Big crowds turned out for the 41st annual Cypress Community Festival this weekend as local officials and families gathered for a weekend full of entertainment, fun and food.
Pictured here, family members take advantage of the harvest scene to take photos of Jackson and L.J. The chili cook-off awards presentation started with the taster’s choice 1st prize going to Dyno Dan BBQ, 2nd to Hey Man Chili and a tie between REMAX Real Estate and Boot Camp Bouncers for 3rd.
ENE staff photos
Dear Editor:
How can the Event-NewsEnterprise claim in its front-page banner that it serves Cypress when there was nothing in the newspaper (last week or this week) about the very successful Cypress Community Festival that was held on Saturday, October 1? Do your advertisers know that when it comes to Cypress news, your newspaper prefers negative stories? Goodness – the Cypress Festival had thousands of people (majority from our city) attend the two-day event and not a word in your publication!
There were two negative articles in today’s Event-NewsEnterprise newspaper about Cypress. One was about a woman accusing a man of trying to run over a cat (was he trying to run over the cat?) and she later ran him over. It’s very sad that the man died, and it is news to share, but what about some good news?
The second article was about Cypress City Council Member Frances Marquez again being censured by the city council. Council member Marquez’s high jinks this time was going with two politically like-minded candidates to a local high school and incorporating campaigning into her discussion on civics. For a supposedly educated woman, Marquez should have known better.
So, two negative Cypress articles.
Why not an article with photos about the absolutely fantastic Cypress Community Festival? Your newspaper did not mention anything the week before the event and did not mention anything about the event.
In my opinion, you appear to want to only want to write about negative articles about Cypress. When there is good neighborhood news, such as the Cypress Community Festival, you totally ignore it.
Sincerely,
Millie Bricker
Long time Cypress resident
By Chris MacDonald
The Huntington Harbour Philharmonic recently held their 15th Annual Boutique raising thousands of dollars for local school music programs. The popular event had 34 vendors at Huntington Harbour Place last Friday and Saturday.
Kim Weddon, who founded the boutique in 2006, said the Philharmonic volunteers save their time, skills and resources to bring Youth Music Education Programs to students at all grade levels throughout Orange County. Since 1956, more than 6 million children have participated in the program, which includes Musicians on Campus, Ensembles on Tour, High School Orchestra Festival, Orange County Youth Symphony and String Ensemble, Music Mobile, Sounds Around the Globe and more.
“Our annual Boutique is a great kickoff to the holiday season,” said Marlene Nielsen, chairwoman of the Harbour Philharmonic. “There were many interesting items for sale—gourmet olive oils, beautiful succulent arrangements and one of a kind clothing items. Many people get their holiday gifts at the boutique. Participating vendors donate 10% for the schools.”
“Many thanks to event Chairs Karen Ridout and Kelly Haynes for their work producing the Boutique.”
The next local activity is the Huntington Harbour Boat Parade, December 10th and 11th, 2022. Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates is the Grand Marshall. For information, visit, cruiseoflights.org.
Throughout August, Keep Cypress United, a diverse and growing non-partisan group of Cypress residents, met with several candidates running for city council. They asked a variety of questions, focusing on numerous challenges facing the city with special emphasis on districting. After much discussion, Keep Cypress United has announced its 2022 city council endorsements:
Terry Miller
Scott Minikus
Bonnie Peat
“I believe these are the best city council candidates to keep Cypress financially healthy, safe and welcoming,” said founding member Glenn Button.
With 50,000 residents over 6.6 square miles the city borders 11 cities in both Los Angeles and Orange counties. All those cities have a much higher sales tax with many also charging a utility tax. Cypress has no utility tax, and its 7.75 percent sales tax is the lowest along with Buena Park and Anaheim, two cities that bring in tax revenue with their theme parks.
Keep Cypress United supports the current city council majority’s decision to fight districting, which they believe would destroy the small city’s sense of community and ability to address specific issues. With its focus on electing a fiscally responsible city council members, Keep Cypress United points out that Cypress has an internationally known business corridor, family-friendly parks, and a responsive police department. Cypress continues to be one of Orange County’s most well-run and safest cities.
Keep Cypress United, whose name highlights the city’s long-recognized welcoming unity, is proud of its diverse membership. The group will have a booth on Saturday, October 1 at the Cypress Community Festival and invites attendees to stop by to say hello, ask questions, enter the opportunity drawing to win a gift card to a local business and to learn why we should Keep Cypress United.
In an hour-long State of the District address on September 23, the superintendent of the Los Alamitos Unified School District painted a picture of a forward-focused school system that has leaned into a rapidly evolving educational environment to create better outcomes for the 9,000 students at its nine campuses across Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, and Seal Beach.
“We’ve been very cautious to not want to necessarily change,” Andrew Pulver, Ed.D., said to a room packed with educators, parents, administrators, and school district partners.
“But as we look at the last few years, as we’ve come out of this pandemic, we also know it is critical that we be forward-focused and that our kids remain forward-focused,” said Pulver. Students’ growing mental health needs and a focus on addressing their social and emotional health have become a major factor in education, he said, and the district simply must adapt.
“Our schools must work for all kids, not just some kids,” said Pulver at the annual event, which is sponsored by the district’s nonprofit partner, the Los Alamitos Educational Foundation and was again held at On the Greens at the Navy Golf Course in Cypress.
Pulver noted that the district’s implementation of the Stanford University-affiliated program Challenge Success has, among other suggestions, made it clear that “a solution is to really embrace a broader definition of success by transforming the student experience.”
Challenge Success surveyed the district’s 6th through 12th graders and found that 95% reported being sleep deprived, 77% were experiencing stress-related health symptoms and 63% were constantly worried about academics.
“I think this is what we have to be about,” the superintendent said. “We believe that all students are valued in their own interest. That they shouldn’t have to choose between doing well and being well.”
Pulver’s metaphor for students’ experiences was the weight of a glass full of water; his point illustrated in a video he shared.
In the video, a man holding a glass full of water asks students in a classroom, “How much does it weigh?” At first, he said, there was no problem holding firm the glass of water with arm extended.
However, if one were forced to hold it for hours, like a full day, he said, the water-filled glass would soon feel heavier and heavier with each passing hour until the weight was no longer bearable.
Pulver then asked the audience to imagine a student with a stressor in their life forced to hold it inside without relief all day, every day. Pretty soon, the weight would impair their ability to learn.
“You can start thinking about the students [carrying burdens] all day long,” he said, “you’re paralyzed, incapable of doing anything.”
“How do we put this glass down?” Pulver asked the crowd.
To retain its vaulted position, Pulver suggested the district must quickly accelerate its ability to adapt to social realities that have left many students needing “safe spaces” to learn.
“It’s really all about creating thriving relationships,” he said.
Make no mistake, however, said Pulver, the district’s improved educational environment will not only retain its top tier rankings in state and national educational results, but the district cannot afford the risk of not creating an environment where all students can excel.
Thus, the superintendent announced a thematic change from its most recent “better together” motto to the “forward-focused” approach to educating students, designed to meet the post-pandemic moment.
“I think it was so fitting that we had this mantra of being ‘better together,’” said Pulver, “and that we could not have gone through what we went through without really all of us uniting collectively.”
However, “there is a critical need now in that same space of going a little deeper and wider, just like our teachers do every year,” he said.
The superintendent also sent a message to parents demanding the system remain focused only on the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic as part of the Los Alamitos educational experience.
