Sacramento Press / Community Journalism at its BEST!

Community Journalism at its BEST!

Sacramento Press / Community Journalism at its BEST! Front Page

Railyards lawsuits defeated

City Council informed of permit program in 2006

Auto parts deal

Global Entrepreneurship Week in Sacramento

Finding God on Facebook

Sacramento Press Journalism Open winners!

voiceofsandiego.org: This Just In...

voiceofsandiego.org: This Just In...:

Bright and Early

I'm lamenting the fact that every week isn't the anniversary of a treasured childhood show like Sesame Street. It really cuts down on my chances to incorporate YouTube into Bright and Early. Or does it?

Now for your newsblitz:
We blog that an internal team at San Diego Unified is recommending a slew of cuts, including closing departments for community relations, curriculum, gifted and talented education and race relations. They also want to end testing other than the tests required under No Child Left Behind. Parents of gifted students are already up in arms about the idea.

A teacher at the San Diego High School of International Studies won $25,000 from a foundation in what has been dubbed "the Oscars of Teaching." Here's the deets from the Union-Tribune and KPBS.

KPBS also reports that students at San Diego State staged their second rally in two weeks. They're protesting fees and cutbacks at the college.

Parents in Vista aren't happy about the idea of merging an elementary and a middle school to save money. One sign held by an Olive Elementary parent read "Olive = good; merge=bad."

Babs vs. Carly | California Progress Report

Babs vs. Carly California Progress Report:

"According to a recent LA Times poll, California's U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer is still nearly as popular as her counterpart, Dianne Feinstein.

Nevertheless, Boxer will face a tough battle to retain her senate seat next year against former Hewlett Packard executive Cara Carleton “Carly” Fiorina.

Political handicappers have underestimated Fiorina’s chances, due primarily to her choppy performance as an economic adviser to John McCain and her mixed record as HP’s CEO.

But there are reasons to believe that a Boxer/Fiorina matchup could be a blockbuster. Boxer, a three-term incumbent Democrat, may be vulnerable to the electorate’s sour mood and the traditional midterm election backlash against the incumbent president’s party. Undoubtedly, “Babs” (her nickname used by close friends) will face bruising attacks from Fiorina and her political brain Marty Wilson – a former adviser to Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Rising Protest Against Dismantling of Higher Ed | California Progress Report

Rising Protest Against Dismantling of Higher Ed California Progress Report:

"Students, faculty and staff at California’s public universities are mounting a new wave of protests against tuition hikes and enrollment cuts this week.

As public opinion of the governor and the legislature’s handling of higher education reaches a record low, concern grows that California is systematically dismantling a system of public higher education that was once the model for the nation.

Student organizations at the University of California plan a three day strike to begin on November 18 to coincide with the meeting of the UC Board of Regents at UCLA. UC student organizations and staff unions are descending on the Regents meeting to protest proposed 32 per cent tuition increases. On November 18 and 19, thousands of UC workers represented by University Professional and Technical Employees, CWA local 9119, plan a two day walkout at several campuses to protest unfair labor practices."

The Silent Unraveling of the CSU | California Progress Report

The Silent Unraveling of the CSU California Progress Report:

"Throughout the state, thousands of students are rushing to get their admissions applications into the California State University’s (CSU) 23 campuses before the November 31 priority deadline. Within the first two weeks of the submission period, applications had already exceeded the number of spots available.

Given the CSU decision to decrease enrollment by 40,000 students, compared to its 2008-09 enrollment, and since record numbers of students are applying, there will be tens of thousands of disappointed qualified students."

While many hope that this is only a temporary setback for the CSU in this time of budget shortfalls, the CSU administration is quietly working to overhaul the system so that it will continue to exclude qualified students.

Those students lucky enough to get in may very well find a CSU that is a mere shadow of its former self without basic departments and programs essential to a university. As administrators restructure the university without public knowledge and public debate, they may be creating a second-class institution that does not meet the social, economic, and educational needs of Californians.

