Some of Us Will Be Celebratin' This Saturday

You know where to find us! Congratulations again to IVC alum Brandon and his wonderful mother Beth!

(Cal's Greek Theater turns 100 this month.)

Thank God for Don Wagner

.....One of our readers wrote us about the recent Saddleback College scholarship event, suggesting (as others have) that, at the event (we were not present), board president Don Wagner made a political speech about prayer and that some donors were offended. That he made such a speech is clear from the video. Don't know about donors' reactions.
.....But the reader also claims that, at Tuesday's board meeting, during her report, Trustee Nancy Padberg described Wagner's scholarship speech as "political" and suggested that he should apologize for it.
.....Really? No need to wonder. All we have to do is wait for the video of Tuesday's board meeting (not yet available) to be posted at the district website. Then we'll know what Nancy said.
.....But is it true, as some have suggested, that some donors were offended by Don's remarks? Think I'll go back and listen carefully to what Don actually said. (See below.)

Summer's Here and the Time is Right

In case you haven't heard, California's schools are facing a 10% budget cut which will gut an already compromised and weakened system - once the best in the country.

One mother's reaction is to organize a march on Sacramento to, to quote journalist and blogger Celeste Fremon, "protest the latest draconian round of public education budget cuts. The idea was to get a bunch of press attention and, in so doing, hopefully goad/threaten/persuade/emotionally blackmail lawmakers into budget cutting somewhere other than education."

Where to cut?

Fremon has one suggestion:"(The early release of those 22,000 low-level, short-timer prisoners—a move on which Arnold back-pedaled—might be a good place to start.)"

I'm game.

I was a student in those pre-Proposition 13 years. I remember what it was like and I know that I am here in large part due to that well-funded public education.

Some may recognize the mother behind this rally as Sandra Tsing Loh, a So Cal radio personality and writer who comes into my life via KPCC, the Pasadena NPR affiliate.

Check out their website by clicking here. See what you can do. Do it. Pass the word.