“You know, from some in the community, what we’ve heard is, ‘I don’t understand why they’re [schools] focusing on social-emotional learning, and why are they focusing on wellness of kids, etc.,’” said Pulver.
Pulver suggested there is overwhelming evidence to focus on the whole child when it comes to educating students. He laid out his “blueprint,” calling it a “big, bold vision” that he said will only “enhance” the educational strength of the Los Alamitos Unified School District.
“I think all of us in this room are charged with doing this work,” he said. “We are here to serve and support the needs of our families and the dreams that our families have for their kids.”
“It’s really one mission, and that is to create the very best educational opportunities and experiences for our students,” said Pulver, thanking the Board of Education for “really being thoughtful” about the smart investments they’ve made to the district.
Diana Hill, President of the Los Al Unified Board of Education said, “this is a very special opportunity among a very special group of people. What makes Los Al Unified special is all of you,” she said.
“Whether you are on staff, whether you’re a teacher, whether you’re a volunteer, a parent community member or whatever, you do make a difference,” said Hill, thanking everyone in the room for their contributions to the system.
She also thanked Carrie Logue, Executive Director of LAEF and LAEF employees for the “incredible support” the nonprofit gives to the district. LAEF sponsors the State of the District annual event and has been instrumental in several educational initiatives, including the new mental health-related Well Spaces.
On Friday, Logue and LAEF’s new Board President, Felicia Gonzalez, presented a check for $245,000 to build a new Well Space at Los Alamitos High School.
In addition, LAEF has also contributed $3,000 to each of the district’s six elementary schools to create mini–Well Spaces on their campuses. Los Al Unified, along with LAEF, collaborated with the Orange County Department of Education and Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) to establish Well Spaces now open at the district’s two middle schools, the superintendent said.
“We are proud to enhance the district’s educational excellence,” said Logue, noting that the nonprofit educational partner of the system is well known for its after-school and summer enrichment programs.
She said LAEF’s fundraising involvement has grown to other programs.
Logue announced that LAEF’s free elementary world language classes are now available to 1st graders through 5th graders throughout the district, with approximately 350 students already enrolled.
LAEF has also donated more than $400,000 to the district to support various STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) programs, she said, thanking local business sponsors for their support.
Logue also recognized Dave Appling, who she said in the 1980’s organized fundraisers that “raised millions, literally millions” to support the district.
Currently, she said, since mental health has been declared a “national emergency,” LAEF was working closely with Los Al Unified to raise funds to meet the growing challenge.
“We really made mental health a priority in our funding,” she said.
Pulver too, thanked LAEF, and said the district’s school and mental health counseling ranks have been beefed up so that each of the system’s 9,000 students will have access to a counselor, if needed.
“The goal here is obviously to increase student wellbeing so they’re more able to engage and have the sense of belonging,” he said.
Although the district was among the first in Orange County to get kids back into the classroom during the pandemic, Pulver hinted the system’s herculean effort may have not been enough to hold off some learning loss.
Those results will be reflected when recent standardized testing results are released, which is now expected in October.
“We do recognize that we went through a pandemic and so we have to stay focused forward for our kids in that process,” said Pulver.
“You need to hold us accountable,” he added. “We need to hold ourselves accountable to these metrics,” said Pulver, ensuring that “what we say and what we do, are aligned to what was actually happening within our school system.”
The superintendent said the district nonetheless continues to produce educational results of “national caliber.”
“We had two schools that were National Blue-Ribbon winners, the only district in the state of California that have two Blue Ribbon Schools, one in each category, which is high performing and closing the achievement gap, which is really, I think, something spectacular.”
“We have had 75 Division One scholar athletes just in the last five years, that is a huge thing,” the superintendent said. “Our elementary schools continue to be … known for constantly being ranked in the top in the county,” he added.
Approximately 92% of Los Al students enroll in some form of post-secondary education, said Pulver, acknowledging of course that student achievement remains essential to the community.
Finally, Pulver gave a brief overview of the state-of-the-art facilities that now grace the district’s nine schools, courtesy of a $225 million combined investment provided by Measure K and Measure G bonds.
Part of that includes a $67 million STEM building and Aquatic Complex on the campus of Los Alamitos High School as well as plans to build a second gymnasium at LAHS.
Within the STEM building are significant career technical facilities where students can get hands-on experience to learn critical thinking skills as the district continues to broaden its career technical educational pathways as well, he said.
This year alone, he said, new medical and biomedical pathways are being added.
Pulver said many of the changes are based on a “Project Based Learning,” concept, an emerging framework that uses alternative or authentic assessments to create a climate of care and education for the whole community.
Recent changes in homework policy were indeed a part of this new framework, said Pulver.
“We have to get rid of this notion that we’re all about the academics,” said Pulver, saying “safe spaces” to learn will only elevate the district’s standards of educational excellence, suggesting you can no longer have one without the other.
Students, he said, “are going to remember the connections they made with other kids, the connections they made with adults in the classroom. That’s going to be their legacy.”
“If we don’t treat kids well, if we simply are all about wanting to be number one, and if being number one comes at the expense of kids being well, we have failed,” said Pulver.
“At the end of a semester, we all fall prey to this when we’re constantly asking people what grades did they get, what college did you get into, etc.,” he continued.
“I want to say this again,” emphasized Pulver, “our kids should not have to be focused on one, or the other, they should be able to do well and be well.”
“Success,” he said, “is really measured over the course of a lifetime,” suggesting that only a forward focused system can fully deliver to each student the same opportunity to succeed.
In a somber yet respectful mood, the Los Alamitos City Council paid tribute to the late Council member Ron Bates during their September meeting.
Eliminating all but essential business, they instead took turns in a “Moment of Remembrance” reflecting on the service and sudden death of Bates as a wreath occupied his empty chair on the dais.
Bates, 76, died unexpectedly while on a bicycle ride with friends in the city that he so proudly served.
Mayor Shelley Hasselbrink opened the meeting by letting the public know that the September meeting would be different and held in Bates’ memory.
“We’re going to do a little business,” she said, “but we’re going to do a lot more honoring a really great man.”
“I’d first like to pass it on to our other council members, for any comments, memories, just anything, stories would be great,” she said.
First term Council member Jordan Nefulda, who sat next to Bates on the dais, said, “First of all, I just want to offer my deepest console condolences to Ron’s wife, his children, and his family. I know this is a hard time for them. And I just pray for them.”
“As a newcomer to the city council. I didn’t know Ron personally before this, but I’ve sat next to him for two years. I’ve seen him at numerous city events, spoke to him on numerous occasions. And I could just tell you know how much he loved the city, how much he loved to serve, and how much it meant to him,” said Nefulda.
He said Bates’ knowledge of government made his questions sometimes more revealing than the answers or presentations to the council.
“You know, I probably learned more from the questions that he asked than I did from reading a lot of presentations,” he said. “I learned that I could go to him and ask him questions. When I didn’t understand something because of the history that he had,” said Nefulda, an attorney.
“I just want to thank him Ron and his family for his service, his service to the city and just for providing, you know, … kind of like a role model or mentor, for me on the city council and I thank him for that and he surely will be missed.”
Former Mayor and outgoing Council member Mark Chirco was also reflective.
“Obviously, like everyone else, I was devastated to learn of Ron’s passing. Before he rejoined the city council. I didn’t really know Ron. I think I’d met him once, but I really didn’t know him,” said Chirco.
