Instead of entertaining new taxes, entertain this idea: Much of the crime in Sacramento is being committed by juvenile delinquents who are not being nurtured and guided through the maturation process. What’s missing from the lives of most of these young people is simply an adult who will hold them accountable.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Fargo’s new tax, and the purported fifty new police officers it will bring to Sacramento, aren’t going to magically produce those…

“Nearly one million—three in 10 California teens—are left unsupervised after school three or more days each week” (Opinion Research Poll, June, 2006)

A little over two years ago, law enforcement people from all over the place met with state legislators and pleaded with them to put key legislation in place “to ensure high–quality [prop. 49 after school] programs roll-out successfully.” At the time, an official added, “these reforms are necessary because serious financial and administrative barriers currently keep many kids…

Ed note: Our first guest article.. and it’s a DANDY!

Thanks to Joe’s recent post, I’ve been mulling my former teaching career and the idea of what keeps kids in school anyway? I won’t rehash the statistics but essentially, Natomas Unified is failing to keep kids in school. Why is that and what can we do to make it better?

I stumbled across an old Dept of Ed article called “Manual to Combat Truancy.” This line in particular jumped out at me “I’ve…

Updated: Make sure you read the comments below as some interesting points have been made by readers. Also, it seems truancy rates can mean different things by region, but I think we can all agree what they mean in Natomas given the well documented crime issues and delinquency problems.

If you visit Mayor Heather Fargo’s circa 1995 City of Sacramento web site you will find a link titled “Community Issues.” When you click it, you will–not surprisingly–find ONE item in the…