By the Harding Dad's Club At the 2nd Annual Harding ReCycle used-bike sale Sunday, more than 40 happy kids and adults went home with "new" used bikes. As part of this Harding Elementary School fundraiser, the Harding Dad's Club collects used bicycles from throughout the community, refurbishes them with the help of a few Harding Dads with bike maintenance experience, and then sells them at the Harding ReCycle. The ReCycle also included free bike repairs for community members who brought their bikes to the event, as well as a demonstration by several El Cerrito Police Department bicycle patrol …
Tehiyah Day School’s fourth- through eighth-graders studied disabilities and sports as part of their Physical Education classes, including learning about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA). As part of that work, they viewed clips of motivational disabled athletes, including footage from the Para-Olympics. On Tuesday, May 15, students were visited by members of the Warriors Wheelchair Basketball Team from the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP). BORP is the leading provider and …
This Sunday St. Jerome School will host its annual Spring Festival which promises lively performances, community vendors, a raffle and tasty treats for all. This years theme, “Moving Forward with Technology,” is reflective of the new steps the school has taken during the school year to advance educational technology, as well the intention of utilizing funds raised from the festival to purchase and update equipment for the school. The Spring Festival serves not only as the schools biggest fundraiser of the year, but also as a celebration of spring and the nearly completed school year. This …
As a parent of district students for the last 12 years, I have seen the difference our parcel tax has made on our students and teachers. The June 5 election is just around the corner, and unfortunately for our students there has been a lot of misinformation about the parcel tax. The voter information booklet includes an argument against Measure K that states that "parcel tax payments are not deductible against federal and state income taxes. The State has announced that beginning in 2012, they will enforce that non-deductibility." The Franchise Tax Board clarified on Friday, April 13, 2012 …
By Deborah Kemp and Carey Rowan Seniors in El Cerrito and Kensington, like other residents of Contra Costa County, are turning to our County Law Library to find answers to their legal questions, such as: How to create a health care directive or prepare a simple will; How to handle credit card and other debt collection actions; How to protect against elder abuse; How to handle traffic tickets; How to handle Landlord-Tenant issues. The Law Library in Martinez, with branches in Richmond and Pittsburg, provides access to legal materials for all the cities in the County. In addition to serving …
By Molly Wahl and Deborah Kemp The Madera School Garden in El Cerrito helps students, staff, and families make the connections between food choices, our health, and the health of the environment through hands-on participation in the growing and harvesting of fruits, vegetables and herbs. The Madera School Garden was started in 2007 by a hardworking coalition of parents, teachers and students. The garden sits on roughly an eighth of an acre and consists of terraced hillsides planted with fruit trees, herbs, native plants, and edibles such as strawberries, pineapple guavas and artichokes as …
You can tell State Superintendent Tom Torlakson Is a REAL teacher, and not just one of those politicians who claims to be one when it’s time to list his profession on the ballot. (Before entering politics, Torkalson taught high school in the Mount Diablo Unified School District.) It is not often that I come across a press release while going through my email that causes me to start shouting, “Yes! Yes!” (though there was that one about the Golden Gate Fields Wiener Nationals Dachshund Races on May 26 that was pretty exciting.) So without further delay, other than a much belated thank you to …
On a daily jog I was chugging up Devonshire Drive towards home. I passed a bush, and on the other side stood a skunk. I saw him spin around as if pivoting on one front paw. He lifted his tail and sprayed, the entire action taking one, maybe two seconds. But at that moment I found myself on the other side of the street – I don’t know how I got there, as I’m not capable of jumping 18 feet – but it happened. And none of the spray got on me. Whew! The next time I encountered a skunk was at the top of Contra Costa. As I approached the back gate of the northernmost house, a skunk was …
By David Brehmer Richmond, CA, April 9, 2012 – In the face of senseless tragedy, one’s greatest hope is that one’s story will impact another’s life, to spread understanding and awareness. To that end, artist Jeannine Chappell and I have launched a worldwide fundraising campaign to raise at least $6,500 via Kickstarter.com to print, publish and promote This Has Happened: Words and Images After the Crash, a vivid, intense, and detailed account of our emotional and physical journeys in the aftermath of the traffic collision that took Jeannine’s son Alex’s life and left me in the hospital. On …
I met Mike Wallace only once, many years ago, but I’d like to think I actually got to know him in the two hours we spoke. Our meeting came on Martha’s Vineyard in July 1999, one day after John F. Kennedy Jr. was buried at sea off that same island. I had met Mike there with his son, Chris Wallace, to interview them for a book I was writing, a collection of my essays and Jim Graham’s photographs about famous and not-so-famous father-son relationships. They are smiling on the cover of that book, Father's & Sons, looking forever young, even though Mike was 80 at the time. He died Saturday in New …
