Each spring, more than 20 IUSD high schoolers hop on a Sacramento-bound plane for a series of rapid-fire discussions with state lawmakers, lobbyists and consultants.

The annual trek to the Capitol is organized by local parents in conjunction with the Irvine Unified Council PTA and the district, and its purpose is twofold: Policymakers get a brief lesson on how their decisions are impacting schools, and Irvine students learn how those decisions are made in the first place.

It’s a jam-packed day of travel and talks, and legislators are generally willing to engage in some pretty intense dialogs. Fortunately, our local high-schoolers don’t seem too jaded upon their return to Southern California.

The Orange County Register has published a nicely written story about the 2012 Sacramento trip by Irvine High School junior Katherine Carr, who has been prolific in her coverage of IUSD of late. Click on the link above to check it out.

Katherine also submitted stories to the Register about a benefit concert staged by Irvine High’s Students for Social Responsibility club and a new exhibit at The Irvine Museum.

Brywood Elementary School recently celebrated the diversity in its community with the eighth annual BryWorld Culture Festival.

Organizers say roughly 2,000 guests attended the May 4 event, including students, staff, parents and community members. Meanwhile, 22 countries and ethnicities were represented with booths featuring authentic food, clothes, photos and memorabilia.

As has become tradition, Brywood students filled out passports that were stamped at each stop, and singers and dancers entertained from the main stage. This year’s theme was “Many Cultures … One BryWorld.”

Brywood parent Gigi Labus said a committee of more than 50 parent-volunteers spent countless hours cooking, rehearsing and organizing to create the multicultural experience. Afghanistan, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Vietnam and the U.S. were all represented, as was Native American culture.

“This event was started eight years ago by three Brywood moms who had a dream to celebrate the cultures in their school community,” Labus said. “They started something that has grown each year due to the continued interest of Brywood families. Lenore Hittelmen, Satomi Connelly and Beth Yamamuro were the founders of this event and can still be seen attending and volunteering even though their children have graduated from Brywood.”

Additional photos from the event have been posted on The Orange County Register’s website. You can find them by clicking here.

U.S. News & World Report released its latest ranking of the country’s “Best High Schools” this week, and all four of IUSD’s comprehensive campuses appear pretty high on the magazine’s list.

School rankings always seem to generate a lot interest nationally, and U.S. News’ breakdown in particular draws a lot of eyes. But, as we’ve said before, it should be noted that different publications use different criteria for evaluating schools, and no one system is infallible. In fact, even the most well-known assessments are occasionally prone to errors.

With that in mind, U.S. News, which last published a ranking in 2009, took a look at nearly 22,000 public high schools for 2012, and Irvine’s campuses all placed within the top 800. Here’s how the publication described its methodology:

U.S. News partnered with the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes for Research (AIR), which implemented U.S. News’s rankings methodology. To determine the Best High Schools national rankings, schools were first analyzed at the state level in terms of how well students in each school performed on state assessments, taking into account the test scores of disadvantaged students (low-income, Hispanic, and black), who tend to score lower on tests.

High schools that made it through this analysis were then eligible to be ranked nationally, in terms of college readiness. U.S. News determines the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work by analyzing student success in Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, both of which include college-level courses. U.S. News awarded more than 4,850 gold, silver, and bronze medals to the top-performing schools.

In IUSD, Irvine High School ranked at No. 798 nationally and was No. 151 in California, according to the U.S. News report, which had Northwood High ranked 273th nationally and 54th in the state. Woodbridge High held the 677 spot nationally and was ranked 126th in California. University High came in at No. 159 nationally and No. 33 in California.

To check out the full rankings, click here.

It’s been more than a year since IUSD held an activation ceremony to mark the installation of solar panels at 13 schools and a pair of support facilities, and the data that’s been gathered over the last 12 months is beyond encouraging.

The sustainable solar technology that was affixed to rooftops and parking lot shade structures in 2010 and 2011 is now producing about 1.9 megawatts of clean energy, with the district saving about $220,000 annually.

And there’s an opportunity for even more savings and greater environmental benefits.

That’s because the initial batch of photovoltaic panels represented the first phase of a potentially larger project. Next week, the IUSD Board of Education will consider a series of new proposals for round two.

If approved by the board on May 15, the second phase would add vehicle shade structures – or canopies, as they’re sometimes called – outfitted with energy-producing solar panels to the parking lots of up to 11 sites throughout IUSD.

The schools under consideration are Alderwood, Canyon View, Oak Creek, Stonegate and Woodbury elementary schools; Vista Verde School, which is a K-8; Sierra Vista Middle School; and Irvine, Northwood, University and Woodbridge high schools. (To access renderings of the proposals, or to weigh in via an online input form, click here.)

Again, these are merely proposals at this point, and it will be up to the Board of Education to decide whether to move forward at any or all of the proposed sites. But the new panels could generate even more clean energy and provide millions of dollars’ worth of additional savings over the long term without IUSD paying any upfront capital costs, according to Mark Sontag, IUSD’s administrative lead on the project.