“When he decided to run for city council, you know, I looked up his history and saw that he had a lot of experience, obviously, as a city manager throughout Southern California,” he added.
“And as a council member for, I think, 16 years, for a time mayor of Los Alamitos, and I thought, you know, obviously I was impressed but I also thought ‘oh, hopefully this isn’t somebody that comes on the council and because they’ve got more experience and everybody, you know, tries to control the narrative control the discussions and let people know he knows more than anybody else,’” he confessed.
“Obviously, Ron never did any of that. He was always such a gentleman. He let everyone, even those of us with less experience than him feel valued, and feel like an equal to him,” said Chirco.
“I could always tell Ron was trying to do what was right for the city of Los Alamitos in every aspect, always without question. Every, every, directive, everything he did was always for the benefit of the community and for Los Alamitos,” he added.
Chirco said Bates was principled, he was humble, kind, friendly, considerate, and a true family man who always spoke with such love and respect for his wife, Marilyn,” said Chirco.
“I personally feel fortunate to have been able to get to know him over the last couple of years, as well as Marilyn and I’m honored to have been able to serve with him the city and the community and we owe Ron, a huge debt of gratitude. I’d like to say on behalf of the residents of Los Alamitos, thank you to Ron for all his years of dedicated service. He will be missed,” he said.
Mayor Pro-tem Tanya Doby reached into the annals of literature to praise Bates.
“Whenever I hear someone’s passing, my first thoughts are, how should they be acknowledged? How should they be remembered? What would make them feel honored,” she asked?
“So I went and found a little snippet by someone named Ralph [Waldo] Emerson and it’s called Success. ‘What is success, to laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate the beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition. To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded,’” she quoted Emerson.
“And I believe that Ron Bates succeeded at life,” she said.
“I remember his laugh and smile. I remember him speaking kindly to all that he encountered, whether child or adult. I remember the accolades that I have heard regarding his contributions to each city, committee, and council that he passionately served on, and I will remember Ron Bates as a successful man and honor his memory as such.”
The Mayor honored Bates’ long history of public service as well.
“When Ron first decided that he was going to run for office again, he had more energy than most 20-year-olds. He was so excited to come back on council. Just with a whole new energy and curiosity about making his city the best that it could be,” said Hasselbrink.
“With over 50 years of public service, Ron’s commitment and dedication to public service was truly unmatched. He was highly respected in city management circles, having managed the cities of Buena Park, Southgate, Pico Rivera, La Habra Heights before transitioning to the private sector,” she said.
Hasselbrink said Bates also taught public finance and Public Works Administration at Cal State, Long Beach.
“He loved teaching his college students and getting them excited about a life of public service. Ron then decided to move to the other side of the dais by serving on the city council from 1988 to 2004,” she said, serving the city as an elected official for 16 years.
During his career, Hasselbrink served as Los Alamitos Mayor in 1992, 1993, 1998, and in 2002. Bates was instrumental in forming the partnership with Joint Forces Training Base to bring the US Women’s water polo team to Los Alamitos, the mayor
Local leaders and public service professionals packed the Rush Park Community Center in Rossmoor Thursday as the Los Alamitos Chamber of Commerce held its first 2022 Heroes Appreciation Luncheon since rules governing the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted.
“The great thing about today is community,” said Nesi Steward, President of the Los Alamitos Chamber of Commerce as she welcomed the standing-room-only crowd.
“For those of you who live, work, and play in this community, you know this room is filled with heroes today,” she said.
Stewart also thanked Event Chairman and long-time Chamber businesswoman Judy Klabouch, who inspired the event back in 2019 before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “You are my hero today,” Stewart said to her.
Chamber officials said they were excited to see the crowded room and to finally be able to get the unique opportunity back on track. Eight agencies of local law enforcement, military and public services select their own honorees that are then honored by the Chamber.
During the pandemic, Chamber officials voted to add health care professionals to the ranks of heroes.
“This is a very unique event,” said State Sen. Thomas Umberg, who attended the event. Umberg, a retired Colonel, who represents more than a million constituents in his Senate district, said “there is no event like the ‘Heroes Appreciation Luncheon’ anywhere in his district or any place I’ve heard about.”
“I’ve heard from many of you that this is one of our favorite days of the year,” said Dr. Andrew Pulver, who served as Master of Ceremonies for the event.
“We are here together to recognize our men and women in uniform,” he said.
“We really rally behind you and wrap our arms around those who give tirelessly of themselves, their service to all of us,” said Pulver.
“What a beautiful event,” said Pulver.
Nathan Searles, 2nd Vice President of the Rossmoor Community Services District, said Rossmoor “sincerely joins you in honoring medical frontline workers and … those in uniform for their bravery.”
“We greatly appreciate you for unselfishly serving the community on a daily basis,” said Searles to the men and women in uniform.
The Joint Forces Training Base provided the presentation of the colors and Los Alamitos High School’s Show Choir provided entertainment.
Before the presentation of the awards, Pulver asked the group to bow for a moment of silence to honor the late Los Al Council member Ron Bates.
As in years past, the Event News Enterprise will name the winners this week but will run individuals to highlight the 2022 service heroes throughout the year.
Here are the heroes named for 2022:
• California Highway Patrol, Officer Christopher Williams.
• Joint Forces Training Base, 40th Infantry Division, SSG Angelica Castaneda.
• 79th Theater Sustainment Command, SPC Justice Taylor.
• Los Alamitos Medical Center, Director Theresa Shoup.
• United States Navy, SB Naval Weapons Station, MA(SW/AW) Christian T. Guerrero.
• Los Alamitos Police Department, Detective Evan Flynn.
• Orange County Fire Authority, Elizabeth Denney.
• Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Deputy Adrian Rodriquez.
These are the men and women in uniform Los Al Chamber Heroes for 2022. (L-R) Theresa Shoup, Los Al Medical, Justice Taylor, 79th Sustainment Command, Christian Guerrero, U.S. Navy, Angelica Castaneda, JFTB, Elizabeth Denney, OCFA, Detective Evan Flynn, Los Al PD, Officer Christopher Williams, CHP and Dep. Adrian Rodriquez, Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
The highly anticipated debut of T.A. Cunningham has finally arrived, as he will make his first appearance this season after being released by CIF-SS. Alex Cunningham, also known as “T.A.” is a 6’6” 268-pound junior defensive end at Los Alamitos High School that moved to California this summer under some very complicated circumstances.
He played his freshman and sophomore years at John’s Creek High School in a suburb located northeast of Atlanta, Georgia. He was so dominant he has already accumulated more than 50 scholarship offers from schools such as Florida State, Alabama, Georgia, and USC.
After relocating to California, Cunningham completed his transfer paperwork to attend Los Alamitos High School and play football. However, CIF bylaw 207(B)(5)b(ix) states: “The Sit Out Period will be 50% of the total number of days in that particular season of sport. The number of days in a season is determined by each Section in accordance with their first allowable competition date through the final regular season competition date. If the total number of days in a season is an odd number, then the Sit Out Period would be 50% plus one additional day.”
Given the CIF regulation, Cunningham applied for a hardship waiver to enable him to play immediately. However, CIF denied Cunningham’s request and stated he could play junior varsity football in 2022, but would not be cleared to play varsity football until 2023.
Cunningham retained the services of litigation attorney Michael Caspino, who coincidently was the captain of his college football team. Caspino filed for an injunction against CIF-SS and CIF State to declare Cunningham immediately eligible. Judge Layne Melzer denied the request and stated that CIF had until Sept. 27 to complete their investigation.
