News from Folsom Cordova schools

Thursday, April 4, 2019 | Volume IX, Issue XXXIII

News, Announcements, & Success Stories

PHOTOS: Gold Ridge Elementary celebrates World Autism Day

Students and staff at Gold Ridge Elementary celebrated World Autism Day on April 2 with inclusive learning activities.

Students listened to stories to learn about what autism is and discussed ways to include friends with autism at school. Gold Ridge's awesome teachers and instructional aides that work with students with autism wore matching blue shirts that said " Letting Go of Labels," to promote awareness.

Students at the school learned facts about autism through reading stories and discussion, as well as colored puzzle pieces and wrote one fact they learned about autism on them. The puzzle pieces are going on classroom doors around campus. The puzzle piece represents the complexity of the autism spectrum.The school campus was decorated with artwork with facts about autism.

These photos feature Mrs. Thomas' second-grade class, as well as our teachers and staff who work with students with autism: World Autism Day Photo Gallery .

Cordova High Winterline Band wins 2019 NCBA Championships

Cordova High's Winter Percussion Ensemble won their second consecutive Percussion Championship in the novice division at the NCBA Winter Championships (Northern California Band Association) held at Lincoln High School in Stockton on Saturday, March 30.

The Winter Percussion Ensemble's winning show was titled, "The Giving Tree," based on the classic children's book. Watch their performance.

The Cordova Winter Guard placed third in the HS Advanced division at the same event with their show, "Bloom" featuring members dressed in colorful dresses that change colors in a big moment. Having their best show of the year, the guard were in a tough division made of schools from the Bay area, San Jose, and Nevada. Cordova's combined team of first- year to four-year members were in the most competitive division. Watch their performance.

Cordova Band's assistant Drum Major Gian Pitcher (11 th grade) placed first in the "High School Military Novice Drum Major" category at the NCBA Winter Championships with a personal best of 82.9. Gian's score was 3rd best score of the day, even in the more advanced categories. Watch Gian's performance.

Senior Guard and band member Nathanielson Peralta was crowned High School Military Baton Novice Champion with a score of 83.8, second highest of the day in all divisions of the same equipment.

Folsom High teams place in Cyberpatriots competition

All five of Folsom High's CyberPatriot Teams competed in the State Round of the Cyberpatriots competition on Jan. 13 to try to advance to the semifinals in February. One Gold Division team was placed at one of the top positions in the state and advanced to the semi-final round, placing seventh in California and 56th in the country in the Gold semi-finals.

Folsom High School recently competed in the two CyberPatriot placement rounds in November and December, placing at all time highs in Folsom High's history. The AFA CyberPatriot competition is run by the United States Air Force Association (AFA) and is sponsored by numerous organizations such as AT&T, Boeing, and Facebook. The CyberPatriot team is composed of students who are enrolled in the computer science pathway at Folsom High School. The purpose is to expose high school students to the world of cybersecurity by providing them realistic cybersecurity challenges and including curriculum which is not taught in the classroom.

The early rounds of the CyberPatriot Competition are done online during weekends in a six-hour period, by which the coach chooses the day, from the teams' home locations. Teams are given a Network Security Challenge that consists of security vulnerabilities hidden in virtual Windows and Linux operating systems. A Cisco Networking Challenge is also included which has teams completing an online quiz and virtual networking exercise based off of network training material given in advance. After the placement rounds, the CyberPatriot teams are divided into three tiers - Silver, Gold, and Platinum - based on the amount of points scored and how quickly they were scored. Folsom High School this year placed a record-breaking two teams in the Platinum division and three teams in the Gold division.

Vista del Lago High students win in HP Code Wars competition

Vista del Lago High students participated in the HP Code Wars a computer programming competition on March 6 in Roseville.

Vista had a team place first that included students: Ian Ng, Samyak Surti, and Jero Wang. They also had a team place third that included students: Reece Jones, Selena Wong and Estella Wong. A total of five teams from Vista competed, with a total of 14 students. They defeated teams from over 30 high schools in the region.

Vista has won HP Code Wars competition 3 out of the last 3 years. Congratulations to our students!

FCUSD leader named state's Central Office Administrator of the Year

Kathryn Allaman, Folsom Cordova's Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Instruction, has been named the 2019 Central Office Administrator of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA).

Allaman, who has held various teaching and leadership roles in Folsom Cordova for more than two decades, was selected from among 265 nominees for the association's annual recognition of outstanding school and district leaders from throughout California. She earned the honor for exemplifying the following criteria:

Promoting a commitment to educational quality and student achievement and a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community
Advocating, nurturing, and sustaining school culture and instructional programs conducive to student learning and staff development
Modeling a personal code of ethics and commitment to professional growth
Employing creativity and innovation in dealing with issues and problems facing public education and in responding to diverse community interests and needs

Allaman will be recognized at ACSA's annual Leadership Summit in November in San Francisco.

FCEA & FCUSD Joint Negotiations Update: March 2019

On Thursday March 21, bargaining team members from the Folsom Cordova Education Association (FCEA), which represents teachers and other certificated staff, and the Folsom Cordova Unified School District (FCUSD) met to continue negotiations.

Bargaining teams discussed several Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) related to Special Education, hourly rates, equity leadership and more.

Click here for the full update. All previous and upcoming negotiations updates are posted at www.fcusd.org/negotiations .

In other news ...

Looking for a job? Come visit the Adult Education Job Fair

The Folsom Cordova Adult School has teamed up with the Folsom Cordova Community Partnership , to host the second annual Job Fair on Wednesday, April 10, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. on campus at 10850 Gadsten Way, in Rancho Cordova.

Meet local employers and learn about opportunities to work in our community. While you are there, check out the many classes and resources we offer adults. Job and office skills, CTE, high school diploma programs, English as a second language; these are just some of the classes we offer.

For more information on our adult school or the job fair, please call 916-294-9107