Submitted by Denair High School:

Every day, the Project Life students in Renee Hall’s special education class at Denair High School do the laundry, vacuum the floor and clean the classroom.

Twice a week, they cook meals. Sometimes it’s breakfast — an omelet, pancakes or French toast. Other times they make tacos, burritos, grilled cheese sandwiches or even cupcakes on someone’s birthday. Each Friday, they decide on a menu for the next week, make a list of ingredients and shop together at the Wal-Mart in Turlock. At the store, the students must identify the items they need and then scan them at the self-checkout register.

Four days a week, some of the students go to work at Lulu’s Ice Cream Shop and Willie’s Pizza & Wings, located side-by-side in an east Turlock shopping center. There, they make waffle cones, clean tables, fold pizza boxes and even help prep food.

At all times away from campus, they are accompanied by one-on-one aides or para-educators on Hall’s team.

It’s all a part of a focused effort to teach important life skills to students with intellectual or developmental disabilities who often are dismissed as unemployable.

“We want to teach them to be as independent as possible,” said Hall, who came to Denair this year after many years in Turlock.

The Project Life curriculum was developed in 2007 in Ohio and has been proven across the country. Denair brought it to the district last year as part of a new approach to special education.

Continue reading “Project Life Teaches Key Skills to Special Education Students” »

Submitted by Denair High School:

It has become a tradition in the past few years. After the final regular-season football game, Denair’s coaches and players gather at school on the following Sunday afternoon to hear the playoff pairings and find out together who they will be playing.

The Coyotes didn’t have to wait long Sunday.

They were the very first team announced, earning a coveted No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII bracket. Denair’s next game will be at home on Friday, Nov. 15 against the winner of this week’s game between Le Grand and Big Valley Christian of Modesto.

The top seed wasn’t really a surprise for Denair (8-2), which again finished second in the Southern League behind champion Ripon Christian, which was placed in the Division VI bracket. It is the same seeding the Coyotes had last year, when they marched to the Division VII state championship.

“We’re excited about getting a bye because we’re always dinged up this time of year,” said Denair Coach Anthony Armas, whose squad overcame a couple of early scores by Waterford to beat the Wildcats 34-21 Friday night behind four touchdowns by Jorge Yanez.

The time off will allow Denair’s players to recharge and heal. No injury is more important than the left ankle of fullback Dylan De Silva. He sprained it two weeks ago against Delhi and sat out against Waterford, but is expected to be ready when the playoffs begin.

“It’s a good thing for us to have a break. I think some of our kids are getting a little burned out,” Armas said.

The Coyotes will practice Monday and Tuesday before taking the rest of this week off.

Continue reading “No. 1 Seed Denair Earns First-Round Playoff Bye” »

The Denair Unified School District has unveiled a guide intended to help parents better understand the potential risks for children and teens posed by what is shared, said and viewed on social media.

The guide was developed by the Legacy Health Endowment, a Turlock organization focused on improving health care and wellness in Stanislaus and Merced counties.

The guide is a 16-page PDF that parents can download on their computers, tablets or cellphones. It is available in English and Spanish on the Denair Unified website.

“It is for anyone who wants to help children and youth navigate social media in a healthy way,” said Denair Superintendent Terry Metzger.

Jeffrey Lewis, president and CEO of the Legacy Health Endowment, said that “children and teens who use social media are more vulnerable to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and even a heightened sense of suicide.”

He said the guide is a tool for parents to use to initiate and direct conversations with their children about what they’re doing and seeing on social media.

“More information is coming out arguing that there is a correlation between the increased use of social media and poor behavioral health,” Lewis said. “It has become clear that educating parents and guardians would be helpful and impactful.”

The guide includes the basic history of social media usage and descriptions of the most popular sites, including tips for parents to know about each of them. The guide also alerts parents to various apps that can help them to manage and track their child’s social media use. And it has a glossary of digital words and phrases as well as links to sites so parents can seek more information, if needed.

It’s loud, it’s exciting and it’s coming back to Denair on Saturday, Nov. 9.

It’s the 4^th annual Denair FFA Boosters Tractor Pull, which begins at 4 p.m. at Jack Lytton Stadium.

The previous events have drawn more than 1,000 people. They were thoroughly entertained by drivers from up and down the Central Valley.

Tractor pulls involve multiple classes of vehicles – from antique tractors to modified, high-horsepower versions to souped up 4×4 pickups. Each tractor or truck is hooked up to a weighted sled. The farther the sled is pulled, the more the weight moves toward the front – making it more difficult to pull.

