MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 - SEPTEMBER 14, 2014
riversideindependent.com
VOLUME 1, NO. 19
Riverside Community Colleges could City’s new offer four-year degrees transparency by Vickie Vértiz portal If Senate Bill 850 becomes
state law, the Riverside Community College District could expand one of its two-year programs into a four-year pilot program, the Press Enterprise reported. District administrators can only choose one of the four career programs offered by the schools to expand into a bachelor degree program. The areas of study are: registered nursing at Riverside City College, the dental hygiene and physician assistant programs at Moreno Valley College, and the video gaming program at Norco College, according to Robin Steinback, the interim vice chancellor for educational services, workforce development and planning. The pilot program is being considered because the state legislature passed a bill authorizing up to 15 community college districts to award four-year degrees in limited circumstances and would be valid only for degrees that are not offered by the Cal State or University of California systems. “We definitely want to be considered as one of the 15 pilots,” Steinback told the Press Enterprise. Senate Bill 850 has still not
-Photo by Terry Miller
been signed by Governor Jerry Brown. There are currently 21 other states that permit community colleges to confer fouryear degrees, added the Press
Enterprise. Steinback added that each district could offer one fourPlease see page 4
1 in 10 California workers is an illegal immigrant, study suggests by Jennifer schlueter Last Wednesday, the Pew Research Center released a nationwide study on immigrants. A simultaneously published report by the University of Southern California (USC) on the same subject focused solely on California.
USC and the California Immigrant Policy Center joined forces and based their study on data from the census, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor. Their research explored “a variety of ways the estimated
2.6 million immigrants living in California without permission participate in state life,” according to the Los Angeles Times. Co-director of USC’s Center for the Study of ImmiPlease see page 2
The City of Riverside’s new transparency portal is an option for residents specifically interested in financial information. The City Council’s Finance Committee at a special meeting on July 29th reviewed and approved an online “Ask Finance” portal for citizens to have their questions about City finances answered directly by our Finance Department staff. Answers to questions submitted at the website -www.riversideca. gov/finance/ask-finance- will be posted by the Finance Department staff as soon as they can be researched and addressed. Visitors to the site will also be able to submit documents along with their questions. Finance staff will be able to provide supporting information when answering questions. The City Council’s Finance Committee will review all questions and answers quarterly at their regular meeting, beginning in September 2014. Citizens can attend those meetings to ask follow-up questions as well. The Finance Department already provides cutting-edge access to financial information, including monthly financial reports, investor relations information, and most recently, the City’s online checkbook and budget tool powered by OpenGov. All of these user-friendly tools are available at www.riversideca. gov/finance/. The “Ask Finance” website; however, enables interested citizens to submit detailed questions directly to the Finance Department. Residents can pull public records on any topic at www.EngageRiverside.com, the citywide transparency portal unveiled earlier this month. Information can also be gathered by reading the City budget and/or financial statements and through Public Records Act requests.
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Step Through the Looking Glass with the artists of Baby Tattooville The Riverside Art Museum welcomes the return of the annual pop surrealist exhibition organized by Bob Self of Baby Tattoo Books, an alternative, underground publishing company based out of Los Angeles. The exhibition runs from September 4 through November 25, 2014, with a free Fall Exhibition Celebration on Friday, October 3, from7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Participating artists in this year’s show include: Brom (bromart.com), Laurie Lee Brom (laurieleebrom.com), Eric Fortune (ericfortune.com), Tara McPherson(taramcpherson. com), Brian Smith (briansmithart.com), Joe Sorren (joesorrenart.com), and Jeff Soto (jeffsoto.com). Since its inception Baby Tattoo has evolved into a robust and diverse collective of contemporary artists and collectors. Held in conjunction with their annual private collectors’ gala event at the Mission Inn hotel
in Riverside October 3 – 5 (25 tickets are still currently available at www.babytattooville. com), RAM’s companion exhibitions have taken place for the past eight years and continue to draw fans from across the globe. “Riverside is proud to be the home of Baby Tattooville, a cutting-edge art exhibit that brings so many people to our treasured Mission Inn and the Riverside Art Museum,” says Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey. “Riverside truly is a City of Arts and Innovation, and this world-class event is right at home here.” This exhibition embodies RAM’s continuing efforts to present exhibitions of avidly collected, internationally-renowned artists, made accessible to the public through engaging companion activities. The art movements known as “Pop Surrealism” and “Lowbrow” have excited the public with their mixture of the nostalgic, decadent, humorous, and mo-
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rose. Originating as a hybridized “bastard” art movement, Baby Tattoo has gained an increasingly mainstream fan base, championed by well-known alternative art chronicle, JUXTAPOZ magazine, as well as Hi Fructose, Arrested Motion, and numerous blogs and websites. Self describes the sentiments behind the group simply as, “Strange, fun art.” “The exhibition,” says Interim Exhibitions and Collections Coordinator Lindsey Rossi, “comprises marvelous phantasms that are often dark
in tone and truly enthralling for the viewer.” Bob Self and the artists showcased in the BABY TATTOO 2014 exhibition will be traveling to Riverside to personally attend the reception on Friday, October 3. Also part of the evening’s Fall Exhibition Celebration will be a Live Psychic Haircutting event in conjunction with the PSYCHIC BARBER by Finishing School with Yucef Merhi exhibit. Step through the looking glass with us for a not-to-be-missed night of strange, fun art.
