THIS MORNING
Area CHP offices partnering with Cannery Kitchen & Tap for ‘Coffee with a Cop’ event
Because I Love You VALENTINE'S DAY IS FEBRUARY 14
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CASTRO VALLEY FORUM PAGE 4
A COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SERVING CASTRO VALLEY SINCE 1989
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2023
YEAR 35
INSIDE YOUR
FORUM
NO. 6
Six Castro Valley Athletes Take Part Locals In National Signing Day Ceremony Bemoan Quarry By Michael Singer
CASTRO VALLEY FORUM
Accountability
County District Attorney Price creates Public Accountability Unit
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Road Closure
Lake Chabot Road likely to stay closed longer than expected
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Love to Squat A few reasons you should fall in love with doing squats
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INDEX Calendar .................. 4 Classified Ads ....... 8 Crosswords ........... 9 Homes ...................... 6 Horoscope ............... 4 Obituaries ............ 11 Opinions .............. 11 Our Town ................. 3 Sports ................... 12 Weather ................. 2 WWW.MYCVFORUM.COM
Six athletes from Castro Valley High School held a ceremony last Wednesday to celebrate their commitments to the colleges and universities that have recruited them into their respective sports programs. Those participating included Taylor Hodges (soccer), Kai Liebowitz (rowing), Natalia Perez (water polo), Gabriella “Gabby” Schirado (volleyball), Gabriella Tavares (softball), and Kyndal Todd (softball). More than 100 people— families, friends, and coaches—packed the Center for the Arts Expo Hall to cheer on their students as they signed a letter accepting offers of a spot on a team next school year. Balloons, banners, flowers, and PHOTOS BY MICHAEL SINGER sports equipment adorned the signing tables. Each student CONGRATULATIONS: Teammates Gabriella Tavares (at left) and Kyndal Todd and many of their supporters are preparing to sign letters of intent to play for college teams next year. Tavarsee ATHLETES on back page es will major in sociology at UTEP. Todd will major in forensic science at Cal.
Some 150 people packed San Leandro’s Surlene Grant Meeting Room on East 14th Street near City Hall to hear about a proposal by the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) to refill a longclosed quarry off Lake Chabot Road and build a new park with hiking trails there. Area residents and others at the meeting complained that the park’s opening would only come after decades of steady and noisy dump truck traffic carrying used trench soil from water pipe replacement projects throughout EBMUD’s service area to the quarry site. EBMUD engineers say replacing the old soil with new is essential for the stability and longevity of the new pipes being installed to replace old ones and is a standard pipeline construction practice. The utility says this leaves much old soil to reuse or dispose of. EBMUD estimates some 30 to 100 dump trucks would come to the site each weekday for 40 to 80 years, depending on whether the quarry gets all the trench soil or other sites get some of it. “It would be converting a peaceful residential neighborhood into a 40 to 80-year construction zone,” said Bay-OVista resident Tim Ballas. “A peaceful setting is our reason for choosing to live here.” Members of the San Leandro City Council’s Facilities & Transportation Committee heard the EBMUD proposal and advised against any quick approval. Councilmembers PHOTO BY MICHAEL SINGER Fred Simon and Bryan Azevedo and Mayor Juan Gonzalez, TU HABLAS ESPAÑOL?: Transitional Kindergarten teacher Ms. Maria Fajardo instructs two students on who participated remotely, the Spanish words for items in their lunchboxes. see QUARRY on page 10
OLG’s Spanish Immersion Program By Michael Singer
CASTRO VALLEY FORUM
Eight young students busily munch on their lunches around a table while their teacher reads a book about dogs and cats. She pauses to answer questions and then gives directions to the students to wash their hands after they have finished. While this could be any transitional kindergarten (TK) class, these students at Our Lady of Grace School in Castro Valley spend most of their day immersed in speaking and reading in Spanish. It’s a fledgling Spanish language immersion program at OLG championed by the
principal, Dr. Eugenia (Gena) McGowan. She says the program gives TK and Kindergarten an advantage that will help them better understand English and, eventually, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) classes. “Learning Spanish at a younger age is beneficial for understanding STEM subjects later,” Principal McGowan told the Forum. “Many words in science are based in Latin, and it will be easier for them to learn it in Spanish first.” She adds that two of these TK students could only speak Mandarin when they came to OLG and now speak Spanish and English as well. see PROGRAM on back page
By Mike McGuire
CASTRO VALLEY FORUM