ROP Auto Tech Students from Las Lomas High Win Scholarships

Left to right, Alexey Fedorov, ROP Teacher Steve Boone, and Lionel Khan at the
Las Lomas High Auto Shop.

Two ROP seniors from Las Lomas High won first place in the Northern California division of the Ford AAA Student Auto Skills competition held at the Blackhawk Automotive Museum on May 7, 2010. The team of Alexey Fedorov and Lionel Kahn got a perfect score on the hands-on aspect of the competition, diagnosing and repairing everything that was malfunctioning on their test car, and scoring very high on the written test as well. As a result, they each won a $20,000 scholarship from Universal Technical Institute. This is the first time the Contra Costa County ROP Auto Tech students have won this annual competition. The purpose of the competition is to encourage highly qualified students to enter the field of auto technology.

"Being part of this competition was a confidence builder for these students," says ROP Instructor Steve Boone. "It opened the door of opportunity for a career in the auto industry."

Congratulations to ROP Instructor Steve Boone and his winning ROP students!

ROP Robotics Team Wins Award at World Championship Competition

Photo, top row: David Lambertson, Andy Renwick, Kristian Strotz, Nick Bublitz, and Daniel Baldwin. Bottom row: Shelby Lope, Kevin Mayo, Ethan Padilla, Matt Johnson, and James Hodgskiss. Not pictured: Will Grebe and Kyle Albert.

Students from Michael Smidebush's CCCOE ROP Robotics Engineering class (pictured above) at Concord High took home three trophies in a Northern California spring competition, and qualified to go to the VEX World Championships in Dallas on April 22-24, where they won the Educate Award.

The Educate Award is given to a team that has successfully integrated VEX Robotics into their Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) curricula. The students were interviewed on several occasions by multiple judges. When the award was presented, the judges said, "This robot was built as a bi-product of the school's STEM curricula that encouraged the students with great enthusiasm to learn about robotics. Students proved themselves with great integrity and innovation to earn funding from the ROP sponsor for building their robots. The creativity and out-of-the-box thinking of the students was just an outcome of the school's sheer support through the inclusion of robotics in the curriculum."

Congratulations to ROP Robotics Engineering Instructor Michael Smidebush and his Concord High robotics team!

Region VI ACSA Awards Recognize COE's Educational Leadership

Dr. Joseph A Ovick, Contra Costa County Superintendent of School and Marie McClaskey, Director of Student Programs.

Marie McClaskey, CCCOE Director of Student Programs, received the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Region VI Nels Nelson Award at the organization's recognition dinner Friday, April 23. Region VI is comprised of all chapters in Contra Costa and Alameda counties. The person receiving this award is chosen based on educational leadership that is visionary, ethical, demonstrates a commitment and dedication to student achievement, and whose influence is far reaching.

During her 37 years in education, Marie McClaskey has been a model of integrity, honesty, and professionalism. As director of Student Programs and former program manager for the CCCOE, Marie's commitment to public education and to ACSA has been exemplary and unwavering. She has served ACSA as Region President, and Treasurer, and Delegate to the General Assembly. She devotes herself to providing the highest quality education possible and to giving back to the profession. Marie was honored for her tireless work, strong values, and her many contributions to public education.

Dr. Joseph A. Ovick, Contra Costa County Superintendent of Schools, was also honored at the ACSA Region VI recognition dinner. Dr. Ovick received the Ferd. J. Kiesel Memorial Distinguished Service Award that goes to a person whose contribution to public education has had a significant impact over a wide geographical area, state or national.

Joe was awarded this honor due to his extraordinary capabilities as a leader and manager who has developed strong coalitions of educators, community members, business leaders, and legislators in support of public schools. He is able to communicate a compelling vision and bring together the people and resources required to accomplish that vision.

