The potential West Campus/Sacramento High School “swap” is off the table, but the budget and facility use problems that spurred the proposal still exist – leaving open the question, is this really the end of the conversation? “We have serious issues as far as our budget goes,” Sacramento City Unified School District trustee Patrick Kennedy said Monday. “We’ll have to look at all of our facilities. I won’t say there won’t be discussions of (school) closures in the future.” In an effort to save money and make more efficient use of district facilities, the SCUSD board recently considered swapping two school programs – the charter school program at the Sac High campus and the program at the

The Sacramento City Unified School District board is considering a potential campus “swap” for two central city schools – a move that has stirred up a storm of criticism from parents, students and education advocates in the city. The proposed swap would move the West Campus High School program from its current 58th Street location to the old Sacramento High School facility and replace it with the Sacramento Charter High School program, which is currently at the old Sac High campus. Proponents of the swap say the move will allow the popular West Campus program to expand and will create an opportunity to establish a non-college preparatory high school program for students in central city n

With a 528-vote margin and large numbers of unprocessed ballots, Sacramento City Council District 5 candidates said Wednesday they're waiting for a final count in the race. City Council races won't be updated for two weeks. As of Wednesday, an estimated 108,000 vote-by-mail ballots and 12,000 provisional ballots must still be processed in the county.  The number of ballots still to be counted in District 5 may be known as early as Friday, but possibly not until Tuesday, said Brad Buyse, campaign services manager for the Sacramento County elections department.  As of election night, candidate Jay Schenirer (pronounced "Sha-neer") had captured 4,309 votes, while the tally for Patrick Kenn

District 5 City Council candidate Patrick Kennedy is behind in votes with 3,781 compared with Jay Schenirer's 4,309 votes. 41 of 41 precincts have been counted. There are, however, still “tens of thousands” of absentee votes turned in on election day countywide that have yet to be counted, said Brad Buyse, Sacramento County’s campaign services manager District 5 City Council candidate Kennedy gathered with his campaign party, family and friends at Coffee Garden to watch the results of the race as the polls closed and the votes were counted. Kenny Alvarado, campaign manager, was positive about the outcome of a multi-month effort.  “It's tough to say how the votes will go,” he said. “I

1:11 a.m. update final results The ballot counting is far from over. The Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections Department still has to count tens of thousands of vote-by-mail ballots that were turned in to the polls Election Day, said Brad Buyse, Sacramento County’s campaign services manager. And there are thousands of vote-by-mail ballots sent to the county in the last three days that still need to be counted, Buyse said. Still, the elections department posted results late into the night on Wednesday. Here is where the following local measures stand: Measure B: Utilities Rollback The “no” side had 68 percent of the vote, with 93 percent of precincts reporting. Support fo

Voter turn out has been steady all day according to Diane Buffington who was supervising the Brett Hart Elementary School polling location.  Buffington has been working poling places longer than she could remember.  "It's got to be at least double digits." When asked about how turn out has been she said that it was average.  Buffington reminded me that "average"  in Curtis Park is probably much higher numbers than a lot of other neighborhoods  Curtis Park is a very politically active neighborhood.  Voting was being observed by first time GOP poll watcher Pete Kazak.  He said that he had not seen any Democrat poll watcher this location today.   Curtis Park resident Elizabeth Berg votes

Check in here for hourly updates from Sacramento Press as we cover the election all over the city. Turnout was light this morning at Park Folsom Retirement Home on Wales Dr., Folsom.  Volunteers were ready to help voters. Photos by David Alvarez Kevin Johnson cast his vote at 11 a.m. at Pat Anderson Education Center at 2751 Wilmington Ave. After he voted, he commented on the World Series. "It was great ... when you're a Sacramento resident and you grow up in this community you root for the A's and the Giants and I can't think of any better prize on November 1st than the Giants clinching it on the road." Johnson added, "When I see people, my first question is, 'Did you vote?' If

Mayor Kevin Johnson released his endorsements for several Nov. 2 political races on Friday. He named his candidates in local, state and federal elections in a post on his blog.  In the Sacramento City Council runoff in District 5, Johnson endorsed education policy consultant Jay Schenirer. He had endorsed Schenirer for the first time in May, when the City Council candidate was running against four other candidates. Schenirer is competing against attorney Patrick Kennedy in the November runoff. The winning candidate will replace current City Councilwoman Lauren Hammond. Johnson decided not to endorse a candidate in the District 7 runoff. Ryan Chin, a communications director at Sacramento

 Community was the name of the game at the South Sacramento games on Saturday. Residents played a variety of games, all focused on building cooperation without competition. We made the games so that nobody’s a winner and nobody’s a loser,” volunteer Charles Chenauot said. The games  included capture the flag, don’t spill the beans and Simon Says, but with a twist. Simon and Simone used the same concept as Simon Says, but without winners or losers. Instead, when Simon told a player she was out, she could join Simone’s game and keep playing. “We have a lot of community games where people can come together and play without having to be competitive,” volunteer Staphonya Cabrellin said.

