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Your Weekly Community Newspaper
LBUSD educators, parents and advocates rally to save transitional kindergarten
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Transitional kindergarten student Emily Chung paints as part of the many activities incorporated into the early-childhood education program at George Washington Carver School. Stephanie Raygoza Staff Writer
Fighting to save the transitional kindergarten program that has already served hundreds of Long Beach children for the last five years, Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) leaders, educators, parents and advocates rallied on Feb. 7 to voice their opposition to Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal to eliminate transitional kindergarten. The rally, held at George Washington Carver School, was a part of the statewide “Save Kindergarten” campaign launch, which advocates for the full implementation of the program this fall. The budget proposal, if passed, would mark the largest number of students removed from public school classrooms in history. Preschool California Field Director Ernesto L. Saldana and LBUSD Superintendent Christopher J. Steinhauser led the rally to save early childhood education for 125,000 students. According to Saldana, the budget proposal is at odds with the Kindergarten Readiness Act passed in 2010, which remains California law. “Long Beach has seen firsthand how children benefit from an extra year of preparation through transitional kindergarten,” Steinhauser said. “The message I want to get out to all educators and to all superintendents is that this isn’t something that we can back off on. We have to do this. We need to move forward.” Full implementation of the transitional kindergarten program would fall in accordance with The Kindergarten Readiness Act, which establishes a program that would create a developmentally appropriate grade to serve the younger students whose birthdays fall between September and December. The Act also mandates changing the kindergarten entry date so that children enter school at age 5. Some of the organizations in attendance included Preschool California, a nonprofit advocacy organization leading the campaign and working to increase access to high-quality early-learning opportunities for the state's children; Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce; Families in Schools; Parent Institute for Quality Education; YMCA of Greater Long Beach; and the California Kindergarten Association. see RALLY page 15
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Gabelich announces no intention to run as write-in candidate for LB Council Nick Diamantides Staff Writer
Eighth District Long Beach City Councilmember Rae Gabelich will not be seeking a third term. The Long Beach term limits law does not allow council members to have their names on the ballot after they have served two terms, but many residents in Gabelich’s district encouraged her to run as a write-in candidate. After mulling it over for a few weeks, Gabelich declined the invitation. The councilmember announced her decision late Tuesday morning at the Long Beach Clothing Company store, 4218 Atlantic Ave. She also told the approximately 50 people in attendance that she is supporting Al Austin in his bid to be elected as her successor. “It was eight short years ago that I made the decision to run for this elected position,” Gabelich told the audience. “It was one of the hardest journeys I have ever chosen to do in my lifetime.” Gabelich spoke highly of two of her predecessors on the 8th district seat: Edd Tuttle and Jeff Kellogg. She noted that Tuttle was a leader in the 1980s battle to
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At the Long Beach Clothing Company store on Tuesday, 8th District Long Beach City Councilmember Rae Gabelich announced that she will not seek a third term as a write-in candidate. prevent the Long Beach Airport (LGB) the number of commercial and commuter from growing to a degree that would flights at LGB, Tuttle helped appoint have harmed many Long Beach neigh- Gabelich first to the Board of Health and borhoods. “When I joined that move- Human Services and then to the Parks ment, I began my role as a community and Recreation Commission, in which she was instrumental in the establishment activist,” she said. Gabelich noted that after the city see GABELICH page 5 council passed a noise ordinance limiting
SH City Council approves new library plans amid controversial public input CJ Dablo Staff Writer
Facing harsh words from several members of a community watchdog group, the Signal Hill City Council at last Tuesday’s meeting accepted a conceptual design for a new library and authorized City staff to move forward with construction plans. The price for the project has been estimated to total more than $10.5 million. This amount reflects the cost of construction plus an additional amount to cover design and construction management and other costs related to the project. It also includes a large contingency fund, according to City Manager Ken Farfsing. “This is a library for the future,” Councilmember Michael Noll said, just before he cast his vote in favor of proceeding with the construction plans to replace the 4,234-square-foot library with a building more than
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View of new Signal Hill Library conceptual design
three times its size. The design features artistic elements to celebrate the City’s historic ties to the oil industry. The new library will also have space dedicated for a children’s area, a teen area, a learning center, and a historical museum to fill more than 15,000
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square feet of space. The library will have an expanse of windows, a courtyard area and– if the budget has room for it– an optional terrace area. According to the city manager, see COUNCIL page 14