A unanimous decision by staff made senior, Charlene Campton, the Bright News! student for February. Charlene was given a candy lei and her photo is now hanging on our Bright News! wall. All staff created a Bright News! letter that was mailed to her family. We are proud of you, Charlene!

All students who have demonstrated academic excellence in the past month are discussed at staff meetings and one is chosen to be honored. Our Bright News! letter is posted on our school website.

Freshman Cyrus Olsen, left, and senior LoraLai DePriest are pointing to our framed, 6-year WASC accreditation certificate. This is the highest honor that the Western Association of Schools & Colleges (WASC) gives. WASC administrators from around the western states, thoroughly evaluate schools by reading documents the school writes and compiles and by visiting schools for multiple days. They decide whether or not the school deserves to be accredited and for how long. On Monday, March 25th, WASC will be here to check on us.

Cyrus Olsen just came here from Maple Valley, Washington. He really likes downtown Petaluma. One thing he has noticed compared to Washington is the bad traffic around here. His favorite thing to do is pencil drawings - often of cartoon-ish people, and his favorite animal is the river otter!

LoraLai DePriest came here from Windsor in August. She lives in Penngrove. She is about to graduate and plans to get into one of the certificate programs at the JC for Graphic Design & Videography. Her favorite animal is a sea turtle!

Congratulations to Deborah Arango pictured here with school counselor, Mr. Jamerson. Deborah graduated a semester early and did her Bell Ringing Ceremony this past month. We will miss Deborah but we are so proud of her and we are excited for her bright future!

We also had Michelle Mendoza graduate last month - also a month early. Michelle did all four years with us and we all enjoyed her beautiful smile and polite manner. We already miss you a lot, Michelle! We are looking forward to the big alt ed graduation ceremony at Lucchesi Center on Wednesday, May 29th, when we can see all our graduates once again.

From 10am - 11am, please come to school on Tuesday, 3/5, and earn an hour or more of community service by joining teachers as they pull weeds, trim bushes, turn-over soil, replace rocks, rake, and all-around try to beautify our campus. The biggest job will be pulling grass weeds in the middle plot in preparation for bark that is being delivered mid-March. Sophomore Devin Jones and freshman Henry Wilson, pictured here, are standing in this plot. Teachers will go back to their desks after an hour but students can opt to keep working.

Thank you to freshman Brenda Amador who not only created 4 candy leis for future Bright News! winners but also made the new Community Service window box outside Building #1, among other tasks. Brenda just has 30 minutes to finish her 5 hours of Mandatory Community Service for the semester. Congratulations Brenda! We appreciate you! Good luck to all students with finding service work that suits you. Time is flying by and so all students by now should have decided upon what they will be doing. We prefer that students be done before the beginning of May. Courses with your Assigned Teacher will not be closed until your Verification Form is turned in. See our school website for suggestions and ideas.

Senior Jacqueline Jones shared her nearly completed Digital Portfolio with Mrs. Parker over a month ago! It will be posted on our school website where the portfolio directions are. We are so proud of Jacqueline for getting this school assignment done! It is artful and reflective and has a good amount of sample work. Digital Portfolios have to be "published on the web" before random viewers can access it. During the CAASPP testing days of April 23-26, there will be a required meeting for all students to show teachers their progress on their Digital Portfolios, to get help with their Digital Portfolios, and to get inspiration and ideas about their Digital Portfolios.

Pictured from left to right are sophomore Devin Jones, Freshman Brenda Amador, Sophomore Ian Peracca, Junior April Adelman, and Junior Brenna Boyle - a fun group of 5 on a nice sunny afternoon! Our "track" out on the street sidewalks is exactly one-quarter of a mile. The Group Work Out on February 8th had 9 students and was pouring rain! We stayed in the SAHS gym and did circuits of push-up-Burpees, bikes, & jump rope.

All Valley Oaks teachers attended the California Consortium for Independent Study convention last month. Pictured here are Ms. Bender, Ms. Abelli-Amen, Ms. Parker, & Ms. Kesseru. Teachers gained insight and ideas for making Valley Oaks a better school. Principal Ms. Lofton, secretary Trisha Shew, & counselor Mr. Jamerson attended the compliance workshop the following day.

Justine Barnes at her Bell Ringing Ceremony in January bought this sweatshirt that she is modeling for us. There are two more of these (size Large) grey zip-up sweatshirts remaining. Please help Mrs. Parker sell these two so that she can make the next purchase of a set of maroon pull-over hoodies. So far, Nicholas Barajas and Kelly Garcia are in line waiting for them to arrive and be for sale. Let Mrs. Parker know if you are interested. The old inventory has to be sold first before new ones can get purchased. The two large silver sweatshirts are very soft, unisex, zip-up hoodies. Do you know anyone who might want one? They are $31 (no profit involved!). You can come look at them hanging in building #1. There are also many t-shirts available (price tags are on them).

Sophomore Teja Burgess learned about VOS from her counselor at Casa. She told him that she was "looking to focus more on academics than on the social aspects of high school". This makes great sense when you consider that Teja is aiming at Stanford or an Ivy League school like Harvard. Petaluma Accelerated Charter School was her junior high and currently she is co-enrolled in Honors Math 3. What she likes so far about VOS is that she "can learn as fast as she wants and also can personalize her learning". Teja is all about school and academics. She says her siblings are the ones involved heavily in sports but for her, she loves anything to do with animals. Currently she owns four large-breed dogs! So far, she does not find VOS to be isolating in any way because she has a close group of friends from PHS. Teja says she is just "trying out Valley Oaks just this one semester" but our hopes and plans are for her to love it here! Welcome Teja!! We're so happy to have you here!!

7th grader Harland McCready has spent his whole life in Petaluma. His sister, Abbi Grogan, is a VOS student as well. Although he is only a 7th grader, he is doing amazingly well and without a parent attending all his appointments. He came from Pathways which is structured very similar to Valley Oaks so that prepared him well. He loves riding his bike and skateboard, fixing cars and, recently has started the hobby of duck hunting. His favorite thing about Valley Oaks is that "you can get credit for doing things that you usually wouldn't get credit for at a regular school." He makes friends wherever he goes and does not find Valley Oaks to be too isolating. His favorite animal is a dog - he has a lab. Welcome, Harland! We are so glad you are a VOS student! We hope you will become another one of our 6-year students!

Sophomore Jayley Jackson is also new this semester. About three and a half years ago she moved here from Tennessee. What she loved about Tennessee was the scenery and forests and hiking trails and being near to the world famous music scene of Nashville. Now she loves the beauty of Sonoma County and especially enjoys the beach and going to Dillon Beach. Jayley is a singer and has been singing "since she could talk". Since 4th grade she has always been in a choir and currently she is co-enrolled in Choir at PHS. She has a little dog named Peanut that is only 4 years old and she has a part-time job at Valley Vista Child Care Center. She has a large network of friends and with her co-enroll class and her job, she does not find VOS to be isolating. Welcome, Jayley! We are so glad you found us!

Sophomores Devin Jones and Channing Matthews

Sophomores Kailey Kroyer and Jayley Jackson

Freshmen Cyrus Olsen front left, Henry WIlson in back, & Brenda Amador right