Earlier this winter I was at Sac State's track for a fitness event. I was surprised to see the magnitude of the new Wellness Center that had been in the planning stages when I was there as a grad student a few years ago. As a graduate of UCLA, I have a scale of comparison to what I experienced returning to Sac State. I had also attended Sac State for one very mediocre year after high school so I was interested in seeing what had changed. I can only speak about the Art Department and can't say enough great things about the faculty. About the facilities? Shockingly underfunded and at times, pathetic, with students having to do work that facilities should do. The Art Dept. is split into two a

Springtime will soon be in the air and you and your family are invited to get take a break from the 9 to 5 and city life to experience the awakening of life. The Center For Land-Based Learning at the Farm on Putah Creek is hosting Welcome Back Springtime at the Farm on Putah Creek Sunday March 28, 2010 from 10:00am – 4:00pm. The Center For Land-Based Learning is a non-profit whose stated mission is to “engage youth in learning experiences on the land that foster respect for the critical interplay of agriculture, nature and society.” Under the leadership of Mary Kimball, Executive Director, the Center uses a network of farms, ranches, and natural ecosystems as educational laboratories for

 Hmong Women’s Heritage Association helps boost participation in district surveys By Maria L. LopezIn an effort to ensure the greatest participation possible in two historic surveys, the Sacramento City Unified School District is teaming up with the Hmong Women’s Heritage Association (HWHA) to assist parents and students in completing questionnaires about the district’s budget and strategic plan from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 5 at the Association’s offices, 2245 Florin Rd. The first-of-its-kind endeavor to involve Sacramento residents in improving their public schools involves a pair of surveys on school improvements and the district’s budget. Every Sacramento community member

 SCUSD superintendent urges community to weigh in before surveys close one week from today The Sacramento school district’s historic public surveys on its budget and strategic planning have drawn more than 11,000 responses so far, and Superintendent Jonathan Raymond Tuesday urged parents, teachers and students to take the surveys before the Feb. 9 deadline in one week.  This first-of-its-kind effort to involve Sacramento residents in the improvement of their public schools involves a pair of surveys on school improvements and the district’s budget. Every Sacramento community member—including parents, teachers and other employees of the district—is being asked to respond to the surveys t

  IT’S A CELEBRATION Sacramento, CA.…The Black Parallel School Board (BPSB) invites you to attend our “Second (2) Year Anniversary Celebration”, Saturday, February 6, 2010 ,10:00am to 12:00pm. The celebration will be held at our regularly scheduled meeting-place, Oak Park United Methodist Church, 3600 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95817. Please check-in and arrive by 10:00 am.   Our guest speaker is the distinguished Amina R. Merritt, Esquire, a native of Hartford, CT. Ms. Merritt is the founding Attorney at the Merritt Law Clinic, Sacramento, California. The first class of women to graduate from Amherst College in 1980, Amina received her Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree, magna cum laude. Af

The Sacramento Kings introduced an exciting new program to benefit high schools in the greater Sacramento area Friday, January 22. Participating high schools will compete in the “Kings Size High School Challenge” to raise funds for their school. “The Kings Size High School Challenge is a great vehicle for local high schools to raise funds for their school programs,” said Danette Leighton, vice president of marketing for Maloof Sports & Entertainment. “This program is the first of its kind for this community, and we hope to grow it to include even more schools next season.” All participating schools attended a draft lottery event yesterday at the Kings Practice Facility, similar to the NB

  Mayor Kevin Johnson announced STAND UP; a new initiative launched on Monday. A $500,000 grant will kick-start the first phase of the new nonprofit's development. It will focus on raising academic achievement and college completion rates by advocating, supporting, and developing excellent public schools. The seed money comes from a national philanthropy group, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.  Mayor Johnson said he's looking for a new education liaison; someone who will work with STAND UP. Rumors and speculation has Michelle Rhee, lightening rod Chancellor of Washington DC Public Schools as a leading candidate. Rhee a nimble leader, has played a major role in the Education Reform mo

Professor Karen Carberry-Goh is the energizer bunny. She just keeps going and going. With a single goal in mind, Carberry-Goh doesn’t worry about time passing. She only focuses on achieving that goal. Eighteen years of college, two years of travel, and years of work and internships prove this. Yes, it may have taken her until she was 50 years old to reach her dream, but, unlike some people, Carberry-Goh can honestly say, “I love my job.” Carberry-Goh works as a biology professor at Sacramento City College. And, her infectious diseases course allows Carberry-Goh to share the information she has learned over years of study and hands-on experience. Carberry-Goh says that the people of the Uni

A little over two months ago, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts chose Sacramento over 27 other cities as the first partner for the "Any Given Child" program. The program, which promotes arts education, will be developed in Sacramento over the next two years before rolling out nationwide. Mayor Kevin Johnson emailed the following survey regarding participation in the Any Given Child program: In October, the Kennedy Center announced that it would pilot its Any Given Child program here in Sacramento with the goal of providing access and equity in arts in education to all students. Since then, we've been hard at work focusing on this welcome opportunity to expand arts opport

One of the best kept secrets of the South Sacramento area is a small, private school tucked away in the Lanai Shopping Center on Freeport Boulevard, neighboring the Sacramento Executive Airport, where it has existed in rented space for 21 years. Over the years, most of the shopping center tenants have moved away. Meanwhile, countless hours of parent, teacher and student work have gone into transforming a run-down property into a school with colorful classrooms and playgrounds. It has an understated entrance, but Camellia Waldorf School is an oasis for children. The kindergarten yard is home to Mr. Mountain, a big pile of dirt, and Ms. Sandy, a big pile of sand. There are climbing struct

