Top Spellers Headed For County Contest

Top spellers from area schools will compete in Stanislaus County Elementary Spelling Championship today, Nov. 7, at Johansen High School, 641 Norseman Drive, Modesto. The Elementary Spelling Championship is for children in fourth through sixth grades. The Junior High Spelling Championship, for those in seventh and eighth grades, is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 14 at the Petersen Event Center, 720 12th Street, Modesto. Sponsored by the Stanislaus County Office of Education, both ...

Ag Day Delights, Informs Students

As fall brings in the changing of the weather, and orange pumpkins, it also brings Ag Day to Cloverland and Fair Oaks elementary schools. The school sites were both alive with a combination of teachers, presenters, animals, and students on Friday, Oct. 26.

GATE Students Busy Learning About Elections

Learning about the election process and holding mock Presidential elections at each elementary school site has been the course of study for the school district's GATE (Gifted And Talented Education) students.

Write Trail - Students’ Short Story Grows As December Deadline Nears

Student writers from Oakdale High School keep chipping away at their work and recently finished the first act of a short story they're working on for the Western Writers of America's student novella publication.

S Club - Students In Service

A huge jump in membership and heavy participation in club endeavors has brought Oakdale High School's "S" Club to the forefront by shining a spotlight on volunteerism and service activities for students.

Schoolyard Art: Making Shrubs Shape Up

A gas-powered hedge trimmer, a hand-held hedge trimmer, and grass shears are his tools. Shrubs are his canvas. Oakdale High School groundskeeper Fred Ditko has turned his imagination into reality, bringing to life the images he sees hidden in cookie-cutter shaped plants and letting their real personality take shape through their new form as topiaries. "Most of these plants have been here probably 40 years," he said. "I look ...

Culinary Institute Cooking

The Stanislaus County Culinary Arts Institute held its grand opening on Thursday, Oct. 18 with a standing-room-only crowd of community members, governmental officeholders, area dignitaries, and other supporters on hand. On the menu for the grand opening was a program that consisted of a welcome, information about the school and details about its state-of-the-art facility located on Wakefield Drive in Oakdale, as well as comments about its impact on ...

MAPS Presents Science Friday

The Modesto Area Partners in Science (MAPS) will offer two science presentations on Friday, Oct. 26 at Modesto Junior College's East Campus on College Avenue. The first is a family event titled "Halloween Chemistry" from 4p.m. to 5p.m. in the Science building, room 115. Dr. Al Chemist (Steve Murov) will present a series of fascinating experiments, featuring the foaming pumpkin and the fickle pickle, intended to demonstrate the importance and excitement of ...

Schools Meet Jog-A-Thon Goals

Incentives for students helped drive some special fundraising goals for the annual Jog-a-thon held at Oakdale elementary schools on Oct. 12 to raise money for the schools' respective Parent Teacher Clubs.

Homecoming Parade, Game Friday

Oakdale High School's Football Homecoming game is this Friday night, Oct. 19, with activities taking place at the high school all week leading up to the game that will pit the OHS Mustangs against the Weston Ranch Cougars.

School Success - District Breaks 800 API

Oakdale Joint Unified School District is the first unified school district in Stanislaus County to break the 800 barrier in the Academic Performance Index (API). A score of 800 is the "gold standard" for API scores, which are computed through students' state standardized test scores, and OJUSD recently returned an overall district API score of 801. The district had an overall score of 796 last year.

School Work - Board Approves Facilities Projects

Members of the Oakdale Joint Unified School District board gave unanimous approval for the district to move forward with prioritized facilities projects at the Oct. 8 regular meeting.

Successful OEF Fundraiser Tops Prior Years

Individuals and businesses stepped in and stepped up their giving this year to support the Oakdale Educational Foundation's fundraising event Music 'n' Motion on Saturday, Sept. 29 at the Oakdale Golf and Country Club (OGCC).

Homecoming Week Kicks Off Saturday

Oakdale High School's Homecoming Week is Oct. 15-19; however, the week unofficially kicks off on Saturday, Oct. 13, when students will get Oakdale into the Homecoming spirit by painting the windows of downtown businesses.

Schools Get $1.3 Billion In Lottery Funds

State Controller John Chiang announced Sept. 28 that payments from the Lottery Education Fund to school districts, educational institutions and state agencies for the 2011-12 fiscal year totaled $1.32 billion. Stanislaus County schools received about $19.7 million. According to the state controller's office, from 1985/1986 to the present, Oakdale elementary schools received $4 million and the high school has received $3.2 million. Susan Dyke, Oakdale Joint Unified School District Chief Business ...

OHS Counseling Gets Social

The Oakdale High School counseling department is looking for people to "like" them.

OJUSD Classified Employees To Be Honored

School Care Closet Needs Restocking

Once donations have been made to local charities and the holidays are over, some people forget that there are continuous needs and those holiday donations can be quickly depleted.

School Trustees Hear Safety Plan

An overview of the Oakdale Joint Unified School District's safety plan and coordinated crisis response plan was presented to the district Board of Trustees at the Jan. 14 regular meeting. In the wake of the Connecticut school shooting, information about school district safety plans has been in the forefront of people's minds.

Public Invited To County Music Fest

General Fund Impact - Special Ed Costs Soaring

Special education costs are increasing for school districts, while the state and federal governments' contributions are decreasing, according to a 25-page report on special education in California released Jan. 3 by the state Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO).

Kids’ Museum Gives Glimpse Of Ancient Egypt

Breakfast Honors Kids Doing School Right

Oakdale High School's academic movers and shakers were honored recently with the "Doing High School Right" breakfast for the first semester. The Dec. 13 breakfast took place in the school cafeteria and is held each semester as part of the OHS Renaissance program to support academic achievement and improvement. OHS college counselor Denise Hitch reported that the students recognized were nominated by staff because they are ...

Students Offer Gifts In A Shoebox

School Safety Examined

In the wake of the school tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut on Friday, Dec. 14, questions about the safety plans of schools are on the minds of people in communities across the country, including here in Oakdale.

Stellar Students

School Projects Moving Forward

The Oakdale Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees voted to move forward with a Request for Qualifications for architectural services for the district's new Central Kitchen and a multi purpose room design that will be for Fair Oaks and Cloverland elementary schools.

Robbins Closes Out Career At Riverbank Schools

Dissections Bring Knowledge About Organs

Animal organs helped elementary school students learn more about human body systems when they recently had the opportunity to analyze them during a dissection "party."

Orchestra Concert For Kids Of All Ages