The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper News Briefs NOVA gets award as top job trainer Enterprise Initiative recognized NOVA as the leading job-training organization in the country earlier this month. The award gives a nod to NOVA for providing excellent job-training and employment services by using federal, state and local funding. "The award acknowledges NOVA as the premier job training source in the country," said David Vossbrink, community relations officer for Sunnyvale, said. NOVA is a job-training and workforce-development organization administered by Sunnyvale on behalf of a partnership with six North Valley cities: Cupertino, Los Altos, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. NOVA attempts to match workforce-development needs in Silicon Valley with individual training. NOVA also matches individuals with services and companies trying to place people. "This is one of the most difficult places for job training because technology is changing so fast people are getting left off the train. People are asking why, even though we have a remarkably low unemployment rate, we need job training out here," Vossbrink said. "People who don't have a job with the way the economy is moving in the last couple of years are people who are the hardest to place." The Enterprise Initiative is a collaborative of the nation's most effective workforce development organizations. It is a partner with the U.S. Department of Labor to improve the quality of job-training and employment services across the country. Board sets date for charter school forum When a group of Sunnyvale parents filed a petition to start a charter school at the Oct. 1 Sunnyvale Elementary School District board meeting, the board had 30 days to hold a public forum on the topic. The board recently announced the discussion will be held on Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Bishop Elementary School. Following the forum, the board has 30 days to render a decision on the proposal. At the Thursday meeting, the board will hear input from community members, parents, principals, teachers and district staff. The board chose Bishop because of its central location and large auditorium, said Linda Kilian, president of the school board. Copies of the petition are available at all district schools. The petition calls for the creation of a charter school, called the Sunnyvale Intensive Learning Center, that would allow parents to create their own curriculum and choose their own teachers. Email us You can send letters to the editor, press releases and story ideas to The Sun at our email address: sun@sjmetro.com. You can still reach us by mail at 160 S. Murphy Ave., Sunnyvale, 94086, or by fax at 481-0175. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 28, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.