Courts caught in state's budget mess - Capitol and California - Fresnobee.com

Courts caught in state's budget mess - Capitol and California - Fresnobee.com:

"When the state assumed full financial responsibility for the court system a decade ago, it was billed as a way of relieving pressure on county finances.

However, much like the state's shouldering the financial burden for schools, judicial centralization has created unintended consequences. In both cases, hitherto independent systems have found that shifting financial responsibility to Sacramento puts them in competition with other sectors of the state budget for increasingly limited dollars."

idsnews.com | Indiana Daily Student |

idsnews.com Indiana Daily Student :

"Lastly, an education plan would need to be created that every state must adopt, allowing for a massive charter school reform and giving every parent the right to choose the best education for their child. Gingrich said he wanted to make education the “first civil right of the 21st Century.”

As America losses its edge in the world, education must be the starting point for regaining its lost position.

Will a second “Contract with America” work? Most likely it will depend on the status of the economy and Afghanistan at the time of the election next year."

Schools In The Dark About Tainted Lunches | wltx.com

Schools In The Dark About Tainted Lunches wltx.com:

"Days would pass before local health officials determined that the tortillas served at Starbuck and four other schools in Racine were to blame for 101 illnesses. An Internet search showed them the stunning particulars: The company that supplied the tortillas had a long history of making children sick.

Before the illnesses in Racine, flour tortillas from Chicago's Del Rey Tortilleria caused similar outbreaks at more than a dozen schools in two other states - in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2006, Del Rey recalled tens of thousands of tortillas after health officials linked them to illnesses at schools in Massachusetts and Illinois. And in a 2006 study of prior outbreaks, a panel of top scientists with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration even offered this warning: 'Flour tortillas manufactured by Del Rey hold the potential to cause illness.'"

Don't save bad schools--terminate them - Class Struggle - Jay Mathews on Education

Don't save bad schools--terminate them - Class Struggle - Jay Mathews on Education:

"This year's hot education topic is fixing what is broken. The first sentence of U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan's July 22 speech was: 'Today, I want to focus on the challenge of turning around our chronically low-achieving schools.' It is a noble quest I have long supported. But I have come to wonder if it might be a big waste of time and money. Most efforts to save such places have been failures.

Why not just close them down and start fresh? Why kill ourselves trying to root out the bad habits of failing schools?"

ACLU sues Cheatham County schools over religious activity | tennessean.com | The Tennessean

ACLU sues Cheatham County schools over religious activity tennessean.com The Tennessean:

"Cheatham County school officials have promoted their own religious beliefs and allowed and encouraged public prayers at school events, according to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU.

Civil rights attorney George Barrett and the Tennessee chapter of the ACLU filed the suit against the Cheatham County School Board in federal court Monday on behalf of four students, listed under aliases.The lawsuit alleges: a planned prayer took place at graduation last spring; the Gideons International were allowed to speak to classes and distribute Bibles; a cross hangs in a classroom; and a history teacher taught that the United States is a 'Christian nation' and decried the separation of church and state.The suit asks the court to stop the activities."

Fairfax schools debate language instruction and its costs - washingtonpost.com

Fairfax schools debate language instruction and its costs - washingtonpost.com:

"The Fairfax County School Board took a sharp detour from America's aversion to learning foreign languages when it adopted an ambitious goal in 2006 that language instruction should start early and graduates should be able to speak two languages.

In an increasingly interconnected world, school leaders reasoned, English is insufficient to succeed at international business or diplomacy. Fairfax County, a cosmopolitan suburb near a seat of world power, where 40 percent of students hear or speak another language at home, seemed a natural place to make foreign language instruction a top priority."

Judge tells Chicago to let students transfer - Yahoo! News

Judge tells Chicago to let students transfer - Yahoo! News:

"CHICAGO – A federal judge says Chicago Public Schools must arrange for the immediate transfer of students who want to leave a South Side high school after an honor student's brutal beating death.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman's ruling Monday came in a lawsuit filed last week against the district by 11 students who say they don't feel safe at Christian Fenger Academy High School. Along with the transfers, the students want a judge to order the district to make Fenger safer.