Illegal immigrant workers Continued from page 1
grant Integration and USC sociology professor Manuel Pastor describes the illegally working immigrants’ integration into California’s workforce: “It’s a population deeply embedded in the labor market, neighborhoods and social fabric of the state.” The study found that this population of illegal immigrant workers makes up almost 10% of California’s laborers. The LA Times reports that, according to the research, “immigrants who are in California illegally make up 38% of the agriculture industry and 14% of the construction industry statewide.” Thus, it is no surprise that illegally working immigrants in California account for $130 billion of the state’s gross domestic product per year. However, despite these profits, proponents of immigration laws want to see a stricter enforcement of them. Steven Camarot, of the Center for Immigration Studies, told the LA Times that “a bigger economy doesn’t mean the people are richer.” Apparently, the GDP earnings do not cover schools and other government services accessed by illegal immigrants. Reshma Shamasunder, executive director of the Califor-
nia Immigrant Policy Center, disagrees, according to a press release: “Every one of California’s immigrants helps shape our state’s economic and civic vitality, but the daily threat of deportation casts a shadow over California’s undocumented residents—and their loved ones and communities.” She asks President Obama to limit deportations and “honor these contributions and advance economic prosperity.” Narrowing data down to the greater Los Angeles area, the study found that 1 out of 4 immigrants resides in here without permission. These illegal immigrants account for $57 billion of the area’s annual GDP. The USC as well as the Pew study both came to the conclusion that most illegal immigrants in California as well as nationwide have been in the U.S. for more than 10 years, ¾ live in households with U.S. citizens, and about four million have U.S.-born children, who are thus U.S. citizens. The Pew Research Center estimated that the same number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2009 and 2013: 11.3 million.
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Vergara v. California ruling; state officials appeal Judge Treu’s final ruling on tenure in California schools By terry miller Last week, California Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown appealed a recent state judge’s ruling that ends tenure and other union protections for public school teachers. The appeal, filed Friday, contends that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rulf Treu’s final decree lacks detail and fails to provide the legal basis for his verdict. Treu issued the final ruling Thursday, after directing in June that tenure protections for California teachers violate the state constitution, depriving some of the state’s 6.2 million students of a quality education, specifically minorities and those from low-income families. The lawsuit, Vergara v. California, was brought by Beatriz Vergara and eight other students claimed incompetent teachers let classrooms get out of control, came to school unprepared and demeaned and humiliated students. State Superintendent of schools Tom Torlakson issued a press release last week on Vergara Lawsuit and said… ‘’No teacher is perfect. A very few are not worthy of the job.” He added, “The people who dedicate their lives to the teaching profession deserve our admiration and support. Instead, this ruling lays the failings of our education system at their feet. “We do not fault doctors when the emergency room is full. We do not criticize the firefighter whose supply of water runs dry. Yet while we crowd our classrooms and fail to properly equip them with adequate resources, those who filed and support this case shamelessly seek to blame teachers who step forward every day to make a difference
for our children. “No teacher is perfect. A very few are not worthy of the job. School districts have always had the power to dismiss those who do not measure up, and this year I helped pass a new law that streamlined the dismissal process, while protecting the rights of both teachers and students. It is disappointing that the Court refused to even consider this important reform. “In a cruel irony, this final ruling comes as many California teachers spend count-
less unpaid hours preparing to start the new school year in hopes of better serving the very students this case purportedly seeks to help. “While the statutes in this case are not under my jurisdiction as state Superintendent, it is clear that the Court’s ruling is not supported by the facts or the law. Its vagueness provides no guidance about how the Legislature could successfully alter the challenged statutes to satisfy the Court. Accordingly, I will ask the Attorney General to seek appellate review.”
