tight end to replace Carbajal, who already was subbing for the injured Dylan Mann.

Low on bodies, the Coyotes nonetheless imposed their will on Le Grand, racing to a 26-0 halftime lead behind running backs Curnow, Justin Steeley and Chase Pritt, who shredded the beleaguered Bulldogs’ defense.

Steeley opened the onslaught with a 74-yard run – the first of eight touchdowns the Coyotes would score. Curnow took over from there. The senior back scored on runs of 25, 53, 35, 41 and 25 yards again, and then took a screen pass from Kyle Prock 80 yards for another TD to cap a memorable night. Continue reading “Curnow Scores 6 TDs as Denair Crushes Le Grand 50-0” »