Student

Jun 5 2012

Principal supports instructor

A 13-year-old student was expelled from school after her mother confronted the school’s principal about a teacher’s racial slur.

Through tears, Brea Persley, a student at Century Academy for Excellence in Inglewood, told her mother that her White science teacher, Kelly Dempsey, told her to “sit your nappy-headed self down” in front of the entire classroom.

Oct 18 2011

Student with weapon

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A South Los Angeles middle school was locked down today when a student said a classmate had a weapon, but none was found after a search of the campus, authorities said.

Authorities were alerted about 9:45 a.m. of the possible weapon at Carver Middle School, 4410 McKinley Ave., according to Myra Ramirez of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The student who allegedly had the weapon was found and was interviewed, and a search was conducted, but no weapon was located, Ramirez said. The lockdown was lifted about 11 a.m., she said.

Sep 13 2011

Open call for students grades 9-12

Celebrating 25 years, the signature Los Angeles based program has assisted more than 21,000 African-American students into college
 
LOS ANGELES – Since 1986, the Young Black Scholars (YBS) college preparatory program has assisted more than 21,000 Los Angeles area Black students into college—and the program is looking to increase that number with the start of the 2011-12 academic school year.
 

Marisol Aguilar  |   OW Contributor
Oct 7 2010

Film pushes for charter schools

“Waiting for Superman” is a documentary by Davis Guggenheim, director of “An Inconvenient Truth,” that focuses on the deteriorating public school system.

Guggenheim’s film follows five optimistic children and their families (that he selected from across the country), who hope to win the lottery—the charter school lottery that is.

Charter schools are portrayed as the possible saviors of these five children. However, there are not many available seats for all the applicants, and only a few lucky ones will win the game.

Rupa Dev | New American Media  |   OW Contributor
Sep 30 2010

Researchers take first-hand look at problems.

Editor’s Note: As California’s government continues to not set a budget for the state, state schools are still suffering from insufficient funds to properly teach it’s young people. Twenty-eight high school youth from Los Angeles took the trip up to Capital Hill to get the reason from the horses mouth as to why their education is so poorly funded. Rupa Dev is a reporter for New America Media.
 

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.

California
San Diego college students and volunteers will carry out their sixth home restoration project on Wednesday, July 10 through Sunday, July 14. as part of the “Healing our Heroes’ Homes” (H3) program created by the nonprofit Embrace. The five-day effort will take place at the home of medically retired Marine Corps Capt. Sarah Bettencourt. Bettencourt served with many different units across the country during the Global War on Terrorism and developed a rare neurological disorder in 2008. With a focus to restore the homes of disabled veteran homeowners, H3 falls in line with Embrace’s mission to mobilize college-student volunteers and community members to serve less fortunate members of civilian and veteran communities. The project for the Bettencourts’ home includes kitchen and bathroom remodeling, building ADA-compliant disability ramps, widening their driveway to ADA standards, widening doorways and landscaping.
 
District of Columbia
The 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will showcase its five-year community research project on African American identity with the program “The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity.” This multicity collaboration examines the history and culture of the aesthetics of African Americans. The festival will be held June 26-30 and July 3-7, outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets. “Whether we realize it or not, we are all dress artists. The way we compose our look is a creative expression of our ideas about who we are and who we aspire to be,” said Diana N’Diaye, program curator. “This program explores the diversity of African American traditions of style, but also teaches young people the importance of documenting their own culture and saving that information for themselves and future generations.”