Families are encouraged to attend a fun-filled evening full of good food, music, dancing, contests and more at this year’s Dingeman Elementary School’s Boo-Bash fundraiser from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26 at the school campus, 11840 Scripps Creek Drive.

There will be a bake sale, food trucks, a live DJ, a fire truck and many more fun things for to enjoy. Those attending are encouraged to wear their favorite costume. 

Dingeman students who have entered the contest will be competing to win a prize for the best pumpkin carving, as well as for the most creative trunk decorations for the Trunk or Treat area of the event.

Halloween Parade
The season would not be complete without one more event: Dingeman Elementary will continue the Halloween Parade tradition again this year. The parade for Dingeman Elementary students will take place on Halloween, Oct. 31. Classes will meet on the white top just after school begins at 8:45 a.m. Children are welcome to wear their costumes for the parade and will be asked to remove costumes after the parade.

Students are permitted to parade with or without a costume. Masks can be worn during the parade only. Masks cannot be worn as students arrive to or depart from school. 

Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary (EBS) School’s Fall Festival will take place on the school grounds from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26.

Organized by the EBS Academic Fundraising Partnership, this annual family-friendly event is free to attend but raises money for the school through a silent auction, food sales and games. Funds generated by the event are used to pay for vital resources and services affected by budget cuts over the last few years.

Activities at the Festival include a pumpkin decorating contest, a bake sale, costume parade, face painting, and a cakewalk. Food vendors will feature Mexican, barbecue, burgers, Jamaican and Filipino flavors.

More than 100 seniors at Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) gathered in the school’s front parking lot over the course of three days this month to take part in a long-standing school tradition. Each fall, designated parking spots are auctioned off to the highest bidders in a school fundraiser, offering seniors an opportunity to purchase, personalize and maintain ownership over their very own parking space for the duration of the school year.

While all SRHS students with a parking permit are allowed to park on campus, these dedicated spaces are a privilege reserved exclusively for the senior class. In addition to being a guaranteed, consistent parking spot every school day, these spaces also allow students an opportunity to showcase their creativity and demonstrate their individuality.

Designated painting days were held after school on Oct. 8 and 10, as well as the morning of Saturday, Oct. 13. During these specified times, students who purchased a space were invited to bring their own materials and any desired helpers to paint and personalize their spots, while enjoying a festive atmosphere.

Grady Dok is vice president of the Associated Student Body (ASB) senior class, the student group responsible for the fundraising activity.

“We supply music and a good time, and everyone has fun with their friends,” he said.

Indeed, on those designated painting days, the school parking lot was abuzz with energetic teenagers, happily hard at work painting their spaces – some solo and singularly-focused on the task-at-hand; others laughing with friends as they discussed their designs; and still others making it a family affair, with parents joining the project.

Alexis LoVuolo worked with her mother on painting a geometric design that featured the letter “A” in the center.

“My mom and I are like best friends so we always do everything together,” she said.

Meanwhile, Nancie Helders, a senior at SRHS who has long had a passion and talent for art, took the project on as a solo artist. Helders explained that she had never before painted on such a large surface so it did present some challenges, but she was excited to be participating in the activity.

“When I found out about [this activity] ... I got excited that I could personalize a spot, make it mine and leave my mark for the year,” she said.

While perhaps helpful, artistic ability is not a requirement for participation, according to Amber Almond, senior class secretary.

“It’s still fun to come out and paint and make your spot look as good as possible,” she said.

Parking spaces were made available for purchase through an auction that was held on campus during lunch on Sept. 20-21, with a re-auction for unclaimed spaces held on Sept. 24. Interested students were required to sign up in advance to participate in the optional activity, and only those registered were admitted to the function. Bidding for each space started at $40, with a minimum increment of $5 required to outbid the previous bidder. LoVuolo reported that the most expensive spot this year sold for around $400.

According to ASB advisor Lauren Ruiz, the median price of the 111 spots auctioned this year ranged between $150 and $300.

Alexandra Kotsos, senior class president, explained that the spaces that generally command a higher selling price are those that are in the shade and located nearest the exit.

“The funds we raise … go toward multiple senior activities throughout the year,” Kotsos said. “We want to have fun things for the seniors to do throughout the year such as senior sunrise, prom, graduation gifts and more.”

For many whose bids approached the higher end of the range, knowing that the funds would benefit the senior class helped make it feel more worthwhile. Gina Lane is a parent whose daughter, Juliana, purchased a space.

