The Dodgers have partnered with Don Benito Fundamental School and Pasadena Rosebud Academy to host a special night for students at Dodger Stadium
Charter buses will pick up students at Don Benito at 5:00 p.m
and take them to the game against the Braves
a voucher for dinner at the concession stands
and even a chance to be featured on the big screen
There is a catch—it’s a student-centered event
At least 80% of attendees must be students
since the game falls on a Tuesday with school the next day
teachers have already been reminded that they cannot attend and then call in sick
It’s also important to consider that it will be a late night for younger students
The next step is a survey to gauge interest in student participation
details regarding the number of adults allowed and other logistics will be determined
There may also be an option for families to purchase tickets independently
John Lee Maynard (Don Benito Elementary School’s Principal) at (626) 396-5870 or Ms
Sonia Anand (Director Pasadena Rosebud Academy) at (626) 318-1261
Pasadena Rosebud Academy (Temporary address), 3700 Denair St., Pasadena, (626) 318-1261 or visit https://www.rosebudacademy.com/
Don Benito Fundamental, 3700 Denair St., Pasadena, (626) 396-5870 or visit https://donbenito.pusd.us/.
Learn more about the Pasadena area's finest private schools
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When Marcia Workman left her first-grade classroom at Pasadena’s Don Benito Elementary School on Jan. 7, she anticipated she’d be back the next day.
That night, a wildfire raged out of Eaton Canyon and into the surrounding neighborhoods.
Families emailed to ask if Workman, who lives in Pasadena, was OK.
Workman said she wasn’t worried about the gecko hibernating beneath an artificial log, or the hardy gold orange loach fish. She figured as long as the school was still standing, they’d be OK.
But … what of the fluffiest creature in Room 4?
Cupcake, the black-and-white Polish rabbit with “dramatic eye make-up,” was trapped. And the National Guard had closed off the route to school.
“I had half of my heart thinking, ‘OK, what, what is the scenario?’” Workman said.
She said she wondered how she would explain the bunny’s demise to students who’d lost so much in the fires. “You can't sleep; you can't think of anything else.”
And so a mission to save the bunny was launched. It soon grew into “Operation Paw Patrol,” a district-wide effort to locate, rescue and care for classroom pets at half-a-dozen schools as the Eaton Fire burned.
Animals have been a feature of Workman’s classroom since she started teaching in 1973.
The very first class pet was Midnight, a rabbit donated by a family who was moving and could no longer care for her.
“I didn't have pets as a child, so I thought, ‘Well, something I can put into the class to help the children have empathy for animals, take care of them, was … some nice, wonderful bunnies,” Workman said.
When she had students who were allergic to furry animals, she brought in snakes, lizards and a tarantula. All were adopted or rescued.
Cupcake (née Oreo, née Fluff — the students vote on the animals’ names at the start of each school year) is one of at least six bunnies that have hopped through her classroom over the years.
“I think [the vote on] ‘Cupcake’ this year was a little closer to lunchtime, so they were hungry,” Workman said.
The whiskery, red-eyed loaches, which are indistinguishable from one another, are 1, 2 and 3. The gecko is Gecky.
The students take turns feeding and caring for the animals. Workman welcomes any student who walks by to come say hi.
“Maybe that animal in the classroom sparks something that's going to be a whole career for that child,” Workman said. “You just never know what's going to turn them on. So it's up to me to bring that into the classroom.”
Aidan, 6, was one of the week’s two “animal feeders” when I visited.
Her favorite creature is Cupcake, but she also enjoys how the fish tickle her fingers, and she likes the spotted gecko.
“The only thing I don't like about him is that he eats worms,” Aidan said. “I had to feed him once, and it was disgusting, because I had to touch the worms.”
When the Eaton Fire broke out, Workman fled her Pasadena home along with her son, her daughter, their spouses, two dogs and a cat. She grabbed several boxes of Nilla Wafer Cookies. She forgot her late husband’s ashes.
The fire "just set us into panic mode,” Workman said.
She also grabbed the class hamster, who had joined her household over an extended winter break.
