April | 2016 | rialtonow

Eisenhower Seniors Flex Their Big Brains As They Cross The Finish Line

29 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

On Wednesday Eisenhower High School Seniors were honored for finishing High School with a 3.5 GPA or higher as they close into finishing the senior year. This year 86 students in a senior class of 521 students obtained at least an overall GPA of 3.5 and 21 of these student finished with a 4.0 GPA. These numbers are on the rise as last year 83 students obtained the level of 3.5 GPA overall.

On top of these Rock Star kids there is a double Valedictorian and Salutatorian. Both pairs finished with the same exact GPA’s

Valedictorian – Betcy Gaspar Nicacio & Alexa Chocoza
Salutatorian – Cristal Martinez-Ramirez & Amber Reveles

Career Center Advisor Nancy Samir Sehsah posted this about her rising star students:

I had such a great time holding today’s photos shoot with our 86 seniors with 3.5 and above GPAs. These kids are, truly, amazing. ‪#‎ikemob‬ ‪#‎classof2016‬‪#‎scholars‬

We believe that it is staff like these that are the reason more students are rising to the top in academic success. If we get an press invite to graduation we will be seeking out these rising stars.

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Local IE Activists Support Victims Of International Crime

29 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

Local activists that are spending their time and energy to hold the line on corruption and abuse of tax dollars stood behind Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump representing the adults and children that have been killed by people who were allowed to enter this country illegally. See the video shot by Grindall below:

Make sure you notice that Mr Trump or his security detail never shut down any recording or request for a photo.

We were in Ontario California at the Double Tree Hotel looking to cover the Candidates looking for your vote here in Rialto for Congress, Senate and Assembly. These people were speaking to the voting members of the San Bernardino County Republican Party Central Committee to endorse them in their prospective races. Ben Lopez listed as the groups Treasurer/Parliamentarian took it upon himself to shut down us and another attendee in recording the candidates not the unorganized fashion they ran their meetings. See the video we took of this very action:

We have slammed Democrats for this very thing after shutting down our camera we stated that nowhere was there a posting that recording wasn’t allowed Ben Lopez barked its in our bylaws. Well as a guest reporter we found it difficult to know the rules of a group we just found tonight. What is funny is someone sent us a photo that was taken from the stage while we were recording, a news camera right over our shoulder and others on cell phones for nearly a half hour while Rafael Cruz addressed the same meeting.

Whats funny is the Mission of the group and their actions don’t match up. See their Mission Satement taken from their Facebook Page and we will let you decide:

The Republican Party of San Bernardino County is a year-round campaign organization, charged with electing Republicans to every office throughout San Bernardino county. We maintain a permanent headquarters, and execute programs designed to register more Republicans, recruit volunteers, train candidates, endorse Republicans for local office, and turn out the Republican vote come election time.

How can you get Republicans elected in a heavy Democrat environment without showing off why the Republican choice is better?

If you would like to reach Mr. Ben Lopez and ask him what they are hiding in their meetings you can reach him at lopezben76@gmail.com

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Shooting Outside Eisenhower High School

28 Apr 2016 1 Comment

by rialto-now in Ca, City of Rialto, Crime, Inland Empire, Rialto, rialto unified school district, youth Tags: Eisenhower High, shooting

As the news of daily deaths ring through the city of San Bernardino there are reports rolling in this morning that there was a shooting outside of Eisenhower High School yesterday just after 3:30 pm so far were not hearing of any reported deaths or injuries but there are reports of a gun being found and two unidentified men being arrested.

Reports are that School District staff have been reported to keep a certain student out of classes and to report this student to campus security right away. Were withholding the name of this student but as we get more information we will update this post.

Rialto Police Issues Traffic Citations In Massive Multi Agency Traffic Assignment

26 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

On April 20, 2016, a multi-agency school traffic safety sweep was conducted.

This operation was a proactive policing effort focusing on traffic safety around local schools in the City of Rialto. It is important for students to be able to travel safely to and from school.

The goal of this operation was not only to enforce traffic laws, but to educate motorists and pedestrians around local schools.

Twenty-four police officers from the Rialto, Redlands, and Fontana Police Departments participated in this operation. Enforcement was conducted at 20 of the 29 schools within the Rialto Unified School District. 70 citations were issued for various violations and 49 warnings / educational stops were conducted with students and motorists.

