teacher

Popular South Tahoe High English teacher Bridey Heidel is trying to attract the attention of musicians Duran Duran and television host Ellen DeGeneres.

Why you ask?

To understand we need to take a step back in time to the year 1983 when a young Bridey was in 7th grade. She had found the band Duran Duran at a very difficult time in her young life and they helped her cope with a life full of trauma as well as moving from town to town. By the time she graduated high school she had been in 26 schools.

Most kids and parents have a mixture of excitement and nervousness about starting a new school year. This is normal. However, parents can help ease the transition from summer vacation to the school routine. Here are some tips to prepare you and your student for the upcoming academic year.

Update 8/7/15: The body found off the OHV Trail west of Slate Mountain in the El Dorado National Forest was positively identified today as 45 year-old Edward Cavanaugh of San Francisco. The identification was done by a forensic odontologist, who compared Cavanaugh’s dental records to the upper and lower jaw bones found near his motorcycle. The cause of death is still under investigation.

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Search & Rescue is still looking for 45-year-old Edward Cavanaugh who was last seen on July 17 riding his blue Yamaha YZ250 motorcycle in the Rock Creek trail system near Georgetown.

Nine golfers started their day at 6 a.m. Thursday, prepared to be on the Tahoe Paradise Golf Course until 9 p.m. raising money for the South Lake Tahoe Cancer League.

In their tenth year, the concept of the Day of Golf was started over a couple of cocktails at the South Lake Tahoe Moose Lodge. Russ Wilson and Curt Emrie formulated the idea and went to the cancer league to see if they'd like to get the donations earned during the day.

Last year, the golfers got 130 holes of golf in before dark, raising $12,000.

Justin Timblerlake fans will be thrilled to learn that the multi-talented actor and musical artist will be golfing at this summer's American Century Championship celebrity golf in South Lake Tahoe his summer. He joins superstar athletes and entertainers for the first time this summe. Timberlake is an avid golfer who sports a six handicap and is renowned in the sport for his philanthropic endeavors.

A self-described "forever learner," Beth Delacour won't be saying goodbye to schools once she retires as the South Tahoe Middle School Principal next month. "I like to learn," she said.

After 32 years working in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District, Delacour is looking forward to having breakfast with her girlfriends, cooking dinner for her husband ("He's been so supportive"), and enjoying her grandchildren (the fourth one is just one week old). But don't look for her to be just relaxing for long.

Enjoying a nice, quiet and boring life is what Dennis Sarosik is looking forward to after wrapping up his 34 year career with the Lake Tahoe Unified School District next month. "I'm going to make every day a Saturday and a Sunday," Sarosik said.

When asked what he'd like to be remembered for, Sarosik quickly answered. "My signature experience was working with Yvonne Larson on bringing Sports Medicine to the school." He said that seeing the new department function as it is today is "beyond cool."

After working a total of 637 1/2 years for the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD), 25 teachers, staff members and administrators were recognized in a ceremony Tuesday evening.

LTUSD and the Lake Tahoe Educational Foundation hosted the reception.

Certified Retirees:

Betsy Benavidez, Teacher - 24 years
Karen Boyer, Speech Therapist - 20 years
Howard Coleman, Teacher - 32 years
Beth Delacour, Principal - 32 years
Madeline Fernald, Teacher - 16 years
Joann Hernandez, School Counselor - 15 years
Deborah Kushner - 31 years

When current South Tahoe Middle School Principal Beth Delacour retires in June she is leaving the school in the capable hands of John Simons. Simons (pronounced sim-mons) was introduced at Tuesday evening's Lake Tahoe Unified School District Board meeting.

Simons is relocating to South Lake Tahoe from Oakdale, CA where he has been principal at the community's middle school for the past seven years. Prior to that he served as the school's vice-principal for three years.

To City Manager of South Lake Tahoe, City Council

RE: motel housing

Honorable City Manager and City Council,

I am writing to you out of concern about the possible new ordinance regarding motel housing. In the past six years I have been involved with working for and advising various properties. The seven different properties opened my eyes to a separate part of our community that goes mostly unnoticed.

Give Where You Live! is a 24-hour giving challenge coordinated by the El Dorado Community Foundation. This year's day long giving day is Thursday, April 23, 2015.

“We have approximately 70 nonprofits participating in the event this year. Each nonprofit will have its own website presence to highlight a particular need or needs for which it is focusing giving dollars, as well as more information about the organization in general,” said Megan Buchanan, donor services coordinator at the foundation.

Tokay High School (Lodi) football coach and athletic director Louis Franklin announced Monday he will be stepping down at the end of the school year after being offered “an opportunity to join Lake Tahoe Unified School District.”