By the time she tried to return to the school to retrieve Cupcake, the National Guard had blockaded the roads.
She reached out to Principal John Maynard to ask for help. Fellow first-grade teacher Amethyst Juknavorian had also emailed Maynard, anxious about the other animals’ conditions.
“It's so easy for people to feel so helpless when so much destruction is going on around them. And, you know, you're thinking, what can I do?” Juknavorian said. “I couldn't have this bunny sitting in that classroom.”
Maynard shared the message Friday, Jan. 10, in a virtual meeting with other Pasadena principals.
“All of a sudden, the chat started getting filled with ‘This school has reptiles in it here’ ... and then ‘there's fish here,’” Maynard said.
Administrators compiled a list of animals that included a bearded dragon, beta fish, rats and snakes at six campuses.
Facilities Program Manager Michael Dunning started as a carpenter nine years ago and now oversees contracts and construction in the district’s 24 schools.
“ I know every nook and cranny of this district for the most part,” Dunning said. “I've been in the basements, to the attics, to the roofs.”
“ I haven't stopped since that first morning of the fires,” Dunning said. “Seven days a week, just trying to get the kids back, get everybody safe ... get as much back to normal as much as possible. But I'm one of lots of people that are doing the same thing.”
And as a member of maintenance and operations, he could pass through the National Guard checkpoints.
Dunning worked with school staff to assess whether each class pet needed to be relocated or whether a wellness-check and some food would suffice.
He escorted the principal of Sierra Madre Elementary as she retrieved a gecko. He brought the bearded dragon at San Rafael Elementary some Dubia roaches to snack on courtesy of his own family's bearded dragon, Fiji. A contracted cleaner had already started to feed the fish at Marshall High School.
“ I love all these schools,” Dunning said. “Just knowing that the schools are in danger for me was difficult to deal with.”
Maynard hitched a ride from Dunning in a maintenance and operations pick-up truck on the morning of Jan. 11 to retrieve Cupcake.
Despite having prior clearance, they still had to tell the National Guard “we were coming up to rescue a rabbit,” Maynard said.
The principal wasn’t sure what he’d find at Don Benito, which sits at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. There were rumors the school had burned down. Ash and debris covered the hill that borders the school’s north side, but the buildings were still standing. Several homes across the street to the east were leveled. The mountains were charred brown in the distance.
“Looking at the damage around the school and what had occurred.” Maynard said. “I don't have words for it. It's just shock, just not really even sure how to process that.”
The classrooms were coated in ash … but Cupcake was unscathed.
Maynard texted Workman’s son: “Bunny lives.” And he arranged to meet at the district office near downtown Pasadena.
Workman wanted Cupcake back in her classroom when school resumed.
“That would kind of give a sense of relief to some of the students who had lost everything,” Workman said. “They needed to see the classroom as they remembered Tuesday afternoon leaving it, and that certainly included the animals.”
Principal Maynard stood at the school’s front gate holding a sign that said “Welcome Back, Bobcats!” and offering hugs and high-fives.
“For today and the next couple days, I really just hope we actually have space for healing and the ability to express what we're feeling,” Maynard said that day.
In Workman’s class, students selected which of 20 colorful faces on a worksheet represented their feelings.
Ella, 6, drew an arrow to the yellow frowning sad face.
“My house didn't make it through the fire — it's gone,” she said.
Workman is focused on helping students make up for three weeks away from the classroom.
“It's so important for us to get back on track, because everything is based on what we accomplished in first grade,” Workman said. “Every grade is on our shoulders.”
On Wednesday, a parent volunteer practiced reading with individual students while Workman rearranged magnetic letters on a white board and sounded out the words aloud with the rest of the class.
After discussing the A sound in "always," Workman asked the students to take out their feelings sheets again.
Ella hasn’t selected the sad face since the first day back.
“I was very excited to learn,” Ella said. “And happy that my school didn't get burned down.”
This week she's one of the animal feeders, which means she gets to top the bunny’s bowl of pellets with hay and vegetable scraps from the soup Workman made the night before.