Sontag, who also serves as the district’s coordinator of math and science, said Phase 2 has the potential to generate approximately 4.5 megawatts. If the entire project was approved by the board, the combined total for phases 1 and 2 would be 6.4 megawatts, which would represent the second largest solar deployment for a public school district in California. The first-year savings for Phase 2 alone would be as high as $380,000, with the district projecting a 20-year savings of between $5 million and $11 million.

“Irvine and other school districts in California are facing significant fiscal challenges in light of the state budget crisis,” said Board of Education President Michael Parham, who spearheaded IUSD’s solar efforts along with Sontag. “This is an opportunity for us to capture added savings that would be unrestricted and available for educational priorities, and of course the environmental benefits are well documented.”

In fact, Phase 1 of the project produced enough energy to power 167 homes for a year and had the impact of removing 378 cars from the road. The first photovoltaic units have also been integrated into the district’s energy curriculum, allowing Irvine students to learn more about solar power while monitoring their own usage in real time.

Learning opportunities would increase with Phase 2. Other ancillary benefits would include downward-facing lights on the canopies, which could make campuses safer by illuminating school parking lots at night.

Meanwhile, other districts have followed IUSD’s lead in embracing solar technology through mutually beneficial power-purchasing agreements, as the Los Angeles Times recently reported.

Under the terms of IUSD’s original deal, which was approved by the board in 2009, SunEdison agreed to finance, operate and maintain the systems, enabling the company to take advantage of tax credits that public agencies can’t leverage. In exchange, IUSD agreed to purchase energy from SunEdison at a lower rate that was predictable long-term. Another company, SPG Solar, was brought in to build the units.

Along with its solar initiative, IUSD has in recent years reduced its electrical consumption, cut waste and added an 18-lesson curriculum on sustainable energy in grades five and six. For all of these efforts, representatives from the Sierra Club’s Orange County Committee on Climate Change announced the Irvine Unified School District as a recipient of its “Solar Energy and Good Practices Award” in 2011.

The Irvine Police Department says it’s investigating a case of indecent exposure that was reported this week.

According to a news release, three Irvine middle school students were walking in a residential area near San Leandro Park on Monday when they observed the suspect in his car. The students did the right thing by telling a parent, who contacted police.

IPD noted that they do not believe the students were specifically targeted, nor were they in any physical danger. Nevertheless, the incident should serve as a reminder to promote vigilance and to make sure all children are aware of proper safety procedures.

Specifically, IUSD and the Irvine Police Department advise students to remember the following:

• Stay alert and aware of your surroundings
• If approached by a suspicious stranger, run away and immediately notify your parents or a trusted adult
• If wearing headphones, look for approaching people or vehicles as you may not hear them
• Whenever possible, walk with a partner or in a group
• Stay away from remote and unfamiliar areas
• Stay on the part of the walkway that is farthest away from shrubs, dark doorways and alleys where people can hide
• Do not approach vehicles that may slow or stop ahead of you
• If you see suspicious activity or persons, immediately leave the area and call 911
• Always avoid substances that may make you vulnerable, such as drugs and alcohol

We’d be remiss – nay, derelict! – in not mentioning that today, May 8, is recognized as National Teacher Appreciation Day.

But before you say we didn’t give you any notice, we should point out that tomorrow, May 9, is actually California Day of the Teacher, established under Education Code Section 37222.10. (We checked.)

And this whole week is designated as National Teacher Appreciation Week.

We say anytime is a good time to celebrate great teaching, and no matter which day you observe, we would encourage you to thank the educators, both past and present, who made an impact on your life, or the life of your child. (If you happen to live in Irvine, chances are you’ve got more than a few favorites.)

Far be it from us to tell you how to recognize Teacher Appreciation Day, but state schools chief Tom Torlakson has a few suggestions, which he recently released as a “Top 10 List of Ways to Appreciate Teachers.”

Here’s what he came up with:

For students

1. Thank your teacher for all of his or her hard work.
2. Do your best on homework and in-class assignments.
3. Behave in class, so your teacher can devote more time to teaching.
4. Respect your teacher and your fellow students. This will create a better learning environment for everyone in the classroom.
5. Raise your hand to answer your teacher’s questions and participate in learning.

For parents

6. Send an e-mail or a note with your children to school, thanking their teachers for their hard work.
7. Appreciate teachers for the professionals that they are, and give them the same respect you would give a good friend who takes care of your children.
8. Provide a helping hand in the classroom, during sporting events, on field trips, or at the school site.
9. Donate school supplies. Teachers often pay out of their own pockets to provide their students with the tools they need to learn.
10. Hold fundraisers and donate the proceeds to schools that have been hard hit by state budget cuts.

Irvine High School’s student newspaper continued its era of dominance at the Southern California Journalism Education Association State Write-Offs, taking top honors for the second straight year — and the fourth time in six years.

