Search Resumes for New Principal of Big Bear Elementary School

Big Bear, CA, May 24, 2012, 12 noon - KBHR learned today that Michelle Case, the newly hired principal for Big Bear Elementary School for the upcoming school year 2012-2013, would not be accepting the position after all.  In an email sent to Kurt Madden, Superintendent of the Bear Valley Unified School District, written by her husband, Jeff, they regret to inform the District that Mrs. Case will not be able to accept the position for medical reasons involving Mr. Case.  Michelle Case was only recently hired by a unanimous vote at a Special Board meeting of the BVUSD Board of Trustees on May 2^nd and was chosen from 44 applicants to replace current BBES Principal Jeanette Haston who will be returning to teaching in the classroom.  Mrs. Case is from Las Vegas, Nevada acting as Assistant Principal at two Clark County school sites.   According to Superintendent Madden, the District will now resume the process of searching for applicants to fill the position.

Keynote Speaker Jamie Vollmer Appears Tonight at the 2012 Community Summit Presented by The Lighthouse Project

Big Bear, CA, May 23, 2012, 12 noon: Tonight The Lighthouse Project is celebrating their fifth annual Community Vision Summit.  Keynote Speaker is Jamie Vollmer who is the author of the book “Schools Can’t Do It Alone”.  Mr. Vollmer is a successful businessman whose philosophy on public education, and his wake up call to effecting change in the system, has been made famous by the “Blueberry Story” viewable on You Tube.  His book “Schools Can’t Do It Alone” is based on his twenty years of experience working with school districts across the country and confronts the threats to public education presenting a practical and doable plan to increase student success in spite of obvious problems with the system and severe budget cuts in California.  Tonight’s 2012 Community Vision Summit will begin at 6:30pm at the Performing Arts Center in the Civic Center and tickets are absolutely free.  To receive your free tickets, email your name and number of tickets requested to bigbearlighthouse@gmail.com.

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Kindergarten Packets Now Available for 2012-2013 School Year

Big Bear, CA, May 15, 2012, 4:00pm - Parents of children entering Kindergarten for the start of the 2012-2013 school year can now pick up Kindergarten registration packets at each of the elementary school sites.  Parents should go to the school site nearest your residence to pick up the registration packets.  If you are unsure what school to register at for your child, the school site personnel can assist you.  Packets are available between now and Tuesday, June 19^th between the hours of 9am and 12 noon.  Children need to turn 5 years of age by November 1^st of this year in order to qualify to begin Kindergarten.  Remember that your child needs to have a physical, immunizations and a TB test completed in order to start school on Wednesday, August 1^st.  Additionally, packets will be available again starting July 24^th between the hours of 9am and 3pm if you are unable to pick up the information at an earlier date.

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Big Bear Elementary School’s New Principal Announced

Big Bear Lake, CA, May 9, 2012, 8:00am - Big Bear Elementary School will have a new principal for the upcoming school year 2012-2013.  Current principal, Jeanette Haston, will be returning to the classroom by her own choice.  Mrs. Haston, who has been the principal at BBES since 2009, tells Kbear that she has decided to go back to teaching to allow her the opportunity to spend more time with her family.  Mrs. Haston added that she hopes to return to an administrative role at some point in the future, as her career is important but that she doesn’t want to miss this time with her three young children.  Laura Bulrice, Administrative Secretary at BBES, stated that “we will miss her dearly and we love her energy and she will bring it to the classroom.”  As decided by a unanimous vote at a Special Board meeting of the Bear Valley Unified School District on May 2^nd, replacing Mrs. Haston will be Michelle Case from Las Vegas, Nevada.  Ms. Case is currently the Assistant Principal at two Clark County sites known as Scherkenback-Bilbray Elementary Schools.  According to BVUSD Superintendent, Kurt Madden, forty-four applicants applied for the position that were paper screened down to ten candidates with four making the final cut.  Of the four, Ms. Case was the stand out candidate.  Present colleagues describe her as refined, polished, solid and a top assistant principal.  Michelle Case will begin with the BVUSD school district on July 1^st to assume the role of Big Bear Elementary School principal.

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Businesses Statewide To Start Recycling Programs

Sacramento, CA, May 8, 2012, 1:00pm - California businesses are going greener than ever this year as they start recycling programs to help meet a state recycling goal of 75 percent by the year 2020. A state law that goes into effect July 1 requires businesses and public entities that generate 4 cubic yards or more of waste to establish a recycling program. Schools and multifamily apartments with five or more units are included under the law. AB 341, the first state law of its kind in the nation, keeps California at the forefront of environmental protection while boosting the economy. CalRecycle estimates the new requirements will result in cumulative cost savings of $40 million to $60 million per year for businesses, schools, and local jurisdictions from 2012-2020. From mom-and-pop stores to multinational corporations operating in California, businesses have saved from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year by diverting a portion of their waste from landfills. Schools often use recycling programs as fund-raisers. Schools and businesses will continue to have the option to sell their recyclable materials. CalRecycle is responsible for implementing the commercial recycling law. Local jurisdictions will inform businesses of the new recycling requirement, track recycling at commercial businesses, and report results to CalRecycle each year.

Find out more about Assembly Bill 341 and Mandatory Commercial Recycling at http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/climate/Recycling/default.htm.

