Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "sacramento city unified school district"

Mayor Johnson's gang prevention initiative moves forward

2011-11-02T04:24:45Z

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson unveiled the preview of his Strategic Plan for Gang Prevention (SPGP) this past Monday morning in the Hearing room of the Historic City Hall.

“I am committed to a paradigm shift away from only enforcement and incarceration with more emphasis put toward prevention and intervention,” stated Johnson during his opening remarks.

“There is a lot of frustration in the community,” stated Johnson as he referenced the recent community meeting in the Del Paso Heights neighborhood in response to the recent death of Tyrone Smith.

Smith died in the custody of the Sacramento Police Department in the aftermath of the shooting of a Twin Rivers officer after a routine traffic stop in Del Paso Heights.

Johnson invited members of the community whose ideas he incorporated into the formulation of the SPGP to the Historic City Hall for an update on the progress of his Gang Prevention Initiative (GPI).

The audience was filled with representatives from various community based social welfare agencies, community based advocacy groups, and was sprinkled with a few concerned citizens including former gang members who now serve as youth role models and participate in gang intervention activities.

The GPI was formed in response to several high profile gang related shootings that occurred in Sacramento during 2010.

Throughout 2011, community input was gathered at neighborhood meetings held throughout Sacramento. That input, the basis for the SPGP, combined with the participation of the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force, resulted in a four-page draft document which contains a message from the mayor and lays out a framework that includes community core values, vision, strategic focus areas and sought after outcomes.

The plan also details six distinct goals along with strategies to implement them.

The three leading goals of the SPGP include increasing school based support and enrichment activities to facilitate student success, strengthening the community’s capacity to address gang involvement and provide positive alternatives, and developing the relationships between law enforcement agencies and the community throughout the region.

The three other goals detailed in the SPGP include plans to initiate a community campaign to develop neighborhood pride and vitality, to develop a coordinated approach to leverage, connect, and evaluate resources in implementing the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force goals and objectives, and to establish an integrated method to effectively transition [former] inmates back into the community.

Johnson expects the plan to be finalized within the next 30 days, but wanted to preview its progress with stakeholders in order to obtain feedback and make any necessary revisions to the SPGP before it is put into final form.

The atmosphere of guarded optimism was tempered by an undercurrent of genuine concern regarding the plan's details.

As the lead of the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force and the host of the event, Khaalid Muttaqi, had to cut off questions from the audience after each of the four presenters.

The event, which began at 10:00 a.m. and ended at 11:55 a.m., was intended to be a 90-minute formal presentation. Without Muttaqi’s efforts to hold off questions and comments from the audience, the event would have run well past noon.

“More successful ex-gang members need to be involved in this process,” stated community activist and American River College student Alex Hampton.

One of the community values included in the SPGP that was emphasized by Mayor Johnson during his presentation is that “We cannot arrest our way out of this problem.”

“It sounds good, but I’m the type of person who’s on the concrete,” said Barry Accius, motivational speaker and CEO of Voice of the Youth, a non-profit organization which provides mentoring services to youth ages 11 to 25.

“There has to be a strong component of prevention and direct intervention in the SPGP. Otherwise, the community will just continue its policy of enforcement and incarceration,” stated Accius.

Steve Streeter, a retired former law enforcement official who now mentors and refers community services to youthful victims of violent crimes in his role as the case manager for the Wraparound Project at the University of California Davis Medical Center, couldn’t have agreed more.

“Funding streams need to be developed from the community to support all of the programs included in the SPGP or kids will continue to fall between the cracks and perish,” stated Streeter.

Task Force Lead Muttaqi, who works at the City of Sacramento Parks and Recreation Department as one of its Neighborhood Resources Coordinators, admitted during his presentation of the details of the SPGP that there were no dedicated resources for the plan at this time.

In 2008, the Sacramento City Council voted 5-4 against a proposal for a quarter of a cent increase in sales tax for combating gangs. If passed by the City Council, the item would have been placed on the November ballot for voters to approve or disapprove.

Several audience members questioned the failure of the SPGP to formally address issues involving female gang members. Others expressed their concerns with the lack of focus on parental involvement in the overall plan.

Lt. Bill Champion of the Sacramento Police Department took the dais and touted the achievements of the SPD’s Ceasefire Strategy during 2011. He attributed the reduction of gang related violence in Oak Park, Del Paso Heights and the Mack Road area to the successful implementation of the strategy.

Noticeably absent from his remarks was any mention of traditional gang related criminal activities such as drug dealing, possession of weapons and theft related crimes including robbery and burglary, as well as gang related involvement with prostitution.

Outspoken and passionate community activist Rhonda Erwin directed several pointed and difficult questions to the speakers during their presentations.

Although Erwin is well known for being publically critical of various aspects of Mayor Johnson’s administration, after the meeting adjourned, Erwin stated simply, “Job well begun.”

To obtain a copy of the draft of the Strategic Plan for Gang Prevention, to provide input or for more information, contact Khaalid Muttaqi via email at Kmuttaqi@cityofsacramento.org.

Gang violence drops due to city’s new efforts, officials say

2011-11-01T03:30:52Z

Gang violence took what officials described as a drastic drop since July 2010, attributing the drop to Mayor Kevin Johnson’s gang-prevention programs initiated in June of 2010 and again after last December’s fatal barbershop shooting.

Since implementing some of the measures, Lt. Bill Champion of the Sacramento Police Department said that the results have been effective. The number of gang-related firearm assaults has dropped by 60 percent, and the overall rate fell by 39 percent. In addition, there has been a 75 percent drop in homicide rates, and a 100 percent drop in non-fatal shootings.

Community leaders gathered at City Hall Monday morning to discuss the mayor’s plan. Speakers, including Johnson and Khaalid Muttaqi, the head of the mayor’s gang-prevention task force, updated citizens on the new plan, explaining the problems they seek to solve, the methodology of their approach, and the results thus far.

“We asked the community what needs to happen,” Muttaqi said. “The community is obviously engaged.”

Champion spoke about the Sacramento Safe Community Partnership, known more commonly as Ceasefire, a program started by the Police Department to combat gang and gun violence in ways that are different and more effective than in the past.

“A traditional law enforcement response … has been to send a lot of officers into an area with gun violence or gang violence, and you have zero tolerance,” Champion said, adding that this kind of police crackdown not only stops the gangs, but builds distrust between the local community and the police.

“You end up enforcing the rules on the people that are crying out for help,” he said.

He said that Ceasefire is changing the the traditional methods by concentrating its efforts on finding out specifically who is causing the violence. The two primary gangs of the Mack Road commercial corridor, one of the worst areas in Sacramento for gang activity, were found to responsible for a majority of gun violence in the area.

Instead of waiting for a crime to occur, Champion said, the police identify prime suspects and have their probation officers reach out to them, asking them to attend community meetings. Faith-based organizations, health groups and community members are present, asking the gang member to not resort to violence. Champion said that this process is called an intervention, as labled in the graph.

“We have the community tell (the gang members), ‘The violence needs to stop,’ and now it’s very personal because we’re sitting there looking at them,” Champion said.

Muttaqi said that another important element of the task force is to provide alternatives to the gang members, such as educational opportunities, work training programs and other positive and productive options.

Leading the way for community-based efforts is the newly-planned Men’s Leadership Academy being put in place by the Sacramento City Unified School District and the Sacramento Violence Intervention Program, which is run by The Effort, a Sacramento-based health care provider that reaches out to lower income neighborhoods.

Adrian Williams of SCUSD said that the Men’s Leadership Academy is a 4-year program for high school students that is similar to programs such as AVID, a program for advanced high school students that has a class during the school day and additional responsibilities for the students to complete.

He said that a small number of students will be admitted to the program, where they will be closely mentored by teachers who are popular among the students. They will be taken on field trips to top colleges and be given opportunities that will move them away from gang life, such as being required to dress nicely on occasion. The program will begin in the spring.

SVIP is bringing services to struggling communities that were previously unavailable, said Melisa Bayne, who is in charge of the program. By providing services like counseling, addiction help and other medical services, Bayne said that the SVIP has seen drastic improvements in former gang members whom they reached out to.

Berry Accius, a 34-year-old teen mentor who lives in Natomas, attended the meeting and said that while he thought the effort was great, it was very important that people continue to come up with new ideas to combat gang violence.

“We need leaders who really identify with the kids,” he said. “You really need to engage them so they understand that people care about them.”

Muttaqi said that this is only the beginning of the mayor’s push for gang prevention, and that these ideas will continue to be implemented.

“We’re optimistic, and we hope it will continue,” Champion said.

Mayor Kevin Johnson discusses Third Grade Reading Campaign

2011-08-24T01:42:27Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson announced Tuesday at his weekly press conference that the Third Grade Reading Campaign to bring up Sacramento’s standard reading level will kick off Wednesday with a community resource fair and a press conference.

Sacramento County third grade reading proficiency rates are well below California standards, according to Stand Up, a nonprofit education program that is a featured initiative of Johnson. Statewide, 44 percent of third graders are reading at grade level, while Sacramento County is at 37 percent, based on the 2011 education statistics.

“When we think about Sacramento, our literacy rates are not what they need to be. We have far too many of our children that are not reading at grade level or proficient,” Johnson said. “This is our commitment: We want to be the first city in the country where we achieve literacy for all third graders. It’s big, it’s bold and we’re very excited.”

The Third Grade Reading Campaign will host a fair from 3 p.m. - 5 p.m. Wednesday at the 40 Acres Art Gallery and Courtyard followed by a press conference at 4:30 p.m.

Stand Up’s monthly meeting will be held at the Guild Theater to discuss the campaign.

Johnson said that five superintendents (of Twin Rivers, Roble, Natomas, Sacramento City Unified, and Elk Grove) are going to be a part of the campaign.

“We’re collectively going after it. It will be by 2020, so it’s an eight-, nine-year goal.”

The Education Resource Fair will include free activities such as the Sacramento Petting Zoo and story time to get kids interested in reading.

In a previous announcement, Johnson asked for volunteers to donate their time for tutoring, reading, and other volunteer activities including parent and community involvement to help kids gain and maintain an interest in reading.