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RPD recruiting for Citizen Academy The Riverside Police Department is accepting applications for the Citizen Academy, which begins Thursday, October 2, 2014, and continues through December 18, 2014. Recruitment is open through September 26, 2014. Most sessions will be held in the Riverside Police Department’s Community Room, 10540 Magnolia Avenue, Suite B, on Thursday evenings from 6:00p.m.9:00p.m.The Citizen Police Academy is designed to form a stronger partnership between the community and the Riverside Police Department through education. Participants will learn about patrol procedures, use of force, community services, gang and narcotic in-
vestigations, general investigations, firearms familiarization, S.W.A.T., traffic safety, and much more. The class size is limited and seats will be given to the first candidates that apply via the Department’s website and who pass an informal background check. All sessions are in a classroom setting and do not require any physical training. Applicants must live, work, or attend school in the City of Riverside. Applications must be submitted by September 26, 2014. To apply for the Citizen Academy or for more information, please visit the RPD Website at www.RPDonline.org and click on the box for Citizen Academy or contact Supervisor Jones at 951-826-5232.
Beheading of second American journalist by ISIL condemned by lawmakers Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement in response to reports of the killing of American journalist Steven Sotloff by ISIL: “Reports of ISIL beheading a second American journalist, Steven Sotloff, are another gruesome reminder of the evil that now controls a large swath of Iraq
and Syria. All of America sends its heartfelt condolences to the Sotloff family, who have been living with this nightmare for a year and only wished for their son to be returned home unharmed. ISIL must be confronted and destroyed. And I am confident that no matter how long it takes, those who murdered Steven Sotloff and James Foley, and so many others, will be made to face justice.”
Holden truancy bill heads to Governor The California Legislature has given final approval to Assemblymember Chris Holden’s legislation to collect more complete records on absences and intervention strategies to help identify the effectiveness of school truancy programs. AB 1672 is part of a package of measures sponsored by the Attorney General to address chronic truancy and now goes to Governor Brown for signature. “With this slate of bills we are not putting more students in the juvenile justice system, but inviting the community to intervene before students end up in the penal system, which is why I am happy to be a part of this effort,” said Assemblymember Holden. “The bill has been amended to lower costs,
lower any burden on schools, and keep the information local where it is needed the most.” If enacted, School Attendance Review Boards will have to report important information like the number of students referred to them, how that student’s issues are addressed and whether that student is doing better. It also requires that information to be disaggregated by subgroups like race, gender, low income status and English language learner status. AB 1672, which passed the Senate Wednesday, had already passed the Assembly earlier in the session, but returned to the Assembly for approval of Senate amendments. The Assembly vote was 55 to 14.
4-year degrees at Community Colleges? Continued from page 1
year degree program, and could begin as soon as January 2015, but would have to start by 2017. The bill was developed to help address a statewide workforce shortage of adults with four-year degrees. The shortage is due in part to the high, and increasing, costs of attendance of four-year institutions, in addition to their selectivity and application processes. The Press Enterprise added that the law would permit community colleges to offer four-year degrees in fields where Cal State or UC are not able to accommodate public demand for entering a particular program, the California Community Colleges quoting the office of the chancellor from a news release. Course requirements and other academic criteria for community colleges have not yet been developed to build the four-year programs, Steinback told the Press Enterprise. Nonetheless, the Riverside Community College District has started to plan and intends to work with
the University of California, Riverside, Cal State San Bernardino, and other Cal State campuses to maintain the highest standard for future programs. Steinback is optimistic that the district could meet the growing demand for registered nurses to have four-year degrees and the registered nursing program at RCC is one of the best in the Inland Empire. “There is a nursing shortage,” she told the newspaper. “If we have unmet workforce need whether it’s statewide or in our region, the argument could be made that we should offer that.” The three community colleges being considered were recently re-accredited and as part of the accreditation process, the colleges found that they have just the right resources in terms of equipment, technology, facilities, and most importantly, the faculty with doctoral degrees and expertise to teach the upper level courses to begin expansion into any of the four programs being considered, added Steinback.