Education
Last in a two-part series examining West Contra Costa Unified School District student data. Read Part One here. The majority of West Contra Costa Unified School District students did not meet state standards on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress test last school year. Across the district, scores trailed the statewide average by 13 percentage points in math and 14 percentage points in English language arts. But not all WCCUSD schools performed the same. A Richmond Confidential analysis…
First in a two-part series examining West Contra Costa Unified School District student data After months of watching her 4-year-old daughter struggle with reading, Tomasa Espinoza knew she had to make a change. Her older daughter, who attended a charter school, was thriving. So Espinoza pulled her second child out of Washington Elementary in Richmond and enrolled her in a charter school, too. When it came time for her youngest child, her son, to go to school, she sent him…
The beauty business is undergoing a boom, and Richmond soon will have a school to train the growing number of aspiring stylists getting their cosmetology degrees in California. Employment in the cosmetology industry is expected to grow by at least 7% in the next 10 years, better than the 4% projected growth for all other industries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A 2022 report ascribes this to people’s growing awareness of their appearance because of social media, and…
In a dimly lit backroom of The Factory Bar, a neighborhood cocktail and beer spot in Richmond, Maria Tuttle and her life partner, Ana Gutierrez, set up prizes and Lotería cards on a small table in the back corner with a banner that bears the name of Tuttle’s organization, Children’s Art Studio Richmond. A year ago, the organization opened and began providing free art classes in English and Spanish to young children, ages 2 to 5 years old, in Richmond….
Two Richmond residents are vying to represent Area 1 on the Contra Costa County Board of Education: Area 1 covers the West Contra Costa Unified School District. Anthony Caro and Daniel Nathan-Heiss are running for the seat held by Consuelo Lara, who served one term and is not running for reelection. The board, alongside the county superintendent of schools, provides oversight of the county’s 18 school districts. Its duties include monitoring districts’ financial obligations, overseeing transfer and expulsion hearings, and…
Richmond Confidential posed questions to the West Contra Costa Unified School District Area 2 school board candidates, incumbent Otheree Christian and challenger Guadalupe Enllana. We present their responses verbatim, with slight edits for clarity and brevity. Otheree Christian Tell us about yourself. A: “I was born and raised in Richmond, and attended the public schools here — Martin Luther King, Adams, and Kennedy High School. This community is a big part of who I am. I am a proud descendant…
This year, there are three seats up for election on the West Contra Costa Unified School District board, but only the Area 2 race will appear on the ballot. The other two candidates are running unopposed and will automatically get the seats. For her second term, Incumbent Jamela Smith-Folds will represent Area 1, which includes part of Hercules, Pinole and the Hilltop neighborhood of Richmond. Incumbent Mister Phillips is leaving the board, saying he needs a break after eight years…
El Cerrito Principal Malcolm Norrington was at the center of a student walkout this week, after a letter surfaced in which Norrington apparently reported to the California Interscholastic Federation that the school would forfeit six football games because of ineligible players. The student protest also was in response to the West Contra Costa Unified School District’s decision to place the team’s head coach, Jacob Rincon, on administrative leave in September. The district has not said why it suspended Rincon –…
A Contra Costa County Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, rejecting the argument that the district had violated students’ rights to a safe school and certified teachers. Judge Terri Mockler denied the petitioners’ request for a writ of mandate, which would have ordered the district to address staffing shortages and complete the requested repairs at Stege Elementary School. The case was the first to use the 2004 Williams v. California ruling,…