Education
The race for California’s 15th Assembly district is one of the most expensive in the state. More than $3.75 million has been spent to support the candidacies of Buffy Wicks and Jovanka Beckles, with spending for Wicks exceeding Beckles by a margin of 4 to 1, a Richmond Confidential analysis of the latest campaign finance reports shows. The reports reveal that nearly 40 percent of Wicks’ support is coming from outside of California. Corporate executives and business interests are heavily…
When counselor Teresa Pamintuan arrived in the West Contra Costa County Unified School District more than a decade ago, hundreds of students would be trying to get in to see her every day. She would try to squeeze in dozens of seniors a day for 20-minute one-on-one meetings to help map out their career and college goals. She often skipped lunch. But as the district’s lead counselor in the past year, she has helped reform the overwhelming caseload for school…
At the corner of 22nd Street and Carlson Boulevard in Richmond sits a homeless encampment where the unofficial mayor, Oretha “Porkchop” Stevens, is calming down her next-door neighbor Tone. His phone is missing and Porkchop works to reassure him. “You’re not crazy, you know where you put your stuff! Don’t play with your own mind,” she says with authority, perched on the bed inside her tent from where she presides all day over her dozen neighbors’ lives. She and her…
The West Contra Costa Unified School District introduced bilingual education in 2014, to help Spanish speaking students transition into English medium schools. Transitional Bilingual Education at Grant Elementary School aims to equip K-3 students with English literacy and math skills to help them throughout their school career.
The board directed its staff to reach an agreement with the Amethod Public Schools, which operates the John Henry school, on how to move forward.
The school board initiated a charter revocation process for John Henry High School last week. Board President Valerie Cuevas advocated for the revocation after the alleged mandatory reporting violations were brought to the attention of the board during public comment.
Reading is a struggle for many of Richmond’s youth. Almost half of students in West Contra Costa County Unified School District are unable to read at grade level. To boost reading in Richmond, the owners of R&R Coffee hosted a party on Monday for local families at the Bridge Storage and Artspace, where food and books were given away. It was “like an adventure” for her children, said Richmond mom Sherab Osugi. She said the party made her children,…
The moderator asked questions about charter schools, nutritious lunches, school safety and educational inclusion at a forum Tuesday.
Meditation and breathing exercises are daily rituals at Grant Elementary School in Richmond. Principal Farnaz Heydari introduced these practices in an effort to reduce bad behavior, which had led to high numbers of student suspensions.