This is one in a series of Q&A’s with employees new to Denair Unified in 2022-23.

Family: Husband Mike, 10-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son

School: District Inclusion Specialist

Subject taught: Special Education/Inclusion

Experience and education: I have been interested in teaching special education since I attended Denair High School and worked in the moderate/severe classroom my dad taught. He taught and coached in Denair for many years. I really looked up to how he created rapport with his students and staff and taught while still allowing the students to have fun. I started out as a paraprofessional working for Stanislaus County and Turlock while I attended college. In 2007, I began teaching for Turlock Unified School District. I have taught at three different school sites and been a mentor for new teachers. I was on the district assessment team and site leadership. During my years as a teacher for TUSD, I also taught at Teachers College of San Joaquin, working with intern teachers working towards their credential. 

What attracted you to Denair? I have realized in my years of teaching that forming a community within your school is very important and having the support of the community where you work.  I love the small-town feel and I am excited to come back “home” to be a part of the community that has been created across the district. 

What most inspires you about teaching? Making a difference with a child in the slightest way. I have worked with many different students and families, and I love to see it all come together when a child makes progress not only at school but at home as well. I love working with a team who is committed to student success. I love building rapport with the students and their families.

What is a challenge you look forward to tackling this year? Learning the ropes at a new district. I know I have a lot of support and I look forward to working with the SPED team to support our students. 

What is your favorite teaching tool or activity? My absolute favorite activity I love to do with my students is working within a small group for social skills. You learn so much from students when you take the time to get to know them on a more in-depth level.  Teaching them different ways to make friends and approach different scenarios they may come across in life is so important.

What do you want your students to remember? For me, it is about making students feel loved and cared about. I remember some of my favorite teachers from Denair and they always were the teachers who cared so much about you personally. Making that connection to find the best ways for students to learn and be successful.

How can parents support what you do? Parents are such an integral part of a student’s success. Just always keeping open lines of communication and being supportive of their child.

What would surprise people about your job? I think a lot of people would be surprised at how much time is spent reviewing data, going through different ideas and scenarios with other SPED team members to come up with a plan that best fits each student’s individual needs. Working in SPED is such a rewarding experience, but it takes a lot of time and analyzing to do what is right for each student. 

What do you do for fun? Our family recently bought an RV and we have had a lot of fun camping this summer. I LOVE to shop, and if you know me you know I love Target. My absolute favorite thing to do is just spend time with my family. My parents have a Sunday dinner tradition; we all eat together and all the grandkids get to play and we all just hang out and talk this is one of my absolute favorite things to do.

For the first time in three summers, the Stanislaus County Fair was mostly back to normal this year. Though COVID-related concerns haven’t completely evaporated, the rides were crowded, the entertainment was fun and the barns were full of animals to be shown, judged and sold.

Denair High School’s 21 FFA members who entered animals or projects walked away with many of the top honors from this year’s fair, including the Clean Barn Award out of all the schools represented from throughout the county. That means Denair will get its choice of barn locations when the 2023 county fair is held next summer.

Among Denair’s top competitors this year was Thomas Guzman, who finished first in Dairy Goat Showmanship and received many other ribbons for his six dairy goats. Guzman also teamed with Shalyn Gomes to finish second in the 10-foot by 20-foot garden competition. In addition, Gomes was first in Intermediate Dairy Goat Showmanship.

Other students winning blue ribbons for first place included Aolani Rodriguez in Market Class Hogs and Best of Breed for her Duroc hog, Braden Backus for Reserve Champion Asiatic Chickens and Novice Showmanship, Dakota Richards for Champion Duck, Destiny Lema in Dairy Goat Class, Makenzie Miguel for Reserve Champion Blackface Heavyweight Goat and Diego Dutra in Ag Mechanics, 

Conner Prock earned a number of awards, including for Champion Slick Steer. He was second in Pair Females as well as third and fourth in Summer Yearling Registered Females.

Cassidy Abruzzini was second in Middleweight Market Goat as was Lema in Market Class Hog and Colton Webster in Ag Mechanics. 

Those finishing third were Makena Padgett in Market Middleweight Lamb and Intermediate Sheep Showmanship, Brenna Cole in Sheep Market Class, Aaliyah Rodriguez and Dakota Rutherford in Market Class Hog, and Zachary Christianson, Jacob Trevino and Webster in Ag Mechanics.

“It was a really successful year for Denair FFA,” said Denair High ag teacher and FFA adviser Holli Jacobsen. “Our kids did outstanding this year and are very motivated for the next fair season.”

By Jeffrey Lewis and Dr. Christina Garcia

With rising inflation, skyrocketing gasoline prices, and families financially crippled by mounting food costs, some people must forgo or delay filling or refilling life-saving medications because they can no longer afford them, even where they have insurance. While no one in financial distress should have to choose between food, medicine or being able to drive to work, that is today’s reality.

Nothing is being done to insulate working families against rising insurance costs, which include ever-increasing prescription drug co-payments. While Washington could address these challenges, nothing has happened. As the suffering grows, the political rhetoric intensifies.

It is time to de-escalate the rhetoric with a real solution. Legacy Health Endowment and the EMC Health Foundation, in collaboration with TIN Rx, a local pharmacy in Turlock, have created PharmAffordable, a $2 charitable generic drug program covering more than 690 generic medications.

PharmAffordable targets financially needy individuals and families with employer-provided insurance as well as the uninsured. People enrolled in Medi-Cal, Medicare and Tricare (Veterans benefits) are not eligible due to special rules imposed by those programs, unfortunately.

