The city of Westminster will officially recognize the historic Mendez v. Westminster school desegregation case by building a bike trail on Hoover Street, passing through the elementary school site that was central to the 1947 lawsuit.
An article in the Los Angeles Times describes how the two-mile bike trail along an unused railroad right-of-way would begin on Hoover at Bolsa Avenue, end at Garden Grove Boulevard and include educational information about the case and possibly commemorative public art.
The Westminster City Council unanimously approved the proposal at its meeting this week.
The case, which included plaintiffs from the districts of Westminster, Santa Ana, Garden Grove and El Modena, ended segregation in Orange County schools, seven years before the Brown v. Board of Education did so nationally. In February, it was also the subject of The Deeper Learning Podcast’s first episode.
Here are some other education stories that caught our attention this week:
- The Orange County Department of Education on Tuesday named the 2018 Orange County Teachers of the Year. A traveling entourage made up of county Superintendent Dr. Al Mijares, media and other officials burst into the classrooms of the six recipients with the surprise announcements.
- The Laguna Beach High School band traveled far and wide to deliver an epic performance at Pearl Harbor and visit other memorials in the area.
- Following a parent petition and previous court decision, an appeals court has agreed that Palm Lane Elementary School meets the criteria needed to convert it to a public charter school.
- Two Orange County high school students received $40,000 scholarships from the Edison Scholars program, which was set up by Edison International to assist minority, low-income and under-represented students reach their STEM-related career goals.
- The Orange Unified School District announced plans to build an innovative new science center using money raised through Measure S.
- In establishing relationships with several county offices of education in Southern California, Khan Academy is hoping to expand its already large footprint in the world of personalized learning to make its online resources a more formal part of the school curriculum.
And for more education news stories, visit news.ocde.us.