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Rialto Area Congressman Re-Election Campaign Suspected of Removing Challengers Signs

26 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in Ca, Colton, Congressman Pete Aguilar, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Inland Empire, paul chabot for congress, pete aguilar, Public Safety, Redlands PD, Rialto, San Bernardino

In a Press Release sent out by the Campaign for Paul Chabot for Congress an accusation of vandalism, theft and trespassing against the current congressman Pete Aguilar and his campaign. Two years ago when both men ran for the highly contested seat Pete Aguilar ran a dirty campaign full of mailers, TV commercials and ad lies about Candidate Paul Chabot according to Paul Chabot. From the looks of this Press Release the Paul Chabot campaign isn’t going down without a fight. See the Press Release below:

LEADING CANDIDATE CHABOT CALLS ON CONGRESSMAN AGUILAR’S CAMPAIGN, TO RETURN 100’s OF STOLEN SIGNS

Signs stolen from private property across
31st District likely represent felony theft

April 26, 2016 – Today, the Paul Chabot for Congress campaign condemned continued vandalism, and theft of hundreds of campaign signs by opponent’s campaign throughout the 31st Congressional District, likely representing a felony crime. Chabot calls on Aguilar’s campaign to immediately return the property.

Yesterday an eye-witness observed suspects removing “Paul Chabot for Congress” yard signs and replacing them with “Aguilar for Congress” signs. A police report was filed and an investigation is ongoing; however, reports of yard signs being stolen out of people’s front yards have started pouring in from around the congressional district. In Aguilar’s hometown of Redlands, the Chabot for Congress campaign estimates 90% of its supporters’ yard signs have been stolen.

“Crime continues to rise across California and it’s unacceptable that a campaign of a Member of Congress would be directly adding to that increase,” said Chabot.

“This is a perfect example of why we desperately need to elect leaders who have first-hand experience fighting crime,” continued Chabot. “As a Reserve Deputy Sheriff for the past 20 years I have fought criminals just like the ones witnessed trespassing on private property, vandalizing, and stealing property. I fully expect the Aguilar campaign to immediately return our property and comply with the police investigation.”

Listen to Our Interview with Rialto USD Superintendent Dr. Avila

26 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

Last week we had the opportunity to sit down and have a one on one interview with Rialto Unified School Superintendent Dr. Avila. The interview for our radio show Let’s Talk Community that aired last weekend.

Did you miss it? Well not to worry we have you covered with the video below:

After this interview we feel very confident about the future of Rialto Unified if Dr. Avila is able to complete all of what he spoke about in our interview.

Some of the things that we spoke about off camera were Dr. Avila’s wishes for the administrators of the schools in Rialto. He has an expectation that the administrators welcome the students into school and be outside as the children dismiss for the day. Dr. Avila spoke about the benefits he saw from his time as a school principal being outside and visible during the beginning and end of the day. He was able to connect with the students that didn’t find themselves in his office and he could survey the schools surroundings. Dr. Avila also doesn’t agree with administrators having labeled parking spots. He wants every aspect of the school setting to be welcome and inviting. He has gone as far as to remove all the assigned parking spots from district office including his!

The last thing we did is he walked me out into the lobby and asked me what do you see? As I called out items I saw he said now what is missing? I was puzzled I don’t know what is missing? He said where are the children? Why are the students not represented in this lobby? He was right there were lots of adults represented but no children. He said that he would be changing that as well.

We ran into Dr. Avila at the Puttin on a Ritz Gala Saturday Night and he said that he would like to sit down with us again and give an how are we doing now update on the progress of his desires for the District.

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Earth Day in the City of Rialto

22 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

Earth Day is this weekend and the City has some ways you can get involved in being green. If you can’t make the city sponsored event here are some other ways you can get involved:

Live near a park? Invite your neighbors to bring gloves, trash bags and trash grabbers if they have them and have a fun day of park cleanup.
Visit Rialto’s Community Garden and learn about the types of food that Rialto Urban Gardeners are growing.
Get neighborhood kids together to plant plants or draw pictures of what being earth Friendly means to them.
Tour a local orchard Like Adams Acres and teach kids about local food and the history of the region we live in.
Walk around your neighborhood and collect trash and recycling from the streets and planters in the neighborhood.

No matter what you do make sure that everyone knows that it is our part to make our city and surrounding communities a beautiful place to live.

