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March 19, 2010
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CVHS students join teachers in rally to protest draconian budget cuts TAYLOR TOVREA Clayton Pioneer
HANK STRATFORD
MAYOR’S CORNER Ideas spring forth during Career Day I had the opportunity of participating in Career Day at Diablo View Middle School on March 10. Sherri O’Connor and Elisa Dudley organized the day, which included more than 60 speakers with a wide variety of careers. They included a photographer, a pilot for PG&E, an air traffic controller who drove up from Redwood City (I believe his kids were covering for him in the tower), an insurance broker, a forensic engineer (with pictures of accidents and structural failures), a civil engineer, a certified public accountant, an executive with AAA and a building designer. Many of the speakers brought PowerPoint presentations and handouts. I wanted to skip my classes and listened to the other speakers. I spoke in Jennifer Ruff ’s leadership class and Robert Nichols’ English/social studies class. I figured if I couldn’t bore them with the responsibilities of a mayor, I would try boring them with a discussion of carpet cleaning. My fail-safe was to discuss accounting. Fortunately, the students were great and we mainly talked about Clayton. I asked the students for suggestions of what I could write
See Mayor, page 10
Mike Dunn/Clayton Pioneer
STUDENTS LINE ALBERTA WAY ALONG THE ENTIRE LENGTH of Clayton Valley High School during a March 4 “disaster drill” in protest against cuts proposed by the District to close a $48.7 million budget gap.
See Rally, page 9
The egg clearly comes first for this local artist
Tamara Steiner/Clayton Pioneer
gymnastics in Vallejo. Practice would last sometimes four hours and she began painting wooden eggs in the car while waiting. “It wasn’t enough time to come home and go back again, and I couldn’t stand just sitting there doing nothing.” Inspired by the Fabergé eggs created for the Imperial family of Czar Alexander III, each of Laurence’s creations begins with a single item that catches her eye--a blue glass bowl turned upside that might make a lovely base or a vintage rhinestone necklace found in a thrift store. Then, she begins to assemble things that go together – a set of crystal beads, a feather, perhaps a tiny bird or some gold braid from an old lampshade – and soon she has a vision. She chooses an eggshell – emu and ostrich shells are favorites – and goes to work, taking weeks, months, sometimes a year to complete a single egg. Every egg has a “surprise” at the center. There might be music, special lighting or another egg. Often, it’s one of her mother Varine Horton’s handmade porcelain dolls. Laurence is always on the lookout for things to use in decorating her eggs. Thrift stores,
POLICE CHIEF DAN LAWRENCE hands out “dollars” to students as part of the Jr. Achievement program in financial literacy at MDES.
See Egg Exhibit, page 3
TAMARA STEINER Clayton Pioneer
In a fitting tribute to spring, Sher Elegance, the decorated egg collection created by local
artist Sher Laurence, will be on display at the Clayton Museum beginning March 28. Laurence began decorating eggs more than 20 years ago when her daughter was taking
Jr. Achievement program brings financial literacy to MDES In Mrs. Rogers’ second grade class, Police Chief Dan Lawrence introduced the students to city government and public finance. Several students
“earned” $3 in wages for working in a donut shop. Minutes later, the tax collector made the See Jr. Achievement page 3
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID CLAYTON, CA PERMIT 190
Students at Mt. Diablo Elementary got a little smarter about money earlier this month when the Jr. Achievement Program sponsored their annual day of economics education. The program brought city officials and members of the business community to the classroom to talk about where money comes from and where it goes.
Students at Clayton Valley High School staged a protest March 4 to call attention to funding needs – just days before the Mt. Diablo Unified School District approved $48.7 million in cuts and sent out 200 pink slips. Clayton Valley was among schools statewide to hold a Day of Action “disaster drill” to get students and teachers out and shut down the school, ever so briefly, in a show of unity that the cuts are no longer tolerated. While hoards of people rallied in the streets in San Francisco and Berkeley, blackclad Clayton Valley students filed out into the front parking lot on Alberta Way. A group of students stood just outside the main entrance, waving handmade signs and parading around with duct tape over their mouths. Drivers of passing cars honked enthusiastically in support. “I was really proud of my kids who participated,” said
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Tamara Steiner/Clayton Pioneer
LOCAL EGGERY ARTIST Sher Laurence brings her Fabergéinspired decorated eggs to the Clayton Museum on March 28.
Going Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Movie Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Police Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 School News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Senior Moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
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