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Jan 30, 2025 | 
richmondside.org | Julia Haney
Wednesday night’s WCCUSD school board meeting was unexpectedly canceled when the district discovered it wouldn’t have a quorum. The meeting was an important one as the board had planned to vote on whether to cut $13 million from the 2025-26 and 2026-27 operating budgets. West Contra Costa Unified School District Area 2 Trustee Guadalupe Enllana had arranged to attend remotely — an option allowed under “just cause” in the Brown Act.
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Jan 24, 2025 | 
richmondside.org | Julia Haney |Kenneth Howe
The WCCUSD school board is expected to vote next week on whether to cut an additional $13 million from its 2025-26 and 2026-27 operating budgets by laying off employees, including 17 classroom teachers this year, and leaving positions unfilled. The equivalent of 43 positions this year and 47 positions next year will be impacted.
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Jan 9, 2025 | 
richmondside.org | Julia Haney
About 40 WCCUSD educators and some students attended Wednesday’s school board meeting to protest the district’s decision to reassign 22 teachers to new classrooms and positions mid-year to fill teacher vacancies.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
kalw.org | Julia Haney
This story aired on the November 19 2024 episode of CrosscurrentsFifty years ago, developers planned to flatten the top of San Bruno Mountain, dump 350 million cubic yards of rock into the bay, and build a housing development. That was until a movement to preserve the land as open space and protect multiple endangered species halted most construction. What can the story of San Bruno Mountain tell us about the relationship between environmentalism and housing?
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Nov 13, 2024 | 
kalw.org | Julia Haney
This story aired in the November 13, 2024 episode of Crosscurrents. Before musicians perform, they rehearse. They play the same notes over and over again until they know exactly what to expect. But what if the performance is interrupted by the wind in the trees, a child in the park, or the squawk of a bird? For composer Wendy Reid, these interruptions are the point. Click the play button above to listen! On Sept. 23.
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Aug 14, 2024 | 
kalw.org | Julia Haney
This story aired on the August 14, 2024 episode of Crosscurrents20 years ago, if you’d told Jennifer Berry that she’d be holding a wooden frame, covered in bees, with her bare hands, she probably wouldn’t have believed you. But today, she’s a beekeeper and breeds 500 queen bees a year. She is also spreading the culture of beekeeping by teaching the next generation that the taste of local honey is well worth the occasional sting.
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Aug 7, 2024 | 
richmondside.org | Julia Haney
More than a month after dissatisfied school district board members and parents rejected the district’s accountability plan, many community members remain similarly frustrated with the distric’s plan to serve at-risk students. Nearly 50 people attended Tuesday’s committee meeting on about the West Contra Costa Unified School District’s revised Local Accountability Plan, and many of them spoke. The meeting is scheduled to be continued on Aug. 12 at 5:30 p.m..
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Aug 5, 2024 | 
richmondside.org | Julia Haney |Joel Umanzor
This story was updated Tuesday to add information provided by Najari Smith and to correct information about who founded Rich City Rides Cooperative, when it came under Urban Tilth’s sponsorship and how many properties it purchased in 2023. Najari Smith, co-founder and co-owner of Rich City Rides Cooperative Inc., reported to police on Jan. 13 that he walked into the bike co-op on Macdonald Avenue in Richmond and found thousands of dollars of merchandise missing.
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Aug 1, 2024 | 
kalw.org | Julia Haney
Google, Meta, and Zoom have cut DEI programs and employees focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, according to reporting by San Jose Spotlight. These programs (sometimes called DEI and B for “belonging”) aim to create more equitable workplaces and products. And most employed adults say focusing on increasing DEI at work is a good thing. But there is a clear partisan divide. Republicans, and those who lean right, are much less likely to view these efforts in a positive light.
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Jul 29, 2024 | 
richmondconfidential.org | Julia Haney |Joel Umanzor |Choekyi Lhamo
This story was reported and published in a collaboration between Richmond Confidential and Richmondside. Najari Smith, co-founder and co-owner of Rich City Rides, reported to police on Jan. 13 that he walked into the bike co-op on Macdonald Avenue in Richmond and found thousands of dollars of merchandise missing.
