As of this week, all OC schools were back in business.
The final districts to come online included Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach City, Ocean View and Newport-Mesa Unified, which welcomed back more than 22,000 students on Sept. 3, the Orange County Register reported.
Of course, summer isn’t always synonymous with “vacation,” particularly for district-level facilities and maintenance teams. Underscoring that point, the Daily Pilot offered a roundup of the offseason projects that took place in Newport-Mesa, including the addition of sports fields at Corona del Mar High and a new 50-meter pool at Estancia High.
According to the newspaper, Harbor View, Mariners, Newport, Newport Heights and Whittier elementary schools also had air-conditioning systems installed, as did Ensign Intermediate and Back Bay/Monte Vista High schools. Six other sites got new A/C units last summer.
And here are some other education news stories from the week ending Sept. 6:
- A Huntington Beach teen was ranked among the nation’s top 300 middle school scientists based on a study he conducted last year through the Broadcom Masters competition. Ishan Ghosh, who has started his freshman year at Edison High, was selected from a pool of 2,348 applicants.
- Teachers with entry-level salaries will spend more than 85 percent of their incomes to afford a median-priced apartment or home rental in Orange County. That’s far greater than the 30 percent rate that has been recommended for housing.
- Need help understanding California’s recent health education initiatives? The OCDE Newsroom offers a two-minute primer and a brief video in English and Spanish.
- California lawmakers approved a controversial bill that would allow districts to let parents bring some medical cannabis products to campuses to administer them to their children, as long as there’s a valid doctor’s recommendation. The bill goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom for approval.
- Speaking of Newsom, it’s not yet clear if he’ll sign a bill that would further restrict vaccine medical exemptions for public school students. An advisor says the governor will “only put his signature on a bill that reflects his values.”
- The OCDE Newsroom’s latest Student Profile shares the story of Hannah, who recently graduated from the Sunburst Youth Academy. Operated by the California National Guard in partnership with OCDE, the academy is a community high school for at-risk youth.
- Sycamore Creek Community Charter School, a public charter school in Huntington Beach, and the International School for Science and Culture in Costa Mesa marked their first official days of operation, the Daily Pilot reported.
This is the part where we encourage you to keep up with local education news stories by bookmarking the OCDE Newsroom, subscribing for emailed updates or following us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.