Nik Howard, director of strategic partnerships for Stand Up, the mayor's education initiative, ~~the city,~~ said that even though it is a third-grade literacy campaign, the program is available to all children up to age 8.

“The reason that we’re targeting that age range is because kids are transitioning from learning to read in the third grade,” Howard said. “(Children) need to be able to get information on their own by comprehending their reading.”

Howard added that early child development provides a foundation for third grade, and that is why groups like Head Start and First 5 that provide programs designed to encourage and improve healthy living learning, are involved.

He said that up to age 4, the focus needs to be on building early literacy skills, and when children begin kindergarten, they need to be ready for school and ready for the education that will be provided to them.

“All-America City Award criteria for 2012 is going to be (city grade-level reading),” Johnson said. “If we can achieve and come up with a very concrete and comprehensive implementation plan, then Sacramento has an opportunity to be one of 10 cities selected as All-America city based on our commitment to third-grade reading.”

The All-America City Award is awarded to cities that achieve outstanding civic accomplishments through successful efforts to address pressing local challenges.

Howard said one of the most heartening things for him during the beginning stages of the campaign was the feeling of a broad base of support across the community.

“All elements in the communities are working on this, (from) the school districts to city government, and we’ve got local service providers in terms of great reading programs, (such as) Head Start (and) First 5,” Howard added. “This is really a community-wide effort that’s going to have to engage the community at all levels, and so far, they’ve really stepped up.”

Howard said the City Schools Collaborative, a program through the mayor’s office, is trying to bring together schools and city government to streamline and share facilities to do anything to help each other out in making Third Grade Reading campaign a priority.

For more information on the Third Grade Reading Campaign, click here.

Editorial Note: A correction has been made to this article after it was published. The incorrect information has been struck out and the correct information has been added.

School superintendents urge lawmakers to put tax extensions on June ballot

2011-03-29T01:39:38Z

School superintendents from across the state convened on the west steps of the Capitol on Monday to urge lawmakers to get tax extensions on the ballot in a June special election, which they said is necessary to avoid a $4.6 billion reduction in public school funding.

Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Johnathan Raymond said time has run out and that legislators need to get the tax extensions put on the ballot this week, since county clerks need 88 days to prepare for an election.

“We are here because we represent children in California, and that, I think, is a point getting missed in our message,” said Raymond.

“I look right in front of me and I see two yellow school buses. We all know what that means, a field trip to the state Capitol. Well, what's the most important civic lesson that we can possibly tell them? That a government for the people, by the people is truly representative,” Raymond said.

He urged legislators to put the measure on the ballot and let the people of California decide the future.

“It's not a Republican issue. It's not a Democrat issue. It's a basic issue of representation and democracy,” Raymond said.

If the tax extensions don't make it on the ballot, Gov. Jerry Brown has said he will move to an “all cuts” budget to address the state’s $26 billion shortfall.

An “all cuts” budget would devastate K-12 funding, triggering massive layoffs, a loss of programs such as sports, summer school and bus transportation and hurt schools in low-income areas,

“This is not a new tax. It is one we already pay, and a successful ballot measure would not increase it, only allow us to pay a bit longer with the belief that we will exit from this budget chaos,” said Riverside Unified School District Superintendent Rick Miller.

Extensions placed on a November election rather than June, don’t hold any water said Fresno Unified School District Superintendent Mike Hanson.

“Frankly, November does us very little good,” he said. Hanson said districts will spend the 2011-12 school year decimating programs for students across the entire state. To imagine a November election with tax extensions passed, districts would then have to attempt to rebuild what they tore down.

Moreover, Hanson said districts have exhausted the one-time money that has been kept in reserves to get them through tough times.

Some districts have eliminated home-to-school transportation, summer school programs, adult education and programs such as: sports, drama, yearbook, and speech and debate. Moreover, it's common to see class sizes of 40 students or more.

In addition, school years have become shorter, where students aren't guaranteed 180 school days a year anymore. Some districts have not been able to adopt new textbooks at the time when standards have been updated.

The worst-case scenario budgets will trigger massive layoffs, and districts have been taking those steps already. Thousands of teachers were pink-slipped earlier this month. About 300 (of the nearly 1,100) statewide districts have reported a total of 19,000 teacher pink slips.

In the past, districts have used pink slips for temporary teachers and then hired some back, but superintendents now are saying these pink slips are basically to keep the balanced budget in place they’re required to have by law, Hanson said.

Earlier this year, the Natomas Unified School District announced that a state takeover would be imminent if concessions weren't made by unions and if the tax extensions weren't passed. (http://sacramentopress.com/headline/46012/Assemblyman_Pan_leads_Natomas_Unified_town_hall_meeting)

Meanwhile the SCUSD board voted to balance the district's projected “worst-case” budget shortfall of $22.35 million by eliminating financial support for extracurricular activities and reducing the district’s counseling staff by 37 percent, eliminating one assistant principal position at each high school and raising K-3 class sizes at two grade levels. They previously approved raising class sizes for all other grades – including 40 students per teacher at the high school level.

At a glance (courtesy of the Education Coalition, www.protectourstudents.org):
-California has cut $18 billion from K-12 public schools in the last three years
-A reduction of $1,900 per student has occurred over the last three years
-If taxes are not extended, Brown has said he will ask for an “all cuts” budget
-An “all cuts” budget could lead to $4.6 billion reduction in public school funding
-That amounts to an additional $754 cut per student in 2011-12
-A $19,492 cut per classroom
-Statewide teacher layoffs of 52,874
-Class size increase of 18.2 percent
-California already ranks 43 in the nation in per-pupil spending
-California ranks 50 in staff-to-student ratios

Rosa Parks Middle School becomes a 'priority school'

2011-03-26T00:06:13Z

Elementary school Principal Robert Sullivan will be taking over Rosa Parks Middle School to help turn it around after it was added to a list of schools needing improvement last week.

According to the district office, Sullivan began with SCUSD at age 17, when he landed a job as a custodian at Tahoe Elementary School to help pay for college, eventually working his way up to instructional aide and then teacher. He was an assistant principal at John Still K-8 School until taking over as principal at John Sloat seven years ago.

Under Sullivan’s tenure at John Sloat, student test scores have risen dramatically. The school improved its state-measured Academic Performance Index (API) base from 664 in 2005 to 761 in 2009 – a 97-point gain toward a target of 800 points. John Sloat is ranked ninth out of 10 on the API scale when compared to similar schools. In 2005-06, 39.7 percent of students achieved proficiency on the California Standards Tests in math. In 2009-10, that grew to 61.2 percent. In 2009-10, Hispanic student scores rose a 38 points.

Sullivan will remain at John Sloat for the rest of this school year. The principal position at that school has been posted, and the district plans to hire his replacement in the coming weeks. The current principal at Rosa Parks will finish the year and then be released. (fired?)

The decision to include Rosa Parks in the Priority Schools program was made after weighing several factors, including student academic performance, according to SCUSD.

The middle school, which serves about 475 students, dropped 33 points on the API scale last year. With an API of 624, it has the lowest student tests scores of any middle school in SCUSD.

The school has also struggled to close achievement gaps. Scores for African-American students plummeted 57 points last year, scores for students with disabilities fell 39 points.

According to the district, principals at the six original priority schools report better attendance, greater family participation, fewer suspensions and generally happier students, which they attribute to a better learning environment.

Raymond emphasized that funding for Rosa Parks’ addition to the Priority School program will come from “categorical” funds – money from the federal government earmarked for high-poverty schools.

At Rosa Parks, 100 percent of students qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch, the federal poverty threshold. Because the Priority Schools are funded categorically, Rosa Parks’ inclusion will have no effect on the district’s anticipated budget of $22.35 million – the projected amount if current temporary taxes are not extended by voters.

“But it’s not all about funding. It’s about these schools being 'Incubators of Innovation,' ” said Gabe Ross, SCUSD chief of communications on Friday. “These sites are places where new techniques and programs are piloted, with the goal of expanding successful practices district-wide. We’ve also said that priority schools will be the first in line for additional resources and opportunities when they become available.”

Priorities schools, Ross said, do get some additional resources (categorical dollars), which include some extra staffing (an extra assistant principal, instructional aides).

The district’s other priority schools are: Father Keith B. Kenny Elementary, Jedediah Smith Elementary, Oak Ridge Elementary, Will C. Wood Middle School, Fern Bacon Middle School and Hiram Johnson High School.

Local school tries for Hmong dual immersion

2011-03-24T14:14:06Z

By fall, Sacramento's Susan B. Anthony Elementary School may be the first public school in California and the second nationwide to implement a Hmong/English dual-language program.

The only thing that may prevent such a program from taking off is a lack of interest among parents and students, so Lee Yang, Sacramento City Unified School District administrator of elementary curriculum and professional development has reached out to Hmong elders and clan leaders about appealing to the Hmong community.

“We can have the program, but if there are no kids, you can't really have it, right?” Yang said. “We are expecting there will be interested folks out there because this is not only designed for Hmong. This is a Hmong language immersion program for all kids, regardless of what language you speak.”

Currently, Susan B. Anthony has a total of 269 students, and of those, 151 speak Hmong, and Yang said he plans on visiting the only other school in the United States that has such a program: Jackson Preparatory Magnet School in St. Paul, Minn.

Like the program in St. Paul, this program at Susan B. Anthony is set to begin with one kindergarten and one first grade classroom. This will continue to expand through high school by adding one class per grade every year. This program will follow the existing Spanish and Chinese immersion programs currently in the Sacramento schools.

At the kindergarten level, the 90-10 percent model, where instruction is provided in the Hmong language 90 percent of the time and the remaining 10 percent is done in English, will be implemented. Progressively each year, instruction in Hmong will reduce by 10 percent, and instruction in English will increase by 10 percent. The transition to 100 percent English will occur between fifth and sixth grades.

Yang said the staff members at the school are already qualified with BCLAD teaching credentials with an emphasis in Hmong Der and Mong Leng.

