The Ventura Unified School District (VUSD) Board accepted a letter of retirement from Superintendent Dr. Roger Rice, effective September 3, 2022.

As the Superintendent who led the District through incredible gains and the pandemic, Dr. Rice worked to prioritize student achievement, innovation, access, and sound financial stewardship during his tenure.

“The last two years have been exceptionally challenging for educators across the State. Yet, throughout the pandemic, Dr. Rice never wavered in his commitment to our community’s children, their bright futures, and safety. Often working around the clock to problem solve in an ever-changing landscape, he led our District with honor, passion, and dedication,” stated Board President Sabrena Rodriguez. “We will forever be grateful for his time as our Superintendent. We wish him all the best in his retirement.”

Under Dr. Rice’s leadership, the District has focused its attention on implementing systems and processes to ensure every student succeeds in the Ventura Unified School District. In addition, the District has focused on equity, alternative educational options, improving educational services, technology, facilities, fiscal responsibility, communications, and professional development during his tenure.

Since Dr. Rice joined the VUSD team in 2019, VUSD has focused on equity and access by transitioning the District to becoming technology-driven, providing each student with a device and Wi-Fi when needed, and implementing the CANVAS content delivery system. In addition, new technology platforms were purchased.

Always a proponent of “access for everyone,” Dr. Rice came in and started the Special Education District Advisory Committee, the African American Parent Advisory Committee, increased

diversity in school and District leadership personnel, and adopted culturally responsible curriculum and instructional materials.

In addition, he focused his attention on providing innovative programs for all students and ensured that all Career Technical Education courses would be A-G compliant. In addition, he envisioned and broke ground on a one-of-a-kind organic farm housed at Pacific High School, Sa’Aliyas Ranch, that will allow students to see all aspects of a successful agricultural farm, including the technology, finance, and marketing that goes along with running it. Finally, under his leadership, VUSD built a Business Advisory Board to ensure CTE courses utilized updated equipment and methodologies and created a pipeline for students into careers upon graduation.

Through attrition, Dr. Rice led Human Resources on a project to reevaluate every open position to determine if it was needed or if the resources may be needed in other areas. In addition, he led the 7-11 Committee process that declared several District properties surplus, allowing the District the freedom to consider renting, repurposing, or selling properties not currently being used for student learning. He also worked to support and pass the Parcel Tax Ballot initiative.

Under Dr. Rice’s leadership, the District opened up all schools to the Schools of Choice process, which now allows all families to put in for a lottery drawing for any school in VUSD they feel is the best choice for their child. This year, the District increased its K-8 offerings by opening Lemon Grove School and expanding ATLAS Elementary to K-8 for Fall 2022. In addition, he implemented the new FLEX program that allowed multi-site attendance and distance plus live classroom attendance for each student in the program.

Dr. Rice’s leadership, professional development opportunities grew exponentially. He saw talent within the District and began an Aspiring Administrators Academy that allowed current staff to learn from, be mentored by, and shadow the District’s most exceptional administrators. He also implemented the VUSD Gratitude Awards recognizing employee, student, volunteer, and administrator excellence.

In addition to all of the above, Dr. Rice navigated the District through the COVID-19 crisis. He advocated ensuring that the State considered how decisions would impact students at the state level. He led the Ventura Unified staff to be the first District to return to full-time, in-person learning and offered multiple options for families who were not ready to return in person.

Driven to educate and innovate, he was honored in 2022 with the Superintendent of the Year Award for Region 13 by the Association of California School Administrators.

To celebrate Earth Day, the Ventura High School PTSA sponsored a volunteer beautification day. They planted three trees (Arbutus Marina and Western Redbud), many drought-tolerant shrubs, and added mulch to the campus quad area. Students will appreciate the attractive new landscaping. Project leaders were Cherie Egbert, Liz Rose, Kerry Weisel, Sheryl Miller and Mayra Benitez Tadillo.

venturatreealliance.com

Housing Trust Fund Ventura County (Housing Trust Fund VC) announced that Housing and Community Development (HCD) Director Gustavo Velasquez will keynote the nonprofit’s signature event – Compassion Campaign 2022 on Thursday, May 12th at Maravilla Gardens in Camarillo.

“We are honored that Director Velasquez sees the work we are doing here in Ventura County to provide safe, equitable homes for all and will be sharing his perspective on the state of affordable housing in California,” said Linda Braunschweiger, CEO, Housing Trust Fund Ventura County. “This year’s Compassion Campaign will be an unforgettable immersion experience, highlighting that our lives are connected through one common need – housing.” Similar to immersive experiences offered by the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, guests will take a deeply moving journey as they experience housing challenges faced through the eyes of members of the local community, from farmworkers to bankers, students to teachers, baristas to veterans. Tickets for Housing Trust Fund Ventura County’s Compassion Campaign may be purchased at www.HousingTrustFundVC.org.

