Fifth-grade teacher Pam Conti from Pegasus School in Huntington Beach is on a mission to take water samples from Dana Point, and more from the Santa Ana River in Huntington Beach, back to her fifth-grade class to conduct tests to find out just how bad the water is after the first major rain of the winter season.
The Orange County Register chronicled the teacher’s efforts this week to help students use scientific skills they’ve learned in the classroom and apply in the real world.
“It’s our first flush,” Conti, also volunteer for the Surfrider Foundation’s Huntington and Seal Beach chapter, told the Register.
“Today is the big day where all the trash, pollutants, cigarette butts, Styrofoam, and animal waste come down from all the cities and down the watershed. Orange County is a big place. And there’s no filter,” she said. “Everything that gets put in the streets, gutters, or when people don’t pick up after their pets, it gets washed out here. You’re getting all that waste in the ocean in one swoop.”
Conti, the environmental director for The Pegasus School, on two types of pollutants for her classroom lessons — those you can see, such as the litter that comes down the waterways — and those you can’t, such as the bacteria that increases the chances of swimmers and surfers getting sick, the Register reported.
Here are a few other news articles from across the region for the week ending Jan. 12.
- California will provide an additional $2.6 billion revenue to public education in the upcoming school year, Gov. Jerry Brown revealed Wednesday as part of his preliminary budget proposal. The money will help the state fully finance the Local Control Funding Formula.
- Two teams from OCDE’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program at Venado Middle School in Irvine recently made it to the playoffs in the national Battle of the Books reading competition hosted by Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.
- The new superintendent of Orange Unified took part in a Q&A with the Orange County Register, responding to questions about leadership and fulfilling the needs of students and schools.
- Gov. Jerry Brown wants to change community college funding by giving extra money to schools that serve low-income students while also creating a new online community college for those who can’t attend brick-and-mortar campuses.
- A colossal new mall is set to open in Tustin the first week of February. Yet rather than shops and eateries, this conglomerate will offer music, athletics and academics. Lyceum Village occupies a 20,000-square-foot building at an industrial park bordering Irvine.
- Estancia High School in Costa Mesa is slated to have its pool refilled for about $104,000 in two months as a delayed and costlier-than-anticipated aquatic center project inches forward.
- Two local researchers — one from Cal State Fullerton and one from Chapman University — recently delved into what exactly creates that magic mixture that results in students learning best in the classroom. They found students instinctively recognize a teacher who is creative and inspires.
- Erin Runnion, founder of the Joyful Child Foundation, has dedicated her life to educating and advocating for abused children, and recently organized a 5K fundraiser to help her reach students in the classroom.
Keep up to date with the latest education stories from throughout Orange County by bookmarking newsroom.ocde.us.