“But we're at the very early stage at this time,” he said. “At this point, we are in the process of exploring exactly how it will look.” He added that students who wish not to participate in the dual-language program won't have to, since traditional classes will also be offered.

This time last year, the school district began putting together the Chinese immersion program at Elder Creek Elementary. Going into its second year, Yang said he is thrilled to have 13 students on the waiting list already. Coupled with the excitement of that program and the success of the Spanish dual-language immersion program at Cesar E. Chavez Intermediate School (See stats here), Yang said he is excited about the Hmong program also because it's new territory.

By the fourth and fifth grade levels, Yang said that students who participated in the Chinese Immersion Program in San Francisco had very successful rates of proficiency on the standardized tests, and by second grade, they tested equally to their English-only counterparts. While students who are in Spanish dual-language immersion programs are tested in Spanish, Yang said tests are not offered in Chinese or Hmong.

To engage the community, the district has planned two informational meetings. The first will take place on Tuesday at 6 p.m. for the Susan B. Anthony School community, and on Thursday, March 31, at 6 p.m., the district will convene a meeting for the larger Sacramento County community. The school is located at 7864 Detroit Blvd.

Monica Stark can be reached at monica.stark@sacramentopress.com

School board approves cuts to teachers, sports and band in 'worst-case scenario' budget

2011-03-05T01:43:38Z

The Sacramento City Unified School District board unanimously voted to balance the district's projected “worst-case” budget shortfall of $22.35 million by eliminating financial support for sports, drama, yearbook, newspaper, marching band, cheerleading and speech and debate.

The proposal is to eliminate “extra pay for extra-duty stipends,” uniform replacements funds, athletic trainer funds and co-curricular transportation funds for a savings of $1.26 million, according to the district.

Board members also voted to reduce the district’s counseling staff by 37 percent, eliminating one assistant principal position at each high school and raising K-3 class sizes at two grade levels. The board previously approved raising class sizes for all other grades – including 40 students per teacher at the high school level.

“It's a horrible scenario. The superintendent and board will still continue to look for ways to fund these programs,” said spokesman Gabe Rosson Friday morning.

The district is racing to meet a March 15 deadline to present a balanced budget to the Sacramento County Office of Education or risk receiving a “negative” rating, which could lead to state takeover. This year’s budgeting process is especially challenging, as the state’s funding of K-12 districts hinges on voters extending current temporary taxes in a June 7 special election.

Gov. Jerry Brown is asking for a two-thirds vote in the State Legislature for such a measure and has given legislators a March 10 deadline. If the taxes are not extended, SCUSD will face a $22.35 million shortfall.

Sacramento Teachers Associated President Linda Tuttle said Friday afternoon that she was shocked the cuts went as deep as they did.

So far, the Legislature has not placed tax extensions on the ballot, but Tuttle said she believes it's more than likely they will make it as the Sacramento Metro Chamber announced its support of the tax extensions.

Tuttle said she calls on voters to choose to fund programs they had when they were students. “What do voters value? These are the things they had in schools. We're at the mercy of the voters,” she said.

Tuttle said that if the tax extensions do get on the ballot and pass, the budget situation would be bearable to teachers. They would have to “only cut 6-9 million – we can do that … oh golly, cut only 6-9 million: That's a ridiculous statement.”

Raising class sizes, which must be negotiated with unions, reduces the need for teachers. The board also approved layoff notices to certificated staff, which includes teachers, counselors and other positions.

Tuttle said that teachers agreed last year to keep class sizes down by giving $95 a month to the district. If the worst-case scenario materializes and class sizes go up, she said the union might seek legal action, though they are hoping they won't go that route.

“These proposed cuts are terrible,” said Superintendent Jonathan Raymond. “There isn’t an expendable position in our district. We have no surplus staff. We have no programs that are simply ‘icing on the cake.’ Sports, drama, yearbook – these are programs students need and deserve. Often, these so-called ‘extras’ are the only reason kids come to school.”

SCUSD’s worst-case shortfall is on top of $177 million in cuts to SCUSD’s budget in the last nine years – a 35 percent reduction in what was once a $500 million budget. Even if voters pass tax extensions in a special election, it is projected that more cuts will be needed to balance SCUSD’s budget for next year, due to the lingering recession and enrollment declines in some areas.

As soon as the 3 p.m. bell rang at Hiram Johnson High School, band teacher Kevin Goings was joined with seven students who are part of a drum lineup who, as music director Luana Hernandez said, were playing just to play.

“We're investing in you right now,” Goings, said when one of them missed a beat. The group gathers about four days a week after school and was started about two years ago when Goings revamped the program, explained Hernandez.

Hernandez noted that because stipends are going to be cut, more impoverished schools will suffer more than others.

To raise awareness of budget issues, the district has been holding a series of community forums. The district also has asked its community to participate in a budget priorities survey, which is available at www.scusd.edu.

In a letter to employees, Raymond urged family members, friends and neighbors throughout the state to contact their elected officials to support getting the tax extensions on the June 7 ballot.

“We need the public to understand that years of the state balancing its budget on the backs of kids has eliminated all the easy solutions to public education under-funding,” Raymond said. “As a colleague of mine recently said, not only is all the ‘low-hanging fruit’ gone, the tree is gone.”

Monica Stark can be reached at monica.stark@sacramentopress.com

Sac schools to get help going green

2011-02-09T06:17:02Z

Sacramento City Unified School District is getting some national help to renovate and make some of its more than 80 campuses more eco-friendly.

A full-time sustainability officer will help schools meet LEED standards as part of a program through the U.S. Green Building Council, said Rachel Gutter, director of the Center for Green Schools, which is based in Washington, D.C.

“(We) were impressed by your community’s enormous undertaking to become the greenest region in the country,” Gutter said, adding that beginning districtwide sustainability measures takes a large amount of time and money.

The Green Schools Fellowship Program aims to help improve school sites to make them more environment-friendly.

“Over a three-year period, this fellow will help your city make tremendous strides,” she said.

The fellow will be chosen in the coming months and will start a three-year term in the district over the summer. The position will be fully funded by the USGBC, and Gutter said it is the equivalent of bringing in $300,000.

The announcement came at the final meeting of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s Greenwise initiative Tuesday, which calls for the retrofitting of 15 million square feet of school space in the next 10 years and reducing water usage by 20 percent.

The meeting was held at the Guild Theater in Oak Park.

Gutter said the fellow’s efforts will set the groundwork for continuing green development of school sites after the three-year period.

The fellowship’s pilot program was in New Orleans following the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, and the result was to build more than 15 school sites that are LEED-certified and build a “world-class green school,” Gutter said.

“Schools are the center of our community,” Gutter said. “They represent our hopes, our dreams, our investment in the community.”

Gutter said that when schools are fully “green,” they become teaching tools to educate students about climate and environment issues.

In addition to having less of an impact on the environment, Gutter said green schools save the districts money, which can then be spent on teacher salaries and classroom supplies.

During her remarks, she highlighted schools in Colorado that have already seen six-figure savings due to their facilities being green, as well as mentioning the first “net-zero” school, which was erected in Turkey Foot, Ky.

A “net-zero” building is one that creates as much energy as it uses.

Johnson said in a press release that “a large part of this (Greenwise) commitment is to green our schools and to provide our students with a safe, healthy and welcoming environment.”

Gutter said those goals can only be realized by making sustainability someone’s full-time job.

The district’s superintendent, Jonathan Raymond, said there’s “no question” that Sacramento has been given an opportunity.

“The opportunity to truly prepare our kids for careers and for college in the 21st century – it does make a difference where they go to school,” he said.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Nonprofit brings arts program to schools

2011-01-20T00:34:57Z

Local artist Kim Grace faces a unique challenge each week: how to teach visual arts to the visually impaired.

Grace is one of 75 artists who work with students in the Sacramento City Unified School District through the Very Special Arts program, teaching art to both students in special education and students in general education.

“It’s been a real experience for me,” she said. “Most of these students don’t get a lot of opportunity for art in schools, so when you walk in with a box of paint, it’s like you’re the biggest rock star around.”

When it came to working with blind and visually impaired students, Grace said she had to rethink her teaching process, focusing on how the artistic media feel in her hands and how she can relate her knowledge to students who can’t see.

Very Special Arts is an international nonprofit network affiliated with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Alice Parente founded the local chapter of the organization, called “I Can Do That!,” 25 years ago, and it now serves 3,000 students in 60 schools in the district.

“This is my heart’s passion,” she said. “I’ve seen some of these students grow up going through the program, and it’s rewarding to see how much they’ve grown.”

Parente works with the special education teachers at the school sites, who then partner with general education teachers so art classes mix the students together.

“What’s amazing is, when you look at a class, you can’t tell who is a student in special education and who isn’t,” Parente said. “They’re all artists.”

The program is largely funded by the nonprofit, with the school district paying for 10 percent of supply costs, half of Parente’s salary and transportation to performances and art shows.

“And they provide a lot of support,” Parente said. “They really believe in this program.”

The students’ academic performance is measured before and after they start the program, and Parente said there are noticeable improvements in math, reading and language arts, but the biggest improvement comes in self esteem.

“The arts are success-oriented and non-threatening,” she said. “They get told they can do whatever they want instead of being told they can’t do something.”

Sherron McCarthy is a special education substitute teacher in the district with a personal connection to the program.

“My son is 28 years old, and he went through the program,” she said. “He enjoyed art. He was never very artistic, but it was good training for him.”

Her son, who has Down Syndrome, currently works at a golf course and lives independently.

“(Leonardo Da Vinci Elementary School) gave him a good start,” she said.

Students in the program learn to work in clay, sculpture, painting, drawing and performing arts such as music and various forms of dance.

The students’ work is shown in art shows held in winter and spring. The next one is the sixth annual Winter Very Special Arts Festival, 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Jan. 27 at the Sam Pannell Meadowview Community Center, 2450 Meadowview Road.

It is free and open to the public, and performances including dancing and singing will start at 10 a.m.

One of the more than 500 students whose art will be shown or performed at the show is 14-year-old Austin Benavidez, who is visually impaired.

