For possibly the first time, the Ripon Unified community came together as one to chat about anything and everything in regards to the school district.

All told, about 35, mostly parents, showed up Thursday at the Ripon High Multi-Use Room for the round table session as hosted by Superintendent Siegrid “Ziggy” Robeson.

“In my 35 years, this is the first time that I can remember where people from all of (the RUSD) schools coming together like this,” said Keith Rangel, who is the Ripon High vice principal but was at the nearly 90-minute session as a parent of the district.

Robeson also invited the community not to mention students, staff, and parents. Part of her goal was to use communication to bridge the various sites.

“Meeting the needs of the students – that’s what this is really about,” she said.

The importance of developing communication throughout the district is a priority with Robeson. For example, she delivered the message on her informal gathering via flyer, RUSD website, social media and word of mouth.

Rod Wright, who teaches math at RHS – he, too, came to the meeting as a parent – shared with the folks from kindergarten through eighth-grade sites the Common Core Math in place.

“This is learning math developmentally,” he said. “It’s far from the procedural math that we all grew up with.”

The group also touched briefly on the AP classes offered at RHS, academic testing and the inter-district agreement process.

 Robeson, in addition, mentioned that changes could soon be in store for the Ripon Unified website.

She’s in favor of changing the logo to simply read “Ripon” – Robeson pointed out that several district throughout the state are referred to as “RUSD” – in order to help out with the marketing of the district.

She’s not too removed from the school site having spent the previous year as principal of Colony Oak Elementary School.

Prior to that, she was Deputy Superintendent in Twin Rivers Unified, Director of Educational Services for Ripon Linda Union, and an elementary and middle school principal at Rio Linda as well as a classroom teacher.

Even though she lives in Ripon, she considers herself a newcomer to the town.

“It’s important that people understand what we have to offer (at RUSD),” said Robeson, who is looking to conduct these sessions on a quarterly basis throughout the school year.