Huge gaps in the digital divide have been especially problematic during the pandemic, when school kids and their teachers need a viable and reliable internet connection for online lessons. Even though they've been issued hotpots to help connect their laptops and tablets, students in the Biola area in Central Unified...
Does White House Look Prettier This Christmas? You Can Thank This Fresno State Grad
It's been a rough year for Fresno State alumna Kimberly Rocca, whose event-planning business has taken a beating from the pandemic. But Rocca's spirits improved tremendously in October when she learned she was one of 80 volunteers selected from among 8,000 applicants to help decorate the White House for Christmas....
School District Trustees Get a Little Political in Board Reorganization
The end of Wednesday's Fresno Unified board meeting marked the annual selection of new officers, which offered a little more drama than usual and shed some light on the political relationships among trustees. First up was electing a board president to replace trustee Keshia Thomas. Trustee Claudia Cazares, who served...
Fresno State Continues to Bid Adieu to Castro; Boys and Girls Clubs Debut as Learning Hubs
This year's State of the University for Fresno State will be noteworthy for a couple of reasons, primarily because it's the latest event in what I'm calling the "Joseph Castro Farewell Tour." Castro is wrapping up his tenure as the university's eighth president this month and will start his new...
Spirit Wear Shirts Buoy Spirits of Teague, Tilley Elementary Kids
Just because schools are closed (for the most part) doesn't mean students can't have school spirit — and the Assistance League of Fresno is making sure all 1,350 students at Central Unified's Teague and Hanh Phan Tilley elementary school can celebrate their schools. Through its Operation School Bell program, Assistance...
Fresno County Teacher, Employee, Administrator Are Educators of the Year for 2020
A Sanger Unified music teacher is Fresno County's teacher of the year, one of the county's three Educators of the Year for 2020 named Sunday. The award winners were announced Sunday in a live broadcast on ABC30 that was co-sponsored by the Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools...
Fresno Unified Virtual Fundraiser Nets $50K for Student Scholarships
Fresno Unified wasn't able to hold its annual State of the District luncheon that also serves as a major fundraiser for student scholarships because of the coronavirus, but the district's Plan B — a virtual run/walk fundraiser — gets an A for achievement. Corporate, community, and individual sponsors contributed $50,125...
Madera Get COPS Money for Campus Safety, Strengthens Relationships with Police
Madera Unified School District has recently won more than $1 million in federal grants to make schools safer for students. And forgive Rebecca Malmo, the district's executive director of student and family support services, for bragging just a little — in just three years, her division has netted $9.3 million...
Fresno State Reports Record Enrollments This Fall Despite Closed Campus
A record 25,300 students enrolled in Fresno State classes in the fall semester, about 5% more than the fall semester of 2019, even though the campus has been closed because of the coronavirus. Fresno State is bucking a national trend of lower enrollments at colleges and universities sparked by the...
When COVID Put the Kibosh on Clovis, Fresno, Central Fundraisers, They Pivoted
October is the time of year when Fresno-area school districts or their foundations schedule big fundraiser breakfasts, lunches, and dinners at which superintendents deliver "State of the District" speeches. This year, COVID-19 made it inadvisable to squeeze hundreds of people together in the same venue. S0 educators and their supporters...