“Artwork is fun,” he said. “Usually I love doing clay. Clay makes things easier. The painting is messier, but I’m good at making pinch pots and rolling pots (out of clay).”

Last year, Austin was in the program’s blues band playing tambourine, but he said he prefers sculpting from clay.

Billy Lei is a 13-year-old visually impaired student who immigrated from China last year.

“I like to make bowls and put handprints in it,” he said. “I made a clay box with handles. This is my first year doing art. I like this.”

Shelby Haines is a special education teacher at Leonardo Da Vinci who specializes in working with visually impaired students, including Austin and Billy.

“It’s really exciting,” she said. “Having a professional artist gives them another experience that I wouldn’t be able to offer them.”

Haines said private programs are available, but they are very costly, and having the Very Special Arts program come directly to the school is a benefit to all the students.

Parents who want their children involved in the program should go through their school’s special education teacher, Parente said.

“In 25 years, we’ve never turned away anybody,” she said.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

State investigates school board member's campaign

2010-12-28T01:29:46Z

A Sacramento school board member’s recent political campaign is being investigated by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission, a spokeswoman for the commission confirmed Monday.

The FPPC is investigating allegations against Darrel Woo’s campaign for a seat on Sacramento City Unified School District’s board, according to FPPC spokeswoman Tara Stock.

Shane Singh, who unsuccessfully ran against Woo for the school board seat, complained to the FPPC about Woo’s campaign.

Woo won his race for a school board seat in November.

In a Dec. 22 letter to Singh, the FPPC said it would investigate his claims about Woo’s campaign. The letter also pointed out that it has not yet “made any determination about the validity” of Singh’s complaints.

The FPPC states on its website that it will thoroughly investigate an issue “when there is sufficient information to believe that a violation of the (Political Reform) Act has occurred.”

Singh sent a statement to local media outlets on Monday announcing the FPPC’s decision to investigate his former competitor’s campaign. He also gave them his written complaint.

Singh accuses Woo of breaking the state’s Political Reform Act in various ways. Among Singh’s accusations is a claim that Woo’s campaign improperly used business cards purchased by the Sacramento City Teachers Association.

“These campaign materials noted that they were printed and paid for by the Teachers Union, but apparently distributed by Woo's campaign in an effort to deceive the voting public,” Singh wrote Monday in a statement.

In his complaint, Singh also accused Woo and Woo’s daughter of receiving payments improperly. “It is also believed that Woo’s campaign violated the Political Reform Act by paying his own daughter Alyson K. Woo $2,000/month from his campaign … His daughter lives with him on Reef Court. As such, Woo personally received a benefit from his campaign committee,” the document said.

Alex Barrios, who worked as a campaign consultant for Woo, said he does not think there is any merit to Singh’s allegations. “The only reason (the FPPC is) investigating us is because Shane’s a sore loser,” Barrios said.

Attempts to reach Woo by phone and e-mail on Monday were unsuccessful.

Sacramento City Teachers Association President Linda Tuttle could not be reached Monday afternoon because the association’s office was closed.

Read the FPPC’s Dec. 22 letter here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Kings help South Sac school kids get healthy with "Get Fit with the Kings" program

2010-12-10T03:27:39Z

Sure, you see the Kings everywhere in the community donating either time, money or tickets to a future home game.

But this time it was different. And, according to Kings President of Business Operations Matina Kolokotronis, it was one of the most important community-minded event the Kings have ever had the chance in which to participate.

On Thursday, the Sacramento Kings, The California Endowment and the Sacramento City Unified School District gathered at Earl Warren Elementary School in South Sacramento to announce their partnership in creating the new “Get Fit with the Kings” program that is intended to boost the overall health of Sacramento-area youth.

On-hand for the festivities were a slew of Kings’ employees: players DeMarcus Cousins, Pooh Jeter and Francisco Garcia; Kings Ambassador Bobby Jackson; Kings Strength and Conditioning Coach Daniel Shapiro; the Sacramento Kings Dance Team; Slamson; the Kings Breakers and lots of Kings personnel.

The program is intended to support the work of South Sac’s “Building Healthy Communities,” a 10-year, $1 billion program of The California Endowment, by encouraging kids to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle and stay in school as a step to becoming engaged.

South Sacramento was one of 14 communities across the state to benefit from the 10-year commitment of The California Endowment. The three schools chosen, Earl Warren Elementary School, Will C. Wood Middle School and Hiram Johnson High School, will get help increasing their FITNESSGRAM scores - an annual statewide test given to the children.

Jim Keddy, the Director of Health and Communities for Northern California, said he thinks the importance of getting and helping keep kids healthy can’t be overlooked.

“It’s important because we have escalating rates of obesity in this country with children, which means escalating rates of diabetes,” Keddy said. “We are coming together to reverse that trend, and we’re doing it by working together and promoting physical education in schools and better school food.”

Keddy also spoke about why they choose the Kings as partners in this venture.

“The Kings are a powerful motivator,” Keedy said. “You can see what’s going on in the auditorium right now. The kids see the Kings players, the dance team and the kind of modeling they provide in terms of physical health and nutrition. It’s inspiring! It just adds electricity to what were trying to do.”

For Kings’ strength and conditioning coach Daniel Shapiro, it was a chance to share some of what he’s been doing all of his life.

“(When I was a kid), I was outside until the sun went down,” Shapiro said. “You didn’t play video games, and if you did, it was when you got inside. I think we’ve kind of lost that.

“The importance of having public schools with good P.E. programs, outdoor parks and just access to people and education to a healthy lifestyle is something that you can’t replace, because it pays off so much in the long run.”

The “Get Fit with the Kings” program will be a comprehensive plan of action including:

- Workshops for students, parents and teachers from Kings players and staff on the importance of exercise and how the school can better promote it

- A “Get Fit with the Kings” website that features nutrition tips, healthy recipes and an “Ask the Doctor” interactive feature

- Investments by the Kings to improve gyms, fields and fitness equipment at the schools

- Community rallies and health clinics at the schools featuring Kings players, staff, dance members and Kings Breakers

A familiar face at these community events has been Kings newcomer and rookie Pooh Jeter, who always seems to be in the mix.

Jeter said he is one who would love to give back to the community any chance he gets when he’s not wearing out the hardwood floors of the Kings’ training facility. He’s also very excited that The California Endowment stepped up for this incredible opportunity for the kids in this area.

“Whenever I have a chance to give back, that’s what I do, especially with kids,” said the 27-year old rookie. “I’m so happy they (The California Endowment) are doing this, because the kids need it. Health is part of life. I’m glad that we started with the kids so they can continue this process as they become adults.”

Photos by Mark Needham

B Street caters to children with theater expansion

2010-10-20T23:56:58Z

When the new B Street Theatre is completed, Sacramento will have something rare in regional theater – a full-size professional theater for children.

“We’re building the region’s only professional theater for kids,” said Productions Artistic Director Buck Busfield. “The next-closest one is in Los Angeles.”

The current theater, located at 2711 B Street, will move to a new complex at 27th Street and Capital Avenue, but will retain the current name.

Both the adult’s and children’s theaters will be at that site, but the adult’s theater will remain an intimate space, with a gain of 50 seats to bring the total to 250.

The children’s theater – officially dubbed the Sutter Children’s Theatre – however, will more than triple in size from 100 seats to 365.

“It’ll give us fly space, trap space and wing space,” said Busfield, explaining that stage sets will be able to be moved from above, below (in trap doors) or from the sides much more efficiently.

“It gives us a great capacity to mesmerize the kids,” Busfield said.

Busfield was quick to point out that, despite what might be implied by “children’s theater,” all performers are professionals, and it means that the performances are geared toward young audiences from kindergarten through 12th grade.

The performances that can be expected are in line with the current offerings for children, including historical plays and adaptations of popular works such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” as well as original plays.

Capital Campaign Manager Jamie Romas said the number of shows will initially be the same, at 336 shows per year, but if the market demands it, more shows will be offered.

Currently, according to Busfield, the theater is forced to turn away about 2,000 children per year due to tickets being sold out months in advance, and but the increased capacity at the new theater will allow them all to see performances.

Busfield said the thing he finds most satisfying is watching kids going into the shows thinking they won’t enjoy it, then coming out “mesmerized” and having a new appreciation for the arts.

The project for the theater, which is a nonprofit, has a price tag of about $15 million, and about $2 million has been raised, according to Romas.

“We’re planning to finance 5 or 6 million,” Romas said. “We have to raise at least 9 million.”

The fundraising campaign will kick off on Dec. 11, and Romas said she doesn’t anticipate any difficulties in reaching the target amount.

“The Crocker is a wonderful example of what this community can do,” she said, referring to the recent opening of the renovated art museum, which involved about $100 million in fundraising efforts.

Busfield said there are about 10,000 subscribers – people with season tickets – to the B Street Theatre, and he hopes they will help the theater reach its goal.

One of the fundraising methods involves donors purchasing a star that will be displayed in the lobby for $5,000. The stars are created by a local artist, and if donors have a specific idea of what they’d like on their stars, Romas said they can work with the artist for an additional fee.

Busfield said he anticipates the groundbreaking to take place in 2012, followed by 14 months of building, then holding its first show in 2013.

The land was donated by Sutter General Hospital, and Busfield said the location is ideal.

“There’s a 400-space parking structure right behind it, and it’s surrounded by some of the city’s finest restaurants,” he said, adding that it is just about two blocks away from the Capital City Freeway, and the proximity to the hospital means kids there will be able to see performances.

The theater, according to Busfield, provides more than just entertainment for the kids.

“It’s an immeasurable contribution on the artistic side,” he said. “So many studies have shown that kids who are involved with performing arts do better in class and are more likely to do well afterward.”

Sacramento City Unified School District Area Assistant Superintendent Lisa Allen, who is in charge of arts coordination in the district, said the theater expansion is a welcome addition for the area’s youth.

“Research shows that a curriculum richly infused with the arts helps children in many ways,” Allen said. “It improves academics, encourages emotional development and lets kids see the worlds beyond their classroom doors.”

