Posts Tagged: child

Opinion

Education: Attack on parent choice awakes a sleeping giant

A school bus awaits to pick up children at a California school. (Photo: Debbie Ann Powell, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: The accumulation of harmful public policy proposals which would have eliminated parent choice in California demonstrates what happens when Sacramento’s public education establishment awakes a sleeping giant.

News

Dangerous mix: Law enforcement and mentally ill suspects

A suspect in custody, handcuffed by police. (Photo: Boyfare, via Shutterstock)

Police response to mental-health calls often ends – again and again – in chaotic, noisy hospital emergency rooms, where staff is stretched thin, and a heart attack is likely to take precedence over someone in the throes of a mental-health crisis. “Traditionally, people would be dropped off at the ER, and the only option was to transfer them to a psychiatric facility,” says Dr. Scott Zeller, a nationally known emergency psychiatrist and former president of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry.

Opinion

In California, a new war on poverty

Children in a stroller in downtown Los Angeles. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: It’s been a long time since the United States waged a “war on poverty.” But here in California, a new war is underway. Under the leadership of Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature, our recently enacted state budget confronts our poverty crisis with unprecedented investments in healthcare, preschool, CalWORKS, earned-income tax credits, and expanded juvenile justice and foster care funding and reforms.

News

California voters eye changing course on ‘English only’

A teacher writes on the blackboard in a class for English language learners. (Photo: Viacheslav Nikolaenko)

Proposition 58, titled the “English Proficiency, Multilingual Education” initiative, would repeal key provisions of Proposition 227 approved by voters in 1998. For instance, parents would no longer need to sign waivers to get into bilingual education programs. Schools could more easily institute bilingual programs.

News

Vaccination: Debunking the myths

A child getting vaccinated. (Photo: Thinkstock, Dimitry Naumov)

The Kaiser study found that, on an individual level, under-immunization—where a child misses one or more of the required doses before age 3—was higher in neighborhoods with more families in poverty as well as those with more graduate degrees. But even after adjusting for factors such as race and income, the study still found statistically significant geographic clusters of under-immunization.

News

Vaccination effort, ‘religious exemption’ at odds

Regulations implementing a new California law aimed at reducing the number of unvaccinated youngsters attending school may do just the opposite. A 2012 bill, which took effect Jan. 1, requires parents seeking an exemption from vaccinations against diseases like measles and whooping cough, to first talk with a health care provider about the risks and benefits of vaccines.

Opinion

Equal justice for sex abuse victims

Victims are entitled to equal justice and equal protection. Until SB 131 is amended by Sen. Beall to allow public sector victims access to the courts under the same terms and conditions as private victims, we believe anyone concerned about fairness should oppose this bill.

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