The final Sacramento City Council election results did not yield any last-minute statistical miracles. Furthermore, a Sacramento city clerk’s predictions about City Council runoffs proved true: The leading two candidates in Districts 5 and 7 will compete in a Nov. 2 runoff election. The county elections office finished counting ballots from the June 8 election on Wednesday. Candidates Jay Schenirer and Patrick Kennedy will run for the District 5 seat, while candidates Darrell Fong and Ryan Chin will square off in District 7. Incumbent District 1 City Councilman Ray Tretheway lost his battle against challenger Angelique Ashby — just barely. A City Council candidate needs at least 50 per

A Nov. 2 runoff for District 5 on the City Council is becoming more likely as the county only has 4,000 provisional ballots left to process, and neither Jay Schenirer nor Patrick Kennedy have 50 percent of the vote. Schenirer has, however, held onto the lead over his main opponent. “I think we can safely say that the race has been decided, even if it’s not quite complete yet,” Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said. “Other than final, this is about as final as it’s going to get.” A candidate needs at least 50 percent of the vote plus one to win. Schenirer has 47.28 percent and Kennedy has 33.45 percent, as of 3:22 p.m. today. You can view the updated election results here. Schenire

Jay Schenirer leads the District 5 race for a seat on the City Council with 47.29 percent of the vote, but he has yet to lock in victory, according the the county election results website. A candidate needs 50 percent of the vote plus one to be declared the winner for City Council races. Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said she thinks that although there are still ballots left to process, it is unlikely that they will give Schenirer the votes he needs to avoid a Nov. 2 runoff election. Mizuno reports that the city has seen the incoming ballots distributed in a way that is reinforcing the current percentages. "Proportionately we haven't seen that much change," Mizuno said. She fu

The waiting game for the District 1 City Council race continues. The Sacramento County elections office released new vote tallies Friday afternoon, and has counted about 35,000 of the roughly 86,000 that remained after Election Day. However, the new ballots still don’t definitively show whether Natomas activist Angelique Ashby has won the District 1 seat, or if she will compete in a runoff in November with incumbent City Councilman Ray Tretheway. The county elections staff still needs to count more than 51,000 ballots. Voters cast ballots for many state and local candidates Tuesday, so it’s unknown how many of the 51,000 ballots include votes for the City Council races. With 5,405 votes

There will likely be a runoff between two District 5 candidates with backgrounds in the education field, according to Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno. With all precincts counted, education policy consultant Jay Schenirer was narrowly ahead of local school board member and attorney Patrick Kennedy. Schenirer had 47 percent of the vote to Kennedy’s 34 percent. Schenirer, with 2,267 votes, doesn’t have a majority of the votes that were cast, Mizuno said. Kennedy’s vote count is 1,654. District 5 includes the neighborhoods of Oak Park and Curtis Park. The election results have not yet been certified, Brad Buyse, the county’s campaign services manager said. More than 20,000 vote-by-m

Despite controversy in other City Council district races, District 5's candidates were civil and respectful of one another. "They were all polite and I have nothing but nice things to say about them," said Leticia Hilbert. "The civility and consideration of opinions has been really great," said Terrence Johnson. Henry Harry said that everyone ran a good campaign with no "cheap shots," while Jay Schenirer stressed that he felt that no one was running "against" each other. Patrick Kennedy did not seem to mind running against four candidates. "I ran my campaign as I would running against one other person, or 16," he said. "I ran on my 22 years in the district. It didn't really come into

11:21 p.m. UPDATE Angelique Ashby's supporters gather around the wide screen television to anxiously watch the results of tonight's election. With a lead of more than 10% on her closest competitor, incumbent Tretheway, Ashby supporters are anticipating the coming numbers. "We think we know the answer," volunteer Celia Hernandez said. "We just need it official!" Cheers, laughter and applause resonate throughout the police stationassociation, and tensions build as the night wears on, the final count looming closer and closer. "We're all excited," canvas coordinator Greg Pruden said. "Really looking forward to getting the final returns in and seeing what the final result is. We're reall

The Sacramento Press election team is pulling an all-nighter Tuesday to bring our readers City Council election results. We will continuously update our election coverage starting at 4 p.m. Tuesday until the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters stops releasing results late that night.  In addition to reporting the results from the polls, our staffers will be on-the-scene at election parties to cover the perspectives of candidates and their supporters. In Sacramento, polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Election results will start coming in after 8 p.m. "I'm out campaigning," City Councilman Steve Cohn said late Monday afternoon. "Tonight's the last time I'll be walking door-t

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

Lawyer Patrick Kennedy described himself as a rare City Council candidate because local business and labor groups are backing his campaign. Kennedy is endorsed by the Sacramento Central Labor Council and the Sacramento Metro Chamber. “Both (organizations) have worked with me,” Kennedy said. “They see that I’m fair.” The Sacramento Press is interviewing City Council candidates in advance of the June 8 election. Kennedy, 42, is running against four candidates for District 5, the seat held by Lauren Hammond. She is running for Assemblyman Dave Jones' seat. Oak Park, Curtis Park, Colonial Heights and Tahoe Park West are among the neighborhoods in District 5. Kennedy, a fourth-generation S

Jay Schenirer’s City Council campaign has brought him face-to-face with Sacramento’s unemployed population. Joblessness in District 5, which includes Oak Park and Colonial Heights, is “horrific,” Schenirer said. The Sacramento Press is interviewing City Council candidates in advance of the June 8 election. Schenirer (sha-NEER-ur), 53, is competing against four other candidates for Councilwoman Lauren Hammond’s seat. Hammond is running for Assemblyman Dave Jones' seat against Kevin McCarty, her colleague on the City Council. Roger Dickinson, a Sacramento County Supervisor, is also running for the seat. Schenirer is an education policy consultant who has lived in Sacramento since 1981. H