Allen added that sites off of school grounds like the new theater are effective.

“The expansion of children’s theater in Sacramento is a positive step to introducing every child from every neighborhood to the magic of live performance,” she said.

For more information, visit here.

Images courtesy B Street Theatre.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Latest Board Update from the desk of Superintendent Jonathan P Raymond

2010-10-19T15:10:40Z

Teaching and Learning

Priority School Professional Development: Staffs of the six Superintendent’s Priority Schools gathered at the Serna Center this week for training with Rochelle Herring-Peniston, president of Transformation By Design. Faculty learned the use of Data Wise inquiry protocols, which assist in analyzing student work, and learned how to identify learning goals and teacher learning needs. The sessions used the teachings of Harvard researchers such as Kathryn Boudette, Richard Elmore and Brent Stephens as well as the work of Nancy Love, Linda Darling-Hammond and Walter Doyle.

Every Day Counts: Charlotte Chadwick, principal at John Bidwell School, is throwing down the gauntlet —on October 7, her school had nearly 100 percent attendance for both staff and students. All staff members were present and only three students out of 381 were absent, which equated to 99.993 percent. Almost exactly the same occurred on October 13, she notes, with the exception of one staff illness. Chadwick’s announcement kicks off a competition – can any school achieve 100 percent attendance this year?

CORE Launch: Superintendent Raymond was in Los Angeles on Monday for the launch of CORE (California Office to Reform Education), a nonprofit organization founded by the seven superintendents (including Superintendent Raymond) who authored California’s Race to the Top application. The group’s intention is to leverage the collective energy of these seven districts – which together serve more than a million students – to continue moving forward with reforms developed for RTTT despite the federal government’s denial of California’s bid. CORE aims to engage public school communities at the grassroots level in changes that will improve teaching and learning. Those change initiatives include implementation of the Common Core State Standards in math and English (which were approved by the state Board of Education in August); development of formative student assessments aligned to the new standards; and developing tools and processes to better serve teachers and principals.

Standards Discussed: Cesar Chavez Intermediate School’s fourth- and sixth-grade teachers held a “Standards Night” for parents last week in which they shared the results of the first benchmark tests in English and math and explained the purpose of real-time learning assessment and discussed learning expectations for students.

Cougars Hit the Right Note: The John F. Kennedy High School Marching Band competed in the Oakmont High School Invitational Marching Band Tournament and came in second place within their class. Individual student Chris Chin won first place in the Drum Major category.

LEED-ing the Way: Fifty businesses/organizations from throughout the area participated in “Career GPS,” a LEED (Linking Education and Economic Development)-sponsored event held Thursday at Luther Burbank High School and attended by Rosa Parks Middle School students. The event featured interactive exhibits by regional employers and a talk-show format panel presentation with industry experts.

Operations

Grant Money Received: SCUSD’s Planning and Construction department received word last week that the State Allocation Board approved the district’s joint-use grant application of $572,374 for the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library at the School of Engineering and Sciences. The project is funded by Proposition 55.

Community Engagement

Community Meeting/Back-to-School Night at Hiram Johnson: Hiram Johnson High School held a community meeting on Thursday night prior to the school’s Back-to-School night. At the meeting, district staff presented an overview of plans to engage the school community in developing a shared vision for the school. A few parents in attendance expressed concerns about the changes at the school and the meeting format. The Back-to-School Night, which followed the community meeting, was very well attended by parents and staff.

Healthy Competition: Students from Pacific Elementary and Maple Elementary met on the soccer field on October 8, where they “kicked” up a lot of school spirit. The event (pictured below) was a joint effort between Pacific and Pacific Enrichment Program (PEP), the campus after-school program.

Safety Meeting: Maple Elementary School held a Community Meeting with staff from the district’s Safe Schools Office and representatives of the Sacramento Police Department on Wednesday, October 13. Community and parents learned how to be the eyes and ears of the neighborhood, the importance of reporting unusual activity and information on gang prevention. The officer in attendance also addressed issues of traffic around the school.

‘Target’-ing Literacy: Parkway Elementary School won a $2,000 grant from Target stores for an Early Literacy Program for grades K-3.

Upcoming Events

C.K. McClatchy Homecoming Saturday, October 16 – 10 a.m.

The school’s 74th annual homecoming parade, themed “Party at the Pyramids,” begins at 10 a.m. in the CKM parking lot, 3066 Freeport Blvd. From there, the floats, marching band and “royalty” cars head south as they wind through the Land Park neighborhood. The homecoming football games against the Hiram Johnson High School follow: JV at 11 a.m. and varsity at 1 p.m.

Author Dave Eggers at JFK Wednesday, October 20 – 1 p.m.

Dave Eggers, Pulitzer Prize finalist for his memoir “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,” will speak with 450 John F. Kennedy High School students about his latest book, “Zeitoun,” a Los Angeles Times Book Award winner. Eggers’ appearance is sponsored by One Book Sacramento, a Sacramento Public Library program.

Health Fair Thursday, October 21 – 5 p.m.

Families will get free dental and vision screenings and other medical services and get an opportunity to sign up for health insurance or connect with health care providers. City of Sacramento Parks and Recreation will be providing entertainment. The fair is jointly sponsored by the City of Sacramento, Kaiser Medical Foundation and The Effort, a mental health and social services organization. The fair will be held at McClatchy.

Make a Difference Day Saturday, October 23 – 8:30 a.m.

Volunteer construction crews will be digging post holes, shoveling dirt and stacking cement blocks to create a brand new school garden at Bret Harte Elementary in Curtis Park, on Saturday – national Make a Difference Day. The work day will be organized like an old-fashioned barn-raising: Volunteers who participate will then take their newfound knowledge of garden installation to Luther Burbank High School, where they will rehabilitate a school garden there. The garden installation is a joint effort of several partners, including Bret Harte teachers and PTA, the Healthy Food Task Force, Sacramento Area Community Garden Coalition, Sierra Health and AmeriCorps.

Fall Graduation Tuesday, October 26 – 6 p.m.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell will be at the district’s annual Fall Graduation ceremony for students who completed all the requirements to earn a diploma last summer. Forty-nine students from throughout the district have been invited to attend with their families. The event will be held at the Charles A. Jones Skills Center, 5451 Lemon Hill Ave.

Hate Crimes Forum Thursday, October 28 – 3:30 p.m.

The 2nd Annual “Youth Against the Hate” forum, sponsored by SCUSD, Asian Resources and YouthRISE, will be held from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria at McClatchy. The afternoon program will include a keynote address by Basim Elkarra, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, workshops for teens and their parents and spoken word poetry by members of Sacramento Youth Speaks.

Ethel I. Baker Library Makeover Friday, October 29 – 1 p.m.

More than 150 volunteers will put finishing touches on a new school library at Ethel I. Baker Elementary School before an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2:45 p.m. The library makeover – one of 32 nationwide – is being made possible by Target and The Heart of America Foundation. The new library will have thousands of new books, new furniture, paint, carpet and technology. Additionally each student and their siblings will receive seven new books to take home to their personal library.

SCUSD Web Site http://www.scusd.edu/Pages/default.aspx

Johnson backs school board candidates

2010-10-13T20:59:52Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson announced his picks for school board races on Wednesday.

He endorsed Andrea Corso for the Area 2 seat, which includes the Meadowview neighborhood; Shane Singh for Area 6, which includes the Pocket neighborhood; and Paige Powell for the Area 1 neighborhoods, which include Land Park.

Johnson praised the candidates at a press conference held at the Robbie Waters Pocket Greenhaven Library.

These candidates for the board of the Sacramento City Unified School District “understand that everything isn’t OK,” Johnson said. “And they don’t want business as usual.”

Corso is the deputy director of Stand Up, Johnson’s education non-profit. The group formed four years ago, but Johnson made it one of his priorities in 2009. Stand Up’s website says the group presses to improve troubled schools in the Sacramento area.

Johnson said that education efforts may not be in the job description for mayors, but education should be a top priority for them.

Singh, Corso and Powell believe that teachers should be evaluated with data and the education system should include charter schools, Johnson said.

Representatives from various groups, including the city’s police union and the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s political action committee, stood with Johnson at the press conference. Johnson said the groups were part of a coalition that supports the candidates for school board seats.

The entire slate of candidates for the three seats follows:

Area 1: David Ross, Paige Powell, Ellyne Bell

Area 2: Andrea Corso, Jeff Cuneo, Matthew Easley, Mary Hernandez

Area 6: Darrel Woo, Sharon Owens Thomas, Rob Gunn, Shane Singh, Robert Bartron

Read about the SCUSD forum held Tuesday here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Metro PAC endorses SCUSD candidates with vision for change

2010-10-13T20:04:08Z

Metro PAC, the Sacramento Metro Chamber political action committee, was joined by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson on Oct . 13 to announce the PAC’s support for candidates in the November 2 General Election for Sacramento City Unified School District Board seats.

Metro PAC is endorsing Paige Powell (Area 1), Andie Curso (Area 2) and Shalend Singh (Area 6).

“The Sacramento Metro Chamber has long held an interest in reforming SCUSD schools,” said Metro PAC Vice Chair Frank Washington of Crossings KBTV - Comcast Channel 238. “Our local businesses need qualified, skilled employees for the many jobs available to students after graduation from high school. And we need to send more of our local students on to community colleges and universities for training in the emerging technical fields to supply innovation industries.”

In particular, Washington said school reform is critically needed in grade schools because California school test scores show only 39 percent of third-grade students are reading at grade level in SCUSD schools.

“Compare that to Roseville, where 66 percent of their third-graders are reading at or above their grade level,” he said. “We have a desperate situation here in Sacramento. The candidates who Metro PAC has endorsed—Paige Powell, Andie Curso and Shalend Singh—we believe will provide the quality guidance the SCUSD school board needs right to help our children succeed in school now and in the workplace years later.”

For more information on Metro PAC, click here.

Disclosure: Hal Silliman is the Communictions Director for Sacramento Metro Chamber.

