Burns Valley celebrates new library

District voters' investment in Konocti continued to reap tangible dividends as Burns Valley Elementary School celebrated the opening of its new school library. School principal Troy Sherman thanked voters who approved construction bond Measure G in November 2004.

The Thursday, Nov. 30, ceremony featured an appearance by district consultant Monty Roberts. U.K. educator Stephen Taylor has applied techniques in Roberts' book "Horse Sense for People" to the classrooms of Kingshurst Junior School in West Birmingham. Konocti is working with Roberts and Taylor to implement Roberts' principles of "Join~Up®" within district classrooms. The objective is to teach local children that "Violence is never the answer" by negotiating predetermined consequences for positive and negative behavior.

Roberts and Taylor have presented Konocti with a special gift the draft of a book that the two are co-authoring about the introduction of Join~Up® principles to Kingshurst. The authors have invited the district to make use of the material and share teachers' successes and concerns. Copies of the manuscript are at the Burns Valley school library .

A video conferencing unit set up at Thursday's open house afforded visitors the opportunity to speak with Dr. Paul Peng, founder of Learning Enhancement Centers (LEC, www.learningenhancementcenters.net). The purpose of LEC is to bring video conferencing technologies that are established in medicine, law and university-level education into K-12 classrooms. Konocti is partnering with LEC and video conferencing technology is set up at each of Konocti's libraries.

Campus modernization and new construction continues according to a 10-year time line. The Konocti district's board of trustees recently approved issuing a second set of bonds. The total authorized by Measure G is for $18.5 million. Homeowners are repaying the bond at $38.07 per year for an assessed valuation of $100,000.