2017-2018

TUSD Weekly Update| 5.14.18 We hope you are enjoying this new communications effort designed to showcase and keep you in the loop on all the wonderful things happening in TUSD. Please follow us on social media for daily vs. just weekly updates! Have a story idea? Please reach out!

2018 Rotary Teachers of the Year

Brown Elementary School, Sarah Godje Crowell Elementary School, Brandi Baker Cunningham Elementary School, Kelsey Chrisco Dutcher Middle School, Elias Ruiz Earl Elementary School, Judith DeMeritt eCademy Charter at Crane, Julie Thompson Julien Elementary School, Janet Wheeler Medeiros Elementary School, Gay Locke Osborn Two-Way Immersion Academy, Carolina Cortes Pitman High School, David Jigour Roselawn High School, Atour Bejan Turlock High School, Tiffany King Turlock Junior High School, Ana Matos Wakefield Elementary School, Anel Zambrana Walnut Elementary Education Center, Erin Moreno

Turlock Regional Art Show

CSU, Stanislaus recently hosted the annual Turlock Regional High School Art Show which featured work from several TUSD students. Congratulations to all our TUSD students who earned awards at this prestigious event and thank you to our outstanding, secondary visual arts teachers: Will Craighton, Larry DeTomasi, Josh Ebersole, Amber Elstad, Terri Gianotti, Marti Knapp, Elizabeth Pike, and Vincente Rosales.

Pitman High School Best of Show: Mitchell Day 3rd place for Drawing: Leah Trainor Honorable Mention for Color Drawing: Mayra Soria 1st place for Color Drawing: Nairoby Mello Honorable Mention for Color Drawing: Rosalinda Ortega Honorable Mention for Mixed Media: Hanna Tucker 1st Place Sculpture: Mikayla Hatchall Honorable Mention for Sculpture: Debany Antonio 3rd place for Painting: Makayla Archer Honorable Mention for Color Photography: Ruby Randhawa Honorable Mention for Photography Color Photography B/W: Gabriela Martinez Honorable Mention for Photography B/W: Elyse Bucheli Roselawn Continuation High School 2nd Place Digital Arts: Corie Vaughn

‌ Turlock High School 3rd Place Color Drawing: Kaylie Swanson 2nd Place Color Drawing: Catherine Bravo 2nd Place Mixed Media: Faith Hernandez 1st Place Color Photo: Mauricio Garcia 3rd Place Photography B/W: Arianne Kisner

Also, congratulations to the winners in the Congressional Art Competition: 1st Place: Ezekiel Saldana, Turlock High School 2nd Place: Makayla Archer, Pitman High School 3rd Place: Jordan Prather, Pitman High School

TUSD Recognition

ACSA Region VII On May 4-6, 2018, ACSA Region VII held its annual Leading Beyond Limits Conference in Lake Tahoe, CA. TUSD was fortunate to have several administrators and one Board of Trustees member earn recognition at the 2018 Award Recipients Ceremony: Distinguished Service Award, Heidi Lawler Elementary Principal of the Year, Dr. Laura Fong School Board Member of the Year, Barney Gordon Secondary Principal of the Year, Gabe Ontiveros Technology Administrator of the Year, Jay Brem Congratulations and thank you for your service to TUSD!

Attendance Matters

Gil Ogden, Director of Student Services We have a number of schools with teachers and administrators that did an awesome job improving Chronic Absences (i.e., Brown, Crowell, Cunningham, Earl, Medeiros, TJHS, and Dutcher). Crowell (4.3%) and Cunningham (4.4.%) showed significant decreases from previous school year. As far as TUSD, we are tied at 7.6%, however, we still have 19 days left of school to improve, so please encourage students to be in school during the month of May! Finally, our lowest subgroup improved by 3.3% from last year. We appreciate all the hard work the staff are doing and those schools that attended all of the attendance task force meetings each month in Student Services to rigorously review attendance data.