Here are some good tips for you to remember when talking about Earth Day:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates for every 1 million mobile devices recycled, 35 thousand pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered.
Earth Day was founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson on April 22, 1970.
More than 100 billion pieces of junk mail are delivered in the United States each year. (Be Earth wise and use digital advertising with Rialto Now)
Recycling, reuse and re-manufacturing account for 3.1 million jobs in the U.S.
More than 76% of cardboard boxes and 72% of newspaper were recycled in 2006 but less than 50% of printing and writing paper was recycled.

See more at: http://www.henslernurseryindiana.com/earth-day-fun-facts/#sthash.A6AGV9Cm.dpuf

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Two Rialto Schools Receive Top Honors In New Recognition Program

18 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

Two of Rialto Unified School Districts schools were awarded the new level of top distinction from the state of California. These two schools have been labeled Gold Ribbon Schools here in the state of California. The California Gold Ribbon Schools Award was created to honor schools in place of the California Distinguished Schools Program, which is on hiatus while California creates new assessment and accountability systems.

Schools applied for the award based on a model program or practice their school has adopted that includes standards-based activities, projects, strategies, and practices that can be replicated by other local educational agencies. The award recognized middle and high schools last year.

The Gold Ribbon Awards recognize California schools that have made gains in implementing the academic content and performance standards adopted by the State Board of Education. These include the California Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics, California English Language Development Standards, and Next Generation Science Standards.

The two schools that were awarded in Rialto Unified School District are Helen L. Dollahan Elementary School and Myers Elementary School.

“I am ecstatic to be a part of the Dollahan family and to achieve the recognition of a California Gold Ribbon School,” smiled Dollahan Elementary School Principal, Daniel Husbands. “It is such a huge honor for our students, staff members, parents, and community to be recognized for all of their hard work and dedication to building the next generation of leaders through The Leader in Me process.”

Dollahan Elementary School fifth grade teacher, David Emrick, added, “As a teacher here for several years, I have seen an incredible amount of commitment to student learning and development from all areas of our community. Our secretaries, custodians, various support staff, teachers, administrators, parents, and local businesses have truly collaborated to make our school worthy of our Gold Ribbon status. We are extremely grateful to be recognized with this honor and vow to continue the effort to create a superb learning environment for all of our students.”

The “Leader In Me” program at Dollahan is one of six schools in the county and part of a collection in the state. The program was made possible by the Panda Cares Foundation that has dedicated thousands of dollars to making sure that these Rialto students have a program that will provide accountability and self worth. The program is so appealing the City of Rialto looking for something to fill the GRIP program last summer used the Leader in me program to show that they were trying to do something with the $4 million grant they received.

Myers Elementary School was equally excited about the news from the State. “This award serves as testament to the unwavering dedication exuded by our teachers for all of our students. In the midst of academic reform, our teachers took the initiative to press forward and create a sacred place for learning and discovering. Our teachers adopted the 21st Century skills of Communication and Collaboration. They have taken on the challenge to define and implement the distinct characteristics of this school-wide approach to create college and career bound students. Our accomplishment would not have been possible without the support of our parents, staff members, students, and community volunteers. It is an honor to have been bestowed this prestigious award,” stated Myers Elementary School Principal, Johanna Cuellar.

Teresa Chandler, second grade teacher, at Myers Elementary School, cheered, “It is truly an exciting event on many levels for me as an educator. It validates all the energy that we extend daily as a cohesive team of teachers, administrators, and support staff to help each of our students reaches their unique and maximum potential as individuals. As an educator, such a road taken at times may be stony and difficult, but it is without doubt a magical journey!”

“These schools shine as bright beacons for others, putting forth an exemplary effort to ensure that every student is ready for 21st Century college and careers,” stated State Superintendent of Instruction, Tom Torlakson in his CDE press release. “California teachers are developing an education model for the nation, training the students of today to be problem-solvers, inventors and pioneers of tomorrow.”

Rialto Unified School District Board of Education will formally honor Dollahan and Myers Elementary Schools on Wednesday, April 20, 2016, 7:00 p.m., at the televised public school board meeting held at 182 East Walnut Avenue in Rialto.