“I’m excited to be back in Ventura County and be a part of the 2022 Compassion Campaign event,” HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez said. “As we all know, housing is the foundation for everything else one needs to live a decent life, and this administration has made it a top priority to create the affordable housing our state so desperately needs. From the recent release of our new Statewide Housing Plan to big developments in many of the programs HCD administers, we have a lot to talk about, and I look forward to an insightful discussion.”

In May of 2020, Gustavo Velasquez was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to be the next Director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development. In this leadership role, Velasquez leads California’s housing policy agenda and administers a wide range of programs that produce, preserve, and protect affordable housing and communities of opportunity across the state. Velasquez was a senior director at the Urban Institute, a renowned national research organization working to provide data analysis and insights to policymakers and practitioners. Velasquez served for nearly three years as assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and served on behalf of president as the strategic lead of the fair housing and inclusive community agenda for the Obama administration. During his tenure, HUD achieved groundbreaking enforcement victories in fair lending and in major housing discrimination cases. Velasquez led efforts to promulgate the landmark Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, a key tool for cities, states, and other HUD funding recipients to reduce inequality and disparities in access to opportunity.

Housing Trust Fund Ventura County – Launched as a 501c3 nonprofit corporation in 2011, Housing Trust Fund VC is the local trusted leader in helping to increase affordable housing options throughout Ventura County by leveraging public-private partnerships to provide low-cost, flexible loans early in the housing development cycle. As of April 1, 2022 Housing Trust Fund VC has invested over $22.3 million through its revolving loan fund, creating 870 affordable apartments and homes for very-low, low- and middle-income employees, transitional age foster youth, veterans, farm workers, and the homeless.

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers

Jolt – Amazon Originals

2 out of 4 palm trees

Though Lindy (Kate Beckinsale) seemed like your everyday beautiful, witty woman, beneath the surface she secretly battled uncontrolled murderous impulses. She struggled her entire life to deal with her rare neurological disorder and as a child was committed to a facility to keep others safe from her sporadic rage-filled impulses. She was under continued specialized psychiatric care since her childhood with Dr. Munchin (Stanley Tucci), who developed a special vest fitted with electrodes that Lindy could use to shock herself back into control when she felt rage coming on.

Through therapy and the use of the vest, Lindy and Dr. Munchin agreed that she was ready for and actually needed to start interacting with other people again to help with her therapy. Lindy had been distanced from everyone since she was a child, so the concept of friendships and relationships was completely foreign to her.

She finally met a man named Justin (Jai Courtney) who she had an immediate and unusual connections with on their very first date. Lindy felt confident enough to bring Justin back to her place and reveal her specialized tech vest to him, which he embraced without pause and after their second date she had come to know a feeling of normalcy with Justin she had never had her entire life.

When Justin didn’t show for their third date, Lindy called his apartment and the phone was answered by Detective Vicars (Bobby Cannavale), who informed her that Justin had been murdered. This seemed impossible to Lindy, and she asked for proof by requesting to go to the morgue to see his body, which Vicars denied. This put Lindy on the radar of Vicars and his partner Detective Nevin (Laverne Cox) causing Lindy to be their prime suspect due to her violent past.

Wanting to find Justin’s killer, as well as prove her innocence, Lindy started her own investigation using her uncontrolled violence all along the way. She started by breaking into the police evidence room and stealing the evidence box for Justin’s case. Finding a lead from his wallet, Lindy set out to follow the chain of clues until she found Justin’s killer. Her search was frequently interrupted as Detectives Vicars and Nevin pursued her as the prime suspect, as well as now adding breaking into the police department and theft of evidence property.

Nevin was convinced that Lindy was guilty due to her past, but Vicars believed she was innocent and on several occasions came to Lindy’s aid to help her avoid capture and continue her revenge-filled quest to find who murdered her boyfriend. The clues eventually led Lindy to well-known master criminal and villain Gareth Fizel, who mocked her thinking she was no match for him and his powerful criminal empire. Lindy was in revenge mode though and there was no stopping her.

