Category Archives: News

Denair Board Moves to Hire Private Bus Services

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DUSD School Bus

Submitted by Denair Unified School District

A shortage of qualified bus drivers and mechanics prompted the Denair Unified School District board to unanimously pass an emergency declaration Thursday night to immediately seek bids from a private company to provide the service.

About 120 of Denair’s 1,300 elementary through high school students ride the bus daily, district officials said. Despite repeated recruitment efforts, Denair has been unable to find two qualified applicants to work the daily four-hour bus driver shifts. Drivers were paid between $13.50 and $16 per hour, depending upon experience.

Instead, other district employees qualified to drive a bus – a custodian, a utility worker and a transportation supervisor – have had to take time away from their other duties. In some cases, they also have had to work overtime.

When its own fill-in employees have been unavailable, Denair has had to contract with the Hughson Unified School District to provide bus services.

“We are little one absence away from the buses collapsing. If one of these employees is out, we would be in an untenable situation,” said Superintendent Aaron Rosander, who stressed the need to provide reliable transportation to students.

The emergency declaration allows Denair to seek bids in a compressed time frame. Meanwhile, when school resumes January 5, 2015, after the holiday break, the district expects to drivers from Storer Transportation of Modesto operating the buses while bids are being evaluated.

The change will not affect the route schedule, said Linda Covello, Denair’s chief business officer. She said the new company will be expected to use the four DUSD buses and offer an equivalent position to the current transportation supervisor.

Covello said Denair expects to spend about $75,000 to outsource busing, which would save about $39,000 from what was budgeted. The new company will provide bus services for the remainder of this school year, at which time the outsourcing arrangement will be re-evaluated.

DUSD Board Cheers Positive Financial Report

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DUSD Logo

Submitted by Denair Unified School District

The Denair Unified School District has made a remarkable financial turnaround, trustees were told Thursday night, and will finish the 2014-14 school year with a small surplus.

The recovery is about 18 months ahead of the aggressive expectations set last spring by new Superintendent Aaron Rosander and his revamped financial team in conjunction with state and county advisers. He said the district has kept a “laser-like” focus on its fiscal challenges and been “parsimonious” with its spending.

“The entire district has come together to ensure our success,” said Rosander, who took over in February. “Management and union members have worked impressively together over the past eight months. This relationship is strong and our combined will to succeed is even stronger.”

The district has an $8.7 million budget in 2014-15 and estimates it will end the school year with a 3% reserve, or about $262,000. That meets the minimum requirements set by the state and should earn Denair a “positive” certification for the first time since January 2012 from the Stanislaus County Office of Education, which reviews all school district budgets in the county.

In addition to across-the-board pay cuts, 19 full-time teaching jobs and one administrative position were eliminated earlier this year, and there were reductions to some non-essential academic programs. This fall, the district also was buoyed by a $250,000 windfall from the state thanks to recalculations related to its Average Daily Attendance, which school funding is based on. Other revenue adjustments netted the district about $90,000.

Rosander said parents and other community members “can rest assured and put confidence in the district that their schools are being managed with a high degree of accuracy when it comes to the financial component. Continue reading “DUSD Board Cheers Positive Financial Report” »

A Class Act! 10 Questions for Rosanne Cantwell

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RCantwell

Submitted by Denair Unified School District

Name: Rosanne Cantwell

Family: I have a spectacular husband of 16 years, Mike, who not only teaches AP biology and chemistry at Gregori High School in Modesto, but coaches wrestling there as well. I am also blessed to have two beautiful, active daughters: Riley is 14 years old and a freshman in high school and Sidney just turned 12 and is a seventh-grader.

School: Denair Middle School

Subjects Taught: Seventh- and eighth-grade math as well as a leadership class

Experience and Education: I worked hard and earned my bachelor’s degree and teaching credential from CSU Stanislaus. I am currently in my 18th year of teaching (all at DMS!!). I started teaching seventh-grade language arts and social studies before moving to sixth grade to partner teach with a dynamic teacher (Mrs. Bush) before taking two years off to stay at home with my girls. I returned to teaching in 2004 and have been teaching algebra/math ever since.

What inspires you about teaching? I think the connections that I get to make with these young adults that I teach inspires me the most. I remember when I was in sixth grade and had to have emergency surgery. My sixth-grade teacher (Ms. Willett) took time to come and visit me while I was recovering in the hospital. I knew then that I wanted to teach and connect with students the way that I felt connected to her. That she would take her personal time to visit me made me feel special. It gives me joy to have former students come back to visit my classroom to tell me they miss my class or that they are doing well in high school math.

After 17 years of teaching in Denair, I have great pride in seeing how successful some former students have become. Some are even parents now to my current students. I currently work alongside a particularly amazing former student (Mrs. Hilton) who carries the same enthusiasm and work ethic now as when she attends the middle school as a sixth-grader! Continue reading “A Class Act! 10 Questions for Rosanne Cantwell” »

DHS Winter Sports Preview

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DHS Coyotes Football

Submitted by Denair Unified School District

The gym is a busy place these days at Denair High School. The boys and girls basketball teams plus the wrestling team all have begun their winter schedules with an eye toward preparing themselves to compete for Southern League titles in January and February.

Boys Basketball

Despite a 10-player roster, third-year coach R.J. Henderson is confident the Coyotes have improved enough to contend for one of the league’s three spots in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.

“I’d like to think the last week or two of the season we’ll be playing for something,” said Henderson, whose young team won just seven games a year ago.

This season, the Coyotes will benefit from a sizeable presence in the middle in the form of 6-foot-3, 280-pound senior center Ryan Galhano, who didn’t play last year. Henderson expects Galhano will be one of the most physical players in the Southern League.

Three other seniors – forwards Dominyc Silva and Chase Vann and guard Vince Fuentes – were named tri-captains.

Henderson said Silva has the mentality and savvy of a “35-year-old city league player.” He called Vann “a good glue guy” and rebounder who does many things to help a team. And he said Fuentes is “probably our best pure shooter with the most range.”

Junior guard Isaac Starks, who played on the varsity as a sophomore, rounds out the starting five. Henderson said he’s the team’s best option to create a shot off his dribble.

The small roster means if one player misses practice, an assistant coach has to step in to have a 5-on-5 scrimmage. Denair’s enrollment already makes it the smallest school in the Southern League. Despite that, Henderson thinks his squad will continue to build a new culture of success. Continue reading “DHS Winter Sports Preview” »