Derrion Albert, a 16-year-old Fenger honor student, was beaten to death in September during a sprawling fight that was caught by a cell phone video camera.
Messages left for a district spokeswoman and lawyer weren't immediately returned."

China fuels US foreign student boom - Yahoo! News

China fuels US foreign student boom - Yahoo! News:

"WASHINGTON (AFP) – Soaring interest by Chinese students has led to record foreign enrollment at US universities, offering a potential boon to the United States both economically and politically, a study said.

Indians remained the biggest group of foreign students in the United States in the last academic year but their numbers appeared to be leveling off, while strong growth came from China, Vietnam and several other emerging economies.

The United States hosts far more foreign students than any other country, owing to their universities' reputation, flexibility and concerted recruitment drives, said the Institute of International Education, an educators' group."

High Schools Struggle When Gender Bends the Dress Code - NYTimes.com

High Schools Struggle When Gender Bends the Dress Code - NYTimes.com:

"BY now, most high school dress codes have just about done away with the guesswork."

Girls: no midriff-baring blouses, stiletto heels, miniskirts.

Boys: no sagging pants, muscle shirts.

But do the math.

“Rules” + “teenager” = “challenges.”

If the skirt is an acceptable length, can a boy wear it?

Can a girl attend her prom in a tuxedo?

In recent years, a growing number of teenagers have been dressing to articulate — or confound — gender identity and sexual orientation. Certainly they have been confounding school officials, whose responses have ranged from indifference to applause to bans.

Last week, a cross-dressing Houston senior was sent home because his wig violated the school’s dress code rule that a boy’s hair may not be “longer than the bottom of a regular shirt collar.” In October, officials at a high school in Cobb County, Ga., sent home a boy who favored wigs, makeup and skinny jeans. In August, a Mississippi student’s senior portrait was barred from her yearbook because she had posed in a tuxedo.

For more information:
Think before you speak. Don't say "That's So Gay.":

Ford Gives Money to Teachers Unions - WSJ.com

Ford Gives Money to Teachers Unions - WSJ.com:

"We hate to say it, but don't be misled by headlines. The biggest headline in education circles last week was that the Ford Foundation is making a whopping $100 million grant 'to transform secondary education in the nation's most disadvantaged schools.'

Our eyes raced to see which piece of the vibrant school-reform movement Ford was going to support. Would it be America's 4,600 charters schools, many outperforming their traditional school peers and some even closing the race gap? Maybe it would be Teach for America, busting at the seams and turning down Ivy League applicants by the hundreds. Or, who knows, maybe Ford's really on the leading edge, and would want to support voucher programs in cities like Washington.

Would you believe the recipients of Ford's largesse are the teachers unions? Yup. The folks at Ford are giving new meaning to the word 'retro.'"

'Kids don't try' at Bx. bummer

'Kids don't try' at Bx. bummer:

"Last year, Peace and Diversity Academy in The Bronx had a respectable 68 percent graduation rate and a B on its first-ever report card.

Seemingly overnight, the school tumbled to an F grade and a preliminary 2009 graduation rate of 38 percent -- a whopping 30 percentage point drop.

'I'm not surprised,' said Shaneeka Bromfield, a 16-year-old junior, who blamed low expectations. 'We'll be in class and say something so simple or answer a simple question and the teacher will act so amazed, like they're surprised that we know something.'

Ariana Gooden, a 15-year-old sophomore who transferred to the school this year from a Catholic school, added, 'Kids don't try here.'

School officials said the academy has faced many obstacles, including massive student turnover, after two location changes since 2004."

About 75% of city high schools receive an A or B; only one receives an F

About 75% of city high schools receive an A or B; only one receives an F:

"Only one school got hit with the dreaded F this year on this year's high school report cards - and some students say the place is so bad they want out.