Candidates vie for SCUSD Board seat

2010-10-13T07:06:32Z

The slate is diverse, ranging from a higher education teacher to a retired Naval commander. All are vying for one thing: the chance to represent the Pocket neighborhood on the SCUSD School Board.

Five candidates met at a forum on Tuesday evening at the School of Engineering and Sciences to make their case as best representative for SCUSD District 6 Board Member. The forum was organized by the Didion/Lewis Park Recreational Center Committee and moderated by Michael Langley, editor of Pocket Online.

The biggest topic of reform referred to teachers.

"Everything is in instruction," said Sharon Owens-Thomas. "We probably have one-third high performing teachers in the district, another third mediocre, and another third that are underperforming."

"The first thing we have to do is change the way that we bring teachers into this system."

This feeling was echoed by other candidates.

"It's sad to say, but there are a lot of teachers that are excellent and phenomenal, and there are a few teachers who are not," said Shane Singh.

Darrel Woo, whose qualification as a teacher came under question last week, took a somewhat different approach.

"I'm not in favor of throwing out the baby with the bathwater," said Woo. "What I am in favor of is making our teachers better teachers, making our parents stand up for their children, and making our children responsible for their education as well."

Robert Barton looked at reform in terms of motivation.

"Reform is to help leaders in charge of schools, not administrators," said Barton. "The Principal's role is to inspire, to lead, to train, to motivate; it's all about leadership at the school."

"You don't fire the teachers, you motivate them."

The topic of teachers led to the inevitable discussion regarding labor unions.

"We need school reform, we need to work with the unions to try to somehow phase out these teachers who are no longer motivated," said Rob Gunn.

In regards to unions, Singh discussed tenure and proposed training, something Owens-Thomas took exception to.

"How much training can we have," asked Owens-Thomas. "I don't wan't see another training program. What I want is to grade highly effective teachers in the classroom."

Singh suggested having a gauge to measure teacher performance, and Owens-Thomas was quick to point one out.

"I'm sorry Mr. Singh but we do have a gauge in Sac City Unified," responded Owens-Thomas. "They're called benchmarks."

In the end, all the candidates shared a common goal.

"Let's make our teachers better teachers," said Woo. "Let's make them the best teachers they can be for our children."

Both District 7 Councilmember Candidates Ryan Chin and Darrel Fong were on hand for the meeting.

Representatives from Mayor Kevin Johnson's office were also in attendance.

Visit Pocket Online for more information regarding the candidates and audio clips from the forum.

Forum for SCUSD District 6 Trustee Candidates

2010-09-30T03:57:46Z

Residents of the Pocket and Greenhaven neighborhoods will have a chance to hear from candidates running for Trustee Area 6 of Sacramento City Unified School District at a forum on Tuesday, October 12, 2010.

Photo by MikkiPiper.

Five candidates are running for the position since two-term incumbent Roy Grimes declined running for a third term. Grimes served as SCUSD board president three times during his eight year tenure.

The slate of candidates is diverse:

Rob Gunn is a transportation engineer.

Darrel Woo is a higher education teacher and City Parks & Recreation Commissioner.

Robert Bartron is a retired Naval Commander and education administrator.

Shane Singh is a community volunteer and attorney.

Sharon Owens Thomas is a teacher.

The forum, presented by the Didion/Lewis Park Recreational Center Committee, takes place in the gym of the School of Engineering & Sciences from 7pm-8:30pm.

Michael Langley of Pocket Online is slated as moderator.

View more from Mikki Piper.

Rhee urges top school officials to get political, find supporters

2010-05-25T04:30:32Z

School district superintendents should find ways to gain political support from community members, according to Washington, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.

At a Sacramento Press Club luncheon Monday, Rhee urged the city’s businesspeople, media professionals and politicians to back Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jonathan Raymond in his efforts.

These groups should “give this man some cover,” Rhee said.

Superintendents are not elected to their positions, but they can benefit from making alliances with groups, she said.

“When you are a superintendent and you want to do bold things that might not be popular, you have to have some political capital," she said.

Rhee, who is engaged to Mayor Kevin Johnson, gave the example of layoffs she made last fall. She said that because of a budget crunch, she laid off 266 teachers.

Rhee said she changed the way layoffs had been carried out, deciding that the criteria for a layoff should be the quality of a person’s work instead of the length of time they have worked for the school district.

The business community’s support of her criteria was helpful, she said.

“The business community were the ones who were my strongest supporters of this,” she said. “They came out and said: This is how we run our businesses. We would never run an organization in a way that you were just ... getting rid of people based on how many years they’ve been there instead of looking at what they produced for the organization.”

Rhee, who praised government systems in which mayors run schools, said she and Johnson were not planning any efforts to reverse California law to allow mayors to manage schools. However, she did say that an effort to change state law could be worthwhile later.

“Now, a few years down the line: Is this something that might be appropriate?” she asked rhetorically. “Absolutely.”

Asked after the event if she planned to move to Sacramento, Rhee responded that she still has a lot of work to do in Washington, D.C.

A move to Sacramento is “not going to be any time in the near future,” she said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

David Lubin and Matsuyama Elementary Schools Named 2010 California Distinguished Schools

2010-04-20T15:11:24Z

Sacramento, Calif. – Two Sacramento City Unified School District elementary schools – Matsuyama and David Lubin – were named 2010 California Distinguished Schools by the California Department of Education on Monday.

The award recognizes academic excellence and efforts to narrow achievement gaps. Schools are identified for eligibility on the basis of state and federal accountability program test scores. Applicants are then required to describe two “signature practices” that have led to an increase in student achievement and a reduction in test score disparity between ethnic, racial and socio-economic groups.

At David Lubin, Principal Lynne Soto and her team have raised the test scores of African American and Latino students by implementing a teacher-led, school-wide writing program and by carefully assessing the language arts needs and skills of students to place them in appropriate classes.

Matsuyama was honored for its focus on differentiated instruction and student intervention. Principal David Huscher says these programs have aided in raising test scores among African American, Latino and socio-economically disadvantaged students.

“Creating educational success stories for our students – especially those who have struggled in the past – is an extraordinary accomplishment,” said Superintendent Jonathan Raymond on learning of the district’s Distinguished Schools honorees. “We are very proud of the hard work put in by students and staffs at David Lubin and Matsuyama.”

The Distinguished School program is in its 24th year. Elementary and secondary schools are recognized on alternate years. The awards will be handed out during a ceremony at Disneyland on June 2.

Gabe Ross (916) 643-9145 gabe-ross@sac-city.k12.ca.us

Freshateria.com Offers Healthy Alternative to Sacramento School Lunches

2010-03-26T19:21:37Z

Freshateria.com, a website offering healthy alternatives to be served at elementary schools for lunch in Sacramento and surrounding areas, launched March 15. The website offers more nutritional options to be delivered to a child's school for $3.75 per meal and is served from the cafeteria at lunch time.

The meals are USDA-certified for portion size and calorie-to-fat ratios and consist of organically grown fruits and vegetables, whole-grain breads and naturally raised meats.

Freshateria.com is an outgrowth of 15-year-strong Sacramento catering company Jealousy Catering, run by entrepreneurial duo Mike Souza and Rick Reynolds. According to Souza, the idea sparked as a way to diversify business and stay afloat in tough economic times. With some investigation, though, the real benefit of the program became clear.

Similar programs exist in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., but Sacramento is new to the healthy school lunch option. Souza and Reynolds are also new to the process, but have gained much ground on implementing the program.

They have received nothing but help and positive feedback from PTA groups and school boards.

According to Souza, Kit Carson Middle School and Pheobe Hearst Elementary School of Sacramento City Unified School District are two schools the organization would really like to work with.

Charlie Watters, Principal of both these schools, says the program may be interesting in the future but that it may take some time to become a possibility due to achieving district approval.

Beyond providing the food, Freshateria.com hopes to educate parents on what foods their children are (and should be) eating and providing children with a lifetime of good eating habits.

The program is also set up to donate between five and 12 cents back to the school for each meal sold.

2010 is all about spreading the word for Freshateria.com. The owners recently moved into a facility three times larger than their previous one and seek to add more than 50 new schools this year. They also want to extend the program to Fairfield, Stockton, Lodi and possibly other areas.

The program has simple and positive intentions, Souza said. "We just want to serve our kids fresh food."

For more information and participation options, visit Freshateria.com

Four city schools among state honorees for rigorous academic achievement Closing achievement gap among recognition criteria

2010-02-11T23:57:00Z

By Maria L. Lopez

Four Sacramento City Unified School District campuses are among 238 California schools announced today as recipients of the 2009-10 Title 1 Academic Achievement Award. The SCUSD sites are David Lubin, Earl Warren, Isador Cohen and Theodore Judah elementary schools. Aspire Capitol Heights Academy and St. HOPE Public School 7, both independent charter schools located in the district, are also among the award winners.

“This recognition is a testament to the great work of students, teachers and parents occurring at these schools,” SCUSD Superintendent Jonathan P. Raymond said. “The recognition is especially appreciated because progress towards closing the achievement gap is one of the measures used to single out these campuses,” Raymond stated.

The Title 1 Academic Achievement Award is given only to schools receiving federal Title 1 funds, federal funding that assists schools in meeting the educational needs of students living near or at the poverty level. More than 6,000 of California’s 9,000 campuses participate in the Title I program.

Schools must demonstrate that all students are making significant progress toward proficiency on California’s academic content standards and the schools’ low-income students must have doubled the achievement targets set for them over two consecutive years.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell called principals of each of the schools to convey the good news and express congratulations and appreciation for the successful student and staff efforts. “These award recipients prove that with hard work and high expectation, students can overcome challenges and achieve academic success,” O’Connell said.

The 2009-10 awardees will be honored at a reception and banquet at the Disneyland Hotel on April 21, 2010.

Go to the Sacramento City Unified School District Web site.

The survey of the community and employees regarding SCUSD's budget and strategic plan is complete.

2010-02-11T16:30:00Z

These surveys mark the beginning of a new commitment by SCUSD to listening to our community, consulting the community on important decisions and providing the public open access to our work in leading the district. We thank everyone for their enthusiastic participation in these historic surveys. The data will be accumulated and we will report on the results of the surveys as soon as possible. We also will contact those community members who provided us email addresses when the survey results are tabulated.