Franklin, a 2000 Tokay graduate, has been the school’s head football coach since 2007 and the athletic director since 2010, when he replaced Jeff Johnston.
Franklin was 38-46 as Tokay’s head coach, including an 0-4 record in the playoffs, but finished with three winning seasons.

Dan Rix, affectionately known as “Papa Dan” to his family, passed away peacefully at his home in South Lake Tahoe on February 11, 2015 at the age of 73 after a brave and courageous battle with a long illness. Dan was born December 30, 1941 in Pueblo, CO to Dorothy Mae and George Robert Rix and spent his childhood growing up in Daly City (CA). He eventually moved to Tulare (CA) with his family where he graduated from Tulare Union HS in 1959.

Five, six, seven, eight. Dancers will always have numbers in their head as they count out the beat, and those participating in the annual Dancing With the Tahoe Stars are no doubt experiencing just that as they wrap up their final two weeks of rehearsals.

There's an old saying: "Writing about art is like dancing about architecture." After watching rehearsals this week I starting searching for the words to start as I found that translating the movement of the human body into something written down to be a frustrating process.

So instead, I'll focus on those who are participating.

In case you haven't made it to any of the previous Tahoe Arts Project Dancing With the Tahoe Stars you'll want to put March 7 on your calendars.

Ten local celebrities will be paired with talented and experienced dancers from the area. In the group of ten is a real estate agent, business owner, comedian, Barton executive, lawyer, doctor, teacher, fireman, casino executive and public relations expert.

Each winter, groups of students participate in the US Forest Service's Winter Trek Program in South Lake Tahoe.

South Tahoe High Graduate Francisco Figueroa-Yanez, known as "Frankie" to his friends, has his new career as a school teacher in San Francisco highlighted in a recent SFGate article titled "Bay Area schools scramble for qualified teachers amid shortage." Frankie graduated from STHS in 2007, went to Santa Clara University where he majored in Biology and Spanish and is now at the University of San Francisco working on his masters degree. He visits South Lake Tahoe when time allows to see his parents and friends.

Almost 2,000 elementary students from South Lake Tahoe completed the WeCan! fitness and nutritional program on Friday, October 10.

Students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade at Bijou, Lake Tahoe Environmental Magnet, Sierra House and Tahoe Valley Elementary Schools participated in the four week program.

The students participated in weekly challenges that focused on fitness and nutrition goals. Challenges included eating fruits and vegetables of a particular color, drinking more water, stretching, exercising and trying new healthy foods.

The Bijou Community Playground represents a community effort and shows what we can do when we all come together and each do a little. "Many hands make for light work" is a true phenomenon here at Bijou School. Since 2007, with the inception of the Two Way Immersion program, and our forced volunteering program, the parents, staff and community members have consistently been spending time, funds, and those blood, sweat and tears we always talk about at this school. The new playground, as well as the field and park behind it, is a tangible representation of the volunteer force here at Bijou.

Late-Nite Productions is proud to present the second annual Red, White and BOOM! 4th of Julyweekend House Music Explosion featuring SF's legendary DJ Dan plus special guest DJ Aspect getting the party warmed up! This is happening on Saturday, July 5, 2014 at Whiskey Dick's Saloon. Tickets are $15 adv at Whiskey Dicks & Beach Hut Deli (South Lake Tahoe) 702 Skate & Snow (Carson City) Recycled Records (Reno) or online at www.Ticketweb.com or $20 day of show. The party will feature enhanced Sound, Lights, Visuals and Go-Go dancers all night long!

The Tahoe Youth and Family Services Board of Directors has announced that Christopher Croft will take the position as the agency's new Executive Director. Croft comes to TYFS from Tacoma, Washington where he was the Family Division Director of The Rescue Mission, a non-profit agency that provides shelter, counseling and meals for homeless men, women and children.

Ivonne Larson, the Principal of South Tahoe High, was named Assistant Superintendent by the Lake Tahoe Unified School District Board on Tuesday, April 22. She will be in charge of Secondary Education, Career Technical Education and AVID for the district starting July 1, 2014.

This is the first time LTUSD has had an Assistant Superintendent since Barbara Davis resigned in August of 2005. The new position for Assistant Superintendent is part time.

The District will post a job opening for STHS Principal this week to replace Larson.

The goal is simple, "Helping the youth of South Lake Tahoe to be well read and well fed."

Hunger isn't just an inner city problem. Hunger isn't just a third world problem. Hunger affects approximately 16 million children in the United States with 3 million rural community households being "food insecure."

How can children focus on solving a math problem or writing an English paper when he or she is trying to ignore the persistent pangs of hunger? School work is forced to compete with hunger.