The potential West Campus/Sacramento High School “swap” is off the table, but the budget and facility use problems that spurred the proposal still exist – leaving open the question, is this really the end of the conversation? “We have serious issues as far as our budget goes,” Sacramento City Unified School District trustee Patrick Kennedy said Monday. “We’ll have to look at all of our facilities. I won’t say there won’t be discussions of (school) closures in the future.” In an effort to save money and make more efficient use of district facilities, the SCUSD board recently considered swapping two school programs – the charter school program at the Sac High campus and the program at the

The Sacramento City Unified School District Board ended the controversy surrounding a plan to swap two central city campuses by tabling the proposal indefinitely at its meeting Thursday night at the Serna Center. The standing room only crowd broke out in enthusiastic applause when SCUSD Superintendent Jonathan Raymond made it clear what the Board intended to do. Strong feelings on all sides of the issue had been building after the proposals that contemplated the campus swap along with school closures and consolidations were first tendered. “Design teams” were appointed by the principals of each school that were composed of staff, parents, students and neighbors. The groups recently bega

City Council election drama, a potential swap of high school campuses, new businesses and two Sacramento Press contests were all topics I discussed with Jeffrey Callison Tuesday morning on Capital Public Radio’s “Insight” program. Elections are quite a ways away, but the District 2 City Council race is already heating up as some accuse candidate Kim Mack of using an email list from her time working on the Obama campaign to push for a Strong Mayor initiative for Mayor Kevin Johnson. Mack denies sharing the email list with the Strong Mayor backers. Read more by clicking here. Another contentious issue in the city right now has to do with education – more specifically education facilities.

How do you remember your high school years? Some of us, myself included, would not go back even if our lives depended on it. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with a group of current high school students. I walked away feeling a mixture of exhilaration and inspiration. Despite the gloomy headlines, I felt a glimmer of hope for our nation’s future. The impetus for this little sit-down was a conversation I recently had with my seventeen year-old son and his girlfriend Ebony. I had been fishing for good ideas for an article. In response to my question they both immediately replied, “You need to come to Sac High.” When I asked why, Ebony responded “Because they’re always writing arti