Denair Charter Academy was built to serve students such as Jennifer Negrete-Garcia – teens who for various reasons were not finding the success they wanted in a traditional high school setting.

In Negrete-Garcia’s case, she was dealing with multiple trying situations involving family and friends while she attended Hughson High School. In the middle of her junior year, she decided to enroll in DCA, which features an academically rigorous independent study program catered to the needs and schedules of students such as Negrete-Garcia.

Since making the move, Negrete-Garcia has flourished. She’s on pace to graduate this spring and looks forward to pursuing a career in the medical field.

In recognition of her progress, the Denair Unified School District nominated Negrete-Garcia for the Every Student Succeeding program run by the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). She and a couple of dozen other nominees will be honored Tuesday morning at a breakfast hosted by the Stanislaus County Office of Education. DCA teacher Monica Gonzalez, counselor Sally Baker and Denair Unified Superintendent Terry Metzger will accompany Negrete-Garcia to the event.

The Every Student Succeeding program, now in its 20^th year, recognizes students in grades K – 12 who have overcome serious challenges, succeeded beyond expectations or just won the hearts of their school staff. That certainly describes Negrete-Garcia in the past year.

“She has endured her trials with grace and has managed to maintain good school attendance, good grades, a positive attitude, and she has kept a beautiful smile on her face,” said Baker.

Students and staff at Denair Elementary Charter Academy demonstrated their excitement for books and reading by again participating in Read Across America last week.

Read Across America is a nationwide event coordinated by the National Education Association. It includes suggested books appropriate for students at various grade levels as well as ideas for other activities to promote reading.

At DECA, in addition to a focus on reading, last week’s activities included dress up themes each day.

• On Mixed Up Monday, students rocked their clothes inside out, backward or mismatched.
• Thing 1 and Thing 2 Tuesday was all about twinning. Some buddies even coordinated their outfits to look like Thing 1 and Thing 2.
• Oh, the Places You’ll Go Wednesday had students showing off their college shirts or sporting tees from places they’ve visited.
• I Can Read with My Eyes Shut Thursday was all about wearing shirts with readable text to flaunt their love for literacy.
• Reading is Better with a Buddy Friday wrapped up the week with cozy pajamas and stuffed buddies for some quality reading time together.

Principal Laura Cardenas said some teachers and other staff members also embraced wearing different clothes, including some who visited classrooms while dressed as characters from the Dr. Suess books “Cat in the Hat” and “The Grinch.” 

Older students also paired up with younger ones as “reading buddies” for different activities throughout the week.

“It was so nice to see everyone coming together over books and sharing the joy of reading,” Cardenas said.

For both Christian Vrioni and Evan Coronel, this wrestling season was a time of unexpected success and impressive growth. The two Denair High athletes each showed flashes of the kind of potential that has their coach excited about their futures.

Vrioni, a junior competing at 157 pounds, and Coronel, a sophomore wrestling at 190, each made it to the second day of the Sac-Joaquin Sub-Section Meet last weekend in Sacramento before being eliminated. Those results came a week after the two Coyotes had fought their way to Southern League championships.

Denair Coach Bryan Herrington said Vrioni and Coronel each made big strides toward establishing themselves as among the top wrestlers at their weights heading into next season.

“If you add up his total wrestling experience, it’s less than six months,” Herrington said of Vrioni, who wrestled briefly as a freshman and not at all as a sophomore before rejoining the team this season.

As for Coronel, “The first time he sent foot on a wrestling mat was Oct. 26,” Herrington marveled. 

At the Sub-Section Meet – which features the top wrestlers from all the small schools in the region – Vrioni and Coronel enjoyed first-round byes Friday because they were league champions.

Vrioni won his first match 7-4 over Hunter Schneider of Amador, then was pinned by Owen Keslinger of Amador, who went on to win the 157-pound title. That dropped Vrioni into the consolation bracket on Saturday. He pinned Ivan Chirskiy of Future to make the consolation quarterfinals. Needing one more win to make the top six and have a chance to qualify for this week’s Masters Meet, Vrioni was pinned by Gage Masters of Highlands in second period.

“I have zero complaints,” Herrington said. “He wrestled tough. He didn’t wrestle scared. … He’s going to keep wrestling in the offseason. I don’t see any reason he’s not competing at the Masters Tournament next year. I think that’s very impressive.”

Coronel also won his first match Friday, pinning Isaac Anderson of Wheatland in the first period. Like Vrioni, Coronel was beaten in the next match 9-6 by Lincoln Garel of Union Mine. His season ended Saturday morning when he was pinned by Saifubra Ghaws of Highlands in the first round.

“He went from knowing nothing to competing at the varsity level and being successful,” Herrington said of Coronel. “I cannot have any complaints.”

A third Denair wrestler, freshman Josiah Ruelas at 106 pounds, got into the Sub-Section Meet as an alternate and lost both his matches. “It was good experience for him,” Herrington said.