“I think her ears are cute,” Ella said. “Her whole body is cute, and the design on her back is cute too.”
The way Cupcake hops and zooms around her cage? “So cute.”
I asked Ella if she’d learned anything from the animals. She looked at the rabbit as she lay still, except for the wiggling of her nose.
“She's very calm,” Ella said. “And she teaches me how to be calm sometimes.”
and staff in what can only be described as a heartwarming return to school
as the school communities took the first steps toward healing
and staff greeted each other with warmth and support
while parents and families found comfort in the strength of their shared experience
activities focused on coping with crisis are being integrated into students’ routines
alongside the presence of additional mental health professionals on campuses
three more schools are set to open on Wednesday
These campuses have undergone thorough cleaning and sanitization processes and have been inspected by third-party environmental consultants
Reports from these inspections will be available on the PUSD website beginning Tuesday
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Don Benito Elementary School proudly congratulates Chloe and Ashkahn for their outstanding achievement in representing Don Benito at the District Spelling Bee
and commitment to excellence exemplify the spirit of the Bobcat community
The entire school celebrates their accomplishment and commends them for their perseverance and effort
Don Benito Fundamental, 3700 Denair St., Pasadena, (626) 396-5870 or visit https://donbenito.pusd.us/
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A family carries on the task of maintaining the space
where historical icons and the living legends of today mingle
A reconstruction of an Ideal Records recording room at the Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame and Museum boasts several artifacts from the genre's history
a retired teacher and daughter of the museum founder
it’s the perfect place her dad envisioned.
“ It’s almost like he manifested this building for his layout for his museum
And my mom even says he also wanted to be next to a resaca
An almost 100-year-old building is home to the Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame and Museum
Reynaldo Avila Sr. is the founder of the hall of fame and museum. He died in 2019 before it got its new home and opened those doors to the public in 2023
Patricia is the president and executive director of the museum
She says that running it has become a family affair
“I run pretty much all the daily activities here at the museum,” she says
he does like the marketing and [is] in charge of the archiving
And it’s a family business-oriented museum
My mom even comes to volunteer on Thursdays or Fridays.”
is the vice president of the museum
“There’s five siblings and then I think if you put all five of us together
we don’t even add up to what my dad would do in the efforts to keep this going.”
“Thank God for my sister Patty,” he said
“She retired about two years ago and now she’s here full time even though it’s supposed to be a part time job
But she says it’s just so much.”
“I mean it feels like a full time job
I was just telling him today,” Patricia says
The museum contains a replica of Narciso Martínez’s porch from the town of La Palma – just outside San Benito
says that Martínez would come home from working at the zoo and relax on his porch with his accordion
neighbors would join him with other instruments and a conjunto jam session would begin
This replica now acts as a stage for live acts at the museum
The museum’s different rooms showcase the various aspects and milestones that make up conjunto music history
One area is dedicated to the founders of conjunto music – Narciso Martínez
known as “El Huracán del Valle” (The Hurricane of the Valley) – and Santiago Almeida Sr.
whose strumming bass lines on the bajo sexto kicked off the modern day conjunto sound
They were migrant workers and you can see that if you’re young and the day’s over
you want to go somewhere where there’s fun,” Pete explains.
“And I’m thinking they would always ask
Where are the parties at?’ And they would go find the downtown and they were playing oom-pah music
They’re playing German music.”
“ That sound came together in 1934,” Patricia said
“The first recording was under the Bluebird label
well the majority of the music was recorded under the Ideal Records.”
the major labels were refusing to record regional music
he began to record local artists and press them into records
That’s when Betancourt came in and would distribute them
“It’s a great partnership,” Patricia said
“So musicians from all over Texas and Mexico would come to record their music here
And I even heard that Narciso Martínez was almost like a house band
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The museum also holds numerous Ideal Records recording studio artifacts
This room contains Ideal Records items donated by the family of the label's cofounder
Ideal Records became a historic jewel in the crown of South Texas music
knew this long before he got 501(c)(3) status in the 2000s
He built a reputation for loving the story of conjunto and collecting artifacts to preserve it.