On Sept. 26 Cunningham was notified that he was cleared to play, making him eligible for the Griffin’s next game. Cunningham released a statement via social media, “THEY CLEARED 99!!!” #99 being Cunningham’s jersey number.
While waiting for CIF-SS to complete their investigation, Cunningham has done everything that could have been expected of him. He has assimilated to a new school, he attends class, he attends practice, and he supports his teammates during games. He is their biggest fan running up and down the sidelines and doing his part to cheer them on.
The Los Alamitos Griffins will be at Newport Harbor High School on Friday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. if you would like to see Cunningham play for yourself.
The third graders in Christine Nguyen’s math class at Jack L. Weaver Elementary school were hungry for a challenge. Fortunately, Nguyen had the perfect lesson to satisfy their appetites and probably give them food for thought for a lifetime.
“I want students to see the real-world connections and importance of math in our everyday lives,” Nguyen, who has a master’s degree in math education, said in a recent phone interview. She’s spent twelve of her sixteen years teaching at Weaver located in Rossmoor in the Los Alamitos Unified School District. Her goal is to make math “fun, engaging, and relatable to all students.”
Perhaps her most mouth-watering math lessons are the ones she’s been teaching for years that are focused on In-N-Out burgers. Earlier this month, Nguyen told her students about the iconic fast-food chain’s so-called secret menu which features burgers of different sizes, including a 3×3 consisting of three meat patties and three slices of cheese on a bun. The kids were excited to learn this secret menu would be the basis of their math lesson.
“Who doesn’t love food? In-N-Out and its secret menu is a definite attention grabber. Students’ eyes were wide open when I mentioned that we were going to do an In-N-Out investigation,” Nguyen wrote in a message to Spotlight Schools.
Third graders at Weaver are broken into different groups for math instruction. Nguyen’s class of around thirty students includes kids who have already mastered their grade-level concepts so she has some flexibility in what she teaches them.
Their delicious assignment was to figure out the cost and calories of different sized burgers including a 3×3, 20×20, and even a 100×100. They were given some of the information from the regular In-N-Out menu to figure it out.
“The challenge was to come up with two expressions or equations, one that would allow anyone to find the cost of any sized burger and one that would allow anyone to calculate the calories for any sized burger, the nxn,” Nguyen explained. To sweeten the challenge, Nguyen offered students a king-sized candy bar as a reward for finding the answers.
An animated class got to work. “If you could have been there and seen their excitement and felt the buzz in the classroom … they did not want to stop,” Nguyen said, sharing that the students were working together and encouraging one another. “It was so rich. They were all talking about different observations, different patterns.”
When math class was due to end, the students made the unexpected request to not be told the answers. “They didn’t want me to give them any clues. They wanted to discover it on their own,” Nguyen said, explaining that some kids wanted to figure out the cost for a 1000×1000 and even a million by a million burger.
“I think this is the heart of teaching … igniting that light and drive for students to not learn because we want them to, but for them to have their own desire, you know, to want to learn, to want to do more and to feel like they could achieve anything they set their mind to,” Nguyen said.
Fueled by the students’ love for the lesson, Nguyen stretched the In-N-Out investigation into three sessions. But she had an idea to add something new. With the past two years of Covid-19 restrictions and rules on her mind, she thought it would be extra special to actually get a 100×100 into the classroom.
“You know what, I want them to be able to see it because how memorable and how cool would that be?,” Nguyen recalled thinking at the time.
She reached out to In-N-Out corporate offices with little success in getting the giant burger donated. Then she asked for some help. Christine Coxhill, a longtime parent volunteer at Weaver with experience asking for corporate donations for the school, said she would go to the In-N-Out located at The Shops at Rossmoor.
Coxhill’s son, Elliott, is in Nguyen’s math class and was really enjoying the burger-centered challenge. “He was just so excited and engaged and he just was so motivated to try and solve it because it was something that he was not used to,” Coxhill said of her son.
She was on board to bring the lesson to life for Elliott and his classmates. “I said you know what, I’m just gonna go in there and I’m just gonna beg. It’s not going to be pretty. I’m gonna beg for it,” Coxhill said in a phone interview half-joking.
Ultimately, after the In-N-Out manager made a few calls to corporate headquarters, he agreed to sell Coxhill 98 patties with 98 slices of cheese (a double-double of two patties, two slices of cheese and a bun was given for free, along with hats and stickers). But Coxhill and her other parent volunteers had to assemble the giant burger. Coxhill along with fellow parents Jenny Kwak and Susan Hsieh were up to the task, utilizing skewers to connect the patties and gooey cheese between two hamburger buns.
Coxhill admitted it was a little tricky piecing it all together. They put it into four boxes that they taped together and then placed that onto a wooden board on top of a cart to wheel into the classroom. She estimated the burger was more than three feet long.
“We are just so lucky to have amazing parent volunteers who are as passionate and as caring for our students’ learning and their experiences,” Nguyen said of the parents who helped pay for the burger and put it together.
On the final day of the lesson, the kids eagerly anticipated learning the answers to their equations. How much does a 100×100 cost? I won’t reveal the answers here in case readers want to try the challenge at home.
In the final part of the lesson, Nguyen used an old In-N-Out receipt to reveal the answer and also showed a picture of a 100×100 burger. As students checked their work, there was a knock on the classroom door. A student answered and Coxhill and the other parents rolled in the real-life 100×100 burger accompanied with In-N-Out fries. The classroom was instantly filled with the fast-food chain’s signature aroma.
The kids couldn’t believe it. “They were standing up, their eyes were wide open, their jaws were dropped to the floor … they were so excited,” Nguyen recalled.
After examining the enormous burger the students got to eat some of it. Nguyen made a point to wrap up the lesson by reinforcing the point of it all – “Everywhere you look, math is present in some way, shape or form,” she said.
Nguyen’s students left class that day feeling nourished in more ways than one.
For more local education news, visit SpotlightSchools.com.
The Cypress Chamber of Commerce will welcome 1st District County Supervisor Andrew Do as our guest speaker at the October Networking Breakfast. Our event will be held Tuesday, October 11th at the Residence Inn by Marriott at 4931 Katella Avenue, Cypress/Los Alamitos starting at 7:30 a.m. and will follow all current protocols for attendee safety. The 2022 redistricting has put the city of Cypress into the 1st Supervisorial District and, moving forward, the city will be represented by Andrew Do. The Chamber is hosting Supervisor Do in order to introduce him to the business community as well as hear an update on the status of county government and policies that will impact the city of Cypress and our businesses.
Supervisor Andrew Do represents Orange County’s 1st Supervisorial District, which now includes the cities of Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, La Palma, Seal Beach, Westminster, and the Unincorporated Communities of Midway City and Rossmoor.
Supervisor Do’s service to Orange County began when he joined the Public Defender’s office in 1990. In 1997, he joined the District Attorney’s office and served as a Deputy District Attorney in the Sexual Assault Unit. In 2007, he served as a Chief of Staff on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, before first being elected County Supervisor in 2015.
Supervisor Do’s work includes many initiatives aimed at protecting county residents and businesses including expanded COVID-19 testing for vulnerable communities, the District 1 Small Business Grant Program, Safe Dine OC grants for Personal Protective Equipment at restaurants among others. Supervisor Do has also been the leader on the Board of Supervisors on issues, including homelessness, affordable housing, mental health, infrastructure, public transportation, and criminal justice reform.
