Education

WCCUSD candidates backed by the UTR headed for victory; one race remains too close to call

Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy, formerly a bilingual teacher and president of the United Teachers of Richmond, has won by a large margin in the Area 4 race for West Contra Costa Unified School District. Gonzalez-Hoy won 50% of the votes with 100% of the precincts reporting, according to the Contra Costa County semi-official election night results. Y’Anad Burrell and Matthew Trujillo trailed behind for Area 4 with 19% of the votes each.  Gonzalez-Hoy was among a slate of candidates endorsed by the…

Running to ensure equitable access to education

Y’Anad Burrell has a mission: Improve education and opportunities for people of color in Richmond. That’s why she is hoping to serve as an area four board member for the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD). “All I’ve been hearing over 10, 15 years is that the West Contra Costa Unified School District continues to be low in achievement,” said Burrell, the CEO and founder of Glass House Communications. “[The district] continues to have challenges in getting Black and brown students…

Votes are in – Superintendent Duffy stays, for now

The West Contra Costa County Unified School District (WCCUSD) board held a special closed meeting Friday night and voted unanimously not to terminate the contract of Superintendent Matthew Duffy, Board President Tom Panas said. Superintendent Duffy was not present at the November 15 meeting, which had been called to review his employment.  But supporters—including teachers, parents and residents—turned out to urge the board not to fire him. On Wednesday, school board member Mister Phillips issued a statement that he believed…

School Board approves charter renewal, discusses district test scores

After months of debate and community campaigning, the West Contra Costa Unified School District board members voted 4 to 1 in favor of renewing the charter of Aspire Richmond California College Preparatory Academy (Cal Prep) before a large and passionate crowd. The board was also presented with data from the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) on test score performance within the district. Nearly 35% of WCCUSD students overall met or exceeded standards for English Language Arts (ELA),…