SCUSD reaches out to Hmong families to secure voice in budget, strategic plan

2010-02-05T17:25:54Z

Hmong Women’s Heritage Association helps boost participation in district surveys

By Maria L. Lopez

In 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—including parents, teachers and other employees of the district—is being asked to respond to the surveys that will yield for school board members and the superintendent a treasure trove of information about the community’s needs and priorities for public schools.

SCUSD Superintendent Jonathan Raymond said, “We have a valuable and important partner in the Hmong Women’s Heritage Association, and we greatly appreciate their assistance in reaching out to an important and vital part of our community.” He added, “We want to make sure everyone takes this opportunity to be heard.” Community members can take part in the surveys through Feb. 9. The surveys are anonymous. Results will be shared with the public the week of Feb. 15. In addition to the HWHA, neighborhood associations and other organizations are assisting the district by encouraging their members and partners to complete the surveys.

HWHA is a non-profit, community-based organization committed to empowering Hmong women and their families in the Sacramento region. It provides a range of health services through the Hmong Family Resource Center, the Kashia Health Program which aims to reduce cancer and chronic health disparities among the Hmong community, and the Youth Empowerment Program that operates after-school programs to help meet the needs of Southeast Asian youth.

Go to the Sacramento City School District Web Site

Historic Surveys on Public Schools Draw Strong Interest

2010-02-04T02:55:52Z

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 that will yield for school board members and the superintendent a treasure trove of information about the community’s needs and priorities for public schools.

“We’ve had an excellent response from teachers, parents, students and community members so far. With their responses to these surveys, they are giving the school board and the administration very valuable information to help to make tough decisions on the budget and to help us to plan where we the Sacramento City Unified School District should be headed in the future,” Superintendent Raymond said. “There is still time, though, for more citizens to go online to participate and make sure their voices are heard.”

Community members and employees should log on to the district website, www.scusd.edu, to take part before Feb. 9.

One survey is designed to gain recommendations from the public on how the district should deal with a budget shortfall of up to $30 million. The other survey will help district leaders design a new strategic plan to improve every school.

While the community has one more week to weigh in on the issues, the surveys already are producing trends for school district officials. For example, large numbers of community members who have already responded reported that keeping class sizes small and making sure children have textbooks are important considerations for the budget. Teachers and staff, meanwhile, also are trending toward small classes and textbooks as very important considerations for the budget, along with making sure every school has its own principal.

Students surveyed for their thoughts on the development of the district’s strategic plan are reporting that having good teachers and principals and feeling safe at school are the most important considerations.

“In the end, the school board will make the tough decisions about how to balance the budget and will set a direction for the district with the new strategic plan. But these surveys are allowing us to have a conversation with the people of Sacramento – teachers, parents and community members alike – like never before in our history. These conversations are vitally important and are giving us a window into the community’s thoughts and ideas about the kind of schools they want. We want to make sure everyone takes this opportunity to be heard,” Superintendent Raymond said.

The surveys were developed by K12 Insight with input from district officials and community members who were part of a special community wide focus group convened Jan. 12.

More than 3,800 responses to the surveys have been received from Sac City teachers, and nearly 3,000 responses have been received from parents and other community members so far. Students were invited to respond to the strategic plan survey, and more than 4,200 students have done so.

The surveys are anonymous. The surveys are returned electronically to K12 Insight, which produces reports for the school district based on the results. No names of respondents are attached to the reports provided to the school district. Results will be shared with the community the week of Feb. 15.

Parent surveys are available in Hmong and Spanish in addition to English. Parents who cannot access the surveys online may call (916) 643-9420 for a paper copy of the survey.

School moving from old Marshall School to Thomas Jefferson Elementary

2009-11-05T03:04:47Z

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 by all appearances structurally sound, does not comply with two very important requirements," Raymond said. "No. 1, the Field Act, (which) simply relates to the ability of a building to withstand a seismic event; the other important component is this building does not meet state building codes - it is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act."

He stated that charter schools are required by Prop 39, which passed in 2005, to comply with either one of these codes, and the Marshall School does not. Raymond also took responsibility for the error, and said he looks forward to helping CMP move to the Jefferson campus, which is Field Act and ADA compliant.

"We're going to do it expeditiously, with (the) least disruption to the children and to the families of California Montessori Project, first and foremost," Raymond said to the crowd of nearly 200 gathered in the multi-purpose/lunch room.

This includes providing bus transportation to the new school site throughout the remainder of the school year. Details on the bus routes will be given in the next week, Raymond said.

Thomas Jefferson Elementary School closed at the end of the 2008-09 school year after suffering from low enrollment and loss of revenue. Although CMP Capitol Campus' enrollment is also low, in the low 200s, moving to this location is an opportunity for the school to expand and use the facility the way it should be used, Raymond said.

The school also has a new rooftop ventilation system with furnaces and thermostats added last year, said Mellissa Truitt, SCUSD Associate Superintendent of Capital Asset Management Services.

Some parents said they were still upset about leaving the downtown location so quickly in the middle of a school year. They were notified in late October about a possible move.

"The move is disappointing because we lived in the (Marshall) neighborhood," said Rachelle Barbour, parent of a first-grade student at CMP. "If it wasn't for the liability reasons [if a seismic event did occur, the district and the CMP board would be liable for any injury], it wouldn't have happened so fast."

However, Barbour said she felt "reassured" that the superintendent met with parents and will use the buses provided by the school district. She also noted that there are too few schools in the grid, and said she would like for another school to open in the downtown area.

Darrin Greer, another parent of a first-grade student, thought that the meeting was informative and answered questions.

"The superintendent was open and it helps (that) the district is committed to transportation," he said. "Moving is difficult to do in the middle of the year."

Greer said it would be interesting to see how many people will stay at CMP and how many will leave, but he expects most will stay for at least the rest of this year. He also wanted to know if any other schools in the SCUSD have ADA or Field Act compliance issues.

"This was the only one," Raymond said in an interview after the meeting. "We want to see it thrive. We want to provide whatever support we can to ensure that they do, it's important for the community."

He also said that creating downtown-area schools is a priority.

"We have people living and moving in there, and we need to provide school facilities for those children too and those families," Raymond said. "I've told the community and others in the neighborhood that's something I want to work toward."

Sacramento: A City That Works For Everyone: How Does Central Sacramento Work For Families?

2009-10-29T19:22:29Z

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 premises in a hurry, in the middle of the school year -the move has already been planned for November 11th- even though parents learned through a subsequent letter from Gary Bowman (dated Thursday October 22nd) that there is "no imminent danger" and even though no one has yet seen the full report on which the SCUSD based its decision. Parents were not consulted, either about the time frame or by the choice of the new location. There is a perception among the parents community that the SCUSD is forcing a hasty decision in order to facilitate some ulterior plan. Read more here

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson's slogan for Sacramento is "A City That Works For Everyone". How can the central city work for families if school are disappearing? CMP- Capitol Campus is the only Charter School offering a free-tuition Montessori education in the downtown/midtown area, attracting an extremely diverse community of families. The rightly named “Capitol Campus” has been in existence for eight years (first in the Pioneer Church on L Street, then since August 2009, in the Old Marshall School, where it was able to receive more students and extend its offering to 7th and 8th graders). Many families have made the choice to live in the downtown area because they believe in minimizing their environmental impact and improving the quality of life by living close to work and school. Last August, the Old Marshall School neighborhood community welcomed the school with open arms and big smiles, it was viewed as an important moment in the life of our city. Read more here. Parents are worried that their vision to make midtown more friendly and welcoming to families will never materialize if there are no schools to support families.

Open letter to Susan Miller, Associate Superintendent Sacramento City Unified

Dear Susan Miller,

Thank you for your message, even though it is a form letter that all parents received as a reply; and even though it came when everything had already been decided without any real input from us, the parents. This doesn't reflect a real concern for our situation! Only SCUSD Board member Jerry Houseman has shown a real interest in our problem by engaging into individual and thoughtful conversations, not only with me but with all the parents from whom he had received a letter.

We are forced to move but we still haven't seen the famous report from the architects and engineers hired by the District that claim that the Old Marshall School is not in compliance with the California Building Codes. We, as parents, are very curious to learn what the real problem with the school is: how exactly is the Old Marshall Building not in compliance? When are we going to be able to see and review the full report?

I was looking forward to meeting Superintendent Jonathan Raymond on November 3rd but now I am worried that he will give us the same kind of general, non-specific answers.

It is indeed "most unfortunate" -to quote your words- that our whole school Community has to be uprooted to the College Glen area, nice in itself but not what I signed up for when I enrolled my kids into the "CAPITOL" Campus of CMP. I will now have to spend 20 to 30 minutes on the freeway to take my kids to school every day (which is almost 2 hours in the car each day) when our commute to school is right now only 7 minutes (less than 30 minutes per day in the car).

If I had wanted to drive so far just so that my children would have a soccer field near their school or a real multi-purpose room, I could have signed up for another CMP Campus. What is now the choice of the parents who have chosen the environmentally conscious lifestyle of living, working, shopping, entertaining, and taking their kids to school in downtown Sacramento?

How is it more safe for our family to drive so long to go to school? There is more chance that my children would get injured in a car accident than there is that the Old Marshall School would ever fall on their heads!

We had a nice location at the Pioneer Church that we were outgrowing, so yes we were looking for another location in the downtown area, but we could have stayed there another year or two, till we find the perfect place... Now we have no choice but to take our kids to a distant school or leave CMP in the middle of the school year, which as you know very well is an almost impossible task, not only because the schools are full but because of the hardship it would impose on our children.

The only real support from the District that I would have been grateful for would have been if you had helped us find a location in the downtown area (even if it was only a temporary solution), by working in collaboration with the state or even commercial building owners, so that our families could have remained where we have chosen to be by enrolling our kids into the CMP Capitol Campus.

Sincerely,
Cecile Downs, a distressed and frustrated parent of two CMP students.

