West Contra Costa Unified School District


The West Contra Costa Unified School District is the school district for western Contra Costa County, California. It is based in Richmond, California. In addition to Richmond, the district covers the cities of El Cerrito, San Pablo, Pinole, and Hercules and the unincorporated areas of Bayview-Montalvin Manor, East Richmond Heights, El Sobrante, Kensington, North Richmond, and Tara Hills.

History

The district currently has six neighborhood-assignment high schools, six neighborhood-assignment middle schools, and thirty-six neighborhood-assignment elementary and primary schools along with various continuation and alternative schools. Here is a via the for figuring out the boundaries and locations for neighborhood-assignment schools.
The WCCUSD incurred $42.5 million in debt when the then-named Richmond Unified School District went bankrupt in 1990 under Superintendent Walter Marks and the state, under court order, financed district operations. The bankruptcy affected the credit rating of the City of Richmond, therefore the name was changed. In 1991 the district had to be bailed out by the state. As of Fall 2005, the school district is $7 million in debt. The district has been lobbying IBM to forgive 5 million dollars in debt from obsolete computers purchased in 1989. To decrease expenditures, the district is planning to close schools over the next two years.

ACLU lawsuit

In 2012 the district was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for the "decrepit" conditions at Community Day School. The alternative school was reported to have no electricity, heating, or bathrooms in addition to rampant rodent and feline excrement. Furthermore, the roof was leaking, there were insufficient seats or desks for students and mushrooms were found to be growing from the floor. Two thirds of students were also reported as being chronically truant. It was also noted that there was not usually a math or science teacher available. Students needing to use a bathroom facility must be escorted by staff to Gompers Continuation High School. The stated goal of the suit is to improve the learning conditions and available supplies and opportunities for the small school body.

High schools

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