Author: Elizabeth Barcelos (Elizabeth Barcelos)

After a process that brought together students, teachers and the local community, Burnett Middle School will have a new name: Ohlone Middle School. The school’s outgoing namesake is California’s first governor, Peter Burnett, whose racist policies included the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and attempts to keep black Americans out of California. He also believed...

With charter schools increasingly under scrutiny in Sacramento, hundreds of charter school families, dressed in purple, orange and green, rallied in downtown San Jose Friday to stand up for their rights. The state Legislature is considering two bills, AB 1505 and AB 1507, which would further regulate charter schools. AB 1505 would repeal provisions allowing the state...

Another chapter in the long history of mismanagement and financial woes in the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District was written this week in the form of an audit from state officials. The story was a familiar one for those following the troubled East San Jose district: ARUSD officials’ mismanagement of contracts cost the district...

After a week of voting, the list of new names for Burnett Middle School is down from seven to the top three: Ohlone Middle School, San José Middle School and Sofia Mendoza Middle School. Input from students, staff and community members was weighed by the Burnett name change committee. Each name was ranked by how...

In what’s becoming a familiar sight at school board meetings across San Jose and the state, parents and teachers on Thursday crowded a Cambrian School District meeting to decry low teacher pay and an inability to retain quality teachers. The outcry comes on the heels of several South Bay school districts eliminating or reclassifying droves of jobs....

Clutching signs proclaiming a lack of respect, dozens of San Jose Unified employees chanted, marched and protested the district’s decision to eliminate or reclassify 37 positions. Their chants echoed down Lenzen Avenue, drawing supportive honks from cars passing by as a helicopter whirled overhead. The protest was spurred by upcoming staff cuts and reassignments that...

The list is finally in: A committee narrowed down the finalists for Burnett Middle School’s new name. School administrators received more than five hundred submissions and a committee of students, school staff and community members narrowed it down to these finalists. Voting will open on May 6. In addition to the names, the ballot will...

Burnett Middle School is one step closer to getting a new name following backlash over the racist actions of the school’s namesake. The school is named after California’s first governor, Peter Burnett. His policies included the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. He also attempted to keep black Americans out of California and also believed that...