“Their family actually came up to my father and talked to my dad or wrote a letter to my dad and stated that everything that was inside the building
that ‘we’re going to gift it to him and donate it to him so he can tell you the story of the conjunto industry that was happening here in San Benito
the recording studio,'” Patricia said
The legacy of the Ideal Recording studio is one of the first things you see on display at the museum
In what used to be the hotel reception booth
the museum has replicated how bands would record together in the live room
Recording machines and even master prints are on display at the museum
The faces of many of the voices heard in its catalog are seen are on the walls
A portion of the museum dedicated to Freddy Fender’s achievements
and Beto Villa… These are all original Ideal Recording artists,” Patricia said
“Ruben Garza is one of our inductees
He comes to the museum a few times during the year
“He’s a barber in Harlingen during the day and then a musician at night
He has a band called Ruben Garza y Conjunto
Patricia points to the three-piece black suit on the mannequin in the corner of the room
Garza’s portrait and several newspaper articles of him hang next to it
“This is a funny story,” Patricia said
“He walks in and there’s some brown shoes with the suit
‘Those are those brown shoes I’ve been looking for’ and I said
you donated them to us,’ and he goes ‘I’ll be back.’
Because the legacy of these artists are so closely tied with the community
the museum has a donation or a loan program
they don’t want to let go of the artifact yet
which we understand because it’s sentimental to the family,” Patricia says
On display are photos and the original table and chairs from the historic dance hall
The hall was the place many conjunto acts got their start
It’s not uncommon for inductees or their family members to visit the museum
Sometimes they’ll be inspired to add something to the exhibit
Other times they just enjoy seeing their loved ones’ accomplishments honored
they get to see the displays and the artifacts that were left from their father
It really gets them in the heart,” Pete said
founder of the Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame and Museum
His portrait hangs at the entrance of the museum
And oftentimes they get to see the next generation of conjunto artists walk through the door
“What we’re seeing now is that those siblings are now in bands. They’re playing in groups,” Pete said. “I would say shaking the bushes to conjunto again. It started all over again. We’ve been seeing a spike of the music through high school
These artists have the love and appreciation for conjunto music in their blood
passed down through their father’s work
“Now that I see what it took [to run the museum]
I told my sister we need to get more of our cousins in here
more of our nephews in here because it’s a lot of work to keep this going,” Pete said
the stories and the history is something that does need to be preserved
and that’s what we’re here for.”
was inducted into the Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame in 2023 as recognition for all his efforts to preserve conjunto history
His portrait greets visitors as they walk through the front door
watching over the work his family is inspired to continue for generations to come
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(KION) - The clock is ticking for San Benito County and the city of Hollister to agree on handling fire services
The board says what Hollister is asking for is not feasible
so they voted today on forming an ad hoc to work with Cal Fire on creating a county fire district
"I'm disappointed that the supervisors didn't go further to try and continue what they call a partnership and trying to work through the partnership," said Jonathan Goulding
After weeks of San Benito County and the city of Hollister not seeing eye to eye on managing fire services
the county voted on taking matters into its own hands
"I ask that we put an ad hoc to look into the possibility of working with Cal Fire to create our own fire department," said Ignacio Velazquez
"I don't think giving up and throwing in the towel and and using these scare tactics is is right for our community," said Sotelo
Some who live here say both parties should go back to the drawing board
"All elected parties should be back to the table as soon as possible to work to come up with a better solution rather than issuing ultimatums," said Greg Lopez who lives in Hollister
Goulding says handling the over 13-hundred square miles would be too much for the county to handle
and they essentially don't even own any really in-service apparatus
And so they would have to go through the process of hiring personnel
Chief Goulding says he has already talked to Cal Fire on the option but says its not looking great
but discussed preliminary numbers of what it would cost for them to service the county
And the amount of money that they quoted me is more comparable to the entire budget
For the city of Hollister versus the portion that we're asking the county to pay," said Goulding
Dania Romero is an reporter at KION News Channel 46
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