Joe advocates for all learners in the state and the nation by providing sound, practical counsel to legislators in the crafting of key education legislation. In addition to his tireless advocacy for K-12 funding, he has gone to bat for establishing universal preschools because he supports a young child's right to enter elementary school prepared. He is a strong advocate for funding of community colleges and state universities. He travels to Washington, D.C. annually to discuss educational concerns with our members of Congress and the U.S. Senate. He is a strong voice for special education in his quest to secure full funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Congressman George Miller, Chair of the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee says, "I have often turned to Joe for unvarnished, detailed information about education and youth. His keen insights and wealth of information often help me make decisions about shaping, supporting or opposing key pieces of legislation."

Congratulations to both Dr. Ovick and Marie!

Special Olympics Track & Field Events Coming Soon

More than 600 student athletes from the Contra Costa County Office of Education’s Special Education progams and East Bay school districts will be participating in two upcoming Special Olympic Track & Field events at the following locations:

Central County School Based Special Olympics
May 7, 2010
Ygnacio Valley High School
755 Oak Grove Road, Concord
Classroom & Athlete check-in: 9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Opening Ceremonies: 9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Competition: 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
 

East County School Based Special Olympics
May 14, 2010
Liberty High School
850 Second Street, Brentwood
Classroom & Athlete check-in: 9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Opening Ceremonies: 9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Competition: 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

 

For more information, please contact:
CJ Mills @ cmills@cccoe.k12.ca.us or phone 916-947-5008
To download a flyer, click here.

Letter to the PTA Following Education Rally at College Park High School

PTA Article
Submitted by Joseph A. Ovick, Ed.D.
April 16, 2010

Yesterday, April 15, I had the honor and pleasure of attending and speaking at the 32nd District PTA rally hosted at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill. It was a rally to restore adequate funding for schools. There were approximately 100 people in attendance, and we were fortunate that Senator Mark DeSaulnier, Assembly Member Joan Buchanan, Assembly Member Tom Torlakson, and the district director for Assembly Member Nancy Skinner were also present. The event was coordinated by Nancy Vandell with support from other members of the 32nd District PTA.

It is always a pleasure to meet with educators and parents of the children and youth who attend our public schools. It is a sad note, however, that the purpose of the meeting was simply to make known to the general public that our state is currently ranked 47th in the nation with regard to funding per pupil; and with the addition of $2.5 billion in reductions that the governor is requesting in next year’s budget, we will rank 50th among our 50 states.

This is truly a travesty when you consider the wealth of our state. Yes, we are in a deep recession, but we shouldn’t place the loss of revenue as a burden on the shoulders of our children and their future. If the people of California choose to continue to ignore the needs of our children, the impact will be felt for several generations, beginning with our children today. I feel limited by my command of the English language to be able to express how urgent it is for each and every one of us to write to our governor and share our concerns regarding his lack of leadership and his unwillingness to do what is right for our children and their future.

We were once the leader in the nation as a state regarding the dollars we spent to provide a wonderful education for our children. I personally benefited from that, and as Assembly Member Joan Buchanan shared at the rally, we can thank two former California governors—one a Republican and the other a Democrat—for their vision and commitment to our youth. Those men were Earl Warren and Pat Brown. Through their leadership, our K-12 education system, community college system, California State University system, and University of California system were stellar institutions for learning. We need to bring that back, and we need your help.

Thank you.

Two ROP Members Acknowledged with ACSA Awards

The CCCOE was well recognized with awards at the recent Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Region VI, Diablo Valley Charter Awards and Recognitions Dinner, held on March 18, at the Marriott Hotel, in Walnut Creek. Along with each award, there was a heartwarming story told about the recipient. One of the evening’s highlights was a story about two ROP awardees that had a special bond between themselves: an ROP student and an ROP business partner.

(l-r) Valeria Navarrete, Sally Savage, Amy Adams

ROP student, Valeria Navarrete earned the Every Student Succeeding Award and the John Muir Medical Center was presented the Partners in Education Award. The two were presented, that night, with their awards by ROP Principal Sally Savage, who had nominated the honorees late last year.