PharmAffordable is a pilot charitable program limited to only residents of the following communities and ZIP codes: 

To be eligible, people must also certify that they are in financial distress such that they cannot afford either the regular price of the medications or their insurance copay or deductible for the same medications.  Simply take your prescription to the TIN Rx pharmacy or ask them to have your existing prescriptions transferred to TIN Rx.

The savings could amount to hundreds of dollars a year in many cases. For instance, take a family in which the wife regularly takes medication for a thyroid issue and her husband takes medication for high blood pressure. Their co-pays currently range from $10 to $65 per month. Under PharmAffordable, their co-pays would both be $2 a month – saving them about $700 annually.

With more than 690 commonly prescribed generic medications available under PharmAffordable, there are many opportunities for families in financial distress to save money that can be used for food, gas, rent, or clothing, or saved for a college education.

Families are struggling. They are being forced to make difficult choices, and some involve potentially life-threatening healthcare decisions. We are collaborating on a solution through innovation, negotiation, and stewardship. PharmAffordable is not a panacea, but it is an essential first step in disrupting the status quo and putting families first.

Jeffrey Lewis is President and CEO of EMC Health Foundation and Legacy Health Endowment, and Dr. Christina Garcia is the founder and CEO of TIN Rx. The views expressed are those of the authors.

The Denair Unified School District budget has risen about $6.5 million in just three years, but don’t be fooled. Most of the increase can be attributed to two things – special funding from the state and federal governments related to COVID-19 and generous cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) from the state to make up for money shorted to school districts in pre-pandemic years.

Denair trustees unanimously approved a $21 million budget for the 2022-23 school year at a special meeting Thursday night, an increase of nearly $3 million from last year’s $18.2 million spending plan. The district is carrying over about $2 million in so-called COVID relief funds into the new budget year that can be spent on items such as textbooks, school supplies and technology upgrades.

“It’s a heathy budget, but we’re going to continue to be fiscally conservative,” said Superintendent Terry Metzger.

The 2022-23 budget reflects a second consecutive year of higher-than-average COLAs from California. Last year’s was 5.07% and this year’s is pegged at 5.33%. Some of that reflects the state trying to “catch up” on money it withheld from K-12 schools during leaner economic times; some of it is directly related to the current inflationary pressures that have impacted public agencies, private businesses and individuals across the country.

Still, much of the state funding remains tied directly to daily attendance. Denair, which saw enrollment dip slightly during the pandemic, expects to have 62 students more in the 2022-23 school year. Total enrollment is projected at 1,310.

As with previous budgets, most of the money – $15.4 million in 2022-23 — will go to pay for employee salaries. That includes across-the-board 4% salary increases Denair board members approved for teachers, administrators and all other staff on Thursday night. It also reflects the continued spike in pension contributions the district is legally required to make – 19.10% to the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) and 25.37% to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), which represents the non-teaching staff.

Daisy Swearingen, Denair’s director of fiscal services, projects the district will finish the year with a fund balance of $2,590,332. That’s more than $1 million more than the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. In another sign of its fiscal health, the district also projects it will have at least a 4% reserve fund for at least the next three years.

Earlier in the meeting, trustees approved two new programs aimed at better preparing students academically.

The first is called the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP). It is a before- and after-school program in which students at all grade levels will receive additional instruction, tutoring and enrichment. When the new school year begins, ELOP will run from 7:30 to 8:25 a.m. and from the end of school (between 2:45 and 3 p.m., depending on the campus) until 4:30 p.m.

Metzger emphasized that ELOP is separate from the district’s childcare program, which runs until 6 p.m., though some students may participate in both.

There is no bus service associated with ELOP, so parents are responsible for getting their children to and from school each day if they elect to participate in ELOP. ELOP signups will begin the week before classes start in August.

The second new program approved by board members Thursday night is Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) at Denair Elementary Charter Academy and Denair Charter Academy. Pre-kindergarten is for students whose fifth birthdays fall from September to early December, making them too young to begin kindergarten in August. Pre-kindergarten is an alternative to state-sponsored pre-school.

Under the new UPK guidelines, the age range for those eligible for the program will be extended by three months in each of the next three years. For instance, students whose fourth birthdays occur from September through February can participate this year. Next year, UPK will add those who turn 4 by the end of May and the following year students whose fourth birthdays are in June, July and August will be added.

Last year, there was one pre-kindergarten class at DECA. This year, Metzger expects there to be two to accommodate an additional 20 or so students. 

In other action Thursday night, trustees:

• Approved an update to the 2021-24 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), a strategic document that lays out for parents and the community how the district will spend the millions of dollars it receives each year from the state. Metzger said the district’s vision is to “empower tomorrow’s leaders through exemplary instruction and powerful innovative programs.” The LCAP includes three goals. The first is to provide all students with a foundation for post-secondary success. That means preparing high school graduates to enter a two- or four-year college, or having the skills to go directly to the military, a trade school or another kind of vocational field in order to begin their professional careers. The second goal is to have 80% of students demonstrate literacy (reading, writing and speaking) in all content areas by the end of the 2023-24 school year. And the third goal is to maintain a positive and safe school climate where all students are successful.
• Said goodbye to and congratulated Linda Covello, the district’s chief business official for the past eight years. Covello was a key figure – along with board members, administrators, and state and county officials – in helping the district overcome a financial crisis that could have led to state takeover in 2014 and 2015. “Thank you for your service,” Metzger told Covello, who is moving out of the area with her husband. “While the last eight years have provided many challenges and successes here in Denair, I truly believe we have made a difference in the lives of students and staff alike and I know you all will continue to do so far into the future,” Covello said.