Each Chamber breakfast attendee will also have an opportunity to stand to introduce themselves and share a little about their business before the program begins.
Reservations are highly recommended to secure your spot for the monthly breakfasts and can be made here. Cost of the breakfast is $25. Early Bird Registration is $20. Attendees are also welcome to bring door prizes to promote their product or service. The program will include time for live networking, self-introductions, breakfast, our guest speaker and a question and answer session if time permits.
The Chamber breakfasts, which are open to the public, are held on the second Tuesday of every month. Space will be limited. To assure your seat, pre-register on the chamber website: https://www.cypresschamber.org/events/details/october-networking-breakfast-2022-2646.
Also
Significant realignments during the 2020 redistricting changed the representation for most of the Event-News Enterprise reading audience from Katrina Foley to Andrew Do, so the newly redistricted Supervisor is sponsoring a coffee in Rossmoor Oct. 13, apparently to learn more about the community’s needs.
His office announced the new First District Supervisor Andrew Do will host a neighborhood coffee on Thursday, Oct. 13, at Rush Park Auditorium, located at 2021 Blume Drive in Rossmoor.
His office said coffee and pastries will be provided during the event, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. – 7 p.m., his office said.
For questions or more information, please call 714-834-3110 or email Andrew.Do@ocgov.com.
Pathways to Independence is excited to announce Diana Hill as its new Executive Director, the Long Beach nonprofit has announced in a press release.
Diana has been a community leader for over 25 years in Los Alamitos and the greater Orange County area. Diana is currently a governing board member of the Los Alamitos School District among other volunteer positions, and has been associated with Pathways since 2007 serving as a mentor, coordinator, board member, and Interim Executive Director. She is passionate about making a difference in the lives of those who have demonstrated a desire to grow and break the negative cycles in their lives.
“This work is really meaningful for me,” said Hill. “I was raised by a single mom,” acknowledges Hill, “and she was the most amazing lady.”
Therefore, Hill says she has worked with Pathways to Independence for 15 years, helping to raise money to put young women in trouble on a more solid path to success.
“All of us have had instances of trauma in our lives, but for me, I really look at Pathways as an opportunity to break cycles with people that are willing to do the work necessary to change the trajectory of their lives,” said Hill.
Hill is a leader who serves, inspires, and always reaches for audacious goals, the group said in the press release.
The group said Hill has owned and operated a national seminar firm for 18 years, was a Director of Education at Online Trading Academy for 14 years. Currently she is serving on the Los Alamitos school board. She is a California State University Long Beach graduate, married to her high school sweetheart for 37 years, a mother of two Griffin graduates and grandmother to four.
Hill said she has mentored young women in this program and the experience has been life changing.
“Seeing what they have done, where they came from and how they’ve adapted has changed my life for the better,” said Hill.
“This work is personal, generational and legacy leaving,” she added.
As the Interim Executive Director, Diana facilitated a Board Member and Staff retreat, revitalized the Student Lounge for clients and dedicated the lounge in the memory of Friends of Pathways member Lori Giacomini.
She raised Pathway’s status on GuideStar to the Gold Seal of Transparency and created new strategic relationships with Long Beach City College, California State University Long Beach, and Golden West College
Pathways to Independence is an organization for social impact providing housing, mentoring, healthcare, therapy, college education, and services for young women who have experienced trauma.
Recently, Pathway’s volunteer, Suzy Gowin, won the Orange County Community Foundation Volunteer of the Year Award. As well as volunteer, Lindsay Mais, won honorable mention for the Invest in Others Award from investinothers.org.
Friends of Pathways will host its 26th annual event to benefit Pathways to Independence on October 1, 2022, in Long Beach. The theme of this year’s event is “Pathways to the Future.” To learn more about the organization, the event and purchase tickets, please visit
PathwaystoIndependence.org.
By David Burke
At recent Cypress City Council meetings, Council Members Frances Marquez and Jon Peat attacked each other based on the money behind their respective political campaigns. At the July 11, 2022 meeting, Marquez accused Peat and Mayor Paulo Morales of being bankrolled by Valley Vista Services, the city’s trash hauler. Valley Vista and its subsidiaries, along with a number of developers, funneled money through a group called Southern California Coalition of Businesses and Taxpayers (“SCCBT”), which has spent over $75,000 since 2014 to support Peat, Morales, and other former Cypress City Council Members.
Peat countered at the August 22, 2022 meeting by arguing that Marquez’s 2018 and 2020 campaigns were funded primarily by special interest groups outside of Cypress, including sixteen Political Action Committees (“PACs”) (many of which were labor unions), with only six percent of her funding coming from Cypress residents and businesses. Peat then asked if Marquez would recuse herself from voting on future projects that may benefit union labor groups.
Amidst the accusations, it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction, or to know how “normal” the campaign spending in Cypress is compared with elections in other cities. As a candidate for Cypress City Council in the November election, and the author of a report card that grades Orange County cities on the strength of their campaign finance laws, I believe it’s important to be transparent about whose money is behind our elected officials. We can also consider ideas to improve Cypress’s campaign finance system so that special interests have less influence over our elections.
One root of the problem is that winning elections—even local elections—can be very expensive. In Cypress the two winning candidates in the 2020 election—Anne Hertz and Frances Marquez—spent $43,799.00 and $46,672.36 on their campaigns. Such numbers are normal for winning candidates in cities around Cypress’s size. So where does all that money come from?
Most candidates who raise $10,000 or more do it either by self-funding, or by relying primarily on campaign contributions from individuals, businesses, or groups outside their city. This is because the percentage of Americans who donate $200 or more to political campaigns is very low—typically less than one half of one percent. It is extremely difficult for candidates to raise enough money to be competitive solely from residents in their city. The pattern of candidates self-funding or relying on support from outside their city holds true for Cypress’s current elected City Council Members.
In the 2020 election, Hertz self-funded approximately 87 percent of her campaign, with the rest of the money coming primarily from police and firefighter political action committees (PACs). Hertz raised just $375 from other Cypress residents. By contrast, Council Member Frances Marquez, who did not self-fund, got $2,850 from Cypress residents, but that only accounted for about six percent of her contributions. The other 94 percent came primarily from individuals living in other cities, PACs, or elected officials such as Marquez’s former employer Congressman Alan Lowenthal, who contributed $6,000.
The money behind Mayor Paulo Morales and Council Member Jon Peat is more complicated because in addition to campaign contributions, Morales and Peat received significant support in the form of the independent expenditures, which is money used to support a candidate that isn’t given directly to their campaign. Typically, organizations use independent expenditures to send out mailers in support of a candidate, but are not allowed to coordinate with that candidate about its content. In Cypress, most of the independent expenditures in recent elections have been funded by Valley Vista and its subsidiaries, or the developer Christo Bardis, through the Southern California Coalition of Businesses and Taxpayers (SCCBT).
For example, from 2014 to 2019 Mayor Morales raised $3,450 from individuals and businesses in Cypress. But the majority of his contributions came from the Cypress Police Officers PAC ($13,000) and SCCBT ($10,000). He also benefited from another $15,546.52 that SCCBT spent to support his campaign through independent expenditures. During the same time period Council Member Peat self-funded about 90 percent of his campaign contributions, but benefited greatly from $35,577.87 that SCCBT spent to support his campaigns through independent expenditures.