“It’s hard to justify spending a lot of money on a parking spot unless you know it’s going back to the students and they will get the value in return,” she said.

For some, that value goes well beyond the funds raised for the senior class.

“It gives students a sense of school spirit and camaraderie,” Lane said.

Likewise, for Helders: “I’m doing what I enjoy,” she said.

A frightening festival is headed to Scripps Ranch in October. Miramar Ranch Elementary School is hosting its annual Halloween Carnival on Saturday, Oct. 20 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The carnival is free to the public and will feature a haunted house, carnival games, a bake sale, cake walk, laser tag, food trucks, a book sale and, new this year, a dunk tank.

Helena Parker, carnival co-chair, said there is fun to be had for all ages.

“It's the perfect way to spend a Saturday in October celebrating Halloween. There's something fun for everyone in the family to enjoy,” Parker said.

The carnival also features a pumpkin patch, hay rides and a petting zoo.

Parker said the biggest draw to the carnival is typically the haunted house. The fifth grade class will serve as the actors and will work to create the entire haunted house experience. Children have the option of going through the haunted house with the lights on or with the lights off. There will be a special preview of the haunted house the night before the carnival, Oct. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Scripps Ranch resident Rachelle Feretti said her entire family enjoyed attending the carnival last year.

“My son was a first grader and was brave enough to go through the Haunted House for the first time, and he loved it,” Feretti said. “I also have a toddler who loved the carnival games and prizes. And it’s always fun to catch up with friends and neighbors while supporting and giving back to our school.”

The carnival helps Miramar Ranch Elementary School raise needed funding for specialty programs at the school including art, music, science lab and the school garden.

“Sponsors and attendees’ contributions help to bridge the gap between what the San Diego Unified School District can provide to our schools and what students need for a well-rounded education,” Parker said.

Both children and adults are encouraged to come in costume as there is a costume contest. Also included during the carnival is a raffle with prizes ranging from tickets to Disneyland to an American Girl Doll and an electric scooter.

In the center of the Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) campus hangs a giant mural of a butterfly that reads, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Installed last winter, a group of young leaders at the school have been using the symbol as a means to make social consciousness a part of everyday life for their classmates.

Through collaboration with an international organization known as “The Butterfly Effect,” a collection of students and school counselors introduced the philanthropic movement to the SRHS community earlier this year.

Counselor Leslie McDonald is actively involved with the initiative.

“We believe it is so important for students to have an opportunity to think outside of themselves and to think about the greater needs of community,” she said.

McDonald helped to facilitate the introduction between the school and the organization’s creator, Tasha Wahl, who founded The Butterfly Effect in 2003.

“The goal of the Butterfly Effect is to inspire people to figure out how they can give back,” Wahl said in a video interview produced for SRHS.

Her philanthropic idea materialized out of a conversation with her sons in which she challenged them to determine what causes mattered most to them. She then wanted to figure out how she could help children interested in philanthropic giving by facilitating a donation in their name. Thus was born the “butterfly drop,” one of the original methods by which the organization says it promotes change and “contagious generosity.”

In a butterfly drop, a painted wooden butterfly is hidden somewhere in a community with clues as to its location publicized on social media. Once located, the person who finds it earns a financial contribution submitted in their name to the charity of their choice, funded by Wahl’s organization.

Natalie Delos Santos is a senior who serves as secretary and treasurer for the SRHS Butterfly Effect student board and has been involved since the program’s inception at the school.

“We put together a presentation to let the entire school know about the initiative,” she said of a school-wide assembly that was held in January. “We made a video that explained The Butterfly Effect and we had an activity where we hid [wooden] butterflies in the seats.”

This activity was intended to mimic a butterfly drop and generate excitement among the students.

The audience was then asked to participate. “We had the kids think about the three essential questions [originally proposed by Wahl],” McDonald said. “What lights you up? What breaks your heart? And if you had a sum of money to donate, where would you donate it and why? Every student had an opportunity to do some reflection in that assembly and then … students came on stage to share the answers to their questions.”

Seniors Victoria Mellow and Jerry Yang are co-presidents on the student board. Mellow suggested that the questions were intended to help students draw a parallel between their passions and charitable organizations that champion similar values.

“It gives them an opportunity to see something in the world that they’re not entirely satisfied with and it allows them to have a stake in making a change in that area,” she said.

