The Vine November 17, 2017 From the desk of Superintendent Chris Williams

Giving Thanks Lots to be thankful for this year! Student council members at the Arts Academy at Bauer Speck set up a lunch time activity with Gobble Grams. Students got to fill out a gram for a friend or teacher with a message of giving thanks. Staff members at The Arts Academy at Bauer Speck got together for some pie and coffee after school, thanks to the Social Committee.

Mrs. Scheiffele’s 2/3 combo class at Virginia Peterson Elementary creatively disguised their turkeys for Thanksgiving. Lewis Middle School raised $798 and brought in 170 canned goods for donation to our local Loaves and Fishes in this week's Smash out Hunger campaign.

Ag Welding 3 students at Paso Robles High School participated in the Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week, bringing in canned goods, toiletries, and clothing that will go to support our local community. Great job!

Cross Country in CIF Finals Congratulations to the PRHS boys’ cross country team who placed first in their heat at prelims last week and qualified for CIF Southern Section Finals this weekend. The boys are currently ranked #5 in Division 2 and the top 7 teams will move on to compete at the state championships during Thanksgiving break. Best of luck to our Bearcat runners!

Paso Robles Half Marathon

We had an awesome time at the Paso Robles Half Marathon! Thank you to all the students, staff, and volunteers who helped and to our community sponsors for their donations. It was a great event supporting a great cause - our PRJUSD students! We could not have done this without the support of our Bearcat teams and coaches and PRJUSD staff members! And congrats to our PRHS assistant principal, Mr. Meinert who was the overall fastest male for the half marathon!

Special Olympics It was another beautiful day for Special Olympics events! Earlier this week, our athletes from Lewis Middle School, PRHS, and our Independent Skills Program competed in "united" soccer and bocce ball. Our athletes played alongside their volunteer buddies. It was a great day for all our athletes and volunteers!

Lions Club Awards Congratulations to the PRHS fall sports athletes who received the Lions Club Award this year. The students were selected by their teammates for demonstrating leadership, sportsmanship, and character. Bottom Row (left to right): Hallie Smith (varsity golf), Patricia Slason (varsity tennis), Jennifer Garcia Ruiz (jv cross country), Anessa Palomino (freshman cheer), Zoey Mayo (jv tennis), Tiera Vivian (jv cheer). Middle Row (left to right): Faith Alviso (varsity cheer), Mya Castelli (varsity cross country), Kirra Vargas (jv volleyball), Madison Anderson (varsity volleyball), Hannah Chambers (freshman volleyball), Pablo Cortes (varsity cross country), Carson Weide (jv water polo) Back Row (left to right): Blake Haupt (jv football), Ethan Wright (freshman football), Marshall Wiesner (varsity football), Devin Dobroth (jv cross country), John Nash (varsity water polo).

VAPA News It was a great week for visual arts! Our first group of afterschool VAPA students at Georgia Brown Elementary held a gallery exhibit for their families. PRJUSD began free afterschool VAPA instruction this year on Mondays and Wednesdays at our elementary schools. The students were proud to show off their masterpieces!

And our PRHS student artists were celebrated at our gallery exhibit at Studios on the Park. Many of these pieces are from our advanced art students and are for sale at the gallery. They would make a great holiday gift! Our students work at the gallery on the weekends so be sure to stop by and see them!

Flamson Middle School and Lewis Middle School joined the PRHS Bearcat Band and Color Guard for the final regular season game against Atascadero! The students worked on the “Star Spangled Banner”, fight song, and alma mater. They also worked on some pep songs and were able to play with the band for the entire game! The students were very excited to play with the high school students, and the effect was evident the next week as all the students played at a higher level of achievement.

The PRHS Jazz Band participated in a workshop with the professional trio, TrioKAIT, along with the jazz bands from Atascadero and Morro Bay. Last night, all three jazz bands performed at the Pavilion at the Lake in Atascadero and TrioKAIT finished off the evening with a performance for all the bands and audience.

The PRHS jazz band, under the direction of Kevin McDonald, played a couple of wonderful jazz tunes. The jazz band also played at last weekend’s Elegant Evening in downtown.

Arcade Night Earlier this week, Winifred Pifer Elementary held its 3rd annual 4th Grade Pifer Arcade Night to help fundraise to send students to Rancho El Chorro outdoor camp. The students created games using cardboard, some ingenuity, and lots of tape and glue. Families had fun playing the games and winning tickets that they could redeem in the Arcade Prize Store. The Arcade Night is part of the Next Generation Science Standards as students learn the Engineering Design Process firsthand through this project.