Competitors are scored on how far they can pull the sled.

The event is sanctioned and organized by the Valley Tractor Pullers Association.

Most important of all – the event is the single-biggest fundraiser in support of the Denair High FFA program and its 184 students. Last year’s event generated more than $20,000 – money that helps underwrite the entry costs for the county fair and other competitions, paid for four students to attend the national FFA convention in Indianapolis this week and will cover the cost of more teens to participate in the state convention in Anaheim next spring.

Tickets are $8 in advance or $10 at the door, and can be purchased from any FFA student or board member. They also are available at the Denair High School office, Turlock Feed or the Farm House home boutique in Turlock.

There will be food and drinks available on Nov. 9. Also on sale will be wreaths created by

 students in the ag floral class and projects built in the ag mechanics and welding classes, and T-shirts designed by students in the ag leadership class. In addition, there will be a raffle for a Mini-Kubota Pedal Tractor.

Denair clinched no worse than second place in the Southern League and moved one step closer to the No. 1 seed in the upcoming playoffs with Friday’s narrow 14-13 victory over Mariposa at Jack Lytton Stadium.

The Coyotes overcame three fumbles, one of which set up Mariposa late in the fourth quarter with a final chance to win the game. A 29-yard field goal try was wide with 40 seconds to play after Denair took time out to ice the kicker.

The game had more drama earlier in the fourth quarter when Denair dodged a two-point conversion attempt after Mariposa scored to get within 14-13. The Grizzlies lined up in a trick formation in an effort to confuse the Coyote defense, but a botched snap doomed the play and Denair retained the lead.

“It was about as close as it could get,” said Denair Coach Anthony Armas of the final outcome. 

The victory left Denair (7-2 overall, 5-1 in the SL) alone in second place with one regular-season game to go and the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over Mariposa (5-4, 4-2). 

With presumptive SL champion Ripon Christian (8-1, 6-0) – which defeated Denair earlier – required to move up to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI playoffs, Denair has a clear path to the No. 1 seed in Division VII with a win this week over Waterford.

“If we get healthy, we’ll be fine,” said Armas, whose team played without its two starting tackles against Mariposa and lost do-everything running back Dylan De Silva to an ankle injury early in the third quarter.

Even without De Silva, the Coyotes continued to pound away on the ground against Mariposa. Damien Peral and Jorge Yanez picked up the slack and each scored a touchdown.

Yanez’s 4-yard run capped an 80-yard drive to open the second half and gave Denair a 14-7 lead. 

Peral’s 6-yard scamper capped a wild sequence late in the first half. Denair was poised to score with less than minute left in the second quarter, but was stopped on fourth down deep in Mariposa territory. The Grizzlies – leading 7-0 – surprised the Coyotes with a hook-and-lateral play that appeared to go for a long touchdown. But the officials ruled the ball had been lateraled forward and wiped out the score. 

On the next play, Mariposa fumbled inside the 10-yard line and Denair recovered with 11 seconds to go in the half. Peral’s TD then tied the game at halftime – a 14-point swing in just a few seconds.

“That was a big deal,” Armas admitted.

Denair was its own worst enemy at points during the game, losing two of its three fumbles and getting stopped on downs. Armas credited some of that to Mariposa’s defense, which came out in a different look than the Grizzlies have played all season designed to stop Denair’s powerful running game.

“Their defense was pretty active. They were getting to the ball pretty well,” Armas acknowledged. “We made some adjustments in the second half.”

The Coyotes also play defense and – led by linebackers Christian Obando and Will Knox – they contained Mariposa most of the game.

“Those two guys played really well,” Armas praised. 

JV score: Mariposa 56, Denair 7. The Coyotes are 1-8 overall and 0-6 in the Southern League.

This week: The Coyotes close the regular season with a short bus ride to Waterford (3-6, 1-5), which was beaten 52-7 at home last week by Gustine. “They’re struggling,” Armas said. “They have a new head coach so they’re a team in transition. But they’ve got a good JV team, so they’re going to be better next year.” … The Wildcats have lost four games in a row, allowing the opposition to score at least 50 points in all of them. … Denair has won straight and not allowed more than 13 points in any of those contests. … The Coyotes’ only league losses in the past two seasons have been to Ripon Christian. Their last league defeat to anyone other than RC was the final game of the 2017 season, 27-21 to Waterford.