As part of a school fundraiser, parents at Bonita Canyon Elementary recently took part in a live auction with some interesting prizes at stake. Winning bids meant their children got to – or is it had to? – fulfill critical campus roles, including principal, custodian and librarian.

A dozen IUSD seniors have been announced in the first wave of National Merit Scholarship recipients for 2012, with half coming from Northwood High School. The 12 local students were among a select group of 1,000 U.S.

Results are in for the 57th annual Orange County Science and Engineering Fair, and there are quite a few winners from IUSD. In fact, of the 134 students who took home awards in this year’s fair, 38 were from schools in Irvine.

A second-year University High School teacher has been awarded an Ocean Science Leadership Award by Quiksilver, USC and other sponsors of the annual QuikSCience Challenge.

Recently named a 2012 California Distinguished School, Culverdale Elementary is home to 30 different languages, and almost a third of its stellar students were born outside the U.S.

They all screamed for ice cream. And chocolate. And whipped cream. And caramel.

A half-dozen elementary schools in IUSD have earned California's highest level of recognition for public schools, state officials announced Thursday.

They came. They saw. They expertly demonstrated their lawyering skills.

Student donations and fees were back in the spotlight at last week’s Board of Education meeting, as the district’s director of secondary education discussed the steps IUSD has taken to ensure compliance of California’s right to a free public education and outlined the impacts of seeking donations to preserve programs and activities.