ST Math

Ms. Baca had two students from her class at Winifred Pifer Elementary (Ava and Sofia) who just completed all ST Math objectives for 5th grade. They are the first in the school to accomplish this! Now it’s on to the challenge objectives.

Student goal setting is one of the top strategies for academic success. Here we have students in Mrs. Michel-Schlitz' class at Georgia Brown Elementary demonstrating how they set goals with Jiji and ST Math.

Student Council Elections Congratulations to the students who have been selected to represent their schools as members of student council. It take a lot of courage for students to make speeches in front of their peers and it takes a lot of work to run a campaign. Pictured here are students from Pat Butler Elementary who recently ran for office. They all gave wonderful speeches and these candidates truly did RISE to the occasion!

Staff News Congratulations to Georgia Brown Elementary cafeteria employee, Rita Rebollar, who earned a perfect 100% score on her inspection this past week. She was recognized by San Luis Obispo County Environmental Health Services with this award. Congratulations, Rita!

FFA 3D Emblem Contest Ag Leadership students from PRHS recently participated in the 3D FFA Emblem Contest. The students organized and categorized all of the entries. Congratulations to the overall winner, Kendall Savage, with her 22-pound cake of a corduroy FFA jacket! The winners in each category are: Artistic Expression: Sydney Menses Shelter Category: Madison Bramlette Fiber Category: Edith Guzman Food Category: Kendall Savage

Staff Members get “Silly Stringed” Top sellers from the fall fundraiser at The Arts Academy at Bauer Speck got to spray Mrs. Moses, Mrs. Halic, and Mrs. Railsback with silly string. It was a fun event for the students (not so much for the staff)!

Veteran’s Day Assembly Last Thursday, Winifred Pifer Elementary held its annual Veteran's Day Assembly. Members of student council each explained the meaning of Veteran's Day. 1st & 2nd grade students sang and the 4th and 5th grade choir sang “This Land is Your Land.” Local Boys Scouts and Girls Scouts led in with the flag and saluted our local veterans in the audience. The assembly concluded with Mrs. Bean playing “Taps” on the trumpet.

Blood Drive on December 1 Liberty High School will be hosting its second quarter blood drive on Friday, December 1, in the PRJUSD Board Room. For more information, please contact Fred Kloepper at fkloepper@pasoschools.org.

Chess Club Winifred Pifer Elementary has 27 students who participate regularly in the school Chess Club. Many of the students are new to the game and are just beginning to learn how to play. Students meet once a week and are progressing with each meeting!

Library News This is the second year that Winifred Pifer Elementary Library Technician, Tracey Montelongo, has been working with Mrs. Martinez’s Child Psychology class from PRHS. Two classes come twice a day, every Thursday, for about an hour. The high school students are trained in various tasks of the school library such as shelving and weeding procedures and also assist Pifer students in finding books and using Destiny Quest. Students are also taught good work ethics that they will use in any future jobs they may acquire. These students are looking up Lexile and reading levels on designated websites and calculating tax on new books.

Pat Butler Elementary has also had the pleasure of Mrs. Martinez’s class visiting on Thursdays. The students help out in the library reading stories to the kindergarten class, shelving books, and “weeding” old books. These books are then given to students to take home and keep. Elizabeth and Leslie are covering tissue boxes that will be put behind books on the shelves so books do not get pushed back, fall down, and lost.

Lewis Middle School students from Mrs. Hoier’s Leadership class visited the Winifred Pifer Library last week and helped 1st graders read and find books. Flamson Middle School students wrote what they were thankful for in the library. Here are some of their posts.

Flamson Library Technician, Lindsay Robinson, has been busy “genrefying” her fiction collection by arranging the books by genre. Miss Robinson and her library assistant, Ivan Z., are alphabetizing the science fiction section.

Stone Soup 1st graders at Winifred Pifer Elementary read three different versions of the story Stone Soup. The students compared and contrasted the experiences of the characters in the stories. They ended the week determining which version they liked best and why. They also made their own version of Stone Soup.

