A Sacramento vandal has targeted children in a recent string of Washington Park vandalism that involves cut swings and a sawed tetherball pole. The perpetrator is currently unknown. During the weekend of Sept. 24, someone sawed through one of the parks’ tetherball poles just enough to cause the pole to stand straight until it was used, falling down and nearly landing on a Washington Elementary School student. According to Washington Elementary School Principal Marilyn Collins the student was unharmed. Martha Damjanovic, a local resident of the area and owner of three buildings in blocks that surround the park, was surprised that she hadn’t noticed the sawing. “When 14-year-olds jump ov

Theater has always been a form of art native to children. Watching them play and create their own games and stories has been a staple of the family tradition, and more than a few parents have taken the opportunity to canonize these moments on YouTube. Cynthia Speakman, a local actor and teacher with the Sacramento Metro Arts Commission, has been in the game for over a decade, working with children to improve their performing skills and ability to be outgoing and expressive. "I think it's very natural for kids to act because they have an enormous need to communicate to others," says Speakman. "Even the kids who aren't extraverted want to be more confident, and for parents it's a remedy of

"It’s about a wood-burning oven, which will make so much more than pizzas," claimed Mary Kimball, executive director of the Center for Land-Based Learning at Sunday's inaugural Dinner on the Farm. The Center for Land-Based Learning aims to inspire and motivate people of all ages, especially youth, to promote a healthy interplay between agriculture, nature, and society through their actions and as leaders in their communities. They do this through engaging elementary- and high-school children about agriculture and cooking in a farm setting. When invited to this dinner, I originally thought I was looking at another form of urban agriculture project, but this seems to be going far beyond

Despite scaled-back school budgets, art education is flourishing in the Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District in west Roseville. The Sacramento Press observed an art docent lesson in Annette Willis’ fourth-grade class at Coyote Ridge Elementary School last month. The art docent program is one of a variety of measures the district is using to incorporate art into the curriculum. The hour-and-half-long lesson began with art docent and parent Stephanie Jones asking 33 attentive students to think of different modes of transportation. The children quickly identified the subject of the day: trains. Jones held up a large Currier and Ives print entitled “American Express Train.” “What do

Can a simple strawberry be a catalyst for change? This week, as our students take the California Standards Test, I want to once again thank our dedicated employees for all you do to put children first. These tests are a crucial component in the federal and state accountability models by which we are judged as a district. Test scores are used to track student achievement, and therefore are vital to assessing our services. But we cannot forget that the tests are just one measurement of our work with children. We should also be assessing ourselves on our much larger goal: To take a holistic approach to education. Which brings me to the strawberry. Starting May 10, our nutrition services st

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

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

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

About 150 worried parents crowded into the Washington Elementary School auditorium Wednesday night to voice their concerns to the school board over the possible closure of their children's school. The meeting was held by the Sacramento City Unified School District and was open to the community to discuss options for the usage of the school, as funds dry up and the State Legislature looks to make deep cuts into schools. Superintendent Tom Barrenston and Assistant Superintendent Nancy Purcell addressed the crowd and explained that they were there to gather input and suggestions on not only facility use, but revenue generation. The meeting started with the grandfather of a student asking a