Such contributions and expenditures raise valid concerns about some of our City Council’s decisions. For example, after signing a ten-year agreement with Valley Vista that was to run from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2025, the City Council has twice voted to modify the contract in Valley Vista’s favor. On August 28, 2017 the City Council voted 3 to 1, with one abstention, to authorize Valley Vista to raise its prices while reducing the level of services provided, and extended the contract two additional years.
On November 22, 2021 the City Council voted 4 to 1 for another round of changes to the contract that included a 32 percent increase in the price of residential trash service, higher annual Consumer Price Index-based rate adjustments, and a ten-year contract extension until June 30, 2037. The increases were purportedly necessary so that Valley Vista could comply with the state’s new organics recycling requirements, which surely do impose an additional cost. But residents in many other Orange County cities were not subjected to similar increases.
Valley Vista’s track record of spending money to influence Cypress’s elections, and the City Council’s history of granting rate increases and contract extensions to Valley Vista does not seem like a coincidence. Therein lies the problem. When elected officials are backed heavily by developers, trash haulers, or labor groups, it raises doubts about how objective those Council Members can be when casting votes affecting those entities.
Fortunately, some reforms can help protect Cypress’s City Council from undue influence by special interests. First, we can enact campaign contribution limits in the $500 to $1,000 range like many other cities have, as opposed to the state-set $4,900 limit that is currently in place. Strong contribution limits will make it more difficult for special interests to have outsized influence. Second, we can improve the transparency around campaign contributions and independent expenditures by posting all of the relevant Fair Political Practices Commission forms dating back four election cycles on the city’s official website, which the City Council is currently considering. Third, we can also strengthen conflict of interest policies such that council members who received a certain level of support in the form of campaign contributions or independent expenditures must recuse themselves from votes affecting those entities. Special interests will be much less likely to spend money in Cypress elections if they know that council members would be prohibited from voting on the matters they’re trying to influence.
Supporting such reforms is one of the reasons I decided to run for Cypress City Council. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, I think we all want elections in which candidates can succeed without spending $40,000 of their own money, or depending heavily on special interest groups. Enacting campaign contribution limits, improving transparency, and strengthening conflict of interest policies will help ensure that our representatives always put the interests of Cypress residents above all else.
Note: David Burke is the founder of Citizens Take Action, a civic engagement nonprofit and is currently a candidate for the City Council in Cypress.
Dear Editor,
Thirty-seven years ago, my wife Jan and I began looking for a nice, friendly and safe city to start a family. Our search ended when we discovered Cypress. We purchased a home and a year later, our son was born. We had started to put down roots. Both being school teachers, we helped out at our son’s elementary school when possible.
Our son worked at Park and Recreation and went to Cypress High, where he played on the basketball team and won two league championships. After I retired, I volunteered at Luther Elementary where I started a Chorus program for fourth through sixth graders. Jan would help out with sectional rehearsals. The amazing Luther Singers performed at many city functions and also performed at Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland. Later I worked for the school district as an adviser for their new elementary music program.
We loved our city, we were proud to live in Cypress and were happy to give back, even in a small way, to the students in Cypress and the city. When people would ask where we lived, we were always proud to say, “We live in Cypress.” Recently, however, we have been dismayed, even embarrassed, at some of the things that have been happening in our city. Don’t get me wrong. We have a deep respect for the city workers: the police, fire, park and recreation and above all the wonderful teachers, administrators and school board members whose dedicated work molds the lives of our youth. We support them all, 100 percent.
Our problem is with certain members of the City Council. All too frequently, when I pick up the News Enterprise, the Orange County Register, or even when watching Channel 5 news, I am confronted with stories and images that I never thought would be associated with Cypress. Our city being sued for violating voting rights; a lawsuit that could cost millions in tax payer money. A pending law suit for violating the Brown Act. A public city maintenance yard being used as a dump site for unauthorized waste, in close proximity to residents and an elementary school. Council members receiving five figure campaign donations from a trash company and later giving that company a long extension to their contract. This done without going out to bid and costing Cypress residents a 32 percent increase in trash fees.
Throughout this long ordeal, one person has stood up for the citizens of Cypress. Dr. Frances Marquez has single handidly and against huge odds, fought against the special interests and asked for transparency from her fellow council members. She has not been afraid to question how our tax money is being spent. It seems evident to me Dr. Marquez has been on the right side of every issue, following the law and speaking out against abuses of power. We need more like Dr. Marquez on the City Council. It’s time to look for some fresh faces, some new ideas. Let’s elect some council members who will put an end to the constant bickering and negative headlines. Here’s hoping the voters will vote for change. Here’s hoping that our family, as well as other Cypress families who have been upset with the City Council’s actions and negative headlines, can once again say, “I’m proud to live in Cypress.”
Brian and Jan Dennis
Cypress
Dear Editor,
The comments that we are about to share are based on 42 years of interactions with the Los Alamitos School District.
Our 2 children were students in the district and now we have 2 grand children who are students in the district. Our daughter has disabilities and was a special ed student from the time she was 2 years old.
We had many meetings throughout her school years. We were always treated with respect by school personnel even though we didn’t always agree with what services our daughter needed. We have always thought that the district has made every effort to provide policies and procedures that allowed all students to maximize their potential. They met the challenge of the Covid epidemic in a professional manner. They were able to provide education to students in spite of contradictory information and directives from the state.
In many cases these directives changed from day to day. The district should be applauded for how they handled this very stressful period of time. People who have children want to live in Los Alamitos, to a large extent, based on the tradition of success that has been established in our district. We hope that the board is given the chance to do what needs to be done to ensure that the tradition continues. They should be given the opportunity to continue working to provide the best education for the students of the district.
Mark and Kathy Lindholm
Los Alamitos
Dear Editor:
Thank you to the Event-NewsEnterprise for having a front-page article (Sept. 21) on Councilwoman Frances Marquez’s latest embarrassing stunt that has now put the City of Cypress at risk of a lawsuit. Can’t someone give Marquez a few lessons on the legal rules of being a council member?
Ignoring Anaheim Union High School District policy, progressive Marquez and two of her endorsed progressive candidates (Troy Tanaka running for Cypress School Board and Helen Le running for Cypress City Council) recently campaigned at Cypress High School. Billed as an informative visit, this was a CAMPAIGN stop as part of Marquez’s efforts to have the Cypress School Board and Cypress City Council gain progressive majorities. (And we have seen how well progressive majorities work in other cities.)
Marquez was given detailed Anaheim Union High School District policy by the Cypress High School principal regarding what she could and could not do during her visit. But when does Marquez ever follow the rules?
Marquez was told that her visit could NOT be a campaign visit. So, what does Marquez do during her visit to Cypress High School? She hands out campaign literature to the Cypress High School students, instructing them to give the flyers to their parents. Again, when does Marquez ever follow the rules?
Now Marquez might have opened the City of Cypress to legal liability issues because she campaigned at the high school in her position as a council member and shared her own personal positions on issues facing the city. Since Tanaka and Le campaigned at Cypress High School, will all the other candidates running for school board and city council be allowed to campaign at the high school, distribute campaign literature to students to give to their parents and express their personal views on issues?
Marquez said she has spoken to students many times over the years and appears to wonder why there’s a problem. But all those past visits Marquez was NOT speaking to students and promoting her progressive agenda as a council member! Gee, do I really have to explain this to an elected official?