Marshall School Closure Blow to Central City Renaissance

2009-10-29T19:05:14Z

The sudden directive by Sacramento City Unified School District that California Montessori Project must abandon the Old Marshall Elementary School has done more than disrupt the lives of the students, parents and faculty. It has the potential to strike a major blow to the renaissance of the central city. One of the primary reasons families choose where they live is what schools are available. CMP had operated successfully out of the Pioneer Church for eight years. The site did limit the size of the enrollment. When SCUSD deemed Old Marshall School safe for charter school and offered it to CMP, after careful consideration they accepted the offer. CMP was thrilled to have a beautiful building that could be used for it's original purpose and they could expand to meet the strong demand for more student enrollment. Central city neighborhood leaders also expressed their enthusiasm for Old Marshall School returning as an elementary school with a program that attracted more families to Midtown and the surrounding area. This accelerated the trend of families moving in and the stabilizing effect they create.

The directive to move out of Old Marshall includes help moving and an alternative site. Unfortunately this school is far removed from the central city. At Tuesday night's CMP emergency board meeting, the accepting environment of Midtown and the CMP school was cited by sexual and racial minority parents as a prime reason for where they live. Many other families are the “New Urbanists”. They choose to live in neighborhoods that are reviving old homes, are mixed use and walkable. Having an excellent school that reflected their values is a major component of the mix. Now having their children bussed or having to drive them themselves creates new issues of safety and convenience.

What is to become of Old Marshall School is also a great concern to central city neighborhood leaders. If it sets empty it becomes a magnet for graffiti and vandalism. Will other uses be compatible with the neighborhood? Frankly the administration of the adult education program previously housed in the school was outright hostile to the neighborhood.

Many of us believe that SCUSD, the City of Sacramento and the neighborhoods need to work together to return Old Marshall School to being a high quality elementary school. The deficiencies in the building need to be clearly identified, the cost to remedy these deficiencies set out, and a plan to carry out fixing the problem developed. This needs to be done for the sake of a high quality historic building and a liveable central city. The SACOG Blueprint identifies the central city of Sacramento as the area with the largest amount of infill. To be successful families need to be part of this infill. Without the option of an excellent elementary school this will be very difficult.

Parents split over possible Montessori school move

2009-10-28T04:56:49Z

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 see if the school would need to move. They voiced a range of concerns, asked questions and offered suggestions to the board and its director.

The public charter grade school opened at its current location, 2700 G St., on Aug. 17, after eight years of being located in the Pioneer Congregational Church, 2700 L St.

California Montessori Project leases the Marshall School building from the Sacramento City Unified School District, which also oversees its charter.

Last week, parents received a letter from CMP superintendent Gary Bowman saying new SCUSD superintendent Jonathan Raymond had recently performed a study, deeming the building unsafe.

"I don't think (previous) staff did a thorough job, and that was something that I uncovered when I started," Raymond said to KCRA 3 last Tuesday. "(Students) were already in there, and we started to ask questions (like) 'Why were they in before we did a thorough review?'"

California public schools are required to pass strict earthquake standards designated in the 1933 Field Act, but since the Marshall School was built in 1903, it does not meet them.

"We know we don't have Field Act compliance, (because) we predated the Act by a number of years," said Bowman.

As a charter school, however, CMP only needs to meet minimum building requirements and not the Field Act. Their previous location, Pioneer Congregational Church, was not Field Act-compliant.

Bowman told those gathered Monday night that Raymond told him last week, "it's not your mistake, it's the city's mistake." He also said Raymond told him that "we will do everything we can to make it whole," and that he wants to meet again next Tuesday.

A CMP facilities team proposed Jefferson Elementary School, in the College Glen neighborhood, as the best fit for the school to lease. Several parents praised Jefferson's newer facilities, which include a larger grassy area for children to play, a more modern kitchen and a multipurpose room with a stage.

"In terms of the move itself, SCUSD is going to bring in packers, movers, they're going to go full tilt to support this move," Bowman added.

However, others felt skeptical of SCUSD's motives, shocked and betrayed at the sudden news.

"We felt that the building was safe enough," said Cécile Downs, the parent of a kindergartner and a second grader. "To my knowledge the school still has not received any written instructions to move."

Many parents voiced their concern that moving would disrupt students' education and take parent volunteer hours. Others alleged that the district wanted to rent out the Marshall School, which Bowman denied.

A number of parents demanded transportation to the new school it moves. Some said they would not be able to transport their children because it takes too long.

"This building is over a century old, and I don't believe there have been any problems related to earthquakes in this building," said Rich, a parent of a first grader who did not give his last name. "There is far more risk to our children driving on the freeway for two hours a day to get to a new location."

The Sacramento Press contacted SCUSD's public relations office manager Maria Lopez and asked if the Marshall School building violates any codes. She said the code is not the issue.

"Our superintendent said that no students should be in any structures not compliant with the Field Act," Lopez said. "There's a little bit of a grey area on whether independent charters (should) go into non-Field Act-compliant structures. Some think that they can, some think that they cannot."

Mayor announces major Kennedy Center arts program in Sacramento

2009-10-09T19:05:16Z

With members of the Sacramento arts community, the local education establishment and a representative of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts at his side, Mayor Kevin Johnson Friday morning announced a major new arts education initiative in Sacramento.

Sacramento has been chosen from 27 cities to be the Kennedy Center's first civic partner for the "Any Given Child" program, an effort to match arts groups, school districts and the Kennedy Center itself in the promotion of arts programs in the city's schools. After being developed in Sacramento over the next two years, the program will be rolled out nationwide.

"We need to redefine how we look at the arts," said Johnson, standing in the west lobby of the Convention Center. "We need to make sure...arts is an integral part of our community."

Johnson introduced the Kennedy Center's President Michael M. Kaiser, who spoke of the need for not just some children, but "any given child to have a great...systematic arts education." He also praised Johnson's commitment to the arts, citing it as a reason that the Kennedy Center had chosen Sacramento out of all the contending cities.

The emphasis of the speeches was on a "systematic" approach to what has been an ad hoc way of teaching arts in underfunded schools. Kaiser - who has run such storied arts organizations as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and the American Ballet Theatre - introduced his comments by contrasting the treatment of arts in the public schools to that of other subjects, which are often considered to be more essential. "Kids don't come home and say, 'We're not going to learn math this year'," he said.

The goal, said Kaiser and other participants, is to create a comprehensive kindergarten- eighth grade system of arts education that is interdisciplinary and in which each year's work builds on the previous year, the same way that mathematics classes move from algebra to geometry to calculus.

Jonathan Raymond, who has been in his job as superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District for only six weeks, said that the first step will be "to understand where we are now," and then to figure out "how we do what works systematically, and sustain it."

The Kennedy Center's Kaiser also noted that this pilot program is entirely funded by the Kennedy Center, a concrete expression of support for an arts community that Johnson touted strongly in his opening comments. Kaiser also said that once the program is developed in Sacramento over the next two years, it will be rolled out in cities across the country.

"But Sacramento will be home to this program," he added.

There was some levity at the conference as well, as when speaker Dr. Ziggy Robeson, assistant superintendent of the Twin Rivers Unified School District, compared favorably a passion for the arts to that for sports, causing Johnson, a former basketball star, to shift with mock discomfort behind her.

Johnson's monthly "For Art's Sake" meetings will continue to be held the fourth Wednesday of every month, from 10-11 a.m., at various locations around the Sacramento area.

Photo credit: Kati Garner

Advisory Committee Meets to Protect Community Interest

2009-06-19T05:55:31Z

The members of Facilities Re-use/7-11 Committee left their three-hour meeting having reached enough consensuses to fill a PowerPoint presentation for the Sacramento City Unified School District’s Board of Education.

On Wednesday, June 17, 11 community members met for the third time at the Serna Center to discuss potential re-uses for six school sites within the Sacramento City District that have been closed due to dilapidated enrollment and budget shortfalls.

The meeting was facilitated by Sacramento Mediation Center Director Ellen Taylor and UC Davis Mediator and Facilitator Mary Madison. The committee was founded with the intent of advising the Board of Education’s decision based on a community perspective.

The final verdict for the re-use of the recently closed Genesis High School, Lisbon, Alice Birney, Thomas Jefferson, Marian Anderson and Bear Flag Elementary Schools will be decided by the eight members of the board.

The meeting focused on developing criteria for possible re-use, the preferred uses for the sites and potential partnerships, and a review of public requests for the spaces.

The group created a checklist of concerns involving the potential re-uses. General consent was reached on matters such as leaving the option for the site to be re-used as a school again or keeping future uses consistent with community needs. Organizations such as Parks and Recreation and Sacramento Office of Education were deemed preferred partnerships and prospective uses such as child care, fee-based adult education training, and senior care were approved as positive ways to occupy the sites.

Despite the cohesive progress made by the Committee, there was still a question hanging over the various discourses: How much impact will their efforts have on the Board of Education’s decision making processes?

According to Second Vice President Board Member Patrick Kennedy, the committee will have “a tremendous amount of impact.”

“These aren’t just school decisions, these are community decisions,” Kennedy said. “The role of a board member is to take community values and turn it into policy at the level of the board. This committee is important because it provides the voice of the values.”

Committee Member and Chairwoman of Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education Heidi McLean voiced her concern over the board’s considerations of the group’s efforts, “I just want the board to welcome input from the community. Communication is the hardest thing for the district.”

The meeting’s close, however, brought a sense of gratitude for the efforts of the dedicated community members and facilitators, as expressed by SCUSD’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Barentson.

“On behalf of the District, we are very pleased with the work of this Committee. We need this information; it is so important to the decision making process and I want to thank the public for their support,” said Barentson.

“It has been a wonderful meeting with wonderful people,” Taylor said, “Everyone has shared ideas and has the same goal, and there have been no issues of contention.”

“I was very thankful for the mediators and facilitators,” McLean said. “The fact that they were here to move the process along allowed me to be at a sense of peace with the end product.”

More information on the Facilities Re-Use/7-11 Committee can be found on its website: www.scusd.edu/operations_support/7-11%20Re-Use.htm