For answers to common business waste reduction and recycling issues as well as fact sheets and waste-conscious office management suggestions, visit CalRecycle’s Business Waste Reduction webpages
http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/ReduceWaste/Business/

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Rotary Club Honors Scholarship Winners

Big Bear, CA, May 4, 2012, 1:00pm – The Rotary Club of Big Bear Lake has announced the names of the winners of their 2012 Rotary Scholarship Program.  This year the Club is awarding a total of $7500 in five separate scholarships of $1500 each.  The Rotary Scholarship winners include Lindsay Hafen, Jackson Rees and Alyssa Larson for academic scholarships, Carly Jo Reeves for the Bob Wood Memorial Scholarship in Communications and Journalism and Dru Chilcoat for the John Voss Memorial Scholarship used towards Vocational School.  The students will be introduced at the annual Rotary Eagle of Excellence Community Service Awards and Dinner this Sunday evening, May 6^th.  The deserving students receiving these scholarships are recognized for their academic achievement, student government, sports, clubs, fine arts, outside work and for their community service during their high school careers.  Thirty-three applicants applied this year from a class of 176 students.  Applications were reviewed by a committee of Rotary members who then made the selections in each category.  Committee Chair Dave Caretto stated “there were many qualified and deserving students; we only wish we had more funds to distribute.  The quality of our high school students is outstanding, and this is a tribute not only to the students themselves but also to their parents, their teachers and their school.”   Additionally, the Rotary Club sponsors scholarships through the Mihaylo Foundation and the Rotary Interact Club as well as donating to Chautauqua High School’s scholarship program.  In total, the Rotary Club donates approximately $15,000 annually in local scholarship donations.

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Big Bear High School Wins the Chance to Compete for $50K!

Big Bear, CA , May 4, 2012, 1:00pm – Congratulations to Big Bear High School’s art department for placing first in California in the Van’s Custom Culture shoe design contest!  School representatives will be competing against four regional winners including the Northwest Regional winner, Mountain View High School, the Northeast Regional winner, Watkins Glen High School, the Southwest Regional winner, Rio Rancho High School, the Southeast Regional winner, Eastern High School for the grand prize of $50,000.  In addition to the grand prize, each runner up will receive $4,000. Thanks to Big Bear High School supporters for voting on-line to cast their vote for our talented Big Bear High School student designers.  The five schools will compete on May 30^th at the Long Beach Museum of Art with five celebrity judges including Whitney Port, Tony Alva, Jordan Buckley, Oliver Peck and a special surprise guest deciding who will receive the grand prize.  National shoe retailer, Journeys, has teamed up with Custom Culture to choose their favorite Local Flavor themed shoes and award a separate $5,000 prize to that school along with $1,000 to each of the four runners up.  So, Big Bear High School’s art program is $5,000 richer with the hope of winning it all, as much as $55,000!

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Final Day to Vote for Big Bear High School in the Van’s Custom Culture Contest to Win $50K for Art Program

Big Bear, CA , May 3, 2012, 1:00pm – As of today, Big Bear High School’s art department is currently in second place in the Van’s Custom Culture shoe design contest so the community’s help is needed to cast your vote to move Big Bear High up to first place for a chance to win $50,000 for the school’s art program.  The Van’s Custom Culture contest awards the winner the grand prize $50,000 and each runner up will receive $4,000. The Big Bear High School Art program student’s custom shoe designs made it to the top 50 semi-finalists out of a thousand high schools in the nation, and now they need more online votes to make it to number one for this region of the country for their shot at the $50,000 grand prize.  With the current California budget crisis this is a great opportunity for our current high school art program students and future students to benefit from this contest. Voting ends tonight at 8:59pm and you can only vote once from an IP address, so vote online at home, at work, and through your cell phone. Visit vans.com/customculture and cast your vote for our talented Big Bear High School student designers.  Your vote will decide which five schools will travel to Los Angeles for the exclusive final event at the Long Beach Museum of Art in May.  There’s still time to make a difference so vote now at vans.com/customculture.

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“Man About Town 2012″ Crowned by Soroptimist International of Big Bear Valley

Big Bear, CA, April 30, 2012 - Sunday evening the wait was over for the three Soroptimist International of Big Bear Valley’s “Man About Town” candidates to discover who would be crowned “Man About Town 2012”.  The evening’s presentations at Northwoods Resort by the candidates was greeted by cheers as Tim Breunig, Glenn Butcher and Cliff Fowler and their teams each performed skits that coincided with their campaign theme to highlight the evening’s finale.  The candidates all worked very hard over the 67-day fundraising period to bring in the sum of $91,353 that far exceeded the expectations of the Soroptimist women.  While the individual candidate’s fundraising amounts are strictly confidential, the candidate who raised the most money would be crowned “Man About Town” and this year, that man is Glenn Butcher.  The money raised from this campaign will continue to be used for Soroptimist’s “Stop Teen Violence” program, a quest that began in 2008 for a five-year run.  Also, this year, Soroptimist has committed to help fund the Healthy Start Program at our elementary, middle and high school and Safe School Ambassadors Program that is now at the Big Bear Middle School.  Kbear congratulates Glenn Butcher, the Valley’s “Man About Town 2012”.

Robbery at Taco Bell Prompts Lock Down of Big Bear Middle School

Big Bear Lake, CA, April 26, 2012, 3:30pm – On Wednesday, April 25^th, at approximately 11:45am, Big Bear Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a robbery at Big Bear’s Taco Bell.  Upon arrival, the suspect or suspects had fled the scene.  Deputies canvassed the area and interviews with employees and patrons were conducted.  As a precautionary measure, Bear Valley Unified School District personnel made the decision to lock down the Big Bear Middle School located one block east of Taco Bell.  Students were released from the school at the normal time and no injuries were reported at either the restaurant or school.  Deputies are continuing their investigations today.  KBHR will have further details as authorities make them available.

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