Greg Armstrong-Mazul of MacGregor High School of Albany prepares to cut a board at his construction class. The class is taught by a volunteer teacher Mark Kalman, who brings his own tools for students to practice carpentry. Kalman is now able to purchase new gear and material for the class with the recent donation of $1,000 from Albany Education Foundation. Photo by Linda (Linjun) Fan.
By Linda (Linjun) Fan
The Board of Education of Albany Unified School District decided to table the layoff of six teachers of Albany High School, after hearing an outpouring of protest from parents and other members of the community Tuesday.
“In my opinion, there are folks on this list who are excellent teachers, ” said Board Member Ronald Rosenbaum. “And I also have problems with the way the decision was made. ” Read the rest of this entry »
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Albany wrestler Taylor Raphael is heading for the California State Wrestling Championship this weekend, after winning the fourth place in the North Coast Section Championship Saturday. Raphael, a student at MacGregor High School, is the first Albany wrestler that wins a place to compete in the State match since 2005. Read the rest of this entry »
A woman walked past the main building of Albany High School. Photo by Linda (Linjun) Fan.
At least four teachers of Albany High School were notified last week that they would be laid off soon. The layoff came as a shock to many parents and teachers involved with special education in the community.
Three of the four full-time teachers of the Special Education Department of the school received the layoff notices last Friday.
“I am profoundly shocked and deeply sorry to hear that these three dedicated and much-loved teachers are being let go, ” said Anne Bosch, a retired teacher of the department, in a letter to school administrators and board members. Read the rest of this entry »
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The Veteran’s Memorial Building in Albany. Photo by Linjun Fan.
The City of Albany will celebrate its centennial with various activities at the Veteran’s Memorial Building Saturday.
There will be swing dancing and live music in the auditorium of the building from 1 pm to 5 pm. There will also be exhibition of Albany’s historical pictures, Bingo games, and kid’s games at the celebration. Read the rest of this entry »
By Linjun Fan
Several employees of Albany Unified School District would lose their jobs if Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal is approved by the California State Legislature.
Albany school district would get about $700,000 less in funding from the state in the 2008 – 09 academic year, if the budget proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger is approved. A total of $4 billion would be cut for K-12 education statewide under the proposal.
To cope with the funding reduction, the school district would encourage 10 to 12 teachers to retire; it would not purchase new instructional materials for a whole year; it would also cut funding to various programs by 10 per cent, according to a report recently prepared by Superintendent William Wong. Read the rest of this entry »
Saint Ambrose Catholic Church in Albany. Photo By Linjun Fan.
The article below is written by Madeleine Miller-Bottome. Madeleine is a senior at Albany High School, and also a well-known singer in the community.
I have been going to church for 11 years and have recently decided to begin the process of being confirmed. With my own apprehensions and hesitations at the thought of committing myself to being a Catholic, I found myself wondering if there were any other people my age who found strength and identity in their faith while I was feeling so unsteady with mine. As I begin my journey into what it means to truly practice a religion-I wanted to talk with a few students who have already made this discovery. Read the rest of this entry »
Dear readers,
I am excited to announce to you that a group of fledgling reporters from Albany High School are joining me to write news stories for Albany Today.
Some of them will write about the big games of their sports teams, some will write about the issues of special concern to high schoolers, some will share with us their views on national politics, etc. Read the rest of this entry »
Did you see a martial arts performer jump five feet high in Albany Sunday? Did you watch Albany seniors practice Tai Chi, teenagers perform various Chinese ethnic dances, and little kids weave a giant dragon up and down? If you missed the shows at Albany’s Lunar New Year celebration, you can still catch the fascinating moments of it on the slideshow below.
Photos by Linjun Fan and Francesco Papalia. (Special thanks to Albany resident Papalia, who captured the spectacular jump of the martial art performer with his camera. )
Third-grader Lewis Pietropaoli and David Leong rehearse dragon dance at Cornell Chinese After-school Program Friday. They will make a debut at the Lunar New Year Celebration on Solano Avenue Sunday. Photo by Linjun Fan.
About 120 Albany kids will participate in the Lunar New Year celebration, which starts at 1:00 pm Sunday, parading from the east end of Solano Avenue to Cornell Elementary School. Read the rest of this entry »
The half-a-century-old Albany Pool will be replaced by two new pools with voters’ approval of Measure E this week. Photo by Linjun Fan.
A bond measure for rebuilding the Albany Pool was approved by a majority of Albany voters Tuesday.
More than 3,400 Albany residents voted Yes on the measure, accounting for 71 per cent of the total number of votes, while 1,400 people voted against issuing the Community Pool Improvement Bond, according to the Registrar of Voters Office of Alameda County. Read the rest of this entry »
Albany voters cast their ballot at the Albany Community Center Tuesday. Photo by Linjun Fan.
An overwhelming majority of Albany voters chose Barack Obama to run for President in the primary election Tuesday.
Among the 3, 017 people who cast their ballots at Albany’s polling stations, more than 1, 700 voted for Obama, doubling the number for Hillary Clinton, who received 813 votes. Read the rest of this entry »
By Linjun Fan
Prosecutor added more allegations into the complaint against Kay Sorg at a court hearing Tuesday.
Sorg is a veteran Albany Middle School teacher charged with sexual assault on a former student of hers.
Greg Dolge, deputy district attorney of Alameda County, wrote in the complaint that there is independent evidence that “clearly and convincingly corroborated the victim’s allegations”. Read the rest of this entry »
Michael Welch, a homeless person living at the Albany Bulb, takes a morning walk with his dog Trippet at the waterfront. The dog has just received her license with the help of Albany City Councilmember Joanne Wile. Wile also helped Katherine Cody, another homeless at the bulb, get social security benefits and move out of the Bulb recently.
Grant Borgwardt, a junior at MacGregor High School of Albany, won the grand prize of a multimedia contest this week with a video titled “Why Vote”. Borgwardt told his young peers that ”the fate of your country is up to you” , urging them to ” choose candidate, cast your ballot”, after a historical review of the spread of voting rights in the video clip. Read the rest of this entry »
