Placentia Yorba Linda Unified School Districts

A plan to improve several athletic fields at Yorba Linda Middle School has been approved by the City Council, and awaits approval by the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District governing board. The two agencies must also conclude a joint-use agreement for the project to build two lighted baseball-softball fields, a soccer field, a snack bar and restroom on school property next to Valley View Sports Park.

A plan to improve several athletic fields at Yorba Linda Middle School has been approved by the City Council, and awaits approval by the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District governing board. The two agencies must also conclude a joint-use agreement for the project to build two lighted baseball-softball fields, a soccer field, a snack bar and restroom on school property next to Valley View Sports Park.

Nine candidates are running for three seats on the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Board of Trustees in the Nov. 3 election. Jerry Brakebill Age: 28. Occupation: Police officer. Background: DARE officer for three years; juvenile detective in Yorba Linda; board of directors, East Lake Homeowners Assn.

Nine candidates are running for three seats on the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Board of Trustees in the Nov. 3 election. Jerry Brakebill Age: 28. Occupation: Police officer. Background: DARE officer for three years; juvenile detective in Yorba Linda; board of directors, East Lake Homeowners Assn.

The Elks Lodge last week honored Candice Bogart and Matt Shanfield, both Laguna Road Elementary School students, as winners in the club's essay contest on "Why We Should Honor Our Flag." The competition was open to sixth-graders from Fullerton, Brea Olinda Unified and Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified school districts. More than 180 students entered. Candice and Matt received $75 each. Andrew Barragan of Hermosa Drive Elementary School in Fullerton placed second and received $50.

Three school districts will see the rewards of a $1.3-million federal grant awarded to Chapman University last week to train prospective teachers and aides for students with limited English skills. Ultimately, about 12,000 students in the Saddleback Valley, Capistrano and Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified school districts could benefit from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs grant.

A new program will allow middle and high school students in three districts serving Anaheim to learn more about famous people including Colin Powell, Babe Ruth and Charles Dickens. The program--"Biography: Experience It!"--is an effort of Century Communications, A&E Network and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, officials announced this week. "It's a great educational tool and best of all, it's a free service," Mayor Tom Daly said.

About 4,000 elementary and middle school principals are expected to gather in Anaheim this weekend for a professional conference, according to organizers, but the state budget crisis will make local educators harder to spot. The Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Placentia-Yorba Linda unified school districts have no principals attending the National Assn. of Elementary School Principals' 82nd annual convention which begins today at the Anaheim Convention Center.

County officials have decided to delay a planned management audit of county government, saying the rapid restructuring underway would hamper any effort to study the institution. "It would be very difficult to audit against this 'moving target,' " Bruce Nestande, head of the audit oversight committee named last month, wrote in a memo to Supervisor Marian Bergeson.

Five Orange County parents, backed by a group that says it defends religious liberty, have filed a lawsuit challenging the state's CLAS student achievement test, which has come under legal assault across the state as anti-family and inappropriate for children.

There aren't many 14-year-olds who know what they'll be doing in five years, but Rufino Manzanares is one of them. "I want to go to UCLA," Rufino said. "Or Cal State Fullerton. . . . I want to get a soccer scholarship." College is a distant goal for most kids barely into their teens, and it's often an especially lofty dream for a migrant worker's child like Rufino. Yet this summer, he is getting a chance to go to college through Project BEST--Basic Education Skills for Tomorrow.

Disney officials agreed Monday to hire an education coordinator who will help bring the amusement park's expertise and money to the city's school districts. Officials said the plan would further lessen whatever tension remains between the school districts and Disneyland over its proposed expansion.