St. Hope touts Choice, but when Sacramento Charter High School is not the choice of the majority of students from the surrounding neighborhoods, they cry foul and try to find someone to blame. Sorry. Why can't you hang on to the students you have. AT least 200 students leave the school each year for other schools. If it is truly such an outstanding school, parents and students would be busting down the doors to get in--not transferring out.

Love that old buildings are being revived and rehabbed. The Central City needs more housing and more affordable housing. Just wondering why the letter "N" is backwards in the tile?

In this instance, the better man may not have won. Sacramento's loss.

This book should be on the high schools required reading list like "Native Son" was when I was in high school.

A diverse community is an interesting and vibrant place to live. That the members of the oldest mosque west of the Mississippi are getting more involved in their community is a very good thing.

Congratulations to these guys. I wish them all the success. Sounds like a great place. Will definitely check it out.

isn't there any other pressing business before the mayor and the city council? I don't think the Strong Mayor initiative is at the top of the list for the vast majority of Sacramentans. This initiative is not something we are clamouring for. No one I personally know sees it as either necessary or critical at this particular time. Can our elected representatives PLEASE address the many other crucial issues at hand and put this aside for the next year at least! ENOUGH all ready!!!

To Mr. Knapp: You are so badly misinformed regarding his "running" of Sacramento Charter High School that I am finding it hard to take any of your other remarks seriously. FYI I am not a union member. I am in business for myself-struggling in this terrible economy like many others. I do agree that Dems and Reps both have dirty hands. That said, I applaud the vote and hope this mayor got the message.

I am offended by the word "pee." Just kidding LOL

This is my last comment on this subject. Those whose comments are lewd, who blatantly lie, or use racial slurs, etc. only demean themselves. They effectively demonstrate that they are not to be taken seriously by the rest of the community. I take note of who posts in this manner and skip over their comments, as well as the comments of those who chose to engage them. They are not worth my time because they have nothing of substance to say. SacPress can choose to delete individual comments that violate their use agreement. This is their site. But beware the slippery slope. I would not have chosen to ban bbbmr. We will just agree to disagree on this issue.

I recently watched a PBS documentary on Jefferson. Talk about some poison pens. Terrible things were written about him and his wife. Our country has a history of personal attacks and bullying-yet that has not stifled our democracy. I am not intimidated by what someone may post on a website. My ancestors, who arrived with the Mayflower and who fought in successive wars to insure the freedoms I hold dear, would scoff at so called "blogger bullies." When did we get so whimpish?! Really Ben, we can handle the "bullies." We don't have to stoop to their tactics, but we don't need to silence them either.

Ok. Thanks for the clarification. Don't agree with the premise in this situation, because Sac Press seems to want to appeal to the community as an open forum. If they truly want that, then there will be bbbmrs and others who will participate. If they want to censure and limit the type of participation they will tolerate, I believe that will not serve either their purpose or that of the wider community in the long run. So we respectfully disagree.

Sorry-the above is a reply to Tony.

Don't get your mashed potatoes analogy. But that's ok. I appreciate you contribution to the conversation.

Much of what I read from Sac Press in defense of their position to remove bbbmer reminds me of those who believe that they should remove books from libraries that they find offensive. I don't need to be protected from what others find offensive. I can choose to read or not read-participate or not participate. Our judicial system says that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof is on the prosecution, even if it means that sometime the guilty go free. I feel the same about an open forum where there is free and open discourse. Some may take advantage of the opportunity to post vitriolic and offensive diatribes. When they do, they only reflect badly on themselves. I chuckle, shake my head and move on. Or just skip them all together because they have made themselves irrelevant. But, other than some pornographic tirade, I do not want to censure them.

Mayor Johnson has the right to pursue his vision of how Sacramento should be governed. Where he errs is when he berates and disrespects the duly elected representatives of the citizens of this city, who also are entitled to vote their conscience and reflect the wishes of those they represent by their vote. This is how a representative democracy works. I applaud my councilman, Mr. Cohn, for showing independence, and voting in a manner that reflects his constituents views. If Mayor Johnson wants to play on a bigger stage, he should work to build consensus, and show respect for those who take a position that is in opposition to his.

Personally, I will miss bbbmer. I enjoy lively content. If I want boring, I can read the Bee. I hope that doesn't put me in violation of your new rules. I don't like censorship. Off topic, personal promotion, petty name calling, do not make for lively content, however. But if I don't care to read a particular comment, I can always just skip over it. Remember, unpopular speech is the speech that is in need of the most protection.

I think someone should send a copy of Diane Ravitch's new book "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education." to Arne Duncan. Policticians and Corporations should not be running our schools. Their motives are profits and votes, not education.

There was already a plan in place-one which had been worked on for more than a year, to reform the school under the E21 plan. The teachers were on board to go ahead with that plan. In fact, the plan did go forward at the other comprehensive high schools. But before implementing the plan, the Board,instead, and with little notice to the public, decided to close the school and then turn it over to a non-profit organization which had NEVER run any high school, let alone a large one with many problems. Additionally, the students which had been on the receiving end of more intensive reading and math education, starting in elementary school, had not yet reached high school. Those students were still in junior high. As the test scores have shown at all the comprehensive high schools, the scores rose when these kids entered high school, So, the school board, led by Jay Schenirer prematurely closed the school before giving it a chance to improve using E21 and before the first class of students with stronger math/language arts reached high school. My daughter in that class of students. She would have attended Sacramento High School. She graduated in 2009 from McClatchy.

If you are a supporter of Public Education, please look up Diane Ravitch and check out her website. She was a former supporter of No Child Left Behind and Charter Schools, but has changed many of her positions after an avalanche of data from schools around the country did not support her former views. She has had the courage to speak out publicly about the failures of the current ed trends. I am reading her new book "The Life and Death of the Great American School System." I highly recommend it. Should be required reading for all teachers, administrators and superintendents. She is speaking at Stanford on April 14th and Berkeley on the 15th. Free and open to the Public.