By Henrietta Cisneros, freelance correspondent. June 2, 2011 12:00 p.m., PST Dirty Pool: SCTA Style Members of the Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) and a faction of teachers at Hiram Johnson high school are waging a new kind of warfare. Children at Hiram Johnson High School and throughout the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) are being misguided and manipulated by a group of teachers and union bullies as a means of ousting seasoned principal, Felisberto Cedros. Conflict erupted on the Hiram Johnson campus between Cedros and a group of teachers shortly after he was appointed principal last year. Cedros implemented new policies at the school ranging from a dress c

The Guild Theater in Oak Park was host to a forum attended by some of the biggest and most controversial names in education reform Friday evening. The event was organized by Stand Up Sacramento, a non-profit group chaired by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, and featured speakers such as Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of public schools in Washington, DC, her boss in that position, former Washington DC mayor Adrian Fenty, and Richard Whitmire, former editorial writer at USA Today and author of “The Bee Eater,” a book which chronicles Rhee’s time as chancellor. The speakers focused on the need to change teacher retention polices nationwide, and in particular the abolishment of the “LIFO,”

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

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 gauntl

With family and friends in attendance, 40 aspiring high school filmmakers debuted their documentary shorts at the second annual Documentary Foundation Film Festival Sunday. The Sacramento student filmmakers covered a multitude of issues including racism in high school, legalization of marijuana, pink-slipped teachers and prisoner work programs in Folsom Prison. The program is taught by Sacramento native documentary filmmakers Keith Ochwat and Christopher Rufo and sponsored by KVIE. The duo created the Documentary Foundation student program as a means to inspire future generations of documentary filmmakers. "There are so many issues that affect peoples' lives," Ochwat said. He spoke of th

 150-Mile Citizen Run to Invite Calif. Lawmakers to Schools Culminates in Sacramento May 17   Students, teachers, parents and supporters who are running a 150-mile relay day and night to Sacramento to invite state lawmakers to spend a day in a public school will finish their journey with a rally at 12 p.m., Monday, May 17, at the California State Capitol Building.  The runners are carrying letters written by the youngsters, who are asking that politicians visit a school for a day to see the impact of their spending choices on education.  Speakers at the rally will include Don Shalvey, senior program officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Assemblymember and candidate for State

After a nearly two-year absence, "Bodies Revealed" is back in Sacramento. When the exhibit debuted in 2007, it drew sellout crowds and a month-long extension of its limited engagement. Those who visited the exhibit before it closed in 2008 can look forward to an entirely different "Bodies Revealed" opening Saturday. They will have 11 new bodies, a section with 13 cancerous organs and a research center focusing on health and fitness. The art/science exhibit will again fill the former CompUSA store location with displays of 14 plastinated bodies and more than 200 total body parts. Attendees will also be able to measure their blood pressure and pulse rate and calculate their Body Mass Index

Sacramento school board approves layoffs to help solve budget deficit About 430 teachers and other school staff, 125 central office workers would lose jobs By Maria L. Lopez March 4, 2010 – Elementary class sizes will be larger and about 430 teachers and other school staff would lose their jobs under a plan approved by the Sacramento school board Thursday night for millions of dollars in spending cuts to close a $30.6 million budget deficit. The Sacramento City Unified School District board voted unanimously Thursday night to approve the cuts to take effect in the next school year unless the district’s unions join the administration in agreeing to concessions to stave off some of the cu

 The budget and strategic plan survey of the community is complete. These surveys mark the 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.  The data will be accumulated and we will report on the results of the surveys as soon as possible. Superentendent Jonathan Raymond announced that the district has scheduled four community forums to discuss the budget. These forums seek to gain recommendations from the public on how the district should deal with a budget shortfall of up to $30 million. “In the end, the school board will make the tough decisions about how to

John Allen Cann plays with images and language to create new worlds where we can see ourselves in a new light. In “Spectral Thoughts,” the poet recasts an 18th century Japanese haiku master as an American trucker, so that we might create something new, surprise the sun? Basho steadies the steering wheel of his semi rolling across the blank wilds of middle America. Perhaps Cann sees himself as this traveler/poet, or perhaps like Wallace Stevens, he’s insisting that creativity is indispensible. Later in the same poem, talking about Humpty Dumpty, the poet reminds us, “only imagination/can make our eggman/whole again.” These poetic flights are intellectual pursuit in Cann’s world; watching

A swarm of children took over the Capitol Tuesday to defend education in the face of massive budget cuts.  Ranging in age from eight years old to 18 years old, students from all over California sought to answer the question, "What is the purpose of public schools?" The Children's Rally, coordinated by Sandra Tsing Loh, an author and member of the Burning Moms organization, is a congregation of young students as participatory citizens in the political dialogue of their state legislature. The Burning Moms originated as a group of parents, fathers included, who had frustrations about the education system in California. “I'm a Proposition 13 baby, and my children continue to be affected by