Declining enrollment continued again this year at Valley Center-Pauma school district, where enrollment on the first day of school was 4,228, down 51 students from the projected enrollment.
According to Supt. Lou Obermeyer, numbers were lower at the high school Pauma and Oak Glen/Independent Study.
Nevertheless, school opened without a hitch.
Dr. Obermeyer told The Roadrunner: “We've had a smooth first day at all of our schools. District office administrators were at all schools this morning to help as needed and welcome students to the first day of school.
“The addition of sixth grade students at the middle school was fine and students seemed excited to have school begin. The high school had a good opening and the students attended a welcome back assembly at the beginning of the day.”
Chris Sommer, principal of the middle school, told The Roadrunner: “We had a very smooth opening of school. Our enrollment is at 947 and we are adding several new students today. We truly appreciate the hard work of our many Teacher Parent Club volunteers who worked in our office this morning.
“They answered questions, helped to direct students to their classes and provided warm smiles to all who entered the office.”
She added, “We are so happy to have all the sixth grade students at our site and look forward to a wonderful year as a 6,7,8 middle school!”
Ron McCowan, principal at the high school, commented, “We had great first day. We started with an opening day rally, where the staff all wore beach attire. Because we made a deal that if the students’ test scores went up to 775 on the Academic Performance Index, that we would all take the students to the beach.”
The official API scores won’t be released for a couple of weeks, but the unofficial ones look good, he said.
“Our warm body count for the first day was 1390,” said McCowan. “We were predicting 1440. We are making phone calls to find out why some of the students we thought would be there weren’t.”
He added, “The students seem to be glad to be back at school and we are looking forward to a great year!”
On Monday all of the sports teams that use Jaguar Stadium were able to go out onto the new turf field. The contractor officially turned the field over to the district and the field will be ready for the first home football game.
“The first day of school went extremely well at Pauma,” said Bryan Farmer, the principal of the Pauma School. “We had great attendance and all the staff worked very hard to prepare students for a positive year.
“As I walked around the classrooms, I noticed all of the students were held to the high expectations of the Pauma staff. The students wasted no time at all and immediately started the curriculum. It was great to see the students return with big smiles on their faces. It was a great start of the year!”
Wendy Heredia, principal at the elementary school, commented, “Our first day went very well— smooth as can be! Since most of our students were continuing at our site from last year, I’m sure this helped considerably. We are off to a great Roadrunner year!”
Shannon Hargrave, principal at the Lilac School said, “We had a wonderfully busy and productive day. Our parent support is amazing and we thank all of our volunteers.”
Patty Christopher, principal of the primary school, told us, “We had a very exciting first day. Despite the heat there were smiles for the most part. Kindergarten tears lasted only minutes. By the second day we had 501 students attending the Bee School. Students are learning procedures and meeting new friends. It has been a very successful start to school.”
Saturday, Aug. 30 is Dedication Day at Palomar Mountain, marking the 30th anniversary of the first day of issue of the Palomar Observatory 3 cent postage stamp.
The observatory was actually dedicated on June 3, 1948.
The observatory will be marking the 60th anniversary of first light of the telescope next year.
To mark the occasion of the 3-cent stamp Palomar Mountain Post Office officer in charge Janet Phares and postmaster Lisa Di Paolo invite you to take a trip up the highway to the stars, where from noon to 1 p.m. you will enjoy a special event including a pictorial cancellation and special guests.
On hand for the event and to provide background on the university will be Scott Kardel, public affairs coordinator for the observatory where the Hale Telescope, one of the most powerful reflecting telescopes in the world, has been following the heavens for 60 years.
Also on hand will be former postmaster Shirley Thompson, who witnessed the arrival of the telescope’s 200-inch mirror as it was painstakingly driven up to its site at 5,618 feet above sea level. She has lots of great stories to tell, according to Phares.
For more information, contact the Palomar Mountain Post Office at 760-742-3044.
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For its time Palomar Observatory was a scientific achievement on a scale with the race to the moon 20 years later— and in many ways the information on the heavens it provided helped to spark interest in reaching that nearest celestial neighbor.
Most of the thousands of visitors to Palomar Observatory each year—once they get over being awed by the massive dome which compares in scope to the Parthenon of Rome—ask to look through the telescope. This is impossible, because such reflecting telescopes are actually huge cameras rather than instruments through which astronomers peer.
These days, rather than using film to record images, as it once did, the mirror focuses light from sources often thousands of light-years distant on light-sensitive diodes.
Palomar Observatory was for most of its 60 year history the largest telescope in the world. It is still one of the most powerful telescopes and continues to be used by world-class scientists more than 300 days out of the year, i.e., whenever there are no clouds in the sky.
Each year it records new discoveries, including asteroids and comets, and continues to make history.
The 200-inch telescope was the dream of visionary astronomer George Ellery Hale, although he never lived to see it come to fruition in 1948. Hence its name: “The Hale Telescope.”
To bring the enormous mirror up the nearly 1 mile to the top of the mountain required that the County build a new road. So perfectly calculated were the turns and curves, that the road has become an object of worship among owners of fast cars and fast motorcycles—to the annoyance of year-round residents.
