Education
Relying partly on a grant from Chevron, the West Contra Costa Unified School District rolled out its new five-year strategic plan at a community meeting in Pinole on Monday night. “This is about setting priorities and then allocating resources,” superintendent Bruce Harter said. The plan elicited guarded support from some classroom teachers. Parents, teachers, students and administrators gathered in the gymnasium at Collins Middle School and sat in rows of folding chairs facing a large projector screen as the district’s…
This year, Salesian High School students traded in their textbooks for iPads, in a move designed to enhance the learning environment. Mary Lou Flannery, the assistant principal for academic affairs at Salesian, said the iPad education program has been in the works for over a year. The school was previously using technology in the classroom but integrating personal mobile devices into the curriculum was the next step. “We began with research,” Flannery said. “We went out to various schools and…
Schools across the West Contra Costa district welcomed back students on Tuesday with officials saying that safety of students is a top priority.
A young man previously convicted in the group rape of a 16-year-old girl four years ago testified against two other suspects on Thursday. Ari Morales, 19, never testified during his own trial in January. His comments last week marked the first time his version of events has been recorded in court. The testimony is part of a new trial against suspects Marcelles Peter, 20, and Jose Montano, 22, both of whom were charged with rape, rape with a foreign object…
Kennedy High School senior Kelssie Sontay has a hero, and it’s not Wonder Woman. It’s Sontay’s dad, a man who she said didn’t get the opportunity to finish elementary school. Sontay recently won a full scholarship to UC Santa Cruz, and says her father was her inspiration. “He’s been my motivation for everything he went through in his childhood,” she said. Her father, she said, taught her that “it doesn’t matter what I have right now.” Now, what the 17-year-old…
Oakland A’s mascot Stomper and second baseman Eric Sogard made a special appearance at Stege Elementary School Friday before their game against the Kansas City Royals. The floppy-eared mascot and spectacled major leaguer were in town to celebrate the academic fields of science, technology, engineering and math. This is the second year the Oakland A’s have partnered with Chevron to promote the oil refinery’s scholastic workbook the “Science of the Game.” Last year the dynamic duo visited Lincoln Elementary School…
He doesn’t remember the exact street he was on when he flew into traffic. But Najari Smith does remember riding in a shared lane—a section of road without a bike lane—when a truck behind him honked incessantly, signaling frustration with Smith’s slower speed. Smith tried to speed up, but his chain slipped off the gears, causing the bike to abruptly stop, flinging Smith off the bike and into the road. The truck slowed down for a few minutes, but sped…
D’Neise Robinson has something to say. Tornadoes ain’t got sh*t on me. I’m poverty. Her peers snap their fingers to show they’re impressed by her skills. In the front row are some of her closest girlfriends, ready to perform their poetry at the RAW Talent slam. A few days earlier, a fellow slam student named Dimarea Young was gunned down close by. Police crowded his neighborhood, middle-aged men openly regretted their involvement in the crack epidemic, and Young’s girlfriend shrieked…
A program that gives away free books to school children has touched down on the West Coast, and one of Richmond’s schools was the first to host the event Wednesday night. Through the Newark-based program, My Very Own Library, more than 2,000 books were available for all students at Making Waves, a charter middle and high school that’s made up of students who are almost all low-income and qualify for free lunch. Every student received a certificate earlier in the…