Endorsements

I am proud that the following are supporting my campaign by endorsing me for the Twin Rivers Unified School District Governing Board of Trustees. 
Endorsements (partial list)
Juanita Carranco - Gardenland Northgate Neighborhood Association (GNNA)
Linda Orozco - Post Adoption Center for Education and Research
Dennis Muzquiz - GNNA
David Marvelli - GNNA
Gabriel Medina - Field Representative, CA State Assembly
George Azar - President, GNNA
Sister Jeanne Felion - Executive Director, Stanford Settlement Neighborhood Center
Ruben Moody - Grant High School graduate/City College Student
Meg & Dennis Bryerton - River Gardens Neighborhood Watch Program
Linda Thompson - Administrative Profession, LDS/Past Grant School Board member
Jacques Whitfield - The Sterling Group
Gary Miller - Roseville School District Trustee
Steve Cohn - Sacramento City Council Member

Student Board Members

When the Twin Rivers Unified School District was formed by merging the Rio Linda, Del Paso Heights, North Sacramento elementary districts and the Grant High School District, I had great hopes for improved communication.  So, it is a surprise to find that the Twin Rivers Board is ignoring one of the best and simplest means of direct communication with students - the student board member.  Generally, elementary school districts don't have student board members, which is the only reason I can think of for Twin Rivers not appointing a student board member - the board and administration came primarily from the elementary districts and may not` know about student board members.

Student board members generally are juniors or seniors in high school and are picked by members of the Associated Student Body (ASB).  The student board members do not vote but they report on ASB, ask questions, and weigh in on items that are important to students.  Over my almost ten-years on the Grant District board, I enjoyed the insight provided by the student board members.  And for the students, it is a great opportunity for leadership development and training along with being a plus on college applications.  So, when elected I plan to ask the ASB to vote for a student board member.  School boards promise to   focus on students - a student board member helps them keep that promise.

East Natomas Education Complex - what could have been

This is the current state of the East Natomas Education Complex (ENEC).  Pretty sad, especially when you consider what could have been.

Contracts/Groundbreakings/Completions - June 2008
McCarthy, LPA start design-build work on Sacramento educational complex McCarthy Building Cos. and LPA Inc. recently broke ground on the long-anticipated East Natomas Education Complex in Sacramento. The complex is the largest design-build public school project being constructed under a new state law. McCarthy and LPA Inc. is the contractor/architect partnership in this design-build effort. The flagship 293,450-sq-ft 7-12 grade campus is being built under Assembly Bill 1402, which authorizes school districts to utilize a design-build procurement process to deliver school projects greater than $10 million. The $150 million educational complex will include a 1,900-student high school, a 1,100-student junior high school, sports facilities and a performing arts facility that is expected to set standards for energy efficiency in California. The school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010. The schools’ buildings will be constructed primarily from concrete and steel rather than wood products to expand the facilities’ life expectancy from 50 years to 100 years. The school will also incorporate a number of important green initiatives, including east-west building orientation to maximize energy efficiency; solar tubes, skylights and high-efficiency HVAC units to reduce daytime energy demand; and waterless urinals and occupant sensors will reduce potable water use. Part of the Grant Joint Union High School District, the project will be the largest design/build project completed in the California public school system under the assembly bill. The complex will be built in two phases, with the junior high scheduled to open in August 2009 and the high school a year later. Yes, instead of a new junior high/high school complex that would currently be serving students in the North Natomas area, there is an empty shell.  Twin Rivers spent $60,000,000 to stop this project while acknowledging that space for high school students will be needed in the next 10 years.  Twin Rivers claims that the project was not funded while ignoring the passage of Measure G that included building ENEC.  There are homes near ENEC - home with people living in them.  The housing market would have put off the opening for one year but if Twin Rivers had continued with ENEC's construction, they would have students in this school now.  I was on the Grant board when we built Norwood Junior High.  Norwood was supposed to open with 350 students - 650 showed up the first day.  Build a school and it is amazing how many people "remember" what district they live in so they can attend that school.  ENEC would have been the same.  Instead there are more portables than ever at Rio Linda and Grant High Schools and the school promised the residents of North Natomas sits decaying in a field.  

Twin Rivers Police Department

There has been a lot of publicity about the Twin Rivers Police Department.  Before we throw out the baby with the bath water, I want to go on record as supporting school police departments.  School police departments serve the specific function of keeping our students safe and in school. I remember riding along with a member of the Grant police department (this became the Twin Rivers Police Department) and the officer had such a good relationship with the students.  This officer was assigned to one school and continuously monitored what was going on at the school.  We saw a car pull out of the parking lot with four people in the car.  One was a student going for a job interview, one was the driver and the other two were friends.  The office sent the extra students back in and checked the driver license to make sure that the driver was who he said he was.  This action kept students in school and the driver realizing that peeling out of the parking lot was a way to get a ticket.  So, before actions are made to get rid of the Twin Rivers Police because people have been pulled over, think about the students who are safer becaue of their presensce. 

The real issue is who is in charge.  When Twin Rivers was formed out of the previous Rio Linda, North Sacramento, and Del Paso Heights elementary districts and the Grant Joint High School District, the decision was made by the Twin Rivers Board of Trustees to not have in-house legal counsel.  The Grant police chief reported to the Grant legal counsel.  Twin Rivers retains an outside legal counsil (at $100,000 a month - the subject of a future blog) so the Superintendent is overseeing the police department.  Even a micromanager cannot manage to run all facets of a school district, including the police.  The result is community distrust, finger pointing, and anger.  It is time for a change.  Vote for Annette Emery for Twin Rivers in 2012.