YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 11, No. 11
Including Surrounding Communities
www.brentwoodpress.com
Marsh Creek parents angry over rainy-day supervision by Ruth Roberts Staff Writer
Two families of second-graders at Marsh Creek Elementary School in Brentwood are demanding a change in a policy that allows students to remain largely unsupervised in their classrooms during rainy day-lunch sessions, and school officials say they have already begun to revisit the longtime practice. Since state law requires that teachers be allowed a lunch break, the policy – which has been in effect since the school opened four years ago – dictates that on rainy days, students are to eat their lunches in the school cafeteria and then return to their regular class-
“I appreciate what Mr. Bowen has already done (adding an extra yard duty), but what will make me happy is to have the kids in the cafeteria. They can watch a movie, or bring in more parent volunteers to watch the classrooms.
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Amy Franz rooms for the remainder of the 35minute lunch period. Amy Franz and Sara Homberg, who both have children in second grade at Marsh Creek, said they learned of the policy by happenstance a few weeks ago. “I was at school one day when it was raining and I had lunch with my daughter in the
cafeteria,” said Homberg. “When she was done, she said that they all go back to the classroom, so I went with her. When I got there, I asked her where the teacher was, and she said, ‘Oh, she’s at lunch.’ I then asked her who watches them (the students) then, and she told me nobody.” Well, not exactly no one.
There are, according to Marsh Creek Principal Mike Bowen, four yard-duty teachers assigned to watch approximately 18 classrooms on rainy days. Often, he added, teachers are already back in their classrooms by the time students arrive from the cafeteria. “Safety is my number-one concern,” said Bowen. “And I’m always looking at a situation and trying to do what’s best for the student. There’s always an adult within 30 feet of the students and our data tells us that accidents and (behavior) referrals actually go down on rainy days.” In response to recent concerns, Bowen said several changes have been made to the policy, see Supervision page 9A
Coming of age in far East County by Rick Lemyre Staff Writer
This is the first of a threepart series on the efforts of two far East County towns, Knightsen and Byron, to retain their heritage and remain rural and small in the face of regional growth and changing local politics. This week: Setting the stage; Part two: The changes play out; Part three: Looking ahead. The downtown block of Knightsen Avenue is dark and quiet, except for the soft glow from the sign at Sonja’s Country Inn and the rhythmic clank of someone setting up metal chairs at the Garden Club next door. It’s a Thursday night in February, and the rest of the half-dozen buildings lining one side of the tiny town’s main drag – railroad tracks, the reason for the town’s founding, run along the other side – are locked up tight, the curb be-
Photo by Stacey Chance/DiscoveryBaStudios.com
Bucolic downtown Knightsen has remained relatively unchanged for more than a century. Residents are wary that recent changes made by the county could threaten their rural lifestyle. side them void of parked cars. scores are more than a match Home to fewer than 1,000 for the bigger districts sursouls (not counting the live- rounding it. Folks swarm to stock), Knightsen has been a town for the Annual Knightsen proud rural hamlet for more Family Fun Days, and help fill than 100 years, boasting a post the stands at the County Fair office, a fire station founded in support of the 4-H Club as by volunteers and a 500-stu- it shows off animals and cardent school district whose test ries home ribbons.
In 2005, a community services district was formed to get a handle on the occasional floods that vexed the town, which is situated just a halfmile from the San Joaquin River Delta. The Knightsen Town Advisory Council (KTAC) was established in 1994 to represent the town to the county supervisor and make recommendations on matters of development. (The prevailing attitude, for the most part, has been “No thanks.”) As the area’s representative to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors (BOS) is historically elected from the bigger cities of Antioch and Pittsburg to the west, Knightsen residents have trouble getting the county’s attention for things like repairing the fractured sidewalk in front of Sonja’s. Frustrated as they were from time to time, though, they had grown accustomed to see Coming of age page 21A
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March 13, 2009
THIS WEEK
Hands-on compassion
A host of caring communities were front and center in the effort to help those in need.
Page 4A
Bracing for H2O blues
Residents are urged to conserve water so that rationing doesn’t become the next step.
Page 10A
Star power harnessed
A bunch of lucky girls got a golden opportunity to train with an Olympic champion.
Page 3B
INSIDE Calendar ..........................23B Classifieds ........................17B Cop Logs ..........................17A Entertainment ................14B Food .................................12B Health & Beauty ............... 7B Milestones .......................10B Opinion ...........................16A Sports ................................. 1B WebExtras! ....................... 1B
FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A