At SRHS, a butterfly drop occurs on campus once each month, and clues are provided to students through an Instagram account between periods. The student board is also currently working to post clues in a static place on campus for those who do not use Instagram. Last school year, Wahl funded donations in the amount of $250 for each drop that occurred between January and June. Beginning this academic year, however, the board has set a goal to be completely self-sustaining, endeavoring to raise funds through sponsorships from businesses and individuals in the community.

“We have a business committee that is responsible for sending out emails, then going in to the businesses to make a presentation,” Yang said.

In addition to potentially raising funds to support the school initiative, “it allows the students to practice their interpersonal skills and professional skills in a workplace environment,” Yang said.

The entire Scripps Ranch community is encouraged to attend the traditional Scripps Ranch High School Homecoming football game tonight, Friday, Oct. 5, at 6:30 p.m. against San Diego High School. The theme is a whiteout, so fans should wear white, pack the stands and show their support for the home team Falcons. The student body is hoping to have another great home town crowd!

In addition, Scripps Ranch High School students are invited to participate in the Homecoming Football Game Tailgate Party in the high school quad from 5 to 6:15 p.m.

Homecoming week culminates with the Homecoming Dance beginning at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6.

Faculty and staff members at local schools have gotten the 2018-19 school year underway. The first day of school was an emotional one for some parents and children in Scripps Ranch, but it was a day of relief for others. Students were happy to see their friends and meet new teachers. Children ready for this year’s first day of school are featured in the photos on this page sent by proud Scripps Ranch parents.

The first day of school this year will be met with new teachers, old friends and, for the students at Miramar Ranch Elementary School, a new welcome mural.

The 14 Girl Scouts of Troop 2067 spent eight months bringing their Bronze Award mural project from concept to completion. The Bronze Award in Girl Scouts is needed in order to become a Junior Girl Scout.

“We wanted to do something special for Miramar Ranch Elementary because the school has been gracious enough to provide our meeting space since the girls were in Daisies,” said Diane Hunter, troop leader.

The wall selected for renovation had chipping paint and was a dull, khaki color painted many years ago. It was also the last remaining large wall without a mural at the school.

A group of Miramar Ranch teachers selected the final design after the scouts presented multiple concept ideas to them.

The scouts learned invaluable lessons on developing plans, presenting to adults and working together to reach their goal.

Troop member, Gracie Hass, 11, said she enjoyed participating in every stage of the project as they cleaned, scraped, sanded, sketched and finally painted the mural.

“We could see what was ahead, and it was fun to bring our design to life,” Hass said.

Hunter said this project fulfilled the Girl Scout mission to build girls of courage, confidence and character. It also encouraged the girls to be sustainable and work toward bettering their communities.  

“We are excited to present this mural to the school as they welcome the students for a new year. We hope it will bring joy to all students for years to come,” Hunter said.

Troop 2067 will participate in more service projects this year including volunteering at a senior center.

(StatePoint) Parenthood is a demanding and busy job, particularly during back-to-school season. With lunches to pack, homework to check, projects to oversee and activities to drive the kids to and from, it’s no wonder many parents find it challenging to squeeze in time for self-care.

But, if you want to keep up with your kids, it’s important to carve out time for healthy eating and exercise. Here are some ways to make more time for your own health, according to Courtney McCormick, dietitian for Nutrisystem.

Be an early riser: Relish early morning peace by getting moving an hour or two before the kids start stirring. Work in your morning fitness routine, meditate to mentally prepare for the day, do yoga and prepare a healthy breakfast. The earlier you rise, the more such daily habits you can adapt.

Schedule it: Schedule exercise the same you would a trip to the doctor’s office. If it’s on a daily task list or calendar, you’re more likely to follow through.

Get prepped: Nothing makes mornings more chaotic than having to pack lunches while trying to get everyone out the door. Packing lunch in a pinch can leave you susceptible to making hasty choices. Take about 10 minutes in the evening to prepare the next day’s lunches; you will thank yourself in the morning when you have healthy meals and snacks packed and ready to roll for yourself and your kiddos.

Other meal prep ideas:
• Put together a bunch of meals on Sunday to simply pull out of the fridge and heat for quick, yet wholesome dinners on busy week nights.

• Boil a dozen eggs for an easy protein-rich snack. Create baggie-sized portions of nuts and fruit. Prepping nourishing grab-and-go snacks for the afternoon crunch will help you stay on track.

