The honor choir has been invited by the Distinguished Concerts International New York to perform in “the city & the sea: The Music of Eric Whitacre meets the poetry of e.e. cummings.”

The performance is April 17. All 61 singers are planning on heading east.

The Feb. 11 fundraiser at Analy High will feature Joe Craven as M.C. and performances by the honor choir, the West County Professional Tea Sippers, the Tri Tip Trio, The Ragtime Skedaddalers and Starr Hergenrather.

Tickets are sold online, at the door and at People’s Music in Sebastopol. Cost is $25 for the first three rows and a sliding scale between $10 and $20 for general admission. Balcony seats are $5.

Doors open at 7 p.m. Show starts at 7:30 p.m.

For more information go to www.analyhighschool.org/choirs

To read the story published on the concert, click here http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100129/NEWS/1291117

Thompson represents the first congressional district which stretches from the Bay Area, along the coast, to the Oregon border and includes all or parts of Sonoma, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Yolo counties.

Eighteen schools were noted for excelling in “getting students to grade level proficiency” according to the letter from CBEE executive director Kirk Clark.

The 2009 honor roll list from the CBEE increased from 911 in 2008 to 1,304 in 2009.

“We got a nice banner that I hung up,” said Eric Hoppes, superintendent of Wilmar School district and principal at Wilson School.

On the honor roll list are:

Yulupa Elementary

Hillcrest Elementary

Salmon Creek

Liberty Elementary

Riebli Elementary

Oak Grove Elementary

Sonoma Mountain Elementary

Grant Elementary

Austin Creek Elementary

Sequoia Elementary

Hidden Valley Satellite

Maria Carrillo High

Rincon Valley Middle

Santa Rosa Accelerated Charter

Apple Blossom

Meadow Elementary

Analy High

Wilson Elementary

Four Sonoma County schools were named to the group’s “Star Schools – High Poverty” honor roll. Those schools are Whited Elementary, Spring Creek and Matanzas Charter, J.X. Wilson Elementary and Robert L. Stevens Elementary.

“It is a big deal to be a Star School because it really shows that you are closing the gap” between white students and their peers who are English language learners, said Casey D’Angelo, superintendent of Wright School District in Santa Rosa that includes R.L Stevens and J.X. Wilson schools.

For more about the California Business for Education Excellence, go to http://www.cbeefoundation.org/

See them here: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=SR&Date=20100204&Category=PHOTONEWS&ArtNo=204009991&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=1

Kent was out there to illustrate a story about the ongoing debate over career technical education funding.

Read that story here: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100205/NEWS/2051101/1350?Title=Career-classes-likely-to-stay

The Press Democrat has a new Teen Life blog online that features a wide range of topics from first cars, to talent competitions to the ongoing debate over the merits of teaching “The Tortilla Curtain” by T.C. Boyle.

The thing about this blog is that it is written by high school students. It’s worth a look.

 If you don’t see your high school featured, give this a read and get busy:

 http://teenlife.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/

“The Teen Life blog highlights articles by teens in Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties concerning issues affecting their lives and those of other teens.

Students in local high school journalism classes or clubs are encouraged to post articles, photos and more on their schools’ pages on this Teen Life blog by contacting your schools’ journalism teacher or adviser.

If your school isn’t participating yet, contact Press Democrat news editor Jim Fremgen at 521-5298 or jim.fremgen@pressdemocrat.com for details on how to participate.”

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Coyote Valley Elementary School third graders are chipping in to help Haitians. The students started a dollar drive and gathered $680 for Save the Children.

The fundraiser quickly spread beyond the third grade and the whole school got behind it, organizers said.

“The majority of the money came from the students themselves,” said third grade teacher Jenny Diaz in a statement.  “They asked for extra jobs at home and shared their allowances.  Many felt a real connection because of the pictures in the news, and their personal experiences with California earthquakes.  Sixth graders, Yesenia Garcia and Asia Firebaugh went the extra mile and distributed a flyer of their own to the local businesses.”

Elsewhere in the local school world of giving, Rincon Valley Middle School and Santa Rosa Accelerated Charter School raised a combined $1,683.53 for the earthquake-ravaged country.

Is your school doing something? Send me an email.

The March 13 event will feature dancing, live music, silent auctions, henna tattoos and dance lessons for participants. Food will be provided by the chefs from Pamposh restaurant.

Wells for Life director Michael Viser will be the guest speaker.

The event is from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on March 13 at Cardinal Newman High School, 50 Ursuline Rd. Tickets are $20.

For more information, go to http://www.bollywoodh2o.org/

Turner, who is currently principal at Burbank Elementary School, will move over to Cook on April 5 to work with outgoing principal Harriet Gray until the end of the school year, said Santa Rosa School District Superintendent Sharon Liddell.

Gray is retiring after 38 years with the district.

Turner was principal at Burbank when that elementary campus exited federal Program Improvement sanctions at a time when a record number of Sonoma County schools fell in.

Cook is in Year 5 of Program Improvement, but Liddell said Monday that Gray could have stayed on as principal next year had she chosen to.

“Harriet decided to retire this year after 38 years of wonderful service to our community,” Liddell said. “We can take advantage of this and put a new administrator in and that will put us in line with what is required of the leadership plan.”

Kris Cosca, district director of curriculum and student support services, will take over at Burbank until a permanent replacement is found.

Gray began her career with the district in 1971 as an English teacher at Comstock.

She was there for 24 years before becoming an assistant principal at the newly established Elsie Allen High in 1995. She became principal at Cook in 2002 and under her leadership the wildly popular Blue and Gray Ball was established

http://srhsf.org/index.php?/gallery_yearbooks/image_full/1767/

http://srhsf.org/index.php?/gallery_yearbooks/image_full/1768/

Does this produce any leads?

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Do you know a D.H.? 

I found this item in the Santa Rosa High School Foundation newsletter.

Apparently Pat Sartain, who is now the principal’s secretary at Maria Carrillo but formerly worked at Santa Rosa High, found a class ring back in her days on the Mendocino Avenue campus.

The ring was in desk drawer in the office.

It is a woman’s ring, class of ’74, engraved with the initials D.H.

Any clues?

Call 544-3158 or email Nadine@coreutilities.com

Credit goes to Marmot Mountain, whose employees won the regional Team Bike Challenge as part of last spring’s Bike to Work Day. Their prize? Two new bike racks.

The Marmot team selected Prestwood because of that school’s enthusiastic participation in the annual Walk and Roll to School Day activities.

The racks were installed Jan. 26, according to the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition and Safe Routes to Schools folks.

About two-thirds of Prestwood’s students participated in Walk and Roll to School Day last fall and Prestwood Safe Routes to Schools team leader Matt Lage said more two-wheeled events are planned.

“We are excited to have been chosen for this donation and want to thank Marmot and Peak Racks for their generosity,” Lage said in a statement. “Weather permitting, we have a large contingent of bike riders. Oftentimes our bike racks are full and bikes are leaning against the classroom walls. These racks are well constructed and will serve the kids of Prestwood School for years to come.”

For more information about Safe Route to School, go to http://www.sonomasaferoutes.org/