Education
Elementary schools in Contra Costa County had the highest truancy rate in the Bay Area for the 2013-14 school year, a new state report shows.
The Richmond City Council approved an outline for a $35 million college scholarship program on Tuesday, but questions about how eligibility will be decided and how much money students might expect to receive will be answered in October.
West Contra Costa school officials and the local teachers union said Thursday they intend to resume bargaining in a few weeks after teachers rejected a proposed settlement while demanding bigger pay increases.
Student scores from a new statewide test illustrate the immense challenge West Contra Costa County schools face when trying to meet minimum standards under Common Core. Across the state, fewer students met the standards of the new computerized test.
Elementary schools across the West Contra Costa Unified School District opened their doors Thursday evening for Back to School Night, inviting parents to meet educators and learn what the school year holds.
It’s an early Thursday morning and Maribel Lopez is about to read Eric Carle’s “The Tiny Seed” to her bilingual second grade class as they learn about a plant’s growth cycle. The students are all seated “crisscross applesauce” in their blue and white uniforms, waiting patiently to hear Lopez begin reading. Lopez was just recognized as one of 22 of Contra Costa County’s teachers of the year—one of the two from the West Contra Costa Unified School District. According to the…
It was a sunny Wednesday afternoon in April at the Richmond College Prep School, and the fourth grade students were divided among three tables near the outdoor garden. In front of the tables was a mobile kitchen called the Charlie Cart that can roll from classroom to classroom. Each table had placemats, bowls, cutting boards and the cooking lesson for the day. The students were making spring salad with garlic vinaigrette. As for the Charlie Cart, imagine a kitchen, shrunk…
The California Grizzly bear has been immortalized on the state’s flag, but the four-leg symbol is not around California anymore—at least not since 1924, when the last specimen was spotted in Santa Barbara County. However, other creatures inhabit California’s land, water and sky. The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) includes more than 100,000 acres, 65 parks and more than 1,200 miles of trails in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. These parks, like the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline in Oakland, or the…
As she gets off BART, Chloe Lipton makes her way to one of her favorite destinations: Maya’s Music Therapy Fund. Her new caretaker, Kayla Jenkins, worries that they might be going in the wrong direction. But Lipton knows exactly where she’s going—after all it’s been 25 years. Lipton, Maya’s most loyal client, has cerebral palsy, a disability resulting from damage to the brain, which manifests itself in muscular incoordination and speech disturbances. For the past 27 years, Maya’s has provided music therapy…