Students who have missed one or more days of school are invited to participate in this weekend’s Saturday Academy, which is open to all BVUSD elementary school and Big Bear Middle School students. Saturday Academy, on December 5, will be held at Baldwin Lane Elementary School in Sugarloaf from 8am to noon, and this session is open to students from North Shore, Baldwin Lane and Big Bear Elementaries, as well as middle school students who live in the area. Big Bear Middle School’s session on Saturday will be held from 9am to 1pm. As BBMS Principal Julie Chamberlin had told us when we first introduced the program, “This is a positive thing, not a punitive thing—not like Saturday school at the secondary level. The advantage of our Saturday Academy is that we do fun, educational things, and the advantage to the district is that we recapture ADA [or average daily attendance] funding.” Parents should have received information regarding the Saturday Academy program in November, though, if questions, they can be directed to BBMS at 866-4634 or Baldwin Lane at 585-7766. In addition to the benefits of additional learning through fun educational activities, student attendance at Saturday Academy is a benefit to BVUSD, as the district receives $33.88 per day for each student—a considerable amount, one student, one school day at a time, especially during tough budgetary times.