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Sutter County Superintendent of Schools Community Update: November 2021

A Message from Superintendent Tom Reusser

The Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are right around the corner. Due to the pandemic, many of our friends and neighbors could use some extra support. Our Yuba Sutter area has a variety of non-profit organizations where you can donate your time and/or resources to ensure that everyone within our community is provided for during the holiday season.

I am honored to serve in a community whose citizens are generous with their time and resources. Priority #3 for SCSOS is that we will be a productive and visible presence within our community. As a result, many of my staff are members of a variety of non-profit organizations such as United Way, Kiwanis, Soroptimist, just to name a few. As an organization, we will be participating in ensuring that our community is cared for this holiday season.

Here are some links for organizations where you can volunteer your time and/or resources:

Yuba Sutter Salvation Army

Yuba Sutter Food Bank

FREED

Yuba Sutter Colusa United Way

Economic Resources

Sincerely,



Superintendent Tom Reusser

K-12 Mask Update



Action for Healthy Kids Vaccine Toolkit

SCSOS Department Highlights

SCSOS Adult Education: New School Year - New Building

We are excited to announce that the Sutter County Adult Education and ESL Programs have moved to our new location at 990-A Klamath Lane in Yuba City. Students are now able to attend class in person and connect again with their teachers. Students are enjoying the expansive space of our new location, the Open Lab with state of the art touchscreen laptops and options for Direct Instruction, ISP and Distance Learning.

As the Yuba-Sutter Navigator, I have really enjoyed getting to be more involved with different aspects of the education process this year including morning, afternoon and evening orientations, intakes, and bi-weekly follow-ups with students and discussing the exciting college and career transition plans when students ask themselves, "What's next?" I look forward to reconnecting with many of our community agencies and being involved in what makes our counties so special.

Susan Odegard

Adult Education Navigator

Sutter County Superintendent of Schools

Adult Education Employee Spotlight

Best Job Ever!

Carolyn Lathrop,

Adult Education Teacher

For Carolyn Lathrop, teaching is just one of her many passions that include spending time with her family camping, traveling and her former career as a Real Estate Agent. Carolyn currently has over 80 students enrolled in her Independent Study courses and states that, "using the Remind App has been a great tool to use in communicating with students." Carolyn commented that she is enjoying seeing students utilize the new Open Lab times with her and assisting them with their graduation requirements.

Adult Education Dental Program

Tai Lopez is one of our recent graduates from our Adult Education Dental Program. She was placed at Dr. Cordano’s dental office for her internship. Once she finished the dental program, she was hired to serve there full time.

Tai is scheduled to take three more classes: Coronal Polish, Pits and Fissures, and RDA Prep Class. She will then be prepared to take the RDA (Registered Dental Assistant) test. Once she passes that, she will be qualified to serve as a Registered Dental Assistant. Tai’s long term goal is to become a dental hygienist, which will take her another two years of classes.

Tai said she chose to stay with Dr. Cordano’s office because she loves the office and its fast pace, she lives close by and her children’s schools are close by. She works four days a week, ten hours per day; her favorite part of the day is interacting with the patients.

“The SCSOS Adult Education Dental Program is a great program,” Tai said. “My instructor, Daniela Pomeroy, was awesome. She helped me through both my personal as well as academic concerns. She continues to serve as my mentor. I can call her at any time and she will answer.”

Tai said enrolling in this program was the smartest move she has made in a long time. She gained skills in order to move forward in her life. We are so proud of Tai and her success!

SCSOS Classroom Highlight: Marcus Marler's Class

Marcus Marler’s students and staff along with other classes, were able to build, irrigate, and plant the garden boxes last spring using a MediCal mini-grant. 

Based on much success the students take the food from the garden to the kitchen to table as students in ASD/SD program make some fabulous meals by cooking various recipes for all to enjoy.  

Butte Vista has an inclusive culture in regards to partnerships between special education and general education. 

Classroom staff who support this effort are: Marcus Marler, Sierra Adams, Kathy Uekert, and Amanda Zuniga.

SCSOS ESL Class Highlight

On October 20, 2021, the Sutter County Adult ESL program took about 14 students to Bishop’s Pumpkin Patch Farm. It was a little bit of a drizzly day, but it was a great trip. The students had just finished the COAPP 11.5 (Civic Objective Additional Assessment Plan) on Diversity. Our students come from varying cultural backgrounds, and they come from many different countries, including India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Cambodia, Nepal, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico. This trip was very educational for the students, especially since they had never been to an event like this before.

There are several characteristics about the pumpkin patch that made this trip particularly enriching for our students. Firstly, the students were able to tour a pumpkin farm and witness American farming practices first-hand. This included the opportunity to explore the pumpkin fields as well as some of the walnut harvests that are an integral part of the operation.

In addition, students learned about American culture from their teachers, who helped them make the connection between pumpkins and the role they play in our holiday, Halloween.

Lastly—and one of the most important student gains—the students got to practice their speaking and listening skills. They did this by speaking to the storekeepers and the staff, who were running various eateries and gift shops throughout the farm. Students were also seen talking among themselves, in English, about the different products and activities they found during the trip, and were heard comparing these to the farming practices in their own country.

The students’ listening skills were also put to the test when we had the opportunity to sit and listen to announcements made during a rather fun and high-energy “pig race."

Needless to say, students place a very high value on these types of experiences because it allows them to engage in real-life language skills, which are purely authentic, and the cultural element in a place like a pumpkin patch just helps to deepen their understanding of American culture.

Written by: Thorsteinn Gunter, ESL Teacher

News from Shady Creek

Rotary Continues Tradition of Service at Shady Creek

This October the Rotary Club of Yuba City marked 10 years of service projects at Shady Creek Outdoor School. This year they completed several projects to improve the campus for student use. The big project was adding an outdoor kitchen to the learning garden. This space will allow students to incorporate cooking into the garden class and will have the added benefit of also being available for conference groups. The garden was also weeded, the soil in the raised beds was amended, and the blackberry hedge was trimmed back. In the orchard the trees were fertilized, and pruned. 

In the Raptor Center two brave Rotarians gave the Turkey Vulture’s space a deep clean by replacing all the gravel in his room and pressure washing the whole space. And some of the youngest volunteers spent their day collecting acorns and pinecones for nature crafts.

 Joining the Rotary Club was Boy Scouts of America Troop 389 from Yuba City. These generous young men spent their day treating the outdoor weathering spaces for the Raptors, and the picnic tables at the dining hall with water sealant to protect them from the coming winter. As always the Rotarians and their family members worked hard, had fun, and spent a day enjoying the beautiful fall weather. 

 

Written by: Shannon Cuevas, Director of Shady Creek

Sutter County Superintendent of Schools raised $1075 for the 10 for Alec Challenge this year. When Superintendent Reusser presented Alec's mom with the funds we raised, she reported that Alec's scholarship fund has given out 33 scholarships thus far to local youth for sports such as cheerleading, football and soccer. Thank you to all SCSOS employees who contributed to this wonderful fundraiser!

Consider contributing to the 15th Annual Turkey Drive. Details in flyer below.