Education roundup: Richers named 2009 California principal of the year
| Friday, May 08 2009 03:12 PM
Last Updated Friday, May 08 2009 04:15 PM
Kelly Richers was named 2009 California State Middle Grades Principal of the Year this week by the Association of California School Administrators.
Richers, currently principal of Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Wasco, was picked from a region that includes Kern, Inyo, Kings, Mono, and Tulare counties.
Test scores at Richers' schools have risen an average of 27 points each year over the past six, according to a release from the Wasco Union Elementary School District.
Richers has been a school administrator with Wasco for 16 years, and was honored by ACSA in 1997 and 2002 for his work as a school administrator.
Three of Richers' former assistant principals have risen to be elementary principals, and the Wasco assistant superintendent.
Outside of school, Richers is an avid moth collector. A moth he discovered two years ago at Montaña de Oro State Park in Los Osos was named after him (Sympistis richersi).
-- The Californian
Paramount awards $145,000 to valley students
Paramount Agricultural Companies is renewing its long standing commitment to education by increasing educational support to valley students bound for college.
This year the Paramount Scholarship Programs will award more than $145,000 to qualified students: $49,000 to local Valley students and $99,500 to students of Paramount employees. In 2009 student recipients represent Avenal, Bakersfield, Coalinga, Delano, Fillmore, Lemoore, McFarland, Orosi, Oxnard, Sanger, Selma, Shafter, Tulare, Visalia, Wasco and Woodlake.
"When I look back at my own experience, I see that the success I am fortunate to experience comes from one solid foundation -- a strong education," said Stewart Resnick, Paramount's owner. "I am a product of our UC system and I feel a huge responsibility to our state and its children to foster the building tools for all of us to be successful."
Resnicks' agricultural companies, based in Kern, Kings, Tulare, and Madera counties, comprise the largest farming operation of tree crops in the world, processing citrus, pomegranates, almonds, and pistachios.
Beyond offering college scholarships, Paramount's initiatives include arts programs for children, investments in hospitals and health centers, school fitness centers, field trips to cultural performances, uniforms for sports teams and musical instruments for school bands.
-- Paramount news release