Oh, and the fifth time in 13 years.

The El Vaquero beat out 19 other publications this time to win the statewide journalism competition’s overall Newspaper Sweepstakes on April 28 at Cal State Long Beach. Irvine also won in 2000, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011.

Fourteen El Vaquero staffers participated in this year’s event, including Juhi Dalal, Shikhar Gupta, Crystal Huang, Edwin Huh, Nicole Kim, Johanna Lee, Ivy Lin, Lynne Liu, Disha Mehta, Trisha Nguyen, Peter Niu, Clinton O’Grady, Stephanie Wang and Karen Wen. In addition, Editor-in-Chief Trisha Nguyen has been named the recipient of a $1,000 scholarship awarded by the SCJEA.

Irvine High also won the sweepstakes at the Orange County Journalism Education Association Write-Off in February. Writers in the news, editorial, feature and sports categories had to qualify at the county level to compete in the Southern California contest.

Here’s a roundup of IUSD-related stories and photos that appeared on The Orange County Register’s website this week:

• Students shared poignant essays and poems during a ceremony for the recent “My Favorite Teacher” contest, sponsored by Barnes and Noble and the Irvine Public Schools Foundation.

• Brywood Elementary School held its fifth annual Brywood Talent Show. Organized by local dads, the event featured more than 100 students performing in 50 acts.

• Students and staff from University High School staged a “Shave a Head Fest” fundraiser for the American Cancer Society Youth Chapter and sent some of the day’s lengthier clips to the Locks of Love organization.

• The newspaper also covered Wednesday’s precautionary evacuation of Northwood High School, prompted by a gas main leak on Portola Parkway.

Thirteen more IUSD seniors have found themselves in elite company as National Merit Scholars, bringing the district’s running total to 25, and additional announcements are coming.

Last month, the renowned National Merit Scholarship Corporation revealed the first wave of winners, specifically those who had secured its corporate-sponsored awards, which were financed by businesses, foundations and corporations. On May 2, the organization announced winners of its “National Merit $2500 Scholarships.”

The latter recipients, selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, were deemed to have “the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies.” The awards were funded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and may be used at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university.

To access the official press release, click here.

So, once again, you have your corporate-sponsored scholarships, as well as those that are funded directly by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. But the program also offers a third type of scholarship – its college-sponsored awards – and winners of those will be announced in two stages, on May 23 and July 9.

So far, 3,500 students have been named “Merit Scholars” for 2012. By the end of the program, about 8,300 finalists will have earned that title and received more than $35 million in financial assistance.

About 1.5 million students became candidates for National Merit Scholarships when they took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last year as juniors. About 16,000 of the highest scoring entrants – including nearly 100 from IUSD – were named semifinalists last fall, representing less than 1 percent of all seniors.

Semifinalists must fulfill a number requirements to advance, including earning outstanding marks throughout high school, securing the recommendation of their principals and posting high SAT scores.

In Orange County, 51 have earned awards in the first two waves of National Merit Scholarship announcements, according to The Orange County Register, which has more here.

When we last wrote about Woodbridge High School’s award-winning percussion ensemble, the squad was getting ready for April’s WGI Percussion World Championships in Dayton, Ohio.

It’s safe to say it was a successful trip.

Not only did the ensemble place first in the Concert World Percussion Class, they set a record for the highest score ever issued in the history of WGI, earning a perfect score of 100 from three of four judges in the final round of competition for an average of 99.6.

Co-director Joslynne Blasdel said Woodbridge was then invited back for an encore exhibition in front of a crowd of about 15,000 attendees, who offered up standing ovations before and after the performance.

Even before their first drumbeat in Dayton, the Warriors were generating buzz. Here’s a WGI regional review that was written in advance of the April 18-20 competition.

At this juncture, there is not much else that can be said of this ensemble that has not already been mentioned before in the past. Ever since the group first jumped onto the national scene, there has been a constant bounty of talent – along with the unfailing ability of the ensemble to tackle pieces of notorious difficulty. And this season is no different, with the hushed whispers about Woodbridge’s unrivaled intensity spreading throughout as the crowd pours in minutes before they perform, and you can feel the anticipation in the air. What transpires across the next eight minutes is to experience the inherent joy of music itself. Rarely can one experience that sense of discovering something fresh, or new, time and time again. But that’s exactly what Woodbridge provides with “The Bringer of Joy” – an opportunity to experience the exhilarating strands of music laced all throughout, calling upon the healthy assortment of instruments to paint the detailed music broad strokes envisioned by Holst himself. Wide-eyed wonder strikes every person in the midst of the command performance, and even those who are experts in this field cannot help but find a sense of humility. Ensembles of Woodbridge’s caliber rare; especially at such an age, and rest-assured their return to Dayton will be one remembered in the years to come – delivering unabashed joy to all who are fortunate to partake in the invigorating process.