Tag Archives: Denair Unified School District

School Starts Thursday! Back to School Nights Next Week

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Submitted by Denair Unified School District

Where did the time go? For nearly 1,300 students in the Denair Unified School District, summer vacation ends Thursday with the resumption of classes.

School begins at 8 a.m. on all four campuses – Denair Elementary Charter Academy, Denair Middle School, Denair High School and Denair Charter Academy. At DECA, there is a modified schedule for students in kindergarten and transitional kindergarten; start times have been mailed to parents.

The first day of school is always an exciting time as students are paired with new teachers at a new grade level. Each campus has special activities planned to mark the new school year.

And next week, parents are invited to meet their child’s teachers at a series of Back to School nights at DECA, DMS and DHS.

  • DECA: Tuesday, Aug. 15, 5:15 p.m.
  • DMS: Wednesday, Aug. 16, 6 p.m.
  • DHS: Thursday, Aug. 17, 6:30 p.m.

Superintendent Aaron Rosander welcomed the staff back earlier this week with a note. There also were two days of training for teachers and administrators.

“Whether you are new to the district or returning, you will sense a feeling of high energy and great anticipation when you step on your campus,” Rosander wrote. “With many new and wonderful colleagues joining our incomparable veteran staff, this year promises to be an exceptional experience for everyone connected to Denair schools.

“Like all successful organizations, DUSD continues to better understand and celebrate our strengths, while continuously reinventing that which will better serve our customers. We exist in an era of choice and, as a result, we take nothing for granted, particularly our enthusiastic mission to make Denair schools a destination district of choice! I am proud and emboldened to say that we are well on our way.”

School Board Candidate Forum Scheduled for August 10

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Submitted by Denair Unified School District

There will be two vacancies on the Denair Unified School District Board of Trustees for voters to fill in the November election. Prospective candidates are invited to a forum Thursday, Aug. 10 that will be occur at the end of the board’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the district board room, 3460 Lester Road.

Trustees Sandi Dirkse and Robert Hodges already have announced they will not seek re-election. Two years remain on the terms of the three other board members – Kathi Dunham-Filson, John Plett and Ray Prock Jr.

Prospective candidates for the Nov. 7 election have until Thursday, Aug. 16 to file their paperwork with the Stanislaus County Office of Elections.

Trustees meet monthly and help set policy for the 1,300-student district, which includes four campuses.

New Principal Naranjo Brings Personal Experience to DCA; LaFountain Takes Over at Middle School

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Submitted by Denair Unified School District

More than most school administrators, David Naranjo knows what it’s like to be a teen-ager struggling to make his way in high school. That empathy comes from personal experience. Naranjo was once a high school dropout himself. He has felt the uncertainty and the disillusionment, and sensed the lowered expectations that others have for teens in that situation.

And he’s living proof that there is a way out. That difficult family or financial circumstances or poor choices made as a teen don’t have to determine the rest of your life. There is hope.

As the new principal at Denair Charter Academy, Naranjo wants to be a role model for his independent study high school students, many of whom confront similar challenges as he once did growing up in San Diego County.

“I tell them, ‘I was a high school dropout,’ ” Naranjo said. “I had a tough family situation, but I went back and graduated from a continuation school. I started college when I was 23 and became a straight-A student.

“I was the first person in my family to graduate from high school or college. If I was going to break the cycle of not graduating, that was on me. I took it very seriously. That’s the example I want to set today for our students.”

Officially, Naranjo’s title is senior director of student support services. In addition to his duties at DCA, he will oversee various state-mandated responsibilities for all of Denair Unified’s four campuses. But much of his initial focus will be on the staff and students at DCA, which offers home-school options for parents of students up to eighth grade in addition to independent study for high schoolers.

Naranjo replaces Brian LaFountain at DCA. LaFountain moves across the street to Denair Middle School as principal.

