DUSD Eliminates Need for Fiscal Oversight as Declining Enrollment Continues

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Submitted by Denair Unified School District

First, the good news: The Denair Unified School District has emerged from financial crisis a year ahead of schedule and no longer requires oversight from state-mandated advisers and the Stanislaus County Office of Education.

Next, the less good news: While the number of elementary students continues to grow, enrollment at Denair High School still is trending lower for 2015-16. Unless that changes, it will require the equivalent of two teaching positions be eliminated and a slight reduction in class offerings in the next school year.

Those contrasting reports shared the spotlight at Thursday night’s meeting of the DUSD Board of Trustees, where the pride of having successfully navigated through near-bankruptcy was offset by the fiscal challenges that remain and the potential impact on the teaching staff.

Denair High School has 312 students this year, down from a high of 374 in 2006-07. By next fall, initial projections anticipate a decline to 270 students. To deal with that, trustees approved the elimination of a single class in 12 subject areas Thursday.

“What this effectively means is that there will be partial layoffs at our high school,” Superintendent Aaron Rosander said.

A full-time instructor, he explained, teaches six sections, or classes, a day. It’s likely, Rosander said, that some teachers will have less than six classes next year and see a corresponding reduction in pay.

“Whole teaching positions are not expected to be eliminated and our comprehensive high school with its college preparatory programs will remain solidly in place,” he said. Continue reading “DUSD Eliminates Need for Fiscal Oversight as Declining Enrollment Continues” »

PSE Hosts First Annual Denair High School Crab Feed

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DHS 2015 Crab Feed Flyer

Submitted by Parents Supporting Education

Parents Supporting Education is hosting their first annual crab feed on February 21, 2015, in the Denair Community Center. Doors open at 5:30 pm and dinner service starts at 6:30 pm. The cost is $45 per person and dinner includes salad, pasta, bread, crab and iced tea.  This is a non-alcohol event. You may purchase tickets at the Denair High School Office, or from any Denair High School student. The last day to purchase tickets is Tuesday, February 17, 2015.

All proceeds will benefit 2015 Denair High School graduating class, to offset the cost of the Grad Night senior trip to Disneyland.

Teacher Alex Kajitani Uses Rap Music to Deliver Serious Message About Math

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Alex Kajitani

Submitted by Denair Unified School District

Alex Kajitani’s self-described mission is to make math “cool” for his junior high students. To do so, he had to step well outside his own comfort zone. Combatting the glazed looks he saw on too many faces in his classroom meant trying to connect on an entirely different level.

He chose rap music, recognizing that his sixth- and seventh-graders consistently knew the words to new songs within days of their release, yet couldn’t remember concepts he’d been teaching for weeks.

Kajitani wrote a song called “The Itty Bitty Dot” to explain decimal points, put it to some music he found on the Internet and enlisted the help of some tech-savvy students at Mission Middle School in Escondido, north of San Diego, to produce the video.

He played the song – featuring Kajitani rapping the refrain, “Line up the dot and give it all you got” – one morning in his class. The students thought it was hilarious. He thought it was a complete flop.

But by lunchtime, something amazing had happened. As he walked through the cafeteria, many of his students – and many more who hadn’t been in his class – were rapping the lyrics. He had made a connection. The “Rappin’ Mathematician” had been born.

Kajitani – who was named California Teacher of the Year in 2009 — shared that experience and more Thursday morning with the teaching staff of the Denair Unified School District. It was part of a training day for the district’s 80 teachers from all grade levels.

“The true key to education is to stop taking our curriculum and forcing it into our students’ lives and, instead, take our students’ lives and fit it into the curriculum,” said Kajitani during his hour-long presentation.

Rap music simply is a way to convey ideas in a way students can relate to. Continue reading “Teacher Alex Kajitani Uses Rap Music to Deliver Serious Message About Math” »

DHS Teacher Inducted into CSU Stanislaus Athletic Hall of Fame

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Submitted by Denair Unified School District

A decade before she became a popular first-year science teacher at Denair High School, Breanna Vaughan was a standout goalie on the California State University, Stanislaus women’s soccer team just a few miles west on Monte Vista Avenue.

From 2002 to 2005, Vaughan was a force in the net for the Warriors. She was a three-time California Collegiate Athletic Association all-conference choice and still holds four school career records – shutouts (27.5), saves (319), victories (45) and minutes played (nearly 7,300). She has 11 single-season records, including most shutouts (10).

In 2005, she led the Warriors to their first-ever CCAA tournament appearance.

Last weekend, Vaughan’s stellar career was recognized again when she became the first women’s soccer player to be enshrined in the CSU Stanislaus Athletic Hall of Fame.

In her induction speech, she described the experience as “awesome” and thanked her parents, coaches and teammates.

“I feel so lucky. … I said that I still have nightmares about running, but even though I had to work super hard it was worth it and I loved every minute of it,” Vaughan said. “My picture is and forever will be in the gym foyer at CSUS.”

Vaughan graduated from CSU Stanislaus in 2008 with a degree in biological sciences. She spent five years teaching biology, environmental chemistry and health in high schools in Fresno, Visalia and Roseville before joining the Denair High staff last August.

For more on Vaughan and the six other 2015 inductees in the Warriors Hall of Fame, go to www.warriorathletics.com/HOF.