That road was dubbed the “Highway to the Stars” in 1948 and signs bearing that name could be seen for many years along Hwy 76 from Palomar Mountain to Oceanside.
Telescopes must slowly rotate from east to west to compensate for the rotation of the earth on its axis. To move an enormous piece of glass that weighs tons and all of the steel supporting it required technology that today, 60 years later, is still amazing.
The telescope rests on a film of oil that keeps its moving parts from touching and allows the entire 530 tons to “float” on a virtually frictionless surface. The telescope is so precisely balanced that it requires a motor of less than 1/10 horse power to move it.
The observatory was located on Palomar Mountain after a long search was conducted by Caltech University in Pasadena to find the best site.
One of the main points in Palomar Mountain's favor was that it has perfect weather more than 250 days out of the year. But also, and this is that difficult to believe today, it was far from the lights of any city that might interfere with the mirror’s light gathering. That is certainly not the case today.
At nearly a mile above sea level the instruments were above most atmospheric disturbances. At the time the population of San Diego County was about 250,000.
With more astronomers waiting to use the telescope than there are nights available, the telescope is expected to have an extremely useful life for most of this century, as long as city lights don’t drown it out.
The San Diego County Farm Bureau, partnered with a committee of Valley Center residents, is opening a new farmers market in Valley Center on Sept. 4 at 3 p.m.
An opening ceremony with speakers and entertainment will take place at 4 p.m. The market will run until 7 p.m. It will be located between the Upper and Lower Elementary School parking lots at 28751 Cole Grade Rd.
This market will be the first Certified Farmers Market to be held in Valley Center.
Eight certified local producers have already signed up to sell at the market and 18 total vendors will be marketing their fresh and unique products.
Alongside a large variety of fresh fruits and vegetables there will be home spun wool products, hand crafted soaps and lotions, original gourd art, tacos and crepes and artisan breads.
During the opening ceremony, the winners of the market logo and slogan contest will be announced and recognized for his or her important contribution to the market.
The winner will receive a gift certificate to the market and a T-shirt with the winning logo and slogan as soon as they are made available.
Everyone is invited to come to the brand new Valley Center Certified Farmers’ Market.
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Some of the newly announced vendors at the market are:
• Cassie’s Crepes, fresh prepared to order crepes. Cassie’s Crepes also participates in the Escondido and Vista farmers’ markets.
• Baba Foods, a large selection of hummus and pita breads.
• Summer Harvest, hot organically prepared kettle corn.
• Susan Simpson, authentic Scottish wool and cashmere sweaters and kilts and jewelry. They sell at the Highland Games.
• Jeanne Miller, Two Paws Up. Natural and healthy dog cakes and treats.
Thursday night outgoing Valley Center Fire Chief John Kremensky introduced incoming Fire Chief Burke Kremensky, his brother, to the Valley Center Fire Protection District board and audience.
John, who has been the Fire Chief in Valley Center since the beginning of the year, always knew that his position here was temporary.
He was delighted to introduce his brother, who has been in the fire service for 20 years, along with both of their parents, John and Maxine Kremensky, and John's wife, Shannon.
John Kremensky pinned gold bugles on his brother’s uniform, indicating that he has been promoted from captain to chief.
Burke Kremensky started as a volunteer in 1988 and worked his way up through every position that was available. He worked as an engineer in Valley Center in the mid-1990s.
Burke is married and the father of three. The new chief will be assigned to the Valley Center battalion.
“I’m looking forward to working with the team here in VC. Hopefully there won’t be that many growing pains,” he told the board.
“We are very pleased to have you in our area,” said board Pres. Mel Schuler. “You are following a hard act to follow,” he said, referring to both John Kremensky, and Chief Kevin O’Leary, who was VC’s fire chief for 11 years.
The outgoing chief who had been promoted from lt. chief to full chief in Valley Center, will be assigned to the Dulzura Battalion.
A giant thermometer tracing donations to the VC History Museum's endowment fund is on public display at A-1 Irrigation & Hardware where it was welcomed by owner Jack Bose.
Are you a cheapskate? A tightwad? A skinflint? Pennywise? Parsimonious?
Are you a legend among the frugal? Can you stretch a dollar so hard that it hollers? When you let go of a quarter does the eagle end up with a double hernia?
We’re looking for the most thrifty person in town. And to find that man or that woman (or that couple) we’re putting on a contest where the reward is something that will appeal to the prudent among us—$100!
Oh yes, the winner will also be crowned—with a crown made from a brown paper bag!
To win you have to come up with the best single idea for saving money. It could a way to cut your water bill. It might be a way to run your car more efficiently. Perhaps a way to save on school supplies.
What we are looking for here are true money saving suggestions that our readers can put to use in their everyday lives. We’re looking for suggestions that don’t just work for you, but will work for anyone who tries them.
The suggestions will be judged by a panel of elite judges who will pick the very best.
All of the suggestions will be written up in the paper so that our readers can benefit from the frugal ideas.
You have until the end of September to submit your entries.
They should be written and submitted by email, snail mail or in person.
Send to: Frugal Contest, Valley Roadrunner, POB 1529, Valley Center CA. 90282 or e-mail to editor@valleycenter.com.
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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