It was confirmed last week California Montessori Project's Capitol Campus will move from the Marshall School to Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in the College Glen neighborhood. Since August, CMP leased the Marshall School building from the Sacramento City Unified School District, which also oversees its charter. Next Thursday and Friday, the school will be closed for the move and will resume at the new campus on Nov. 16. SCUSD superintendent Jonathan Raymond met with CMP board members, students and parents Tuesday night at the campus' new location. After stating reasons for the move, he answered questions from parents. "The old Marshall School, although a very beautiful facility and

From the lofty perches of the power players, in their skyboxes and bank towers, the public may look very small, almost antlike. Deal and decision makers are elevated and segregated from the little people, whose lives they influence. On Thursday, October 29, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced his "Rules of the Game" plan to build an arena and entertainment complex in Sacramento. The press conference was held 25 floors up, with a hazy overview of the city, extending from the historic rail yards to Cal Expo: two potential sites for a new and lucrative sports/real estate venture. In that same sweeping view, the mayor could look down on the central city neighborhoods. From Downtown, Midtown, East

On Monday, October 19th, parents of the charter school California Montessori Project (CMP)-Capitol Campus where surprised to learn through a letter from CMP Director, Gary Bowman, that Mr. Raymond, the new Superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), was requesting that the Capitol Campus be relocated from the Old Marshall School (2718 G Street), a facility the school had moved into only 3 months prior, because the building was now deemed unsafe. The Capitol Campus is to be relocated in the Thomas Jefferson Elementary School (in the College Glen area) far from the current location forcing hundreds of families on the roads. Moreover the campus has to leave the prem

Something is missing on Natomas Unified School District’s campuses that makes it harder to satisfy a sweet tooth: soda and candy vending machines. A 2005 California Health Interview Survey showed that 62 percent of teens consume 39 pounds of sugar each year from soft drinks alone. The research showed that counties with the highest obesity rates had the highest rates of soda consumption. One Natomas Unified School District parent, Heather Reed, said she “agrees 100% with the district’s ban on soda machines” and believes there is a link between adolescent obesity and soda consumption. Reed is in a unique position; not only is her daughter an eighth grader at Leroy Greene Middle School, bu

A five-hour board meeting on the fate of California Montessori Project's Capitol Campus ended around 10:45 p.m. Monday night with a resolution: If an assessment says the Marshall School building in which the school resides is not compliant with state building codes, the school must move "expeditiously." If the assessment, which has still not been made public, says the building does meet minimum state codes, the board will reconvene to decide if the school will move or not. Nearly 100 people - parents, elementary school students and the California Montessori Project's nine board members, superintendent and a legal advisor - filled a multipurpose room at the Marshall School in Midtown to s

The Sacramento City School District held a board meeting on 10-15-09 at Kennedy high school in which many issues that the school district is facing for the year were discussed in a public forum. The big issue at the board meeting revolved around the hours being to cut to instructional aides who work with special needs children. The aide’s hours are being cut from 6 hours to 5 hours. Some parents were extremely upset about the cuts. One parent Rebekah Norris whose daughter has been going to school for almost 14 years expressed her frustration over the cuts. Ms. Norris said “the budget cuts have put her special needs daughter safety at risk.”Her concerns were of such things as bathroom duti

Highlighting the one-year anniversary since Prop 8 was passed into law, Equality Action NOW, is co-sponsoring along with Courage Campaign and 20 other organizations and individuals, Camp Courage Sacramento, November 7-8, 2009. Camp Courage is an intensive two-day training designed to teach the principles and skills of community organizing and how to become an effective activist. Drawing on techniques honed for decades by progressive social movements and proven results used by the Obama campaign, Camp Courage teaches empowerment, team building, leadership development, and grassroots organizing skills. It is designed primarily for new activists of all ages or those who have never engaged wi

Sacramento Country Day School soon could become the only high school in the grid. School officials are close to signing a lease for the Newton Booth School, 2600 V St., according to Stephen Repsher, Country Day headmaster. It also would mark the first time since 1976 that the Newton Booth School is being used as a school. Since closing because of earthquake concerns, it has been home to a medical insurance group and an environmental consulting group. "It could be in the next few weeks," Repsher said. "However, we still have to go to the city's planning commission and raise $1.7 million. We've moved a long way forward, but we're probably coming up in the next two to three weeks on some so

Come join us in celebrating 22 years of the Hoes Down Harvest Celebration in the Capay Valley (Yolo County).  This celebration will promote agricultural arts and sustainable rural living through two fun-filled days of workshops and events.  Located within two hours of San Francisco and Sacramento’s busy metropolitan areas, the rural Capay Valley region is home to many small farms that supply Northern California’s families, restaurants, and neighborhood grocery stores with fresh organic produce.  The Celebration will offer the public a special chance to enjoy rural life and deepen their understanding and connection to the local food system. On Saturday, October 3rd, the Harvest Festival at

Ever since the 1950’s, the video telephones has been flaunted as an inevitability. And yet 50 years later, at a time when cell phones and the internet are considered essential services by most, video telephone phones remain a mere possibility to all but 0.7% of all households in the U.S. That number may change dramatically if the teachers and tutors at the Neuro-Linguistic Learning Center in El Dorado Hills, California have their way. The NLC has unveiled a new In-Home Tutoring Program that offers free video telephones to families with children who are struggling in school. The in-home tutoring program is aimed at kindergarten though high school children struggling with chronic learning