I wonder what progressive Marquez would have said if one of the conservative (as in fiscally responsible) city council members had shown up at Cypress High School and handed out campaign literature and shared his or her personal views on issues. My guess is that the Democrat Marquez would take the position of her party: “rules for thee, not for me.”
For the sake of our wonderful community, we must elect people to the Cypress City Council and the Cypress School Board that understand policies and laws apply to all elected officials. These are nonpartisan positions, but I urge everyone in Cypress to vote for candidates who are fiscally responsible and follow rules, procedures and most important, follow the law.
When will Marquez’s embarrassing stunts stop? Or maybe the question should be which Cypress school is next on Marquez’s campaign tour?
Sincerely,
Millie Bricker
Cypress
By Chris MacDonald
More than 300 individual birds were identified in the first three hours of the inaugural Huntington Beach Tree Society Bird-a-Thon at the Urban Forest and Central Park West, September 22-25th. Organized by Betty Kanne, who has been counting birds at the Urban Forest since 2000, the new annual event attracted birders from around Southern California, who brought their binoculars, cameras, notepads and enthusiasm.
Lena’s Legion Bird Team saw 318 individual birds, represented by 43 unique species, in less than three hours on Thursday. Each participant in the Bird-a-Thon was given a handmade Bluebird Medallion created by Laura Klepfer. Ray Calloway, a local woodworker and Urban Forest year-round volunteer, made hand-carved Western Bluebirds presented to James Kendall, a bird photographer from Long Beach and Sheila Holliday of Huntington Beach, the event promoter, for all the work they did to make it so successful.
“The Urban Forest area is on the Pacific Flyway and gets migrating birds on their way from Upper Canada and Alaska to the Southern Hemisphere,” said Jean Nagy, President of the Huntington Beach Tree Society, who also announced that the Western Bluebird will be the Urban Forest’s new mascot. Nagy, who helped create the Urban Forest, brought her 26-year-old talking African Gray Parrot, Violet, to the festivity.
“This is such a wonderful event because it encourages more people to closely examine the extraordinary high flying creatures that are in our daily lives.”
Some of the birds spotted were Rock Pigeons, 34, Mourning Doves, 20, Anna’s Hummingbird, 10, Turkey Vulture, 1, Cooper’s Hawks, 2, Red-shouldered Hawk, 1, Downy Woodpecker, 1, Peregrine Falcon, 1, Western Wood-Pewee, 1, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, 3, Black Phoebe, 6, and Warbling Vireo, 1.
“Everyone had a great time scanning the sky, trees, and shrubs calling out birds and directing others to see them,” said Lena Hayashi, a Tree Society member. “Our goal is to raise money for the Urban Forest to provide more native habitats, especially with California Sagebrush, Artemisia californica, to entice the endangered California Gnatcatcher to reside in the Urban Forest.”
“We hope this inaugural Bird-a-Thon will be the first of many, not only for birding experts, but for anyone who appreciates nature and wants to get out and learn a bit about birding,” said Sheila Holliday. “We’re pleased to present an event that brings the community together to discover one of Huntington Beach’s best wellness walks and best-kept secrets.”
If you would like to come to the Urban Forest, it is located at 6681 Ellis Avenue In Huntington Beach. Tax Deductible Donations can be made by mailing checks to HB Tree Society, P.O. Box 1269 Sunset Beach, CA 90742. Learn more at: http://www.hbtrees.org.
Aviation fans will be looking up this weekend as the Pacific Airshow returns to Huntington Beach Sept. 30 – Oct. 2.
According to a statement released by organizers, aviation fans can expect another thrilling event with world-class aviation, stunning aerobatics, engaging exhibits, a high-speed boat race around Catalina Island and so much more.
This year’s airshow will be headlined by the prestigious U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds which are commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Air Force and the Canadian Forces Snowbirds.
In addition, the Afterburner Music Festival will also return to Huntington city beach on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 with performers to be announced soon, the statement said.
“The Pacific Airshow, and now combined with Afterburner Music Festival, has become the cornerstone events of the fall season in Southern California. Whether you are mesmerized by the aircraft, captivated by the boats on the water or listening to great music, Pacific Airshow and Afterburner Music Festival have something for everyone,” said Kevin Elliott, director of Pacific Airshow and Afterburner Music Festival. “We can’t wait to welcome everyone back to the beach for the best weekend of the year.”
Airshow organizers say the United States Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, known as the “Thunderbirds,” recently completed its rigorous four-month training program to be ready for this year’s show season with new synchronized and exhilarating maneuvers that includes a six-ship display, something new for the performance squadron.
Always a fan favorite, the Canadian Snowbirds will return to the Pacific Airshow bringing their popular aerial ballet style of graceful maneuvers to Huntington Beach. With more than 130,000 Canadians living in California, the Snowbirds performance is a taste of home while demonstrating for U.S. Audiences the peaceful cooperation of our two countries.
“The Thunderbirds and the Snowbirds are just the beginning of a world-class line-up with more details, and a few surprises, to be announced soon,” added Elliott.
Pacific Airshow fans can stay in touch with event updates on the mobile app that can be found through their provider’s app store.
The Afterburner Music Festival has brought live music back to the Huntington City Beach for the first time in nearly a decade. The Music Festival is an epic two-night event held right on the sand at one of Southern California’s best beaches. Fans can enjoy the Pacific Airshow’s incredible aviation performers during the day and turn on the afterburners with world-class musical talent at night. For more information visit www.afterburnermusicfestival.com, said Elliott.
The first Pacific Airshow took place in 2016, attracting hundreds of thousands to Huntington Beach for an inspiring display of aviation skill and military might soaring over one of California’s most pristine beaches. The family-friendly airshow continues to flourish and grow under the directorship of Kevin Elliott and his company Code Four, a Huntington Beach, CA based full-service integrated experiential and creative agency.
For more information, please visit www.pacificairshow.com, follow Pacific Airshow on social media @pacificairshow or the mobile app from the app store.
For the first time in a long time, approximately 200 schoolteachers in the Cypress School District are working with a contract this week, as the Association of Cypress Teachers have finally ratified the tentative agreement.
“Salary and benefits are settled until the 2023-24 school year,” announced Elizabeth Dunagan, the ACT’s top negotiator, in an email statement after the vote this week.
Teachers have been working without an agreement for the previous and current school year after negotiations between the district and the teacher’s union broke down in May.
“The district is excited to learn that the teachers have just ratified the tentative agreement. The ratification means a lot,” said Dr. Timothy McLellan, Assistant Supt. for Business Services.
“It means that our collective efforts in working with teachers is appreciated,” he said.
McLellan confirmed the new teacher’s agreement includes a 3% retroactive salary increase for 2021-22, and a 6% salary increase for the current 2022-23 school year.
“We will be presenting the tentative agreement to our Board of Trustees for their final approval at their next meeting on Oct. 13,” he said.
“Once approved, the district will work to process retro payments to all teachers before the end of the year,” he noted. “Given today’s inflationary pressures on everyone, we’re excited this agreement is made possible for our teachers.”
Should the district approve the new agreement as expected, teachers within the district can now expect extra checks before Christmas to reflect the retroactive amounts due per the new agreement.
For the first time since the district was formed more than 100 years ago, teacher’s union within the elementary school district failed to reach an agreement with the district.
When it became obvious the district would not improve their offer and teachers would not back down on their demands, the district declared an “impasse,” triggering a process that required both sides to negotiate through a state mediator.