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Eisenhower High Invites You To The 1st Luau Collaboration

14 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

The Pacific Islander Club would like to invite you ALL to the 1st Luau collaboration between the Pacific Islanders Club and the Eisenhower Football Team. It is an authentic Hawaiian dinner and yummy dessert served by our football players then followed by an authentic show from six different islands featuring the Pacific Islanders! The Pacific Islander Club has worked really hard to bring this club back to life and we are proud to say it is has begun to thrive. The Pacific Islander Club would love for you to witness how amazing these kids are and all of the hard work they have committed to this event. Club adviser Samy Rodriguez is also dancing a solo. If you are interested in attending please see the attachment above and email me at srodrigu4@rialto.k12.ca.us or samyrdz@yahoo.com;

Here at Rialto Now Media have been supporting these awesome kids and the program for that last few years. It is VITAL that we grow and foster our young people and help make sure that positive clubs and sports can go on. If you can’t make the event please send a check to the school to purchase a ticket for someone else or just make a donation. Go Ike MOB

See below the Pacific Islander Club hosted a dancing with the stars event where club adviser and English teacher (seen in the black glasses) dances out the event with her kids. It is staff like this that need our finacial support while they support our developing kids.

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Colton Unified School District Suffers Student Death Some Blame PBIS

14 Apr 2016 3 Comments

Yesterday KTLA Channel 5 reported on the death of a Colton Unified School District Student.

“The parents of a 12-year-old boy who died after playing soccer Tuesday during a physical education class at an elementary school in Colton said Wednesday that a school bully stomped on their son’s chest before he lost consciousness.

School officials told him that Dominick had fallen and lost consciousness after running into another student, Gallegos told KTLA on Wednesday.

Katie Orloff, a spokeswoman for the Colton Joint Unified School District confirmed that a student had died and said a crisis team was at the school Wednesday. She did not provide any details of what had occurred.

“Everybody here is trying to do their best to support each other and work through it as the community that we are.” Orloff said.

Detectives were sent to the hospital and ruled out any type of assault or physical injury that may have happened at the school, according to Colton Police Department Officer Todd Smith, the school’s resource officer.

However, Dominick’s father talked to his son’s friends who witnessed the incident and believes his son was kicked by another student.

The students told Gallegos that Dominick slipped when he went to pick up a soccer ball and another student, who Gallegos said has a reputation for being a school bully, stomped on his son’s chest twice and Dominick lost consciousness.

“I guess the kid thought he was playing around. He started shaking him to wake up,” Gallegos said.

But that’s when the bell ending to school day rang and the boy just took off, Gallegos said.

“I don’t know where the teachers were,” said Gallegos, who felt his son should have been better supervised during the class. “Someone should have been watching those kids.”

Gallegos and the boy’s mother both said their son had no health problems and recently had a physical.”

See the full story from channel 5 here: http://ktla.com/2016/04/13/bully-stomped-on-chest-of-colton-6th-grader-who-died-boys-parents-say/

Now here is our issue with this story. According to Colton Police Officer Todd Smith “there was no proof that someone caused the student to die.” So how does Colton PD explain the witness reports? How can a School Resource officer feel confident that he can examine a dead body and rule out physical contact? Colton Unified has a long history of ignoring bully complaints and lying to parents, community, press and law enforcement.

This death reminds us of the bully case in 2014 where Jewlie Serna’s son had a bully give him death threats. This student was a known bully with issues and was labeled a special education student. Mrs Serna went round and round with the school and district and in a last ditch effort to get help she went to Social Media. Once she posted her sons issue on Facebook the stories of other students that were bullied and never helped came flooding in.

What made matters worse is when Mrs Serna brought a parent-child advocate and bully prevention professionals to a Colton Unified School Board meeting in an effort to get the school board to act the school and principal came out in force not to stand by Mrs Sernas son but to stand up for the administration that had been caught lying to police, community and parents.

We reached out to Mrs Serna to see if she wanted to make a statement on this horrible incident.

“I am so sickened to hear about this young boy’s death, I have been trying for about two years to change something with the CJUSD policies regarding bullying to no avail. The lack of truth and transparency was a large hurdle to over come in my sons case but though an attorney and a judge that was sick of the schools/ districts doing nothing I was able to protect my son through a restraining order. The schools and districts all point fingers the other way, no one is accountable.”

The popular thing we hear from people who work in education is that they are here for the children. But even louder than that old tag line is their actions. Covering up abuse, squabbling over money and work load and standing up for bad administrators instead of the kids who we claim to care for speak louder than your tired catch phrases.

We titled this article Colton Unified School District Suffers Student Death Some Blame PBIS because it is Positive Behavior Intervention Support that Colton and other IE School Districts are hiding behind to excuse the lack of accountability when it comes to punishing bad student behavior. How can we send our children to California Public Schools without worrying for their safety?

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