Education
Three years after California launched a savings program to help children pay for college, most families still haven’t claimed the money — and many don’t even know it’s there. The more than $2 billion program is designed to close the college access gap, especially for low-income families. But many Californians are missing out simply because they haven’t heard of it, said Cassandra DiBenedetto, executive director of the state-run ScholarShare Investment Board, which oversees the program. “Our biggest challenge is also…
With 98% of its members approving, the union representing teachers in the West Contra Costa Unified School District voted Tuesday to authorize its leaders to call a strike. Since January, United Teachers of Richmond has been negotiating a new contract with the district. On Aug. 19, the UTR declared an impasse, triggering third party mediation from the California Public Employment Relations Board. Since then, the sides have been in mediation sessions and are currently in the midst of a fact-finding…
Cars honked, megaphones blared and teachers chanted, “Education is a right, that is why we have to fight,” during a rally before Wednesday’s West Contra Costa Unified School District board meeting at DeJean Middle School. Since January, WCCUSD and United Teachers of Richmond have been negotiating a new three-year teachers’ contract. The previous contract expired in June. The union is pushing for higher pay, smaller class sizes and increased staffing to fill vacancies with credentialed teachers. The district is citing…
The West Contra Costa Unified School District board welcomed Cheryl Cotton, a former WCCUSD student, teacher, principal and administrator, back to the district Wednesday, naming her superintendent. In a unanimous vote, with Cinthia Hernandez absent, the board approved a three-year contract for Cotton at $325,000 a year, with a provision for $3,000 increases in the second and third years, contingent on her performance. She will start the job on June 20. Six community members — including a parent, a school counselor,…
“The Stakes” is a UC Berkeley Journalism project on executive orders and actions affecting Californians and their communities. Since President Donald Trump took office in January, Jessie Papalia has felt the panic and confusion among her students and their families at Bridges Academy Elementary in Oakland, a dual-language school with many students who have recently arrived in the United States. “The first week was rough. I had kids asking me if they could sleep at school because they were too…
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….