Staff News Congratulations to the following on their new positions in PRJUSD: Matt McClish – PRJUSD Board of Trustees

Matt McClish is a 10-year resident of Paso Robles and is proud to serve as a Trustee on the PRJUSD school board. Mr. McClish has 30 years of large and small private sector senior management experience ranging from restaurants to wholesale to his current position as General Manager of Kennedy Club Fitness in Paso. Matt holds a B.A. from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Interdisciplinary Studies and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Long Beach State. Mr. McClish comes from an ‘education family’ with his mom having been a teacher for 37 years, his dad loved teaching and ended his career as a Superintendent while his step-mom ran the Santa Barbara County SELPA for 20 years. The dedication to providing a great public

education experience, as well as the work ethic and character to make it happen, are all values that were deeply instilled in him from an early age. Mr. McClish is active in the community and currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Paso Robles Chamber of Commerce. He is a Rotarian and believes very much in the concept of Service above Self and has worked in the community in a variety of positions from committees to coaching to mentoring. Mr. McClish, his wife Karisha, and his two young children, Eli and Hazel, enjoy spending time together as they explore all the great things about this wonderful community we all call home. His kids are Bearcats-in-training (Eli starts TK in the 2018 school year and Hazel is a few years out) and the quality of their experience is of utmost importance and that goes for all the kids in our district. Mr. McClish believes very much in the spirit of Paso Robles and knows the positive impact schools can have on the community. “It’s a wonderful thing to see when everyone is working together to achieve goals and helping every student achieve success is as good a goal as there is. Being on the board is something I take seriously. When I was sworn in I took an oath to the Constitution and to all the citizens of Paso to do my best for them. When I evaluate an issue or concern, I plan to use my business and life experience, my education and all the hopes and dreams that come with being a parent before I make a decision. I am honored and humbled to be a Trustee. “ Carol Kenyon – Chief Academic Officer

Carol Kenyon has worked within the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District for the past 22 years, and over the past three years has served as the Director of PreK-5 and PreK-8 Education. During this time, her focus has been on providing day to day vision, support, and oversight to the elementary and middle school sites, the after school expanded learning programs, and the new Early Learning Academy which serves 3-5 year olds. She is passionate about whole child education and preparing students for success in college, career, and community. Mrs. Kenyon began her career as a classroom teacher, later serving as a reading specialist and then the principal of Kermit King Elementary School. She earned a Bachelor’s

Degree at Cal Poly and a Master’s Degree in Education with an emphasis in Reading and Literacy. Mrs. Kenyon is proud of her 5th generation Paso Robles pioneer family heritage stating, “I am honored to serve the students, families, and community that I love and it is exciting to be a part of a district that is passionately committed to the success of every child.” Jennifer Gaviola – Deputy Superintendent

Jen Gaviola, Bearcat alumni, has served as the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District Director of Secondary Education and Career Technical Education for the past two and a half years. During this time she has helped write over 1 million dollars’ worth of CTE grants for our students and programs, partnered with PRHS leadership to earn recognition as a California Gold Ribbon School, and worked with Cuesta College to increase dual enrollment courses from 18 sections to 60. Mrs. Gaviola has worked in education for twenty years as a teacher, site administrator, Director of Special Education, and statewide SELPA Director while also serving as a statewide trainer in literacy and response to intervention. Mrs.

Gaviola graduated from UC Davis and earned her Master’s Degree from California State University, Sacramento. She has been recognized twice as an Educator in Excellence for ACSA Region 9. Her two daughters attend Daniel Lewis Middle School and will soon be Bearcats. Mrs. Gaviola is excited about her new role and believes, “Together we can make a difference in the lives of EVERY child in Paso!”

Shantal Gonzalez – Occupational Therapist Ms. Gonzalez is a highly-spirited and deeply-driven individual. She thrives on relationships, on human interactions, and on moments that are organic and meaningful. She graduated with her Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from Loma Linda University in 2013 and has dedicated the past four years to assisting the geriatric population along their road to recovery as a diligent and hard-working Occupational Therapist for Compass Health Inc. She provided personalized treatment interventions to a variety of personality traits with a gradient of disorders and diseases. Outside of work, she’s trailblazing with friends and her Labrador retriever, climbing rocks and running along the beach. When it’s too cold

outside to adventure, she’s baking up a storm because who doesn’t love fresh baked pies and chocolate chip cookies? Stacy Woodruff – Education Specialist

Mrs. Woodruff received her Bachelor’s Degree from California State University Northridge and had a successful career in the legal field. She began her career in education as a special education para educator and has spent the last ten years working in both that capacity and as a substitute teacher. Mrs. Woodruff and her husband, Pat, moved to Paso Robles in July of 2011. She has two sons Dylan, a graduate of Arizona State University, and Jeremy, who is a former Bearcat and is in his senior year at Arizona State University. When she is not working, she enjoys exploring the Central Coast with her husband and two dogs.

CTE Advisory Committee Meeting The CTE Advisory Committee is always in search of community feedback. If interested in attending or for more information, please contact Breanne Cerda at brcerda@pasoschools.org.