The John Muir Medical Center has been very involved with the CCCOE’s ROP since 2004, when they became interested in creating a summer internship/education program for high school students in Contra Costa County. Working together, John Muir and ROP produced such a program, with the first students beginning their internships in the summer of 2005. Qualified students are interviewed, evaluated, and hired to work in paid positions at John Muir, 40 hours a week, for eight weeks in paid positions. This admirable curriculum of work and education was created for students to gain important work skills on the job and in their ROP classes, which are held one day a week during their 8-week tenure at John Muir. Along with the real-life skills gained in such a program, the students also earn high school elective credit.

John Muir Medical Center’s Work Force Development Manager Amy Anderson, who received the Partners in Education Award in the hospital’s honor, has spent countless hours evaluating student applications, interviewing candidates, arranging department interviews for final candidates, and overseeing every aspect of the program. She arranges class schedules that include guest speakers from various hospital departments and many department tours.

Valeria Navarrete is a junior at Mt. Diablo High School, in Concord. Last summer, she applied and was accepted into the John Muir Medical Center’s summer internship/education program. Valeria is self-described as “the quiet and shy girl” who never does anything “extra” at school. Along with a challenging home life, Valeria has an IEP, which means she has a caseworker and a speech therapist that help her with her academic work. So with their help, Valeria wrote her résumé, completed the required essay, and successfully filled out the online application. Valeria was selected to interview at John Muir, which went very well. Amy Anderson said that Valeria was articulate, polite, and was clearly interested in doing something to better herself. Amy was anxious to place Valeria in the Medical Staffing Office at the Concord campus.

Valeria was hired and spent a very productive summer with a group of hospital workers who nurtured and cared deeply for her. The internship proved to be a life-changing experience for her. When asked what kind of an impact this made on her, she stated that she has started asking questions in class, and is no longer afraid that she might embarrass herself when speaking in the classroom. In the International Hospitality Academy, she feels she has become a quiet leader. It's quite obvious that Valeria has become more self-confident, and she looks forward to a future in the medical field.

It was agreed by all the attendees, that this special partnership was certainly worthy of celebrating with their awards.

Local hero, of national note, speaks to ROP high school class

Corporal Ally Jacobs, the University of California police officer who helped break the Jaycee Dugard kidnapping case, spoke today to Patricia Blades’ ROP Law Enforcement Careers class, at Pinole Valley High School. “If I can inspire one person to take the time out of their day to help others, and listen to their gut instincts, then I’ve done my job,” said Corporal Jacobs to an enthralled classroom.

Corporal Jacobs has become something of a celebrity lately, and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, but she remains modest about her accomplishments. Standing in front of the ROP class, she told the students about her journey from high school to college to the Police Academy. She was inspired to go into law enforcement by a high school teacher. Now she’s back in high school trying to inspire others.

Corporal Ally Jacobs

Part of her message to the class was, “Pay attention to your instincts.” Corporal Jacobs believes hunches and intuition can be important. She told the story of her encounter with the protagonists in the Jaycee Dugard case. “I knew something was wrong in my gut,” she said, and she followed up on that feeling with a phone call that lead to more investigation, and the eventual return of a young woman who had been kidnapped 18 years earlier.

While this sensational case made her a hero in others’ eyes, Corporal Jacobs said, “We didn’t do anything stupendous. We just followed our instincts. Everyone in this classroom has the ability to have a positive effect on people’s lives.”

Jacobs shares stories about her career with students (l-r) Adam Brownrigg, Daniel Chavez, and Brandon Whitson in Pinole Valley High's ROP Law Enforcement Careers class

The Contra Costa County Office of Education’s ROP Program offers career technical education classes in every comprehensive high school in the county. There are over 50 different ROP courses, ranging from Law Enforcement to Biotechnology to Robotics Engineering, which help prepare students for college or future careers.