Claremont School News
Last week’s Claremont Unified School District Board of Education meeting included unanimous approval of a salary agreement through June 30, 2026 with its school employees union. The deal includes a retroactive 1% pay increase for accounting clerks, campus monitors, custodians, grounds maintenance crew, and others, for a total cost of $209,904. Pictured is Board of Education Vice President Richard O’Neill. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo
The success achieved within a team’s season can be attributed to numerous factors. But if there’s one reason why the Claremont High School boys’ water polo team had a standout 2022 campaign, it was thanks in part to the program’s new head coach: Gary Cheever. On January 7, 2022, CHS announced then varsity boys coach Robert Green had stepped down after just one season. In came Cheever, the Wolfpack’s girls water polo coach at the time, to fill the vacant opening for the upcoming 2022 season.
The Claremont High School girls cross country team cruised to a first-place finish to bring home the Palomares League title. Junior Denise Jie Yi Chen set a new course record of 17:00.2 and was named league MVP for the third year in a row. Wolfpack runners took the top three spots in the girls race with Denise leading the way, followed by junior Alexa Gossett with a time of 17:50.3, and finally freshman Isla Bulmer with at 17:51.8. The girls team advanced to the Division II CIF-SS Prelims and will race this Saturday, November 12.
The Webb Schools has received a $1 million donation from the Charles Huang Foundation that will go toward reimagining the school’s 11,000-square-foot W. Russell Fawcett Library. The money will cover the cost of constructing the Charles Huang Innovation Wing in recognition of the significant donation. The project is currently in the conceptual design phase. Webb hopes to break ground in the summer of 2023.
Claremont Unified School District Board of Education President and Trustee Area 4 candidate Steven Llanusa hosted an election night party at his Claremont home. Seen here at the party talking with fellow board member Nancy Treser Osgood, Llanusa led opponent Aaron Peterson by nearly 150 votes, 880 to 731, as of 8:45 p.m. Tuesday. Results are updated at results.lavote.gov, type “Claremont” in the contest search bar.
It’s Election Day, and polls are open at Claremont’s voting center at Taylor Hall, 1775 N. Indian Hill Blvd., until 8 p.m. Claremont voters will decide on Measure CT, City Council races in Districts 2, 3, and 4, who will represent Trustee Area 4 on the Claremont Unified School District’s Board of Education, and the highly charged race for the Division III seat on Three Valleys Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors.
Mayor pro Tem and Claremont City Council District 2 candidate Ed Reece and restaurant owner Jose Harro host a 7:30 p.m. election night party at El Ranchero restaurant, 984 W. Foothill Blvd., Claremont. Light appetizers will be served and all are welcome. RSVP suggested via http://elranchero.edreece.com.
It’s not every day a school choir comes to visit for a holiday performance all dressed up in Halloween attire. But that was the case for Claremont Manor residents who watched and listened to a selection of scary songs from the Our Lady of the Assumption school choir. On a picture perfect, party-cloudy 75-degree day, […]
Last Friday, October 21, Claremont celebrated its homecoming with a 35-0 shutout victory over Don Lugo in San Antonio League play. Senior running back Caden Campuzano put on an offensive clinic, netting 18 of the Pack’s 35 points in the form of three touchdowns. He rushed for 135 yards on just six carries, and made one reception which he took 47 yards and into the endzone. Factoring in his 62-yard punt return, Campuzano picked up 244 total yards.
Last week, Martha Gonzalez got the go-ahead to talk about what is perhaps the ultimate “one-up” story to tell this year around her holiday table. No, the associate professor of Chicanx/Latinx Studies at Scripps College and lead singer of Chicanx band Quetzal didn’t win another Grammy, but the educator did enter another exclusive club. On October 12 the MacArthur Foundation awarded Gonzalez a 2022 MacArthur Fellowship, sometimes referred to as a “genius grant.” The prize comes with an $800,000 stipend.
Nonprofit PEARLS of Service, Inc. recently announced its On the Spot scholarship award recipients for the current semester, including four students from Claremont High School, Donner Hailey, Maya Morris, Jordan Peng and Noah Roberts.
Kathryn Dunn may be a newcomer to Claremont politics but make no mistake: she is among a handful of residents who knows the city inside and out, and, of course, as a former longtime COURIER editor, where the bodies are buried. Dunn, 53, a lifelong Claremonter, will no doubt tap into that deep well of knowledge when she takes office December 15 on Claremont Unified School District’s Board of Education, representing Trustee Area 1. She is running unopposed in the November 8 election.
Richard O’Neill has the lucky fortune of being assured of winning his race to represent Trustee Area 3 on Claremont Unified School District’s Board of Directors, as the 71-year-old CUSD veteran of nearly three decades is running unopposed. Though he will be new to the board when he takes office December 15, he’s certainly no stranger to CUSD. His family’s connection to the district — perhaps not surprisingly after spending nearly three decades teaching at CHS and sending each of his four grown children through Claremont schools — is profound.
Saturday, October 15: Sue Robb hosts a coffee with Claremont Mayor and City Council District 4 candidate Jed Leano from noon to 1:30 p.m. Email jedforclaremont@gmail.com to RSVP and receive address. Sunday, October 16: Lina Patel and Dan Michon host a 10 a.m. coffee and conversation with Claremont City Councilmember and District 3 candidate Jennifer Stark at 1527 Lowell Ave., Claremont. RSVP via email to linskipatel@yahoo.com.
Claremont High
Claremont High School boys water polo: Results from the Varsity October Classic tournament: on Friday, October 7, the Wolfpack traveled to Rowland for two afternoon games. The team sunk Chaparral, 16-8, then beat Canyon Crest Academy, 11-7. Tournament play continued in Claremont on Saturday, October 8 when Troy dealt the team a 19-13 loss. The Pack then bounced back with a 13-12 win over Torrey Pines to conclude the tournament.
Aaron Peterson sees his run for the Trustee Area 4 seat on Claremont Unified School District’s Board of Education as a chance to make a difference. He was “talking with [his] wife about the chaos and everything that society has been through in the last two years,” Peterson said. “It’s one thing to armchair quarterback things, and say, ‘Well, they should have done something better,’ or ‘They should have done something different.’ But unless you’re actually willing to step up and do something about it and put yourself in a position where you can be a conduit for change, you might as well be yelling at a wall.”
First elected to Claremont Unified School District’s Board of Education in 2005, he sees his senior role on the body as something to be valued.
Llanusa is running against Aaron Peterson in CUSD Trustee Area 4, “for several reasons.” “Originally it was to make sure there was continuity in the school board with a new superintendent, then it became continuity on the school board with [board members] Dave [Nemer] and Nancy [Treser Osgood] retiring,” he told the COURIER. “Kathy [Archer] and Bob [Fass] are in their first term, Nancy and Dave will be replaced by two new board members, and if I didn’t run it’d be three brand new board members and two right in the middle of their first term. So, I thought for continuity’s sake it was worth having a veteran on the board.”