Santa Ana's top news & views blog

New Santa Ana

Call us if you have a question

Tag Archives: jackson elementary

Nearly 300 Deloitte volunteers support SAUSD schools on 12th annual Impact Day

Posted on by Posted in Business, Charities, Civic Affairs, Education, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Working Families, Youth Activities Leave a comment

NEARLY 300 DELOITTE VOLUNTEERS SUPPORT SANTA ANA’S SCHOOLS

Organization’s 12th annual IMPACT Day highlights long-term commitment to local school district

For the past twelve years, Deloitte volunteers have donated their expertise toward improving education in SAUSD schools. To date, Deloitte volunteers have impacted over 8,000 Santa Ana students.

On Friday, June 10, nearly 300 professionals from Deloitte’s Orange County office once again will put work on hold to volunteer at Santa Ana schools. At Jackson Elementary School, Deloitte volunteers will introduce students to the concepts of workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through a series of Junior Achievement courses, as well as give the campus a makeover. Meanwhile, at Sierra Preparatory Academy, volunteers will host a math camp to teach students how math comes into play in real-world situations. Volunteers will use an interactive game show format to engage 100 sixth grade students.

Deloitte volunteers are using the occasion of the 12th annual IMPACT Day, its national day of community service, to host these events. These are two of several volunteer events in Orange County and part of a national effort hosted by Deloitte in more than 70 communities across the country on June 10. Nearly three-quarters of the organization’s personnel, which numbers more than 50,000 in total, are setting aside their work to volunteer at more than 800 events nationwide.

# # #

National school meal program offered to all students at 18 Santa Ana schools

Posted on by Posted in Education, Health and Medical, Santa Ana, SAUSD, Working Families, Youth Activities Leave a comment

National School Meal Program Offered to All Students at 18 Santa Ana Schools

SANTA ANA, CA – August 31, 2010 – Students at 18 Santa Ana schools will receive free breakfast and lunch daily for the 2010-11 school year in a program sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Participating schools include: Davis Elementary, Diamond Elementary, Edison Elementary, Franklin Elementary, Heninger Elementary, Heroes Elementary, Jackson Elementary, Kennedy Elementary, King Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, Lowell Elementary, Madison Elementary, Pio Pico Elementary, Roosevelt Elementary, Washington Elementary, Carr Intermediate, Community Day Intermediate and Community Day High School.

In addition, families who wish to apply for free or reduced-price meals, but who do not attend one of the 18 selected schools will need to complete an application to determine eligibility and return it to the school for processing. Applications can be obtained at the student’s school or by calling (714) 431-1900.

The information households provide on the application will be used to determine meal eligibility and may be verified at any time during the school year. Food Stamp, CalWORKs, and Kin-GAP households should complete an application if they are not notified of their eligibility by September 15, 2010.

The 18 participating schools were selected to take part in the free meal program based on the significant number of free or reduced meal applications completed by student households in previous years.

In accordance with federal law and USDA policy, SAUSD is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. Complaints of discrimination can be submitted by writing to: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250 or calling 1-800-795-3272 or 202-720-6382 (TTY). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

To learn more about Santa Ana Unified School District, log on to http://www.sausd.us/.

Click here to read the SAUSD school menus.

Click here to find out all about the SAUSD Food for Thought program.

In Santa Ana Unified, a full-priced elementary school breakfast or lunch costs between $2 and $3 per meal. Breakfast dishes include cereal, English muffins with egg and ham, and breakfast burritos with potatoes, cheese and egg. Lunches include spaghetti with meatballs, crispy turkey filet sandwiches, and teriyaki beef with brown rice, according to the O.C. Register.

School fitness program cuts crime, improves scores

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Education, Santa Ana, Youth Activities Leave a comment

A little exercise and sweat, it seems, pay dividends far beyond physical fitness.

Just ask Tom Serafin with the Santa Ana Police Athletic and Activities League and Jackson Elementary School principal Sela Longacre.

For the past two years more than 1,100 Jackson students have run, sweated and grunted their way to healthier bodies. Next month the school and the league will be recognized in a ceremony in Sacramento as one of the top performing participants in the governor’s fitness challenge.

Jackson students improved from a 23 percent fitness pass rate to a 96.3 percent fitness pass rate in just two years. The program included exercise stations, pushups, sit ups and running.

For their hard work and sore muscles they will receive $100,000 in exercise equipment that will be used to fill a fitness center at the school. But the program has paid unexpected dividends and may have even improved math and reading scores at the school.

“Scores in English learning arts and mathematics improved,” said Longacre, principal at Jackson for the past 10 years. “There is no direct correlation between the fitness program and the scores, but educators know that exercise improves learning.”

The exercise program during the lunch period three days a week also helped mellow out the kids.

“(The need for) Discipline on Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the lunch hour were way down,” she said. “That also was totally unexpected.”

Longacre said the fitness program has altered the mindset of kids, parents and teachers alike.

“This really has changed the culture of the school,” she explained. “We really didn’t know what to expect.”

For Santa Ana PD Officer Tom Serafin, the work at the school and the fitness center at 2627 McFadden has done more to help save at-risk kids from lives of crime than anything he has seen in nearly 30 years of police work.

“This (the fitness programs) is having a huge impact on the lives we touch here,” said Serafin who worked in gang homicide and fraud departments.

Kids are given awards and T-shirts for achieving milestones. But the benefit is spilling over to family and teachers as well who are exercising on their own and becoming fitter.

Even Officer Tom has benefited. “I was somewhat fit but participating in the kids programs is getting me even fitter.”

The center also works with 50 at risk kids during the summer when school is not in session.

The award-winning fitness program is funded by the California Gang Reduction Intervention and Prevention Program (CalGRIP), which has helped boost other anti-gang efforts in Santa Ana.

It recently paid for 10 CHP officers to work with Santa Ana’s Police Department’s Gang Suppression Street Terrorism Offender Program to make life miserable for local gangs and neighborhoods safer for residents.

Santa Ana was the first city in Orange County to receive CHP support to suppress gang activity through the CalGRIP through a $6.9 million grant to support local law enforcement.