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Storm damage leads to closed roads throughout Riverside County
Riverside school events highlight early literacy, wellness
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M O N D AY, M A R C H 20- M A R C H 26, 2023
Dolores Huerta International Academy in Fontana receives award for bilingual education By Staff
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Sandra Loudermilk said in a statement. “This accomplishment is a direct reflection of our entire staff’s dedication to preparing our students not only for school but for life through our dual-language immersion and IB PYP program.” DHIA will be honored at the bilingual association’s 2023 Seal of Excellence Banquet on March 24. “This is a tremendous honor for Dolores Huerta International Academy and the District,” Fontana Unified Superintendent Miki R. Inbody said in a statement. “The teachers, staff and administrators have built a fantastic educational program at DHIA, and this award is a well-deserved recognition of their efforts to empower every student on campus to achieve their goals.” DHIA opened in 2016 as the district’s first duallanguage immersion school with a global focus for providing elementary school students with multilingual educational options, offering both Spanish-English dual-
language immersion as well as the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, according to Fontana Unified. DHIA’s dual-language instruction “strives to ensure students meet and exceed state standards in core subjects by increasing their proficiency and strategic thinking, fostering college and career readiness, and promoting multilingualism and multiculturalism,” the school district explained.“The (Primary Years Programme) emphasizes learning through inquiry and reflection, and stresses the character-strong attributes of appreciation, cooperation and creativity, helping students develop foundational skills that are applied throughout the District’s K-12 continuum of (International Baccalaureate) programs.” Dual-language classrooms at DHIA are purposely diversified with students who are both native English and native Spanish speakers, with kindergarten students and first graders receiving 90% of
their instruction in Spanish and 10% in English, Fontana Unified reported. The amount of Spanish instruction lessens by 10% every subsequent school year until an even balance of English and Spanish is reached in fifth and sixth grade. English-language learners get instructional support throughout a given DHIA school day, according to the school district. Teachers utilize information from students’ English Language Proficiency Assessments for California to customize their English-language development lessons and supports. “In addition to fostering multilingualism and multiliteracy — and providing a rigorous IB education — DHIA has also developed a robust social-emotional support program and cultivated a positive campus culture,” according to Fontana Unified. “Those efforts have earned DHIA a platinum Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports implementation award for two years in a row.”
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Felon who fatally shot Riverside store clerk convicted of murder
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Students at Dolores Huerta International Academy. | Photo courtesy of the Fontana Unified School District
olores Huerta International Academy has earned the 2023 Seal of Excellence School Award from the California Association for Bilingual Education, the Fontana Unified School District announced Thursday. The award highlights the school’s “commitment to preparing students for college and careers through its popular dual-language immersion ... program,” according to Fontana Unified. DHIA is one of a handful of K-6 full dual-language and International Baccalaureate-authorized schools in the country and the Seal of Excellence is one of bilingual association’s most prestigious awards that recognizes learning institutions “for their vision of biliteracy, multicultural competency and commitment toward educational equality for all,” according to the school district. “The Dolores Huerta International Academy team works tirelessly to care for our students,” DHIA Principal
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By City News Service
convicted felon was found guilty Wednesday of firstdegree murder for gunning down a Riverside convenience store clerk during an all-night robbery spree. After deliberating two days, a Murrieta jury convicted 33-year-old John Lamont Bush of Los Angeles of the murder count, along with three counts each of armed robbery and firearm assault and one count of being a felon in possession of a gun. The panel also found true a special circumstance allegation of killing in the course of a robbery. Bush fatally shot 28-year-old Waqar Tanveer of Fontana in 2020. On Tuesday, a separate jury convicted Bush’s cohort, Roderick Lamar Grandison, 50, of Compton, of first-degree murder and two counts each of armed robbery and firearm assault. Grandison’s jury deliberated only one day before reaching its verdict. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Stephen Gallon scheduled a sentencing hearing for Bush on April 26, and a separate one for Grandison on May 26, both at the Southwest Justice Center. Each man is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center. A third co-defendant, 36-year-old Marleiya Onshel Barnes of Moreno Valley, pleaded guilty in 2021 to three counts of armed robbery and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison. According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, See Murder Page 28
Air show set to return to March Air Reserve Base after 5-year hiatus By City News Service
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ighter jets, air transports and aerobatics teams will be returning to March Air Reserve Base following a five-year hiatus in what will be the inaugural “Southern California Air Show,” it was announced Thursday. The two-day event is scheduled for the weekend of April 22-23 on the airfield, located just east of Interstate 215, at Ellsworth Street and Cactus Avenue. The Southern California Air Show is the de facto replacement of the March ARB Air Fest, which was nixed in both 2020 and 2022. The first cancellation stemmed directly from the base’s coronavirus public health lockdown, and the 2022 show was dropped after base administrators expressed concerns about potential ongoing exposure risks among large crowds. The last public airborne event at the base was the 2018 March ARB Air Fest in April of that year. The marquee event of the Southern California Air Show will be the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, performing a variety of coordinated maneuvers in their F-16 See Air show Page 28