Walk on your lunch break: If you find yourself really strapped for workout time, try taking a 30-minute walk before eating your lunch. Even doing light cardiovascular exercise for a half hour can help you stay in shape and shed some pounds.

Get the kids moving: If you weren’t able to squeeze in a sweat session sans kids, round up the family and take a long, after-dinner stroll. Encourage your children to keep up a moderate pace, while sharing stories and highlights from the day and playing games like “I Spy.” More health and wellness tips can be found at leaf.nutrisystem.com.

First grade teacher Amy Boelzle is making education fun and interactive for students at Dingeman Elementary School while also working to support the environment.

Voted Teacher of the Year in 2017-2018 at Dingeman Elementary, she manages a butterfly garden at the school that she incorporates in to her life science lessons, and she has taken it a step further to expand the effort to the Scripps Ranch community.

Boelzle inherited the garden from Sara Church, a former third grade teacher at Dingeman, who initiated many science and conservation activities at the school prior to her retirement. Among her contributions were creation of the Green Team – a group of third graders responsible for recycling at the school – as well as building a butterfly habitat, and installing vegetable planters around the school. Given her love of nature and passion for gardening at home, Boelzle partnered with Church when the project first began, picking out most of the plants that would be included in the garden.

“When my husband and I did the landscaping for our home, I knew I wanted a butterfly and hummingbird garden, so milkweed and other perennials became staples,” Boelzle said. “When Sara (Church) retired a few years ago, I took on the management of the (school) garden.”

Boelzle selected milkweed as a plant of choice for the school garden, as well, because it has a low water requirement and attracts monarch butterflies. She explained that the monarch only lays its eggs on milkweed, and the caterpillars exclusively eat this plant before creating their chrysalis.

“This spring, we had an abundance of monarch caterpillars on the plant,” Boelzle said. “Students were very excited to observe them as they ate their way through the plants, and sometimes we had to transplant the caterpillars to other areas to have enough food.”

At the end of last school year, Boelzle gave milkweed seeds to her students in hopes that they would plant a garden at home, helping the monarchs to continue to thrive beyond the school’s campus. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the population of monarch butterflies has plummeted by 90 percent in the past 20 years due primarily to climate change and pesticides, which threaten their sole host plant. The organization filed a petition to protect monarchs as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, and a decision is expected by June 2019.

Abraham Eusebio is a second grader at Dingeman who was in Boelzle’s class last year. His family planted the seeds received from his teacher and they have enjoyed the experience this summer.

“We had four successful monarch butterflies that we raised,” Eusebio said. “I even got to keep the empty chrysalis; it’s very fragile.”

Eusebio’s parents have also found the process rewarding. “It’s been neat to see butterflies coming to our garden, caterpillars eating milkweed, butterflies laying eggs and thriving,” said Marian Eusebio, Abraham’s mother. “It’s fun to see and learn about the different stages of the butterfly together as a family. I’ve learned a lot, too.”

The Eusebio family is not the only one in town that finds raising monarch butterflies rewarding. Bettina Mitteer is a Scripps Ranch resident who has been raising monarchs at home for three years. She has also been known to give away milkweed and monarch caterpillars to her neighbors through her local Buy Nothing Facebook group, complementing it with mentoring and strategies for maintaining a successful habitat.

“Raising monarchs was an accidental hobby,” Mitteer said. “I bought and planted the milkweed, and the monarchs started landing on it and laying their eggs. Because I’ve been successful, it has been very rewarding and that was something I wanted to share with my neighbors. Particularly because the population is declining, I feel it’s something we can do to make a difference, one butterfly at a time.”

Anthony Eusebio, Abraham’s father, said that Boelzle has done a great job of educating students on the importance of the environment and ways to care for it. Looking ahead, Boelzle hopes to get even more parents involved as she, along with students and her fellow educators, work to continue conservation and beautification efforts at Dingeman Elementary and in the surrounding community.

(StatePoint) Backpack and supplies: check! So, what’s left to do before going back to school? How about finding out how well your child has learned foundational skills that they need to succeed in the next grade?

Ninety percent of K-8 parents believe their child performs at or above grade-level in reading and math, according to Learning Heroes’ research. However, the National Assessment of Educational Progress finds that only a little more than a third of students are achieving at that level. What’s more, the “summer slide” puts students at risk of losing up to two months of reading skills and two and a half months of math skills over a single summer.

To get a better feel for how prepared your child is for the next grade and how to support their learning at home, check out these tips from Learning Heroes’ “Super 5 Back-to-School Power Moves.”

