Ed Roundup: Garces Memorial to honor alumni
| Thursday, Feb 18 2010 05:21 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Feb 18 2010 05:26 PM
Garces Memorial High School will honor eight people who have made significant contributions to the Catholic school since its opening in 1947.
The school has inducted 18 others since it began the Hall of Honor awards in 2008, the year of its 60th anniversary. The hall pays tribute to those who have demonstrated a commitment to, and promotion of, Garces' values, mission and philosophy. Past honorees have included former longtime teachers, current judges, priests, professional athletes, authors, philanthropists and law enforcement officers.
This year's inductees are:
Gary T. Friedman: A 1961 Garces graduate and current Kern County Superior Court judge.
Joan Garibaldi: Along with her husband, Gene, began a successful bingo program; they also were instrumental in introducing and inaugurating the Garces Gala.
Raymond "Justin" Meyer (deceased): A 1956 Garces grad who was president and winemaker at Silver Oak Cellars. Family members have supported Garces.
Mary Pogon (deceased): Worked at Garces from 1956 to 1978 as a bookkeeper, administrative assistant and other roles.
Ken Ruettgers: A 1980 grad and USC and Green Bay Packers football star. He's an author and motivational speaker on Christian lifestyle living.
Paul Summers: A 1953 graduate and educator and administrator for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools.
Rev. Monsignor Ronal J. Swett: Served the Diocese of Fresno for 43 years as a priest, and monsignor and pastor of St. Philip the Apostle Church. He was for 17 years rector of Garces, guiding the school through many administrative and board changes.
Richard Tucker: Was principal of Garces from 1978 to 1988. He made many improvements to the curriculum and spiritual, academic and social structure of the school. He continues to assist the school in various areas.
Bryon Schaefer, principal of North High School, will take over next school year as Kern High School District assistant superintendent of business. Schaefer is taking over at a time when the district projects an $8.7 million budget cut.
He will replace Dennis Scott, who is retiring after 38 years with KHSD.
"It's a tough act to follow," Schaefer said.
Scott recently said "2010 promises to be the toughest year yet for education" budget-wise. Schaefer said he and the district will have to keep watching the state financial situation, and hope it betters.
Schaefer came to Bakersfield from South Dakota in 1985. He as recruited as a math teacher. He worked as East and Stockdale highs before moving to North High. There he was dean then assistant principal; he's been principal for 12 years.
"I think I've had a good run here at North, and we've had a lot of success," Schaefer said.
Three more local schools have signed on to provide a science education and engineering curriculum, and Chevron is footing the bill.
Chevron and Project Lead the Way on Friday will give five local schools $118,000 to fund science and engineering curriculum aimed at producing future engineers.
Schools selected to participate include Centennial High School, Bakersfield High School, Golden Valley High School, Highland High School and Fruitvale Junior High School.
Centennial was the first to implement the program, this school year. Fruitvale will be the first junior high in Bakersfield to run the Gateway to Technology program, run by Project Lead The Way, a nonprofit educational program giving students the basics in science and engineering.
The money will fund a four-year commitment. District officials said this is great news at a time when schools are having to look to make more budget cuts.
A new study released Thursday says in the next 10 years, several counties in California, including Kern, will demand more administrators because of projected growth in student enrollment and looming retirements.
WestEd's study highlights the expected need for new principals and vice principals in 10 state counties with the highest student enrollment. Those counties, Kern included, will drive much of the overall hires, the study says. They are expected to need close to 3,000 administrators over the next decade, or 61 percent of the projected statewide need of more than 4,800 hires.
WestEd is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit research agency working with education and other communities. For more, read The Californian's education blog, The Grade, at Bakersfield.com/blogs.
The California Department of Education on Thursday announced the state's participation in a federally-mandated system that will track migrant student movement and records.
The Migrant Student Information Exchange system, or MSIX, is to help states electronically transfer student records. Migrant students often change schools, school districts and even states during the year because their families are seeking temporary or seasonal work.
The system is a Web-based portal that links each state's migrant student records. Only authorized school personnel and system staff will be able to use the portal, which is password protected. Officials said it will help school staff quickly access students' previous enrollment records, course history and assessments to determine the most appropriate placement in a pupil's new school. In the past, the new school has often had to wait for student records to be transferred from the previous school.
In the next few weeks, more than 200,000 eligible migrant student files will be on the system.
A retired local college professor will host a discussion Wednesday morning at Cal State Bakersfield regarding the separation of church and state.
Jack Hernandez, a former Bakersfield College philosophy professor and director of the Levan Center for Humanities, will present his perspective on the topic as vice president of the county chapter of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Founded in 1947, the organization advocates that religious freedom for all Americans can be achieved by keeping faith and government separate.
The discussion will be held at 8 a.m. in Science III, Room 108. Admission is free and open to the public. A daily parking permit is available for $2 at campus entrances.
Cal State Bakersfield's human resources management students will test their skills and knowledge at the California HR Games Feb. 27.
Students will compete in Jeopardy-like style covering topics such as employment law, recruiting, staffing, compensation benefits and unions. Winners will be invited to regional games next month in Reno, Nevada.
The games are designed to foster friendly competition among students while preparing them for human resources careers. Twelve teams from six CSU campuses will be competing. Two teams from CSUB will participate.
The daylong event will start at 8:45 a.m. on campus in Science III.
Bakersfield College in March will participate in the countrywide effort to recognize the historical accomplishments of women with a month-long series presented by local leaders among women.
"Women's History Month and More" events will be open and free to the public. This year's theme is Women and the Artist.
The first event will be 6:30 p.m. March 4 on the campus forum east, featuring a Mexican folklorico troupe. Four more events will follow throughout the month.
For more education news, go to The Californian's education blog, The Grade, or The Grade at Twitter.com/TBCTheGrade.
