Education
Helms Middle School Principal Priya Sembi went to Saturday’s West Contra Costa Unified School District job fair hoping to fill at least some of the five teacher vacancies at her school. The crowd, however, was sparse at DeJean Middle School, reducing her chances. “I’ve been to three of these since August, and I haven’t talked to any teacher candidates,” said Sembi, sitting behind a table draped in black cloth with the image of a roaring cougar. Helms started the school…
“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity. Q: Do you use the public library system? “Definitely. My daughter loves to read, Susan (the librarian) is amazing, and we’ve got a little knitting group. We meet every Thursday and everyone’s learning together. My daughter really likes to knit, but she’ll only do it when she’s here.” (Keri Sullivan, pictured above) “Yes….
Richmond youth soccer teams are struggling to hold practices and compete in matches because of rising field reservation fees and sparse access to outdoor recreation facilities. Officials representing three Richmond soccer clubs say the scheduling system imposed by the West Contra Costa Unified School District has kept them from accessing fields and forced them to play home games in Berkeley and Alameda. “It shouldn’t be this hard to get our kids to play soccer in Richmond,” said Samantha Torres, executive…
Over 100 students at Richmond’s Kennedy High School, many carrying “Free Palestine” banners, joined a nationwide walkout Wednesday to protest the bombings in Gaza, where thousands of people have been killed. Students took turns using a loudspeaker, as others formed a half circle around them, chanting: “Free Palestine” and “Occupation is a crime.” Carrying banners that said, “Save Palestine,” they gathered outside the school around 1:30 p.m. and remained for about half an hour. “I feel responsible to stop my state…
Teachers in the West Contra Costa Unified School District started the year having to fill in for each other, as schools opened with teacher positions vacant. Along with their regular classes, some teachers have had to fill in for shortages by subbing during certain periods. This period-subbing would have otherwise been spent grading and preparing for their own classes, said Mitzi Perez-Caro, a computer science and journalism teacher at John F. Kennedy High School. Teachers receive extra pay for period-subbing,…
The West Contra Costa Unified School District board unanimously approved a $306,000 contract this week to fill teacher vacancies with substitutes. Under the contract with Scoot Education, TeachStart (Scoot’s nonprofit arm) will place one to two “high quality” substitute teachers at four schools: Kennedy High, Stege Elementary, Peres K-8 and Helms Middle. If those placements work out, the following year, the district can hire these teachers full time. In the contract, Scoot Education calls this a “two for one deal”…
On Sunday mornings, preschool children gather in a small classroom in Richmond and listen to a teacher sing songs akin to nursery rhymes with Tibetan characters. A toy yak, paper mache nomads and pictures of snow-capped mountains in the room help the students imagine the Tibetan homeland. The Tibetan Association of Northern California runs the school on Dalai Lama Avenue, inviting students to come away for a couple of hours to learn writing and speaking in their native language. It…
Nearly 40% of 11th graders in the West Contra Costa Unified School District have reported “chronic sadness,” according to a recent California Healthy Kids Survey. The survey says chronic sadness has been on the rise in the county and the state, across grade levels, since 2017. “This is definitely shocking,” said LaShante Smith, the district’s director of positive school climate, after presenting the survey results at the Sept. 6 school board meeting. Smith said the district is hoping to turn…
Gina Saechao is sitting at a cafeteria table where she might have eaten lunch in high school, only this time she’s sketching out plans for the upcoming “College and Career Night.” On Thursday, Saechao and other event organizers will welcome area students and their families to meet over 70 representatives from colleges, universities, trade schools and nonprofits at Richmond High School. “As a student who came to the school, I never saw these opportunities for us here in Richmond,” said…