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Ripon High CTE building will carry Robeson’s name
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Ripon Unified Superintendent Ziggy Robeson, who announced her retirement a few months ago, received a send-off to remember by Leadership students from Ripon High. They each presented her with stems of red and white roses at Monday’s school board

Students of the Ripon High Leadership program lined up holding stems of red and white roses on Monday.

Those were the flowers they presented to retiring Ripon Unified superintendent Ziggy Robeson at the monthly school board meeting.

Rusty Clark was introduced as the new superintendent. He’ll take over effective July 1.

For 11 years, Robeson demonstrated unwavering advocacy for students. Evident of that was her being in attendance at many of the various school functions during her tenure.

Robeson was among those who made possible the expansion of the Career Technical Education pathway, culminating in the construction of the CTE building that opened in October.

The new state-of-the-arts facility – paid using a combination of local, state, and federal monies including federal Elementary and Second School Emergency Relief funds – will be named in honor of her and Sherry Johns, who is the department chair of the school’s Ag / CTE program.

Both had been “instrumental in expanding the Ag and CTE programs at RHS for the benefit of students and community,” according the Name Sub Committee at the May 2 meeting.

The sub group consisted of chairman Kit Oase, Susan DaBranca, Dave Phippen, Linda Sawdey, and Roger Valdez.

RUSD has a history of naming some of the buildings in honor of school employees or community members who have dedicated themselves to bettering programs and facilities for the benefit of students.

“Dr. Robeson worked diligently to secure state approval for the new project rather than just repair outdated equipment, regular and portable classroom buildings, and Sherry Johns wrote the state grants that justified the expansion of the career tech offerings at the school.

“Through their dedication. RHS and the district were able to maximize available funds to support the construction of a new two-story $10 million-plus career tech center that otherwise would not have been constructed without their dedication and expertise,” the subcommittee said.

The new name of ‘Robeson-Johns CTE Building’ became official thanks to the support of the RUSD school board.