Education
West Contra Costa school trustees grappled with new evidence Wednesday suggesting the district failed to meet some student-achievement goals for the 2014-15 school year. Trustees and district employees spent half of a roughly three-hour board of education meeting discussing academic goals laid out as part of a state education funding program. For the 2014-15 school year, West Contra Costa received about $212 million total in grants from the state program. The district had to develop a “Local Control and Accountability…
Following a five hour long meeting Tuesday night, the Richmond City Council delayed voting on who to make eligible for the Richmond Promise scholarship program and how much money students would receive. Councilmembers had trouble reaching consensus on how to expand eligibility and set scholarship levels without running out of money too quickly.
Six families with elementary and middle school-aged children sat in the gallery of Department 5 at the Contra Costa County Courthouse. They were called to appear at 10 a.m. Judge Rebecca Hardie wouldn’t emerge for another half hour. First, the adults were given a lesson about the impact of poor student attendance.
Clarence Ford had a story to tell, and it was one that may resonate among those who have faced the depths of despair behind bars, yet feared the prospect of freedom when it suddenly arrived.
This past weekend De Anza High School’s Information Technology Academy hosted its first “Free Fix Day” of the school year in De Anza’s school cafeteria. IT Academies are one way schools in West Contra Costa are trying to bridge the digital divide.
Parents, students and teachers from Richmond-area charter schools rallied in front of Mayor Tom Butt’s office on Wednesday demanding the mayor and other councilmembers extend eligibility for a $35 million college scholarship program to charter school students as well as public school students.
West Contra Costa Unified School District holds meetings to hear community input on how the district should allocate $200 million in bond authority to facility construction at old and new school.
Students at Summit K2, a charter middle school in El Cerrito, are testing a new way to learn online, courtesy of Facebook.
West Contra Costa County school trustees confronted new test scores Wednesday showing a persistent achievement gap by race, income and language status among students. Trustees also took an important though preliminary step toward investigating allegations of financial mismanagement of the district’s school bond construction program.