Turlock High School NJROTC

Cyber Cup Challenge On April 28, 2018, the Turlock High School NJROTC Cyberpatriot team went to Dinuba High School and competed in the first ever California Mayor's Cyber Cup Challenge, an event put on by the Governor of California. The team earned first place honors from the Greater Sacramento area and have been invited to San Luis Obispo on June 23 to 25 to compete in the State finals (Governor's Cup). The competition will consist of a cyber security simulator in which the teams will be put to test whether they can solve real life cyber security issues, and the students will also get to meet with various industry experts to learn more about cyber security opportunities. The team members are Chris Gemperly, Yureni Aguilar, Jessica Ghuman, Jeffrey Jensen, Jaspreet Singh and Chris Baerheim.

Brain Brawl Academic Team On the same day as the Cyber Cup Challenge, the Brain Brawl Academic Team was fighting for the Navy JROTC National title in Phoenix, Arizona. The Bulldogs finished 11th in the nation against over 600 schools. The team was comprised of Kaylin Davis, Hannah Nunes, Alexis Rangel, Conner McKeon and Andra Pangan. The entire team will return next year poised to bring home a trophy. The next day the team got to visit the Grand Canyon as an added bonus!

State FFA Career Development Event Finals

Turlock High School, Joe Di Grazia Shout out to Turlock FFA who donated 1,000 care packages to the homeless in Los Angeles en route to the State FFA Convention in Anaheim on April 22-25! Dairy Cattle – 2 nd place team (lost by 1 point); Ryan Haringa - 2 nd high individual (lost by 1 point) Cooperative Agriculture Marketing - 4 th place team; Gait Nairn – 5 th high individual Agriculture Mechanics – 4 th place team Floriculture – 7 th place team Best Informed Greenhand (freshmen only) – 10 th place team Vegetable Crops – 14 th place team Agriculture Welding – 14 th place team Veterinary Science – 15 th place team Livestock – 15 th place team Light Horse – 18 th place team Milk Quality and Dairy Foods – 18 th place team

Pitman High School, Luke Gocke Dairy Products – 9 th place team; Mariah Berbena 2 nd place in the Cheese category Parliamentary Procedure was in the top 12 in the State. Agronomy – 7th place team; 5 th team in Identification; Mary Wright 2nd in judging  Welding – 13 th place team; Carolyn Boster 5 th high Individual in Weld Testing, Team was 7 th high in weld testing Mary Wright received a $750 dollar scholarship from the State FFA and a $2000 one from the National FFA.

Lock Then Leave

Robert Brogdon, Network Systems Supervisor Would you leave the door to your home wide open while running a quick errand? You shouldn’t leave your computer logged in while away from your desk/classroom. This could lead to unauthorized access to your email, gradebook or other sensitive information. Here is a quick tip to secure your computer when you step away, even for “just a minute” . When you come back simply log in and your computer will be just the way you left

Pismo the Dog

Earl Elementary School Meet Pismo, Lucille Mendonca’s successor hearing dog, from Earl Elementary School. Lucille and Pismo graduated from Canine Companions for Independence on March 9 th after going through a two week training. Pismo has been a great addition to Lucille’s SDC Mild/Moderate TK-3 classroom and has been welcomed warmly by her students, other students on campus, and the staff. You can find Pismo working in the classroom by alerting Lucille to several sounds. She alerts her to the door knock, the timer, and the fire alarm. When not busy alerting Lucille to the sounds, she can be found lying in the library where the students have an opportunity to read a book to her. Can Pismo visit us next?