'I've been making complaints to my mom and my father,' said Shameeka Bromfield, a 10th-grader at Peace and Diversity Academy in the Bronx, which fell to the flunking grade from last year's B. 'I want to transfer.'

Shameeka, 16, said the work at the Morrisania school isn't rigorous enough. Other students complained about the lack of extracurricular programs and said the school has been moved several times, including to buildings where it wasn't wanted."

UC Davis News & Information :: UC Davis Dedicates Historic Native American Garden

UC Davis News & Information :: UC Davis Dedicates Historic Native American Garden:

"California Indian song, bustling tours and quiet, personal moments were all part of the dedication on Nov. 14 of a new outdoor reflective space honoring the Patwin who once lived on the land that would become the University of California, Davis.

The Native American Contemplative Garden is part of a larger UC Davis project -- believed to be the first at any public university in the nation -- to honor the land's original inhabitants and to educate the campus and its visitors about them.

Among those attending the ceremony were Patwin Elder Bill Wright; Charlie Wright, tribal chair of the Cortina Rancheria; Larry Myers, executive secretary of the California Native American Heritage Commission; Martha Macri, professor in the UC Davis Department of Native American Studies and holder of the Rumsey (Yocha Dehe) Endowed Chair in California Indian Studies; and UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi."

'A work of spirit'

Inés Hernández-Avila, a professor of Native American studies and person of Nez Perce and Chicana heritage who collaborated on the garden, calls it "a work of spirit." Under the guidance of Patwin Elder Wright, she said, work on the garden is fostering healing after campus construction projects disturbed native remains.

"The land that UC Davis sits on is ancestrally Patwin land," said Hernández-Avila. "This contemplative garden is a reminder that the connection still exists for the Patwin people who themselves are a living presence in California."

"This recognition is a gift to the campus, to the native community and to everyone," she added. "It's a gift that a lot of people had a part in."
Garden features

The garden sits on the bank of the historic Putah Creek channel and within the UC Davis Arboretum, a living museum with 100 acres of gardens and plant collections known internationally as scientific and horticultural resources.

The garden features naturally shaped basalt columns representing the Patwin people and their strength and resilience; trees and other plants used by the Patwin people; a curving path representing the flow of the creek and the flow of time; and a spiral seating area designed after the coiled start of a Patwin basket.

Going Green in Madrid: When Was the Last Time YOU Rollerbladed? >>

Going Green in Madrid: When Was the Last Time YOU Rollerbladed? :

"Irvine is in the heart of one of the most environmentally friendly areas in California. During the last few months of my stay in Madrid, Spain as a student on the Education Abroad Program, I have found more ways of implanting a sustainable lifestyle.

First and foremost, I am extremely lucky to have access to Madrid’s state-of-the-art Metro system. The metro is one of the things I love most about this city. It allows you to get anywhere around the center of the city within 10 minutes.

Besides public transport, Madrilenos love to use their own methods as well. On a random day in Madrid, I can find a number of people rollerblading or walking. The city is very pedestrian friendly and “paseos” — walks around the open courtyards and terraces — are a way of life."

FORUM: NCT ignored The Classical Academy's success

FORUM: NCT ignored The Classical Academy's success:

"I am perplexed. Where is the reporting when it comes to success being printed in the North County Times?

On Oct. 19, the California Department of Education issued a press release from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell regarding three schools receiving the award for being 'exemplary.'

The Classical Academy in Escondido is the only charter school to receive this recognition this year, and only the second charter school in the state to hold this prestigious award. This information has been printed in other newspapers outside of San Diego County, but not here, where one of the award-winning schools is located.

In a time of increased scrutiny on test scores, student performance measures, and accountability on individual schools, having this accolade aligns with our success as a charter school. Having a high-quality school in our community that provides excellent options for students, dynamic programming that complements core academics, and high test scores where parents are the primary educators sounds like a story worth telling"