Tag: Schools/Education

Drexel University Accepting Applications

During economic downswings, folks sometimes find themselves returning to school to increase their learning and earning potential. Sacramento now has one more option for those looking for a Master’s Degree.

Drexel University, founded in Philadelphia in 1891, will open their Center for Graduate Studies in January. To sweeten the pot, Drexel is waiving the $70 enrollment fee and has established a $10 million Sacramento Leadership Fellowship Fund to steer the best and the brightest toward their doors. Get more info at one of their Open Houses.

Master’s Programs that begin in January are MBA, Engineering Management, Higher Education, Information Systems, and Library & Information Science. In September, they will add Master’s programs in Human Resource Development, Science of Instruction, Nursing Management and Nursing Education.

The proposition 8 my homework

It’s NOT just us. We now have evidence that Sacto’s kids are, in fact, getting dumber. The Sacramento Business Journal reported earlier this week:

High school graduation rates are falling and fewer teens are meeting requirements to get into University of California and California State University schools in Sacramento County.

Those are among the many findings of the 2008 Sacramento County Children’s Report Card, according to a report to be presented Tuesday to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors…

…Among its education findings, the group reports that the graduation rate among high school seniors decreased to 79.6 percent in 2006-07, from 85.1 percent in 2000-01.

The “group” in question is the Sacramento County Children’s Coalition, and they also reported on several other interesting damn lies statistics:

• High school drop outs earn an average of $21,346 a year, while graduates earn an average of $8,747 more.
• Those with a bachelor’s degree earn more than $21,000 annually more than people who have only a high school diploma.
• Spending per student in Sacramento County in 2005-06 was $7,324, compared to the state average of $8,486 and the national average of $9,138.

Who thinks this will get worse before it gets better? Perhaps it’s time to give education its rightful props on the voting ballot.

Episode III: Revenge of the Squirrels


Karin Higgins, UC Davis
Eastern fox squirrel on UC Davis campus

When the squirrels aren’t being hunted for fun or falling to their death in flames caused by carelessly hung “power lines,” they just enjoy making sweet whoopee and raising families. And who can blame them, right?

Now word comes that the folks at UC Davis have had it up to here with the fertile squirrels on their campus and will be putting them on the pill next summer:

Officials said the university is being overrun with eastern fox squirrels, which aren’t natives of the Davis area…Faculty wildlife experts and their students plan to capture some of the squirrels next summer and give them hormone injections to try to limit offspring.

Hmmm, that tail sure looks familiar.

Double talk on ARC recall flyers

Some well-played investigative work by Kel Munger turns up different text on the English-language and Russian-language versions of an information card being passed out to ARC students urging them to vote No on the proposed recall of 9 ARC Student Association officers. The board passed a resolution in support of Proposition 8 on the November ballot, which inserts a hetero-only marriage definition into the California Constitution. Kel has some great posts up about the scandal.

My initial reaction was that a recall was a bit of an anti-democratic play from a group advocating for treating people with fairness, as no rule-breaking or misdeeds are alleged on the part of the officers as far as I know. But these officers are probably elected to terms of less than a year, and letting democracy do its thing and voting them out after their term would be pointless. Who would have ever thought that American River College would become a hotbed of democracy in action?

Bee’s teacher database sidesteps privacy issue

Kudos to the Sac Bee for its newest salary database on all of the state’s teachers. “See how well your school district pays its teachers.” Not “See how much your kid’s teacher makes.” The tool allows you to look up district average salaries and other data, and compare salaries across districts in a region or across the state. A useful tool without any of the privacy issues. This should be the model for all of the Bee’s salary databases.

I do think it is interesting that the spin has been spun somewhat on this one… “Are teachers in your area making what they deserve?” That sentiment is absent from Melanie Sill’s editorial on the backlash to the State worker pay database. Back then it was all about doing a public service, giving us information about worker compensation because “state spending [is] under pressure.” Now, it’s all about making sure your kid’s teacher is getting a good paycheck? Maybe I’m splitting hairs, but I sense that the Bee is making some much needed course corrections here.

Nail in the coffin for KJ?

The Bee reports this morning that Kevin Johnson’s personal attorney conducted an internal investigation of the allegations brought against KJ by a Sac High student last spring, before notifying law enforcement or CPS. As a result the student recanted before the Sac PD conducted their investigation. According to Sgt. Matt Young, the Sac PD’s investigation was wrapped up in 8 days.

Maybe commenter Jean was right and this was the new angle the Bee was researching. It is unclear to me yet whether the sequence of events did not proceed according to legal SOP in this realm. The lawyer, Kevin Hiestand, claims he did tell the teacher, Erik Jones, to file reports with the police and CPS. Jones claims Hiestand told him the school would investigate first. The girl and her family still claim the story was made up. On the other hand we still have the decade old transcript of the confrontation call. All anybody can really do at this point is assume that the creepy guy in that 1996 phone call was guilty of crossing the same boundaries in 2007.

Sac City’s open enrollment calendar confuses

kids learningIf you’re a parent of a child in the Sac City Unified School District you might have been recently working through the open enrollment program to enroll your child at one of the district’s fine schools outside your own home area. If that’s the case I hope you were able to get your timeline straight, because the District was not. From the Open Enrollment brochure (PDF):

Elementary, K-8 and middle schools will be notified of placement by the Open Enrollment staff during the week of April 18, 2008.

Continue reading “Sac City’s open enrollment calendar confuses”

High School Basketball Fever! Catch it!

Tomorrow, the CIF will bring the best high school basketball teams from Northern California to Arco Arena for the NorCal championship games. Next weekend, the NorCal champs will face the SoCal winners in the finals. The Sac-Joaquin Section boasts several teams that have a shot at the state championship, so let’s get pumped and show some support! Woo!

In Division 1, Kennedy has the #2 raked girls team in NorCal. They will face #1 ranked Berkeley High in the semi-finals to see who will face the SoCal champion.

In Division 2 girls, #1 St. Francis will face #6 Archbishop Mitty.

The game of the year is definitely the Division 3 girls semi-final, with the only two undefeated teams in California vying for the NorCal title. #2 St. Mary’s of Stockton (GO RAMS!!!!!) will face #1 Sacred Heart Cathedral (SF).

The Division 3 boys match features a battle of the upsetting underdogs, with #7 Sacramento High battling #6 Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Best of luck to all of our local teams!

“McClatchy Red” banned at… McClatchy

red Yankee hat
This photo provides an ironic
touchpoint to the article.

The Bee reported yesterday on a new rule at McClatchy High School banning students from wearing the color red. Problem is, the school’s colors are red and white.

Now I am not very educated when it comes to current gang problems, names of gangs, ways to identify bangers, which gangs are the coolest, etc. I’m sure that banning the color red is a great way to go, since I assume gangs usually wear solid color outfits to maximize their display of the gang-affiliated color. For example, gang members who are fans of the Yankees baseball club must have a tough time, since their team colors are blue and white. If their gang color is red, they are screwed. Likewise, a gang member itching to wear red is going to shy away from anything with something else on it like an M or a picture of a lion, right?

Continue reading ““McClatchy Red” banned at… McClatchy”