The Los Banos Unified School District Board Jan. 12 meeting started with staff members from Los Banos Elementary inviting everyone to LBE’s Sixth Annual Color Run. In this event a person can jog or walk for 3.1 miles wearing white shirts while getting doused in colored powder.
Registration is $20 per person and will end on Feb 6. Participants will get a shirt, a color-run packet and race bib.
If participating in the event does not seem possible, people are also able to sponsor a student by paying cash through the LBE office or sign-up online through luckrunswithlbe2023.eventbrite.com.
The money from this event will be used to buy library books and upgrade PE equipment.
Then Katherine Twomey, student representative from Pacheco High School. gave her report. Starting with Los Banos High School, she stated that the Los Banos High Interact Club sold candy cane grams as a fundraiser to help purchase gifts for the angel tree. Students raised enough money to buy gifts for 11 children, three more than in 2022.
FFA members brought toys to their Dec 5 meeting and donated them to the Police Annex for the Kops4Kids organization.
Los Banos High and Pacheco High School collaborated to have the first-ever joint Winter Formal Dance on Jan 21 at the fairgrounds. The prom will be located at Coyote Ranch, and students are very excited to discuss prom themes and decorations.
The Soroptimist Club held a blanket-drive in the month of October, during which they collected 47 blankets and donated them.
Black Student Union president Jacinta Brown worked with Board Member Marlene Smith to bring BSU members and other students to the town’s annual Martin Luther King Walk on Jan. 16. And the Los Banos High girls volleyball had the highest GPA of all fall sports with a 4.02 average GPA.
In Pacheco High news, a government teacher at Pacheco High School, Jeff De La Cruz, reinstated the initiative of bringing some students from his government classes to the school board meetings so they can first-hand see how our local government is run. The Pacheco Thespian Society hosted the production of “Alice in the Wonderland,” which was very well attended and had many positive reviews.
The Pacheco High FFA had kicked off its fair season with over 100 students planning to show animals at the May Day Fair. And PHS classes participated in the “Letters to Santa” campaign with Macy’s Fresno, during which $7,000 was raised.
After the student report, the California School Employees Association showed their appreciation for paraprofessionals in schools. Staff members from Westside Elementary came to affirm that paraprofessionals dedicate hours every day to provide instructional, behavioral and emotional support to students inside and outside the classroom.
They also wanted to attest to the hard work and dedication these staff members contribute to supervise individual or small-group work, help with behavior management and maintain classrooms.
The meeting concluded with a report that construction work has been temporarily suspended due to rainy weather at the Henry Miller School parking lot and Loftin Stadium. Construction of these facilities is now anticipated to take longer and be costlier, due to damage done by the rain.