It took the mediator from the state Public Employee Relations Board only two sessions, one of which lasted two days, to compel an agreement.
Although there are some associated issues that still require minor action, the district’s teacher’s have agreed on what will amount to a 9 percent pay raise, including 3 percent for the previous school year and six percent for the current school year.
She said teachers will go back to the bargaining table in January to address special education, class sizes and work hours, said Dunagan, although she did not elaborate on the related issues.
“We want to make things better for our students,” she said.
And, although teachers overwhelmingly approved the agreement, Elizabeth Dunagan hinted that the process uncovered some issues that is prompting the group to get involved in the fall elections.
“We have three school board seats up for re-election,” said Dunagan in the statement, “two of them with challengers, and ACT is considering an endorsement of candidates for the first time in a few years.”
Dunagan did not specify which endorsements or races they are considering involvement two seats, Trustee Areas B and C are both contested.
For the first time in its history, the City of Los Alamitos is planning to bring together the female population of the city for a half-day “learning session” on Oct. 12.
The conference, said Emeline Noda, will be like conferences of a longer running nature like the one in Cypress, which incidentally, is also planning its Woman’s Conference for the fall (see related story).
Noda said there is “no competition at all,” complimenting the Cypress Woman’ s Conference yet saying the city felt they wanted to do something similar.
“So the idea behind the women’s conference is to gather local women that have inspiring stories to share so that we can get everyone in the same room to meet and connect,” said Emeline Noda, the city’s Director of Recreation and Community Services said in an interview this week.
“Especially during COVID,” she said, “everybody’s kind of been disconnected a little bit and it’s been a while to have the opportunity just to come together.”
Noda said the City of Los Alamitos “Elevate” conference will be held Wed., Oct. 12, from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the city’s Community Center on Oak Street in Los Al.
Currently, said Noda, the city’s top leadership positions are both occupied by women so both Mayor Shelley Hasselbrink and Mayor Pro-tem Tanya Doby will speak at the conference.
Noda said overall, the event is “designed to bring women together who are looking to grow.”
“I think all women are looking to grow in some form, so if you’re open to any form of growth, whether it be personally or professionally, just come check it out,” she said.
Noda said the conference will offer various educational breakout sessions, offering women of all ages an opportunity to learn and grow.
With four children of her own, the Los Al city official said she wonders what will come next and believe other women do as well.
“I want to know what to look forward to, you know, at that next stage in life,” said Noda. “It’s just sort of like learning from other women not to repeat the same mistakes, or try something new and don’t be afraid.”
“Other women can teach us because we all have talents,” she said.
Following a welcome and keynote speeches from Hasselbrink and Doby, Noda said the city’s first-ever Women’s Conference will offer choices of breakout sessions, as follows:
• A woman’s guide to life’s transitions.
• Tips and tricks in the kitchen.
• Cracking the code to unlock powerful communications strategies.
• Taking control of your financial future.
• Embracing all that you are.
• Women teaching women.
• Women in non-traditional leadership roles.
• Finding support for the invisible weight/pressure we carry.
After lunch, the group will break into smaller, networking discussions and finally hear from Michelle Boos-Stone, the founder of Five Elements Consulting Group, a woman who has broken the barriers into many non-traditional barriers with Fortune 500 companies.
Noda said the cost of registration is $40 and registration is available
Cypress is in for another round of censure chaos at the next council meeting after Mayor Paulo Morales announced they will be seeking disciplinary action regarding Councilmember Marquez’s questionable campaign presentation series earlier this month at Cypress High School.
Approved with guidelines from school officials beforehand, Councilmember Marquez along with two candidates running were scheduled for a three-day presentation series intended to inform students on Cypress election and local government procedures.
Spiking further controversy and tension within the council chamber, the disputed visitation with the students on September 7th and 8th, prompted questions and criticism regarding ethical and non-partisan campaign practices ahead of the upcoming election season.
“It’s fostering future leadership. It’s getting kids to know what’s happening in their community and to get them engaged,” said Marquez, in regard to their intention within the presentation series.
However, their intent to recruit and educate student volunteers about the November election with integrity failed in execution according to parental complaints sent in and read at the September 12 meeting.
“A council member basically used my daughter to promote the two candidates of her choosing in the public school and my daughter couldn’t leave if she wanted to,” the letter states, written from a parent within the Cypress High School Parent Teacher Association.
Yet, complaints from parents arose regarding the exclusivity of the event, generated suspicion on whether the invite, or non-invite, of particular candidates was politically motivated.
The two candidates selected were Troy Tanaka, running for school board against Council member Jon Peat, and Helen Le, running for city council.
Tanaka, father of two elementary schoolers in Cypress, denies any partisan motivated agenda heading into the event, however, stating that their main intention was to recruit student volunteers to aid and get involved in their first election process.
A lifelong Cypress resident, Tanaka says he does not want to be caught up in the controversy. “I just want to do what’s right for our community,” he said, “sticking up for teachers, bringing a voice back into the school system,” he added.
While Mayor Morales continued to align his concerns with the parents, Marquez on the other hand remained firm in her claim that it was an open invite policy.
Having campaigned successfully at the high school back in 2018, Marquez claims it has always been an open invite to any candidates interested in adding volunteers to their campaign.
“Everybody’s invited, nobody is excluded. This is something I have been doing for over 30 years. There’s never been any major complaint,” said Marquez.
In addition to the disagreement over whether or not every candidate was extended an invite or not, Morales scolded Marquez for not consulting with the city attorney or manager beforehand, given that she utilized her formal position to solidify the opportunity for school ground campaigning.
“You want to offer your services to the school? Fine. but again, as we’ve asked, you have to let us know you are doing these things,” said Morales, adding that clear communication between her and city staff could have prevented the issue entirely.
Putting the city at risk for a California Education Code violation, the school notified Marquez and the two candidates running for office that they would not be welcomed back after complaints prompted Morales to contact the school and cease the remaining presentations.
Therefore, prohibited from returning on the third day, secondary accounts argue that Marquez abused the opportunity to influence her own personal political ideology onto the kids and broke campaign guidelines given by the school.
Speaking to over fourteen classes over the span of two days, Marquez disclosed a variety of controversial, yet very publicized, issues currently pending within the city such as the CVRA lawsuits, the city yard and behavior issues on the dais with students.
Approaching election month, Marquez defended the importance of bringing awareness to current city issues when speaking to soon to be voters–stating that nothing she said “went out of line” with the parameters given by the school.
“You have to explain things to kids and educate them. If you’re not telling them what’s going on in their community, allowing them to know what’s happening, then that’s a shame because you’re not engaging them” said Marquez, who has a background in education as a college professor.
However, concerned parents and other council members strongly differ from Marquez’s approach. In fact, according to Morales one of the parents perceived her presentation as a form of indoctrination pushed onto the students.“‘Indoctrination.’ That’s how they felt your words were because the issues of the California Voting Rights Act lawsuit were brought up.
The trash issue in the city yard was brought up. The manner in which your fellow colleagues apparently treat you all of those are unacceptable because you are not presenting the city’s position, you are presenting your own,” said Morales.
Cited to pose liability risks for the city, and a violation of the Cypress’ Civility, Conduct, and Governance Policy, Mayor Morales utilized this as a basis to set another censure resolution against Marquez during their next council meeting on September 24th.
With more answers to come regarding the status and validity of Marquez’s expected second censure ordeal, the entangled politics of Cypress is expected to only heat up as election day nears.
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