Hometown Hero

Pitman High School's Haley Acree Haley Acree is a 2017 graduate of Pitman High School and also attended Turlock Junior High School and Crowell Elementary School. She is currently attending Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Animal Science and is also participating in ROTC. Haley shared that, after receiving her degree, she will be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Haley joined the military because she felt a calling to serve her country and because she was seeking something beyond a “normal 9-to-5 job”. She was confident that the military would teach her how to be capable in various, potentially dangerous, situations, and that she would learn skills that would last a lifetime. Haley’s favorite part of military life so far has been the friendships she has made with her peers who, like her, are working hard to balance classes, jobs, and lives with the course-load of ROTC. ROTC can be a challenging path as it requires Physical Training (PT) every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, weekly class lectures, and a two-hour lab every Thursday afternoon with the entire battalion. On top of this, every quarter ROTC has a Field Training Exercise, or FTX, which involves night land navigation, rappel towers, ambush missions, and sleeping with only a sleeping bag on the ground under the stars. Haley marveled, “Our cadre, seasoned enlisted and commissioned officers, have been deployed around the world, and are sources of wisdom and guidance through these challenges.” Haley’s future goals are to graduate Cal Poly in four years with a degree in Animal Science with a concentration in Pre-Vet, along with a double minor in Equine Science and Military Science. She hopes to get accepted into veterinary school, and serve as an Army Veterinary Corps Officer (64A). Haley is very thankful for the support she received from her grandma, one of the strongest women she knows, who inspires her to strive and achieve all that she can. Thank you for your service, Haley! "ROTC is an excellent program for anyone who is interested in serving and getting a college degree. Here at Cal Poly, and I’m sure at many other schools as well, it is commitment-free for the first two years if you are just interested in checking it out. I was definitely on the fence when I first came in, and many other freshmen are too. If you are even slightly interested, I highly encourage you to reach out to the ROTC programs at the schools you are looking to attend, as they may have more information for you, especially about scholarships. I also recommend you start working hard on your physical fitness, it will be put to the test! Mostly I would like to share that your life after high school is what you make of it, and the work you put in will determine the results you see. Personally, ROTC has been an excellent fit for me and I hope that you too will be fearless in the pursuit of what makes you happy." ~Hayley Acree

Meet Markus

Pitman High School Markus Turner has worked in TUSD the past 16 years at Pitman High School as an Athletic Trainer. Prior to coming to TUSD, Markus had two prestigious internships—one with the Oakland Raiders and the other with the Minnesota Twins. He then oversaw the Athletic Training program at Berkeley High School for two years before heading to Pitman. As an Athletic Trainer, Markus is responsible for the prevention, care, and rehabilitation of any injuries sustained by our student-athletes. This includes everything from providing basic first aid, to overseeing our concussion protocol, to implementing post-surgical rehab programs for student-athletes coming back from injuries such as ACL tears. Markus believes one of the greatest benefits of his position is being able to educate student-athletes about WHY they sustained an injury and then highlighting a proactive approach to taking the best care of their bodies going forward. He explains to them that sustaining an injury is like a "reset button" because they are forced to stop and, with Markus’s assistance, can focus on addressing the underlying issues that contributed to the injury.  An average day for Markus consists of performing evaluations and treatments during the student-athletes’ lunch period, preparing medical kits for teams with away games, coordinating rehabilitation for injured athletes who are unable to practice, and being present and available at games for sports medicine coverage. Something Marcos is most proud about is the value and care TUSD places on students by ensuring they are in the best hands of qualified professionals, whether in the classroom or on the athletic field. TUSD has been a pioneer in the Central Valley for many years as one of the only districts to employ full-time Certified Athletic Trainers (ATCs) to care for the health and well-being of student-athletes. This allows coaches to focus on being their best and provides peace of mind to parents knowing that an ATC is there for their children. When Marcos is not busy at work, he can usually be found watching the Warriors as he never misses a game! He also enjoys watching The Flash , The Good Doctor , and Silicon Valley . A little known fact about Markus is that he's not the best Athletic Trainer in his family; that honor, according to Markus, goes to his beautiful wife Sarah with whom he has four amazing sons, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Micaiah, and Noah. Nothing excites his boys more than coming to “daddy’s work” to play and cheer on all of the Pride athletes. Thank you, Markus, for helping put the “US” in TUSD!

Six Word Story

Pitman High School Daniel Padilla Grade: 12 Extracurricular Activities: Football, ASB, Busing tables at Cool Hand Lukes Fave Subject: Math Career Goal:Surgical Nurse Fave Thing About Pitman: Relationships, sports, and the teachers

