News

Cheating on State Testing by Sixth Grade Teacher at MUSD

MADERA – Cheating on a test in elementary school is something you might expect from a student. When it is done by a sixth-grade teacher on their entire classroom’s state-testing, well then there is a much bigger problem. This is the situation that district officials are now dealing with at Madera Unified. In mid-May of this last school year a sixth-grade teacher was removed from his classroom and placed on paid administrative leave pending a state and district investigation.

During the English components of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress testing, an investigation was conducted by the district’s Human Resource Director Kent Albertson and the school’s principal to determine if the teacher in question violated the state’s mandatory instructions regarding prompting or correcting students during the testing process.

Teenage Shooting Victim Passes Away in Hospital

FRESNO - On Thursday, shooting victim, Nicholas Kauls, 17 of Fresno, passed away at Community Regional Medical Center. Around 11:45 pm on Sunday, June 24th, dispatchers at the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 phone call stating gunshots had been fired and a person was hit.

Deputies responded to the 4700 block of N. Sunset Drive, near Van Ness and Rialto in Fresno’s Old Fig Garden neighborhood. They found a 17 year old boy (Nicholas Kauls) suffering from a gunshot wound. A deputy provided medical aid while waiting for EMS to respond. Medics arrived and transported the teen to Community Regional Medical Center where he is listed in critical condition.

Weekend DUI Saturation Patrol Nets [5] Arrests

FRESNO – The Fresno Police Department’s Traffic Unit conducted a DUI Saturation Patrol on June 30, 2018, in the Northwest policing district between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. High Visibility Enforcement efforts like this have a deterrent effect, lowering the incidents of impaired driving.

In recent years, California has seen a disturbing increase in drug-impaired driving crashes. Fresno PD supports the new effort from the Office of Traffic Safety that aims to educate all drivers that “DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze.” If you take prescription drugs, particularly those with a driving or operating machinery warning on the label, you might be impaired enough to get a DUI. Marijuana can also be impairing, especially in combination with alcohol or other drugs, and can result in a DUI.

Former DMV Employee Found Guilty of Conspiring to Issue Fraudulent California Driver’s Licenses

SACRAMENTO - On Tuesday, after a four-day trial, a federal jury found Robert S. Turchin, 68, of Salinas, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and identity fraud and three counts of identity fraud, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. “This prosecution of a California state employee for bribery resulting in grave danger to public safety is very troubling,” U.S. Attorney Scott stated. ”It is alarming to think that unqualified persons were licensed to operate big rigs and buses on our public roadways. We will continue to do everything we can to root out public corruption at any level, and hold those in positions of trust accountable for their greed.”

According to evidence presented at trial, Turchin was an employee at the Salinas field office for the Department of Motor Vehicles, including between 2012 and 2015. Turchin was responsible for conducting tests for applicants for commercial licenses to operate 18-wheel tractor-trailers and commercial buses.

Four MUSD Admins Out at District For Stupid Choices

MADERA – Usually when you hear of incidents in public schools involving alcohol it is involving an under-aged student that makes a stupid choice. Madera Police are currently investigating an incident at Madera Unified’s Parkwood Elementary School in which the ‘stupid choices’ were made by the administrators who had been put in charge of the students.

Four administrators from three local elementary schools are now looking for jobs and one administrator is being reassigned back to the classroom following a World Cup Soccer party held on Parkwood Elementary School’s campus where alcohol flowed freely between administrators from Parkwood, Sierra Vista and Caesar Chavez Elementary schools. Those are the facts of the case; the mystery is why five Madera Unified administrators would risk their careers?

Central Unified School District Board of Trustees Announces a New Superintendent

FRESNO - Cesar Granda, the President of the Central Unified School District Board of Trustees, announced the appointment of Andrew G. Alvarado as the district’s new superintendent effective July 1, 2018. The Central Unified Board of Trustees enlisted Jack Kelejian, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, to advertise and conduct a statewide search for the new superintendent. The Board interviewed several candidates and determined Mr. Alvarado would fit the needs of the students and community of Central Unified.

Mr. Alvarado has been the superintendent of the Golden Valley Unified School District in Madera County for the past seven years and prior to that, served as assistant superintendent, high school principal and high school vice principal prior to his promotion to the District Office. During Mr. Alvarado’s tenure as assistant superintendent, he guided the District in the area of Educational Services, specifically, curriculum, instruction and assessment, all while focusing on teaching, learning and student achievement. As a result of Mr. Alvarado’s educational leadership, the District has experienced tremendous gains in all of these areas through his direct involvement with staff and students.

Chowchilla Homicide Suspect in Custody Thanks to Madera PD

CHOWCHILLA - On Monday June 25, 2018 at approximately 11:15pm, officers of the Chowchilla Police Department responded to a stabbing in the 1100 block of Humboldt Ave. Upon arrival officers contacted the victim who was identified as, 39 year old, Chowchilla Resident, Leeshawn Sykes.

It was discovered that Sykes had a stab wound, to his lower right chest area. Officers immediately began providing first aid and Sykes was transported to the closest area Trauma Center in Fresno, CA. by paramedics. At approximately 1:30 am, the Chowchilla Police Department was advised by medical staff, that Leeshawn Sykes had succumbed to his injury.