Brittany Patterson

School Board Election 2012: Todd Groves

A longtime district volunteer, who brought WriterCoach Connection to El Cerrito High School and spearheaded the Middle School Math Initiative, Groves says he wants to take the classroom-level foundation he has built and apply it at the school board level.

School Board Election 2012: Robert Studdiford

In eight years on the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee, seven on the Citizens’ Budget Oversight Committee, and years on PTAs and coaching soccer, Robert Studdiford taught himself how the West Contra Costa County Unified School District system works.

School board candidate forum overshadowed by presidential debate

On a night when Barack Obama and Mitt Romney held most voters’ attention, the four candidates for the West Contra Costa Unified School District board spoke Tuesday to about 15 people at a candidate forum at Murphy Elementary School in Richmond. Todd Groves, Robert Studdiford, Antonio Medrano and Randy Enos are vying for two seats on the school board. “I thought all of them were very articulate and very knowledgeable,” said moderator Jackie Coulter-Peebles, a member of the League of…

Making Waves students clean up Baxter Creek

On Saturday, students from Making Waves teamed up with The Watershed Project for a trash assessment and cleanup effort at Baxter Creek, which was recently named one of California’s trashiest waterways. From cardboard and paper, to styrofoam and plastic bags—and even the occasional shoe—students and other volunteers removed debris and freshened up the area. Richmond Confidential caught the action in the video above.

After school music is alive at Mira Vista Elementary

When the bell rings signaling the end of the day at Mira Vista Elementary School the playground comes alive with the sounds of elementary students pouring out of their classrooms. The brown portable on the edge of campus, though, is filling up. Laden with backpacks and sweatshirts, children burst through the door, deposit their backpacks and begin pulling folded, metal contraptions — soon to be music stands — out of a box. Then the cases begin to pop open the…

Vincentian volunteers walk for the needy

Members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, representing six Catholic parishes in Contra Costa County, pledged a monetary donation and were welcome to walk or run as little or as much as they wanted for two hours during the fifth annual Friends of the Poor Walk/Run.

Community schools idea growing in Richmond

School, that place all students have to go for classes, could also become the place where students and community members go for a wide range of essential services such as healthcare, academic help and job placement. The idea to turn schools into “full service community schools,” or schools that offer more services to students and the community, was presented Wednesday night to the West Contra Costa Unified School District School Board. “A lot of schools have a community service aspect,”…

CSD Eagles soar past the Oilers, 47-0

Despite a strong showing by the defense in the second half, the Richmond High School Oilers couldn’t overcome a difficult first half against the California School for the Deaf, resulting in their fourth loss of the season, 47-0 on Friday night at the Eagles’ field in Fremont.

RYSE mixtape collects beats from the heart

Dodging guitars, cords and speakers scattered throughout the room, Noel Perez makes a beeline to the small padded booth in the RYSE center. He squares himself with the microphone, phone clenched in hand, awaiting the go-ahead from his producer. Music floods the small space, almost bursting from the room. The bass pounds like the heartbeat of the song, while sweeter melodies, ribbons of piano notes and guitar riffs, layer upon the foundation — a fusion of notes, rhythm and beats…