May Rotary Students of the Month

Last Week in Social Media

‪ICYMI Tuesday, May 1, we celebrated our 2018 retirees at the TUSD Board of Trustees meeting. They have a combined total of 683 years in education. Thank you for your dedicated service and enjoy those greener pastures! Bruce Amador 28 years Sandra Brenton 24 years Dave Cheney 23 years Jan Cole 27 years Dorothy "Ann" Cordell 35 years Donald Curtiss 25 years Debra Dix 37 years Meg Eshom 25 years Devon Foote 39 years Patricia Franklin 33 years Vicki Gomes 15 years Susan Gay Kelleher 19 years Marti Knapp 9 years Gay Locke 20 years Teri Martinez 12 years Cynthia Meents 22 years Nada Patterson 28 years Linda Saunders 32 years Ed Schollenberg 30 years Kathy Smith 23 years Nanette Snoke 28 years Bret Sutterley 39 years Sheri Sutterley 38 years Dave Sutton 33 years Julia Vallerga 39 years

Over 80 Turlock High School PE students completed 26.2 miles aka a MARATHON over the course of the past 6 weeks. Shout out to the THS PE teachers and PHAST for recognizing students with a cool PE Marathon ‘18 T-shirt!

Congratulations to Cunningham Elementary School Principal Tami Truax who was recognized at the 2017-2018 Project S.A.F.E. After School Awards in the “Administrator” category and she won! Congrats as well to our other TUSD nominees: Site Coordinator: Marisol Rodriguez (Osborn) and Middle School Site: Turlock Junior High School.

Turlock and Pitman High School Culinary Arts students competed in a “cross town” Iron Chef as each team prepared a 3 course meal for a panel of guest judges. The winner of this Mexican cuisine themed competition will be announced at the May 15 Board of Trustees meeting

The Pitman Site Design Team met yesterday to review plans for the addition of an all-weather track, turf field, two softball fields, safety netting, and security fencing. Thank you Turlock community for passing Measures N & O!

Turlock High School senior FFA students toured local facilities such as Frantz Nursery, Foster Farms Hatchery, F & M Bank, Evergreen Packaging, and Fresh Point to learn about career opportunities in agriculture-related industries.

Congratulations to the 23 parents who earned a certificate of completion at the PIQE Graduation at Crowell Elementary School. Turlock Junior High School Principal Robert Ruiz was the featured guest speaker and shared his inspiring educational with the parents and families in attendance. We are proud of our TUSD parents who completed this 6 week program as it is a testament to the value they place in supporting their students’ education!

We are kicking off Teacher Appreciation Week! Join us in celebrating all the hard-working teachers in TUSD. Tell us about your favorite teacher using  #TUSDThankATeacher !

Play ball! Roselawn Continuation High School students are playing in a 4 team softball tournament at Pedretti Park today. It’s a great day for a ball game!

Open House at Turlock Junior High School! Principal Robert Ruiz giving an excellent overview of highlighted events that were accomplished this school year.

Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Council this morning. On the agenda today—the Local Control Accountability Plan and a review of LCAP High Priority Considerations:‬ 1️⃣ Technology Support 2️⃣ Writing 3️⃣ Math Resources 4️⃣ Professional Development 5️⃣ Safety 6️⃣ Agriculture-STEM Hub at Farm 7️⃣ EL Newcomer Support 8️⃣ CTE Pathways 9️⃣ Special Education Resources/Support

‪FOX40’s  @OliviaOnFOX40  was at Turlock High School for an “In Your Neighborhood” segment with Culinary Arts instructor Bobby Sheets.

So many fun and creative ways our TUSD elementary schools recognize their students who exhibit outstanding character! Congrats to students at Osborn Two-Way Immersion Academy who received a Golden Lion Award for Respectfulness from Principal Ed Ewing.

#PICOFTHEWEEK

Share a picture of your school, colleagues, students, or anything to do with TUSD for a new #picoftheweek feature and be entered to win a $5 gift card. Send pictures to 209.648.0968 or either of following emails: mrussell@turlock.k12.ca.us mrussell@turlockusd.org Staff, student, and community entries welcome! This week's winner . . . 1st Grade District Farm Field Trip . . . now if I can just find out/remember who sent this to me he/she will receive a $5 gift card!

Stay in touch! Please contact Chief Communication Coordinator Marie Russell if you have a recommendation for future content including a retiree to catch up with, student to recognize, or employee to feature.  CONTACT US ‌ ‌ ‌