Tribe Gives $40K to Vandalia School: Result: Money Will Double Computer Lab Opportunities.

By ANITA STACKHOUSE-HITE, The Porterville Recorder, Calif.

Sep. 13–The Tule River Tribal Council donated $40,000 to Vandalia Elementary School on Wednesday during a student body assembly on the school playground.

Those to benefit the most, the children, were ecstatic. The din of their applause and thunderous “Thank You” was not lost of those present.

Cassandra Andrada, 9, and Veronica Santoyo, 10, were among the beneficiaries of the donation and the program.

“Waterford helps me with reading and writing, it shows you the ABCs and everything from there,” Cassandra said, with a big smile. “When I was in the fourth grade I didn’t know English. Now I do. Waterford helped me a lot.”

“It helped me a lot, too,” Veronica said. “It helped me with reading and writing. I like it.”

The girls, now fifth graders, and all users of the program, are getting a foundation for the future. That’s what the program is about — giving pupils what they need to build their educational future, said Porterville Unified School District Superintendent John Snavely.

Tule River Tribal Council members Dwayne Garfield and Vernon Vera presented the oversized “check” to Snavely.

Vera taught the children how to say “good morning” in the Yowlumni language, which means “wolf tongue,” and then greeted them in the language, which is the native tongue of the Tule River Yokut tribe.

“We’re so grateful to the Tribal Council for making such a generous donation,” Snavely said to the pupils. “We know you [the children] are a priority for them.”

The Waterford program is an intensive reading program, and reading is the number one focus of the district because it is a fundamental need for students, Snavely said.

The money will be used to double the school’s computer lab, which means immediate doubling of student usage of the reading software during a single class, according to Principal Isreal Longoria Jr.

Currently, 10 stations are available for children in kindergarten through second grade.

Porterville Adult School administration, under former director Bob Perez, made the initial donation of $5,000 toward the $50,000 cost of the Waterford Early Reading software. Vandalia student body raised and contributed an additional $5,000.

Vandalia reading teacher Samantha Bernard said school administrators have the invoice for the material, and are waiting for the district to assign a purchase order number.

“We’re anticipating starting in October,” Bernard said. “We already have the hardware, the computers. We plan to purchase a media server that will house all 20 computers in a lab for a pullout program. The program is a curriculum that maximizes technology. We’ll be able to service 300 students every day, and we will use it in our after-school programs, like the YES program.”

The software monitors the pupils’ individual reading progress, and when they advance, the software moves them forward. If they are having trouble, the program takes them back and reviews until they master the skill being taught. The program uses songs, poems, nursery rhymes, fiction and non-fiction in the curriculum. Pupils learn at their own pace.

Porterville City Councilman Eddie Hernandez, on hand for the ceremony, expressed appreciation for the Tribal Council and its concern about young people.

“My whole focus in City Council is youth service and this falls into that category,” Hernandez said. “This is another opportunity for the tribe to show they are an important part of the community. I can’t say enough about them and the good work they do.”

The student body and administrators reciprocated with a plaque of appreciation for the Tribal Council.

Sixth graders Erika Campos and Juile Pearce did the honors by expressing the school’s appreciation and giving the plaque to Garfield and Vera.

The ceremony featured The Painted Rock Singers performed in Yowlumni, and colorful dancers performed to honor the school and provide a traditional blessing.

During a tour of the computer lab where pupils were actively using the Waterford curriculum, one group of children was completing its use of the program, including kindergartner Axel Tafolla.

Axel took off his headphones and held up a sheet of paper for Bernard to see. He is leaning the alphabet with the program, and had written on the paper.

“What is it, what did you write?” Bernard asked.

Axel’s smile was broad with his answer.

He looked back at the computer, than back to Bernard: “It’s an ‘A.’ “

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