By Teneh Weller I remember being a new 5th grade teacher, full of excitement and hope. I had the opportunity, in some small way, to change the world. I had a vision that all of my students, no matter where they started out, would reach […]
Category: Conditions of Children
Conditions of Children
Call to Join the California Community Schools Network
by Deanna Niebuhr A few years ago, I worked with a team to write a Healthy Start grant proposal for an elementary school. The principal understood that this proposal writing process presented an opportunity to offer her students a valuable leadership experience. To give students […]
Survey shows California school wellness programs are bearing fruit
by Dr. Lynn Silver Statewide and local efforts to support healthier schools and students have blossomed from Humboldt to Imperial Counties. These efforts are bearing fruit today. California school districts are approving and implementing increasingly innovative wellness policies and practices. To gauge progress on school […]
Close the achievement gap by reducing the attendance gap
by Hedy Chang September is attendance awareness month. To kick it off, CSBA invited Attendance Works Director Hedy Chang to address chronic absence and how school boards, superintendents and other education stakeholders can work together to help solve it. More students in California, just over […]
Minding the DROPS: Water conservation projects teach awareness at schools
by Renee Cashmere As a first and second grader in the Bay Area in 1976-77, an epic drought made impressions upon me that have lasted a lifetime. Even before the more recent drought began, I remembered the conservation rules all Californian’s were required to follow back then. […]
Physical Activity Key to Fitter, Smarter Kids
This is the fifth in a series of blog posts by the Council for a Strong America highlighting creative partnerships between communities, boards and school districts. By Gary W. Hall, Jr., Olympian. Today, we know that the number on the scale can be a matter […]
Access to Water Key to Healthy Students, Safe Nation
This is the third in a series of blog posts by the Council for a Strong America highlighting creative partnerships between communities, boards and school districts. By Brigadier General David Brahms, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) It’s more than just a story on the evening news. […]
Classrooms or Crime?
This is the second in a series of blog posts by the Council for a Strong America highlighting creative partnerships between communities, boards and school districts. By Sheriff Adam Christianson Preventing kids from turning to a life of crime, that’s basically what it comes down […]
Unexpected Messengers
This is the first in a series of blog posts by the Council for a Strong America highlighting creative partnerships between communities, boards and school districts. By Barrie Becker, Council for a Strong America These days, it seems it’s hard to get anyone to agree on anything. […]
Closing the Achievement Gap With Attendance
by Kathryn Ramirez, Trustee, Salinas Union High School District and CSBA Director-at-large, Hispanic While I am optimistic about the direction education is headed in California, we must acknowledge that far more needs to be done if we are going to close race-based achievement gaps that […]


