Provisional Board of Education Members
Freedman and Gonzalez Accept Oath of Office
New Provisional Board Member Agnes Gonzalez with husband Joaquin (Jack) at Oath of Office Ceremony by Superintendent Dr. Julie Mitchell. Board Members Donna Freedman and Agnes Gonzalez outside District Office.
The Rowland Unified School District Board of Education interviewed candidates and took action on February 25, 2021 to appoint Agnes Gonzalez (Trustee Area 1) and Donna Freedman (Trustee Area 5) as provisional Board of Education members, filling the two vacancies on the Board of Education for Trustee Areas 1 and 5. Rowland Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Julie Mitchell officially presented the Oath of Office to Gonzalez and Freedman on Monday, March 1, 2021. Both will serve as provisional board members through the end of the current term, which is December 2022.

Returning as a Board Member is community member and retired educator Donna Freedman, who will represent Trustee Area 5. “I am so thrilled and very excited to be back as a RUSD Board Member and I want to say thank you to our community, CSEA and ARE for their support. I’m ready for the challenges, hard work and difficult decisions to be made,” said Freedman.

Agnes Gonzalez recently retired from the Rowland Unified School District, where she worked for 31 years as a senior account clerk at Nogales High School. She is the first Filipino American to serve on the Board. “I am humbled and honored to serve the Rowland Unified School District as the provisional Board Member of Trustee area 1. It is my pleasure to serve the community I have lived in since 1985 and would like to continue to work together as a team player to all stakeholders of the community,” said Gonzalez. “Together we can support one another to achieve our goal for student success in RUSD. Education is the greatest investment that anyone can achieve.” 

Freedman and Gonzalez will take on their new roles as Board Members at the March 11, 2021 Board of Education meeting, where the entire Board will restructure and assume new board member positions.
Agnes Gonzalez Trustee Area 1
Donna Freedman Trustee Area 5
Rowland High School Heading to Another State Competition
Take First Place at Future Business Leaders of America
Rowland High School's Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) moves on to the state competition in April.
Congratulations to Rowland High School (RHS) for advancing to another state competition! Fifteen students qualified to advance to the State Competition of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), a national leadership and business education oriented organization that offers leadership opportunities and competition in a variety of business topics. The virtual competition will be held April 10-21.

Twenty four RHS students competed in 37 events at the Southern Section Virtual Conference February 6-12, 2021. Their months of studying paid off when the chapter received 4th place in Sweepstakes by earning 24 awards for placing in the top ten in various individual and team events.

The fifteen state-qualified students and their events are:  1st place: Victoria Wong, Krishna Nathani, and Edward New, Hospitality and Event Management team; Melody Dao and Katrina Nguyen, Broadcast Journalism Team.  2nd place: Nicholas Lai, Accounting 1; Krishna Nathani, Victoria Wong, Ian Szeto, Marketing Team; Melody Dao, Entrepreneurship; Amanda Liang, Healthcare Administration; Ian Szeto, Public Speaking. 3rd place: Alexandra Huang, Accounting 2. 4th place: Priscilla Ye, Accounting 1 and Economics; Angel Sanchez, Accounting 2; Alexandra Huang, Business Calculations; Andrew Dong, Management Decision Making; Michael Tang, Personal Finance. 5th place: Julia Aceron, Intro to Business; Edward New, Securities & Investments. 6th place: Helen Ku, Insurance & Risk Management. 

Aside from the state qualifiers, other students who placed in the top ten are: Nicholas Lai, 6th place in Impromptu Speaking; Catherine Liu, 10th place in Business Law; Noah Lim, 10th place in Computer Problem Solving. 

Co-advisers Caroline Manookian and Dan Luna are very proud of the winners for their huge achievements. "Competing virtually has made it much more difficult to be competitive," said Manookian. "They put in months of studying and having 55% of our competitors place in the top three for their events, while 63% placed in the top five for their events was huge!"
Nogales High School Virtual Drama Production TONIGHT
Tune In Tonight at 6:30 PM by Clicking Below:
https://rowlandschools-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-2AGRn1tQqW6GQwznMHjmA

The Drama Club at Nogales High School is excited to announce our first show for the 2020-21 school year: Check Please: Stay at Home Edition.

If you think teaching from home is hard, imagine trying to date via Zoom!! Please join the NHS Drama Club as they navigate everything from politics to feet in this hilarious performance. The production runs about 30-35 minutes and is family-friendly. 

"I am so proud of how hard the performers worked and the challenges of working via Zoom," said advisor Sarah Corp. "My student director, Adrienne Gonzalez, took amazing initiative coaching and guiding the other performers. As a teacher, I am so proud of their effort and diligence despite the challenges of distance learning. They have been a committed group that took all the struggles and challenges in stride."
MEET OUR SENIOR CAST MEMBERS
[Adrienne Gonzalez, Actor, and Student Director, Class of 2021]
[Joel Valdovidos, Actor, Class of 2021]
[Valeria Suarez, Actor, Class of 2020]
[Aimee Milla, Actor, Class of 2021]
[Eva Ochoa, Class of 2021]
In Case You Missed It...
RUSD celebrates diversity all year long and encourages our students to dream big! View this video featuring students and staff from across the District celebrating the infamous 
"I Have A Dream" speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
RUSD Kindergartners Meet Authors Each Week to Ignite Learning

900 Kindergartners Every Month Receive Books in Hand & Books Read by Our School Principals!

Rowland Unified School District is proud to be developing readers and writers and staying connected with our youngest learners during virtual learning. As part of our Kindergarten Care and Connect program, the Book of the Month Project mails all 900 Kindergartners a book each month to build their home library. School Principals from across the District also provide a special reading of each featured book! As a special treat, every Friday students from all 14 RUSD school sites meet incredible authors and illustrators that share their journey in reading and writing so children can visualize and see themselves in books.

Last Friday students were excited to meet author and illustrator Grace Lin. Her book "Big Mooncake for Little Star" was RUSD's January Book of the Month. KNBC Channel 4 News Producer Stephanie Miranda (a proud RUSD Alumni) joined the fun as Lin read to students and showed them how to draw one of her characters! She also interviewed Rowland Elementary Kindergarten Teacher Ashley McGrath, Elementary TOSA Tracy Do, along with Kindergartners Taylor Chen from Oswalt Academy, Clark Hung from Jellick Elementary, Camila Portez from Blandford Elementary and James Jacob Valencia from Rowland Elementary.

Our Community is Invited to Attend LCAP Community Meetings
March 8 or March 15 at 6 PM


Zoom Link: http://bit.ly/RUSDLCAP
Meeting ID: 875 7474 8532
Passcode: 8Hn=?C
LCAP COMMUNITY MEETINGS MARCH 8 & 15
We want every child to receive an innovative, effective education that allows them to achieve whatever they can dream. That means creating a plan for our District that balances our resources, sets clear goals, and maintains our vision for student learning. 
March 5, 2021 Issue RUSD News Editor gward@rowlandschools.org
Proud to Serve Our Communities of Rowland Heights, La Puente, Walnut & West Covina
www.RowlandSchools.org