Vrioni, Coronel and Ruelas are expected to participate in the Denair youth wrestling program known as the Den run by Herrington. That season starts in mid-March and runs into first week of June. The weekly tournaments provide exactly the kind of competition that Denair’s young athletes need to improve.

“The goal every year is to get somebody in Masters, but I feel like next year, maybe we’ll get two or three,” Herrington said. “I’m very optimistic moving forward. I should have 10 to 15 returners on our team next year.”

Goliath Padilla scored twice in the first half – once on a penalty kick and the second time on a booming shot after eluding three defenders – to lead the top-seeded Denair boys soccer team to a 2-1 home victory over Woodland Christian on Friday night in the first round of in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI playoffs.

Denair (20-6-2) advances to play No. 5 Millennium (7-7-2) of Tracy, which defeated Waterford 5-0. The match is Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Jack Lytton Stadium.

The Coyotes are shooting for their third Section title in a row. Despite dominating the ball Friday, they couldn’t quite shake eighth-seeded Woodland Christian (6-8).  

“Our defense was really good,” praised Denair Coach Antonio Padilla. “They only had two shots the whole game and one went in.”

Manny Renteria, Nico Zavala and Octavio Balle keyed the Coyotes’ stingy defense, which was too much for Woodland’s offense. Balle left briefly late in first half with sore knee, but came back to finish the second half.

“He told me, ‘Coach, I’ll do whatever I need for the team,’ ” Padilla said.

Goliath Padilla – the son of the coach – and Denair’s offense controlled the ball for much of the game, keeping Woodland’s defense on its heels.

Padilla’s first goal came on a penalty kick in the first half after he was pushed from behind near the box. Woodland managed to tie the score at 1-1 at halftime, but Padilla came through again early in the second half with the winning goal. He dribbled through three Woodland defenders, then launched a missile past the goalie. It was his 35^th goal of the season.

“He had a tough angle,” his father said. “It was a beautiful goal — very powerful past the goalkeeper.”

Denair threatened to expand its lead with multiple shots after that, but couldn’t find the net.

“We tried,” Antonio Padilla said. “Their keeper was good. It was just one of those days.”

Denair hopes to have another one of its top players, Diego Padilla, back for the match against Millennium. He has been out with a sore right quad.

The other Division VI semifinal has No. 2 Esparto (14-6-1) hosting No. 3 (11-9-1) on Tuesday. The championship match is Saturday at 2 p.m. at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento.

The cost of replacing aging buildings and kitchens and modernizing classrooms is only getting more expensive in the Denair Unified School District. Thursday night, trustees heard an updated report that estimated the price tag at $45.1 million.

That wish list includes big-ticket items like a two-story classroom building at Denair High School to replace modular buildings that never were intended to be used this long. At Denair Elementary Charter Academy, the needs include new classrooms, a new library, a relocated kitchen and main office, and an improved parking, pick-up and drop-off area to create a single point of entry that also is more efficient for buses as well as delivery vehicles. Denair Charter Academy also would be reconfigured to create a single point of entry.

The district doesn’t have nearly enough money in its bank account to pay for all those things, nor can it expect the state to foot the entire bill. Like most school districts, that means asking residents to pass a school bond that would raise the necessary funds. The bonds are repaid over many years through assessments on property owners’ taxes.

Trustees will have to decide by June whether to put a bond of up to $32.1 million on November’s ballot. To pass, it would need to be approved by at least 55% of voters.

Property owners in the Denair district currently are paying off two bond measures – Measure P, passed in 2001, and Measure K, passed in 2007. District officials said the plan is for the 2001 bond to be paid off in 2028 before any new bond would go into effect, thereby not raising property tax bills.

“Most people want to know how you can raise $30 million without raising taxes. The goal is to raise the most money with the least impact on taxpayers,” acknowledged Khushroo Gheyara, executive vice president of Caldwell Winters Flores. CFW is the Emeryville company that helped Denair create and update its facilities master plan, which lays out the district’s needs.

Gheyara cited property data that estimates the total value at $1.7 billion within the Denair district, more than enough to support a bond measure like the one Denair is considering. He also pointed to a 2022 survey of residents that indicated 63% would support a school bond vs. 34.5% against. He recommended to trustees that another survey be taken this spring to gauge current opinions.

Daisy Swearingen, the district’s chief business official, told trustees though there is some modernization-related money likely available from the state, most of it requires school districts like Denair to put up what are called matching funds. The only way to do that typically is through school bonds.

“For qualifying modernization projects, the state funds 60 cents on the dollar and the district matches the remaining 40 cents. The facility also must be over a certain age to qualify,” Swearingen explained.

Swearingen stated that the district will continue to seek other sources of funding – including any available state grants – but that will not provide nearly enough money to pay for Denair’s long-term needs. 

Since the board last heard about facilities needs in October, the number of potential projects has grown — and so has the price tag.

“This is an initial proposed project list with preliminary cost estimates only. We believe there are areas where we can sharpen the pencil on some of the projections,” Swearingen said.

Trustees are scheduled to take a walking tour this Sunday of the district’s four campuses to learn more about what is needed.