Griffins soccer ready for season
The Los Alamitos High girls soccer team opened up the regular season this week with optimism for a strong season.
Edgar notes issues in the State of City Address
The contentious issue of the Katella Avenue corridor was one of the key issues Mayor Troy Edgar said the city will face in the near future during his State of the City Address on Tuesday in Cypress.
Local dentist collects 400 pounds of candy for troops
Los Alamitos dentist, Edward H. Luong, D.M.D., collected 418 pounds of candy to be shipped overseas to U.S. service members in care packages for Operation Gratitude.
Los Alamitos donates $300,000 to refurbish Oak gym
The city of Los Alamitos presented a check for $300,000 to the Los Alamitos School District at their Nov. 13 board meeting to assist with the renovation of Oak Middle School Gymnasium and athletic fields.
The money will be approximately one-third of the cost to renovate the gym. The plan also calls for the installation of a new public restroom at the facility that will serve not only gym patrons, but those who use the athletic fields.
The city and other organizations offer activities that used the gym and fields. It is estimated that up to 8,000 people rotate through field areas on Friday nights during the flag football and cheerleading activities.
The city was a partner with the school district when the gym and school were building the gym and this is an extension of that agreement and joint usage. City Council member Marilynn Poe was part of a group of city representatives at the meeting to present the check. Poe noted this was a move to improve the future of the community.
“We see this as another once in a lifetime opportunity, for the next lifetime,” Poe said.
Also representing the city were Council member Gerri Graham-Mejia and City Manager Angie Avery. Avery said the city is thrilled to continue to work with the school district to improve facilities that serve the community.
“I think this is all about the future,” Avery said.
Los Alamitos Unified School District has been renovating its schools as part of the Measure K bond that was passed in 2008.
While the gymnasium is on school property, the school district does not own the gym, so was not obligated to used Measure K money on the renovation. The city, county and Youth Center will contribute to the renovation.
“We are extremely pleased and overjoyed to receive this donation toward this project,” stated Superintendent Sherry Kropp.
Cypress School District congratulates winners of election
The latest meeting of the Cypress School District Board of Trustees kicked off with the congratulating of the winners of the Cypress School District race during the Nov. 6 elections. The winners – trustees Brian Nakamura and Candi Kern – were each congratulated upon their election to the board.
The meeting then got down to business as usual.
The Board of Trustees approved membership with Starfall Education for all school sites. Starfall is a web-based program that helps students improve their reading skills, primarily in grades K-2.
It also approved a daily rate of pay of $162 for substitute speech and language therapists. This will allow the district to hire substitutes instead of contracting with a more expensive non-public agency.
As required by Education Code, the board then approved Wednesday, Dec. 12 as the annual organizational meeting. It also adopted Resolution No. 123-08, the removing of the Cawthon School site from the Surplus Property List, and reviewed the superintendent’s District Strategic Goals for the 2012-13 school year and the 2012-13 Strategic Plan – documents that will be brought back to the board for approval at the December meeting.
Board members also received a presentation on Common Core State Standards and 21st Century Learning, which included data regarding dropout rates, job skill demands, workforce priorities, and college graduation rates. Cypress School District staff believes the answer to these challenges is Common Core Standards, which provide a understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help students.
In California, the transition to Common Core State Standards began in 2011. The Cypress School District plans to continue implementation this year, with full implementation during the 2014-15 school year.
New faces to fill two Cypress City Council seats
The votes have been counted and two new member will fill the five seats of the Cypress City Council. The new members are Rob Johnson and Mariellen Yarc.
Johnson finished on top, earning 8,584. Yarc snagged the second-most votes with 6,843.
The other two candidates, Jay Sondhi and Bijan Mohseni, ended with 4,092 and 3,023, respectively.
Johnson, 55, has worked for the Crystal Geyser Water Company as a business executive. However, he is familiar with city affairs, considering he worked with the Cypress Parks and Recreation Department and the Traffic Commission in the past.
Yarc, on the other hand, has made a living as an attorney and practices family law.
Council members Phil Luebben and Todd Seymore have been termed out due to a rule that council members can only serve two terms in the city in their lifetime.
In other action, the Cypress School District race was won by Candi Kern, who pulled in 5,630. She was followed by Brian Nakamura, who grabbed the other seat with 5,543. Alexandria Coronado ended with 4,854 and Jimmy Fuller got 4,120 votes.
Cypress also had a hand to play in the Anaheim Union High School District races, because Cypress High is a part of that school District. The winners of those elections – the full term and short term – were Katherine H. Smith, who pulled in 32,964, and Brian O’neal, who had 29,418 votes, to fill the full term race and Annemarie Randle-Trejo snagged the short term seat with 29,520 votes.
AYSO announces ‘Celebrating V.I.P. Soccer Day’
Families and friends of the ‘special needs’ community are invited to attend the third annual “Celebrating V.I.P. Soccer Day” on Saturday, Nov. 17 at Landell Elementary School in Cypress. The event, which is free, will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and includes games by local V.I.P. soccer teams, a recognition ceremony, a barbecue lunch fundraiser, prizes and a resource fair that will feature local agencies that support the special needs community.
Parking is available at the school and the adjacent neighborhood.
Griffins miss opportunity
The Los Alamitos High football team had a solid defensive effort but could not muster enough offense, as the Griffins were eliminated from the CIF-SS Southwest Division playoffs with a 10-7 loss to La Habra on Friday at La Habra High.
The Griffins compiled just 141 total yards of offense and suffered some key turnovers to end scoring chances. While the Griffin defense exchanged big stops and turnover with the La Habra defense, the Highlanders were finally able to take advantage of a big play late in the game.
Trout wins ‘Rookie of the Year’ award
On Nov. 12, Angels’ outfielder Mike Trout was named the 2012 Jackie Robinson American League Rookie of the Year in an announcement made Monday by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. According to ELIAS, at 21 years and 58 days old at the end of the season, he becomes the youngest A.L. player ever to win the award.
He also finished second in the American League MVP voting to triple-crown winner Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers.
College students run polling booths
A handful of Cypress College students volunteered to man the polling booths on Election Day, Nov. 6. Pictured are Jacque Audet, Vicky Tonnu, Dalton Porter, and Lindsey Braught, who manned the polls in the theater lobby at Cypress College.
LAHS athletes sign with universities
Los Alamitos High officials believe it was the single largest amount of student athletes to sign with colleges at the same time.
City dishes an assist to gym
The City of Los Alamitos presented a check for $300,000 to the Los Alamitos School District at their Nov. 13 board meeting, to assist with the renovation of Oak Middle School Gymnasium and athletic fields.
Griffins miss opportunities
The Los Alamitos High football team had a solid defensive effort but could not muster enough offense as the Griffins were eliminated from the CIF-SS Southwest Division playoffs with a 10-7 loss to La Habra on Friday at La Habra High.
Murphy, Grose added to Los Alamitos City Council
The voters of Los Alamitos spoke and opted to give Dean Grose another chance on the Los Alamitos City Council. Newcomer Richard Murphy was the top vote getter with 2,181 votes, while Grose garnered 28 percent of the votes with 1,818.
