Flu season still here, a month later than 2015

Eighteen students in a 5th grade class at Bay View Academy were out sick Monday, possibly with the flu, which prompted a teacher emailing a note to parents.

Cathy Gomes, student information manager at the school, said teachers have been encouraging families to keep students home if they're sick and to make sure they wash their hands to avoid the spread of viruses.

"We've made sure all the classrooms get thoroughly cleaned," she said.

Schools are required to report suspected outbreaks to the Monterey County Health Department, said spokeswoman Karen Smith.

"Specifically, we ask that school contact us if they see more than five children with suspected illness in a classroom, or more than 10 percent of the students out sick," she said in an email.

"We have had a few schools contact us this season with suspected increases in respiratory illnesses. We have worked with some schools to track the impacted classrooms, to improve hand hygiene practices, and to assist the school with flu prevention messaging for school staff and parents," she said.

But overall, it's been a typical flu season, Smith said. The season began to peak in February, which is a month later than last year.

"Peak flu activity will likely continue through March, which is a very good reason why people should still get the flu vaccine this year," she said.

Bay View Academy gets major makeover

Courtesy of one of the country's largest telecommunications corporation, Bay View Academy received a major makeover this past weekend.

During "Comcast Cares Day," now in it's 12th year, employees of the corporation spruce up schools in their local communities. Bay View was one of 16 schools in California to receive the help.

Comcast employees, alongside parents, teachers, and school officials spent the morning of April 27 planting, installing benches, painting and cleaning up the grounds. This is what it looked like, courtesy of Gordon Smith, who was there to witness it all.

Bay View Academy heading for another five years

Looks like Bay View Academy is here to stay. At least for a while longer.

Monterey County administrators are recommending the charter be re-authorized for another five years, and given the enormous support it's enjoyed, I see no reason why the Monterey County trustees would deny it. So I expect another lovefest this Wednesday at 3:30 at the Monterey County Office of Education.

See you there!.

Bay View Academy's hearing at MCOE -- a love fest!

It was a love fest at Wednesday's meeting of the Monterey County Board of Education, where trustees held a public hearing to consider the renewal of the Bay View Academy charter school.






Fourteen people spoke in support of renewing the charter, including parents, teachers, and board members.



Nobody spoke against it.



 The room was packed, and all who spoke describe passionately -- even tearfully -- how wonderful Bay View Academy is. What a difference it's made in some children's lives. How lucky everyone is to be a part of this family.

Bay View leaders want to renew the charter for five years and expand its size to make the school K-8. The Monterey County Board of Education will hear staff recommendations and make a decision on March 6.

Bay View Charter and North County Unified at MCOE Wednesday

Leaders with Bay View Academy Charter will make their case at 3:30 p.m Wednesday at Monterey County Board of Education for why their charter permit should be extended. And augmented to house almost twice the students it has now.

 It will be the the second major issue the education board takes on. In the morning, they'll consider whether to give the green light for the reorganization of the North Monterey County Unified School District Board into trustee areas. The two promise to be lively hearings.

So many schools in Monterey County, so little time

California officials handed score cards to all state schools last week, as you probably remember from this story. Many schools went up, some went down, and overall, academic performance at Monterey County public schools declined for the third year in a row.

This trend deserves further examination, something I hope to get around to in the upcoming weeks. Also, another trend that's been brought to my attention and deserves further scrutiny is the increased use of "alternative" testing for special education children -- something that data crunching guru Doug McRae believes is "inflating" test results statewide. Here's his story on EdSource, in case you're curious.

At the local level, there are several local districts that are using high proportion of alternative testings. I'll be looking into that sometime in the near future.

But I'd also love to look into high performing schools. Bay View Academy, for instance, hit its scores off the park by scoring 849 in its inaugural year -- three points ahead of Monte Vista Elementary, which, given Monterey demographics, is actually not very surprising.  I'm sure folks at both schools are very pleased, as they should.

Also noteworthy is the Monterey Bay Academy, which also went up by 21 points in the API scale. I'd love to explore what the school's doing, how they're tackling the challenges other schools have with low income, English learners, and other "subgroups." Stay tuned.

Finally, two schools of the Greenfield Union School District made impressive gains. Mary Chapa went up by 108 points. Its sister campus, El Camino Technology Academy, went up 73 points. And nearby Cesar Chavez went down by 33 points. Why the discrepancy?

So many stories...

Why not swapping Bay View Academy with the proposed child care center?

Who knows how far this idea would go, but at a community meeting organized today by MPUSD Jon Hill, a couple of people wanted to know this:

Since the district is barely going to open a child development center -- at the former site of Bay View Elementary -- and since Bay View Academy is growing, wants to grow even further to add a middle school, why not just let them take over the Bay View building? Why not start the child care center at Del Monte from scratch, and let the charter have the Bay View building?

Who knows how far this idea will go, but Monterey community members want the idea explored.

One thing's for sure: Bay View is a wound that won't be healing for some time to come.

Bay View Academy charter looking good

It's been in operations for only nine months -- and its founders worked on putting together the new school for less than two years. And so far, Bay View Academy seems to be doing great.

At an update at the Monterey County Board of Education, Interim Principal John Favero told trustees the students were expected to do very well in the California Standard Tests, based on their benchmark results. The school is on target based on their financial projections, and they're planning to add a second 2nd grade classroom, based on community demand.

I see another project for me coming down the pike. Stay tuned...

A peek into Monterey charters

Two local charters get good marks, one will get a chance to talk about it Saturday, and another wants to meet you

Representatives with the Bay View Academy charter gave an update on what the school has accomplished in its first year of operation. So far, so good, it appears. After an initial bump that pushed them to change principals early in the school year, veteran administrator John Favero took over and everything seems to be running smoothly now. MCOE trustees sounded pleased during their report Wednesday morning. Well, except for the fact that the charter is serving fewer English language learners than even Bay View Elementary had -- which were already fewer than the district as a whole, and trustees Francisco Estrada and David Serena had concerns about that.

There were also good news for Monterey Bay Charter in Pacific Grove, whose yearly audit was completed and raised no red flags. The school's well managed, it has a very healthy reserve -- much healthier than some school districts, Assistant Superintendent of Business Garry Bousum said.

Monterey Bay's Director Cassandra Gallup-Bridge said the reserve is accomplished by being thrifty. We meet our budget but we don't give our staff raises, she said. Ouch. Who would do something like that?

And speaking of Monterey Bay, they're having open houses in two sites. The kindergarten open house will take place from 10 to noon Saturday at the Seaside Children’s Center, 1450 Elm Street in Seaside. The school’s main campus will hold an open house for grades 1-8 from 10 to noon Saturday at 1004 David Avenue, Pacific Grove.

The school's taking applications for openings in the next school year. Openings will be filled beginning in April through random drawing. Enrollment forms are available here, and at the school office at 1004 David Avenue, Pacific Grove.

CORAL Academy, a group of parents organizing to form a charter school, will have a picnic to inform the public about their charter. They don't have charter status yet or a site, but they sure have energy and hopes to begin classes in the fall. The group will gather from 11 am to 2 pm. Saturday, February 11 at the Lakeside Area in Laguna Grande Park, on the corner of Canyon Del Rey Boulevard and Harcourt Avenue. Visit the group's website or call them at 831-272-2818 for more information.