PUSD campuses earn recognitions
THUMBS UP to five Poway Unified School District campuses that who recently received significant awards.
Adobe Bluffs Elementary, Los Penasquitos Elementary and Willow Grove Elementary have each been recognized under the California Department of Education’s Gold Ribbon Schools Awards Program. (A temporary replacement to the California Distinguished Schools Program.) Nearly 6,000 schools were eligible to apply this year, of which 772 were selected.
Two local high school placed the U.S. News and World Report’s annual listing of top campuses in the country. Westview High placed 38th in the state and 266th in the country while Del Norte High ranked 50th in the state and 334th in the country.
Congratulations to the principals, teachers, staff and students at each school for some well-deserved recognition!
THUMBS UP to community members who have contributed money to a fund to finance the casting of a bronze statue of longtime Poway resident and Padres great Tony Gwynn. Over the weekend the $15,000 mark was reached, which will trigger the signing of a contract between the city and Texas artist Seth Vandable. Appreciation also goes out to San Diego Granite, Swinerton Builders and Terra Firma Landscaping for agreeing to provide an estimated $40,000 in materials and services to help defray the overall cost of constructing the Gwynn memorial near the Lake Poway baseball field.
THUMBS DOWN to residential water customers - and you know who you are - who have gotten a little lax about conserving. Yes, it’s true that state mandated goals have been reduced a bit and El Niño weather conditions have resulted in a pretty good Sierra Nevada snow pack. But the state’s water reservoirs will likely need a second wet winter in 2016-17 before reaching pre-drought levels. This is not the time to return to water-guzzling behavior. (For that matter, don’t ever go back there.)
THUMBS UP to the organizers of a threatened recall against PUSD board member Andy Patapow for abandoning the effort. “It would be a shame to waste good money” on a special election involving someone who plans on retiring from the board at the end of the year, the group said in a press release. What took them so long to figure that out?
A mild THUMBS DOWN to the Associated Student Body leaders at Rancho Bernardo High School for continuing the practice of having Mr. Bronco contestants wear swimwear as part of the annual light-hearted competition. Swimsuit competition has been deleted from most local and regional pageants involving young women. Call us a bit conservative on the issue, but teenaged boys flexing their pecs on stage just seems wrong.