1. Get a gut check: Use the Readiness Check to see how prepared your child is for their new grade. Designed by leading experts in reading and math, the Readiness Check instantly provides important information about your child’s grade-level progress with reading and math skills after your child answers just three to five questions in each of the two subject areas. The free tool, which is available in both English and Spanish, also connects you to information, videos and activities to help build grade-level skills at home. To access this tool and other resources, visit bealearninghero.org.

Other ways to assess how ready your child is for the new grade include paying attention to how easy or hard it is for them to do grade-level tasks and looking at their annual state test results from last year. If you haven’t received the results yet, ask your child’s teacher.

2. Partner up: At your first teacher meeting, bring your child’s state test results and ask what they mean for this year. Find out what’s expected of your child and how you can provide support at home. Help the teacher get to know your child by sharing their interests and strengths as well. You can also share what you learned from the Readiness Check.

3. Make learning fun: You are the expert on your child and can make learning exciting. Read together, choosing topics that interest your child. Find math in everyday life and turn it into a game. These small learning moments add up to a lot.

4. Celebrate effort: Help your child see that hard work is what leads to success. Focus on effort and what your child is learning. This will help your child feel less nervous about new tasks or subjects.

5. Support life skills: Strengths such as communication, problem-solving and confidence will help your child in school and life. Talk openly with your child about how they feel and handle situations, especially tough ones.

“Learning happens everywhere: at home, in the community and in the classroom,” said Bibb Hubbard, founder and president of Learning Heroes. “The Super 5 Back-to-School Power Moves can help you use the summer and beginning of the school year to get a more complete picture of where your child is on track, and where more attention and focus may be needed.”

Innovations Academy (IA), a kindergarten through eighth grade public charter school in Scripps Ranch, has been relocated three times since its inception in 2008. At the conclusion of the upcoming 2018-19 school year, it will be forced to move once again, but with the expectation that the next site will be its permanent home.

On June 19, the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Board of Education voted 4-1 to move forward with the Scripps Mesa Joint Occupancy Project – a deal which will involve demolition of the current school site and construction of a mixed use facility with 264 apartment units in its place. While many residents and all local community groups opposed the project, the school board voted in favor, citing overall benefits to the school district, including an ongoing revenue stream that would be generated from the full 66-year lease agreement.

As part of the project’s description, according to the environmental impact report (EIR), “The intention of the District is to relocate Innovations Academy to its own, permanent location, and the District, in July 2016, approved spending up to $20 million on such a facility. In the event a permanent location cannot be secured … Innovations Academy would be relocated to an existing traditional K-6 or 7-8 school campus, within the school district boundaries.”

School administrators and parents at IA have mixed feelings about the relocation of the school.

“There is nervousness about the uncertainty among parents, administration and even students,” said Jennifer Ott-Rol, parent of twin fourth graders at the school.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen, and we won’t until there is a definite location for us. My kids are nervous about it; it’s an upheaval in their lives,” she said. 

Christine Kuglen is the director and author of the charter for IA, and she recalled what it was like moving year after year when the school was first founded.

“I was desperate to be anywhere for more than a year,” she said. “We had been at three different locations for one year each and I was moving the school every summer.”

In anticipation of the fourth move, she sought out unused SDUSD property on her own, hoping to find a permanent or semi-permanent home for the school. When she found the former Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary School site at 10380 Spring Canyon Road, she approached the school district with a petition to use the campus. While it initially met with resistance, she ultimately received approval for a short-term lease that began in the summer of 2011.

With regular lease renewals always looming at the current site, the prospect of a permanent location for IA is appealing to Kuglen.

“I never expected to be there (at the current site) forever. We do need a permanent, forever home, and we are going to get that now,” she said.

Parents who were first attracted to IA because of its project-based learning style, among other offerings, say they would consider following the school to its next site if the new location puts it in a reasonable commuting distance.

“I am willing to commute as long as my daughter is still thriving and feels she belongs,” said Amanda Belton, whose third grader has been enrolled at IA since kindergarten. “If we were to change schools, it is doubtful that we would choose a traditional neighborhood school, as I truly believe in project-based learning.”

Kim Knox is another parent who was first attracted to the school because its teaching methodologies and positive discipline philosophy aligned well with her parenting style. However, proximity was also a consideration, so a cumbersome commute would likely cause her to consider other charter school options for her fifth-grade son.