Q. My brother is going to get out of jail soon, and we were planning on him moving in with me, but his parole officer told him he couldn’t because he has to register as a sex offender and I live too close to an elementary school, which is against “Megan’s Law” or “Jessica’s Law” or something like that. Isn’t there anything we can do? I’m afraid if he doesn’t live with me he will be homeless. Jerri A. California’s Megan’s Law requires anyone convicted of a wide range of crimes, including forcible sex crimes involving non-consenting adults and most sex crimes involving children, prostitution, and child pornography, to register as a sex offender upon release on parole or probation or discha

Two years ago, Camellia Waldorf School’s Winter Faire was hit by something unexpected: rain. It flooded the parking lots, turned a dry creek into a creek and threatened the good spirits of the day. Participants shifted into the school for cover, while vendors put up their canopies and served hot chocolate and soup. Despite the rain, it was one of the busiest fairs that school has hosted, with reportedly 1,000 visitors. “It didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s feelings,” event co-chair Sarah Rucker said. “It’s a reflection of the norm at Waldorf School. If it were snowing, we’d still have a blast.” This year, the Winter Faire began under a cloudless sky on Saturday, December 10th, on the school

Q: My 7-year-old daughter is dealing with a bully at school. She comes home almost daily and relates stories about how another girl in her class makes fun of her. Apparently she is making fun of her clothes, the words she uses, her school work... anything she can think of. I have always thought my little girl was pretty outgoing and strong, but lately she seems to be breaking under the weight of the bullying. I have given her all the pep talks I can think of (kill her with kindness, avoid her at all costs, and compliment her when she bullies you). Nothing has changed and I feel like I need to step in on a more parental level, but I don't know where to start. A: I am sorry for the trouble

Students and advisers from five Sacramento area high schools joined in a virtual rally Wednesday – with kids from Los Angeles, Fresno and Oakland schools – as part of the National Week of Action to raise awareness about the overuse of extreme school discipline. The rally connected more than 100 students, parents and community activists via live video feed to discuss recent trends in suspensions, expulsions and other harsh punishments in California schools. According to data from the California Department of Education, there were 235,033 students enrolled in public schools in Sacramento county in the 2010-11 school year. There were 47,678 suspensions and expulsions issued that same year

Q: My son is 7 years old and currently attending a public school in the first grade. It has been obvious to my husband and I for some time that he has some kind of learning disability and some behavioral issues, but he has never been diagnosed with anything, and we aren't really sure what to do. His teacher tells us that he isn't reading at a first -grade level and that his actions in class not only prevent him for learning but disrupt the entire classroom environment. We don't really know what to do or where to begin. I haven't received any support from the school in this situation, so right now I am just frustrated. I don't want my son to fall behind, but I think he needs help. His dis

“Well you roll on roads over fresh green grass. For your lorry loads pumping petrol gas. And you make them long, and you make them tough. But they just go on and on, and it seems that you can’t get off… Well you’ve cracked the sky, scrapers fill the air. But will you keep on building higher til there’s no more room up there? … I know we’ve come a long way, Were changing day to day, But tell me, where do the children play?” Cat Stevens In the rush to make Sacramento a big city we seem to concentrate on the expanding bars, restaurants, basketball arena, high rises, and other superficial aspects of a big city. We forget that key components to a successful revitalized city are the childr

Many school and district administrators relate that they lack the specific skills and knowledge to help teachers with English Language Development (ELD). I interviewed Kevin Clark (Clark Consulting) about the ELD Program. Kevin Clark, Clark Consulting says, "Those assigned to ELD coaching roles tell us over and over again that they took the assignment with little guidance and no clear goals." Check out my video!   <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EACEmys9Shc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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 environme

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 med

The Black Parallel School Board discussed its plans for 2011, including addressing problems with the quality of teachers and underachievement of black students in the Sacramento City Unified School District. The meeting was held Saturday at the Oak Park United Methodist Church. The BPSB’s mission is to ensure quality education for African American students in the SCUSD. The board observes and critiques SCUSD performance and advocates for African American students. The BPSB was created in Jan. 2008. It was born of the frustration of Sacramento State professor Otis Scott with the SCUSD at a Sacramento Area Black Caucus meeting in 2006. According to Carl Pinkston, secretary of the BPSB ex

Marni Rubin took her guests on a journey through the tastes, textures and pairings of specialty cheeses, chocolates, ports and dessert wines Saturday. C’est le Cheese owner Jody Lagorio and her husband, Dan Hague, hosted the event at the Lofts on L street. Rubin is a wine educator by trade, teaching class through Wine One One, but she said this class is her favorite to teach, especially around the holidays. She is self educated and she is also a certified wine specialist by the Society of Wine Educators. Before teaching she worked as sommelier. “I enjoy bringing people together to enjoy and share food and elevate their knowledge of all aspects of food,” Lagorio said. The guests are gree

Sacramento, Calif.— Voyage Home Loans donated $480 worth of school supplies to 60 third grade students of Freeport Elementary School of Sacramento on Friday, September 10. Each student received a binder and a goody bag full of school supplies, which included scissors, colored pencils, crayons, watercolor sets, a highlighter, a glue stick, a ruler, four pencils and four erasers. They also provided each of the three third grade classrooms with notebook paper, copy paper, colored paper, tissues, and alcohol-free hand sanitizer. “It was wonderful! The students were very surprised when they were given their very own bag of supplies,” said Freeport Elementary Principal Amy Whitten. “They were

A local high school student, Hunter Cooper, 15, is getting more than his allotted 15 minutes of fame. It happens sometimes when the planets align just so and the event, the social climate and decisions made by certain authorities combine into the perfect public relations storm. And Cooper has found himself in the eye of it. His claim to fame? He wore a rubber bracelet to school emblazoned with a slogan deemed offensive by administrators at Rocklin High School in Rocklin, Calif. The bracelet is part of Keep A Breast foundation’s breast cancer awareness campaign. The slogan, “i [heart] boobies,” is aimed at raising awareness among young people and if the current media bonfire is any indicati

A new, bookless public school is opening in West Sacramento Sept. 7. Instead of the usual stack of textbooks, each student at the California College, Career & Technical Education Center will receive an Apple iPad. The school will initially serve only ninth- and 10th-grade students, but plans to expand to serve adult-aged students within one year and kindergarten through eighth-grade students within two years. “As a charter school, we have some freedom to try things like this,” Executive Director of CCCTEC Paul Preston said. Preston said he wouldn’t be surprised to see devices like iPads begin replacing books in classrooms across America soon, citing the high price of text books and broad

Today marks the first day of school for many kids in the greater Sacramento area. Some districts, like Folsom Cordova, are already in their second week of school, but for a majority of the districts today is the end of a hopefully fun filled summer and back to building of a foundation that will help them succeed into the future. For most kids the school they are attending will be the same as last year or one that has seen many kids through the years. With the downturn of the economy and housing market we have not seen many new schools built in recent years. Many districts have even started to consolidate and close schools. That is not the case for this year’s students attending Cosumnes R

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

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

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

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

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