The Older Adult program funded by the West Contra Costa Unified School District Adult Education program is in serious jeopardy. It includes three long-standing, vital programs in El Cerrito, and the City Council joint meeting with the WCCUSD Board of Education Tuesday (tonight, April 3) presents a great opportunity to speak out to keep senior programs going. The meeting at City Hall, 10890 San Pablo Avenue, begins at 7 p.m., with time allotted for three-minute public comments following Board President Charles Ramsey’s report. Nonprofit programs directed by District faculty serve nearly 200 El…
The importance of “Critical Thinking” for everyone, but especially our youth, is evident all around us: how to think through the campaign speeches bombarding us, how to make sense of global news, how to interpret scientific advances, how to ensure one’s health, and the list goes on. Though “Critical Thinking” can be defined many ways, for our purpose here I suggest we use reflective thinking that is reasonable and focuses us on deciding what to believe and/or do. Critical Thinking can be taught, if not in school, then surely at home. Three arenas that cover most missteps in Critical Thinking…
Editor's note: The writer of this essay, Hummd Alikhan, 14, lives in El Cerrito and is an eighth grader at St. Jerome Catholic School. She has lived also in Pakistan and southern California and attended Albany schools through seventh grade. Hummd shared this essay, the product of a school assignment, with Patch in late February. To be Pakistani-American you have to be born to two Pakistani parents. You have the thick, wavy black hair, incredibly boring brown eyes, well endowed body, and the lightly tanned skin that will mark you as somewhat "exotic." Since your parents went through so much …
Twelve children from the Harding Elementary School after-school program helped plant a maidenhair tree last Tuesday in Harding Park to help celebrate Arbor Day. The tree (Gingko biloba ‘Autumn Gold’) will leaf out soon with its unique, fan-shaped leaves. The Arbor Day planting is an annual event sponsored and coordinated by the El Cerrito Garden Club. Staff from the Public Works department, including the city arborist, Stephen Prée, did the heavy work and talked about how to plant the tree and care for it. The children learned about positioning the new tree, planting depth, and how to …
By Kathie Weinstein It all began in 1967, when my husband and I enrolled our daughter at Peter Pan Nursery School in El Cerrito. The school was under the umbrella of the Richmond Unified School District Adult Education Program, which meant that the parents had "rules" they had to adhere to. You must have a child enrolled in the program, had to work at the facility one session a week, and attend three Tuesday evenings a month to learn about how our children would learn and interact with other children, etc. The parents had to give a few hours towards the upkeep and minor repairs at the …
By Jody Iorns, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, SF Bay AreaSt. Patrick ’s Day has become a national day of celebration. This year, St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Saturday, and that means that those celebrations will be more plentiful and, as a result, riskier than those held during weekdays. According to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, in 2009, 134 fatalities occurred on St. Patrick’s Day alone – of those 37% were due to drunk drivers.DON’T LET THIS BE YOU! If you do plan to enjoy the celebrations, create your own luck by simply planning ahead: Designate a sober driver – …
Editor's note: As a partner in "Sunshine Week," a national initiative promoting open government and freedom of information, we at Patch are publishing the column below by state Senator Leland Yee. At the bottom of the article, we have links to information on election funding and open-government laws in California. By Leland Yee, California Senator Since 2005, Sunshine Week has acted as a rallying point for Americans to demand transparency and accountability from their government. As an open government advocate, I was happy to carry SCR 8 in 2011 establishing Sunshine Week in California in …
Editor's note: As a partner in "Sunshine Week," a national initiative promoting open government and freedom of information, we at Patch are publishing the column below by Terry Francke, general counsel for CalAware, on how his organization can aid public access to government information. At the bottom of the article, we have links to information on election funding and open-government laws in California. How CalAware Can Help You Keep Your Government Open Californians Aware (CalAware) is a statewide nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded eight years ago to “help citizens, officials and …
Editor's note: This guest column makes reference to a "State of the City" article by El Cerrito Mayor Bill Jones. We, the residents of El Cerrito, are fortunate to have a City Council and staff that are willing and able to learn from our past while providing needed services for the present and planning for our future. Unlike some of our neighboring communities, our City Council and staff value citizens' participation and input through our various commissions, committees and community meetings. In his report, Mayor Jones mentions two very important processes that will unfold in our near …
This past year the Council developed a City mission statement that set high standards by which to serve the community. To meet the expectations of our Mission Statement, we must continue to be prepared to meet the challenges of governance in today’s environment. It is vitally important for El Cerrito to define a course of action that will continue to set priorities and assign resources in order to effectively and efficiently manage our way with a clear sense of purpose and fiduciary prudence. We cannot afford slip into a reaction mode that reflects uncertainty and lack of meaningful direction…