Naranjo comes to Denair from the Tuolumne County Office of Education. His new role reunites him with Denair Superintendent Aaron Rosander. Naranjo was principal of Mariposa High School and Woodland Elementary School when Rosander was the schools superintendent in that county. Continue reading “New Principal Naranjo Brings Personal Experience to DCA; LaFountain Takes Over at Middle School” »

World Champion Drum and Bugle Corps Returns to Denair for Weeklong Camp

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Submitted by Denair Unified School District

It’s about to get loud again at the Denair High School stadium and middle school facilities.

The Vanguard Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps of Santa Clara are back for the eighth year in a row. The 150-member organization of musicians and color guard participants traditionally begins each summer competition season with a weeklong camp in Denair.

“The relationship between Denair and Vanguard has been positive and has generated interest to the degree that folks will stop by to watch,” said Aaron Rosander, superintendent of the Denair Unified School District.

Twice in the past four years, the camp provided a springboard to the Drum Corps International Open Class Championship, which the Bay Area group has won four times (2000, 2008, 2013 and 2015). Santa Clara finished second last summer.

“We make a lot of noise, so it’s easy to become a distraction. The people here are really nice; very welcoming,” said Steve Barnhill, the corps’ director. “The facilities are great. We’re right next to the cafeteria. We’re right next to the quad. We have access to football field. And it’s quiet and safe at night.”

Vanguard’s group includes about 70 musicians in the brass section playing trumpets, mellophones, trombones and tubas; about 40 in the color guard waving flags, twirling rifles and dancing; about 35 in percussion playing snares, quads, xylophones and marimbas; three drum majors; and about 20 adult instructors. The caravan of three buses, a semi-trailer full of instruments, flags, uniforms and equipment, and a mobile kitchen will arrive on Thursday.

The cadets bunk in the middle school gym while the adults use various classrooms. “We all have air mattresses,” Barnhill said. “This gets our kids and our parental volunteers used to the idea of living out of a suitcase and sleeping on air mattresses. We couldn’t afford it otherwise. It’s not practical. Plus, we need the space a school provides to rehearse. We’re very self-sufficient.” Continue reading “World Champion Drum and Bugle Corps Returns to Denair for Weeklong Camp” »

DUSD’s Proposed 2017-18 Budget Includes $1 Million to DECA Expansion, New Textbooks

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Submitted by Denair Unified School District

Fast-growing Denair Elementary Charter Academy will add classrooms for its expanding dual-immersion program and students across the district will benefit from new textbooks under a proposed 2017-18 budget discussed Thursday night by school officials.

The $15.7 million spending plan projects the use of more than $1 million in so-called “one-time funds” received from the state over the past few years.

Linda Covello, chief business officer for the Denair Unified School District, said about $415,000 will go toward purchase and installation of up to 10 portable classrooms at DECA in time for the 2018-19 school year.

The elementary campus must add two classes each year for students in the dual-immersion program, which teaches children in Spanish and English. It started at the kindergarten level in 2015-16 and expands to each grade level as the first students advance.

Another $430,000 in the proposed budget will be directed toward the purchase of new textbooks in Spanish, English language arts and math across the district, Covello said. About $120,000 will be used to replace two computer labs at DECA and $100,000 will buy eight to 10 Chromebook carts (portable computers used across the district).

“We really want to expand our programs to entice students to come to the district,” Covello said.

The one-time funds have accumulated the past three years, she said. By law, they cannot be spent on ongoing expenses such as employee salaries.

Superintendent Aaron Rosander said rather than increasing overall funding for education, Gov. Jerry Brown has preferred to give districts one-time funds if the state has “extra” money at the end of its fiscal year.

Denair’s proposed 2017-18 budget anticipates an Average Daily Attendance of 1,279 students, an increase of 16 students from this year. ADA is the basis for state funding. Projections are for 2% attendance growth in 2018-19 and 3% in 2019-20. Continue reading “DUSD’s Proposed 2017-18 Budget Includes $1 Million to DECA Expansion, New Textbooks” »