November 17, 2006

Evergreen SchoolScene

Biehl elected to ESUHSD board; Shirakawa and Herrera reelected

Voters elected Frank Biehl to join the East Side Union High School District board on Nov. 7. Three seats were up for grabs among the five candidates, which also included Ruben Dominguez and incumbents Patricia Martinez-Roach,
George Shirakawa, J. Manuel Herrera. Shirakawa and Herrera were reelected.

Frank Biehl

The three will join Lan Nguyen on the new board. A fourth seat, currently held by Craig Mann, will be vacant when Mann joins the Santa Clara County Board of Education in January. The district will appoint someone to fill that vacancy.

Biehl was joined by Martinez-Roach and Dominguez at a panel discussion held by the District 8 Roundtable on Oct. 27 at Evergreen Valley High School. Herrera and Shirakawa were unable to attend the event prior to the Nov. 7 elections. During that meeting the three attending candidates all said they favored a new school in the district, but did not favor realigning boundaries.

Biehl is president of the school site council at Evergreen Valley High School, and said he will resign his seat on the council on Dec. 6, before being sworn in as an ESUHSD Trustee the following day. Martinez-Roach, who placed fourth among the candidates, had served on the board for 12 years.

The board will hold its annual organizational meeting at the districts Education Center on Dec. 7 at 6 p.m.

—By Carol Rosen

School Briefs

Mt. Pleasant High School 2006 Cardinal Winter Holiday Fest Dec. 7

Come and join the students, staff and community at Mt. Pleasant’s Annual Winter Holiday Festivities. Bring the family and enjoy a crafts faire, music, food, dance, drama, and pictures with Santa!

The event will be held on December 7 from 4-8 p.m. at Mt. Pleasant High School, located on 1750 South White Road. Start the Holiday Season meeting and making new friends while sharing the spirit of the season.

Anyone interested in reserving a table to sell crafts is encouraged to contact

Rebecca Palmer at: palmerr@esuhsd.org or call (408) 937-2896.

Crafts table reservations are $15 per table. Deadline to reserve a crafts table is December 3rd.

Silver Oak Elementary School presents “Narnia” Dec. 14 and 15

Silver Oak Elementary School will be presenting the play, “Narnia,” based on the Book, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, under the professional direction of California Theatre Center (CTC), a company celebrating its 31st season of theatre entertaining young audiences in the bay area.

This production is funded by the families of Silver Oak Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and Silver Oak Educational Partnership(SOEP), and in addition, is partially sponsored by Mandy McCurdy, realtor with the Kate Davey Team of Silver Creek Valley premier real estate services experts.

Come, support, and enjoy a wondrous night of entertaining from all the children and families of Silver Oak Elementary School in San Jose's Evergreen area.

Performances:

Thursday, Dec 14: Spring Cast – 4:30 p.m. and Winter Cast – 7:00 p.m.

Friday, Dec 15: Winter Cast – 6:00 p.m. and Spring Cast - 8:30 p.m.

Tickets will go on sale to the public beginning Thursday, Nov. 30 at 12:30 p.m. and Friday, Dec. 1 at 2:15 p.m. at Silver Oak Elementary at the flag pole. Sales will continue on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 2:15 p.m. until sold out. Cash or checks accepted.

Ticket Pricing: Thursday, Dec. 14, 4:30 p.m. performance: Pavilion $8, Premium $10. All other performances will be: Pavilion $10 and Premium $12.

Drama teacher returns to job at EVHS

The drama teacher at Evergreen Valley High School is back at work after being arrested Oct. 16 for a misdemeanor charge.

Police arrested Thomas Ferraro on Oct. 16 at 8:30 a.m. at the school. The charge was for videotaping a person using a concealed camera to view their undergarments. Following his arrest, Ferraro did not teach for a couple of weeks, but returned to his job on Nov. 6.

Both the East Side Union School District and EVHS’ acting principal Cari Vaeth told the Times the week of Oct. 23 that Ferraro was not teaching at the school. However, calls placed this week to district and school officials indicated that he was teaching again.

“He is an employee of the district. Since the person is an employee and this is a personnel matter, we can only discuss [his employment] with he and his representative. He has a contract, and yes, he will continue teaching,” said Jerry Kurr, Interim Assistant Superintendent of Business Services for ESUHSD.

The arrest stems from an incident in Mountain View on July 2. Ferraro had met a 25-year-old woman about three weeks before the incident, according to the police report. The report also stated that he had introduced himself as a photographer and offered to take pictures of her in clothes. She voluntarily came to his home in Mountain View and while changing clothes for photos in an enclosed bedroom, noticed a video camera that was activated and taping her.

She left the house and reported the incident to the police. They conducted an investigation and issued an arrest warrant, but could not locate him until Oct. 16, when he was arrested at the school.

Ferraro’s arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 30 at 9 a.m. at the California Superior Court in Palo Alto.

—By Carol Rosen