After Fizel met his demise, Justin appeared in the penthouse to reveal to Lindy that he had faked his death to spur Lindy into action to kill Fizel, learning that Justin was CIA and Fizel was his target. Justin revealed that had actually known about Lindy’s condition from the start and had worked with Dr. Munchin who told him everything about Lindy’s condition. Discovering that she was played by Justin and Dr. Munchin, Lindy set out on a new revenge-filled quest that ultimately revealed she was part of a CIA program all along since childhood,

Rated: R (Language Throughout, Strong Violence, Sexual Content)
Runtime: 1h 31m

Rubicon Theatre Company announces their dramatic return to live performances with an eclectic season of three Youth Theatre shows to be performed at the outdoor amphitheater at Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shrek the Musical and Les Misérables.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream July 9th and 10th at 8p.m

Under the light of a magical midsummer moon, romance runs amok when prankster forest fairies meddle in the affairs of four young Athenians and a group of amateur actors. One of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, this lighthearted play celebrates the capricious, dream-like and sometimes silly nature of love and desire.

Shrek The Musical, Jr. July 16th-18th at 8pm

A hilarious and joyous musical, adapted for the stage from the popular Dreamworks’ animated film about a big green ogre who ventures out of his comfort zone to discover what beauty – inner beauty – really means, and finding true love in the process.

Directed and choreographed by Cheryl Baxter-Ratcliff and George Baxter-Ratcliff with Musical Direction by Billy Thompson.

Les Misérables August 12th-15th at 8pm

This epic, enthralling musical masterpiece, set just after the French Revolution, is an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption – a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. The thrilling score includes “I Dreamed a Dream,” “On My Own,” “Bring Him Home,” “One Day More,” and many more.

Directed by Kirby Ward with Musical Direction by Anthony Lucca

Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.rubicontheatre.org or by calling the box office at 805-667-2900. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children (plus service fee).

While our guest services office at Rubicon is not open for in person purchases, our guest services staff is available from 12pm-4pm Tuesdays through Saturdays via phone. Tickets are available at the door, but advance purchase is encouraged. All performances will be at Villanova Preparatory School, 12096 N. Ventura Avenue, Ojai.

Celebrating its 21st year, BRAVA Awards, previously known as BRAVO, is the annual signature awards luncheon hosted by the Ventura County chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO VC). This year’s theme is “Diversity, Resilience, Transformation: Bold Women Creating Her-story.”

Mark your calendar for Friday, June 11th, 2021 from 12:00pm to 1:30pm as NAWBO-VC shines the spotlight on outstanding businesswomen of Ventura County, honoring them for their diversity, resilience, transformation and success, which is creating a brighter future for women business owners and women-led business ventures in our community.

Do you know a bold woman creating her-story?

NAWBO-VC is currently seeking nominations for six local, outstanding and bold women in the following categories:

• Woman Business Owner of the Year
• Young Woman Entrepreneur of the Year (30 years old or younger)
• Adaptability Award
• Champion of Diversity
• Rising Star of the Year (in business less than 5 years)
• Resiliency Award

BRAVO alum include Catherine Von Burg of SimpliPhi Power, Alison Kenis of Sugar Lab Bakeshop, Emily Barany of Visionality, Breanne Cochran of The Vent Human Performance Center, Lori Volk of Lori’s Original Lemonade, Dr. Janis Shinkawa of Ohana Pet Hospital, and Dawn Dyer of Dyer Sheehan Group, Inc. Dyer brought home the prestigious NAWBO California Woman Business Owner of the Year award in 2018 and both Dyer and Shinkawa were finalists for the National Woman Business Owner of the Year presented by NAWBO in the past few years.

“The caliber of our past honorees is truly inspiring. Given the challenges we have all endured in the last year, I am thrilled that we are renaming NAWBO VC’s BRAVO awards to BRAVA in a time when women business owners have had to adapt and transform in the face of historic challenges. I believe this year’s theme accurately recognizes the resiliency of diverse women business owners now and into the future,” stated Seana-Marie Sesma, President-Elect, NAWBO Ventura County and BRAVA 2021 Chair. “I look forward to seeing who will be nominated this year.”

To nominate a bold woman, simply go to www.NAWBOVC.org and click on “BRAVA Awards.” All nominations are submitted online now through Monday, April 19, 2021. Nominees need not be NAWBO members.

The local Ventura County chapter of NAWBO is committed to strengthening the wealth creating capacity of its members while promoting economic development within the entrepreneurial Ventura County community. Additionally, the local chapter advocates for innovative and effective change in the business culture, building strategic alliances and transforming public policy for the benefit of its members. Membership is open to women sole proprietors, partners and corporate owners as well as those companies and organizations that support women-owned businesses. Learn more: www.nawbovc.org.