The Benicia Unified School District and the Benicia Teachers’ Association (BTA) reached a tentative agreement Friday over contract negotiations following a four-month impasse. In November, the BTA declared an impasse over salary negotiations and noted that not having a proper competitive compensation was contributing to a teacher shortage in the district. Among the issues frequently […]
Implementation Committee looking to finalize BHS bell schedule
3-traditional, 2-block day looks to move forward in bargaining process The road to a new bell schedule at Benicia High School is a long one, but Principal Brianna Kleinschmidt remains optimistic that progress is being made. It will just take a lot of work and feedback. According to Kleinschmidt, teachers had been working on finding […]
Teachers, community address school board over teacher shortage
(Editor’s note: Regarding the contract negotiations, the district and Benicia Teachers’ Association reached a tentative agreement for the 2016-2017 school year at 5:12 p.m. Friday. The parties will be taking the terms of the agreement to their respective constituents for ratification. Sunday’s paper had been finished before then, so this information was not ready for […]
School board votes to set retention of 2 Measure S projects at 10%
After a public hearing, the Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District unanimously voted to set the retention for two Measure S projects at 10 percent for being substantially complex at Thursday’s meeting. The first project in question was a fire alarm upgrade at Benicia High School— not Benicia Middle School as previously reported. […]
Council to discuss marijuana land use at Tuesday’s meeting
The City Council will review a report on recreational marijuana use and discuss potential changes to city law at Tuesday’s meeting. On Oct. 9, 2015, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a trio of bills which provided a regulatory system on governing the cultivation, testing and distribution of medical marijuana as well as physician recommendations. The bills […]
St. Patrick’s Day Beer Crawl returns with new beers
For the third year in a row, St. Patrick’s Day festivities will come to Benicia a week earlier through the St. Patrick’s Day Beer Crawl. Benicia Main Street hosted this event for the first time in 2015 after it failed to book the Clock Tower in time for its annual chili cook-off. As a substitute, […]
Violinist to join for Vallejo Symphony’s final concert of season
The sun is setting on Vallejo Symphony Orchestra’s 2016-17 season. What better way to cap it off than with a program titled “Evening”? Eagle-eyed concertgoers may have noticed a theme with this year’s main VSO concerts, namely that they all have been named after parts of the day as well as nicknames for symphonies by […]
School board to hold public hearing on ‘substantially complex’ Measure S projects
The Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District will be holding a public hearing at Thursday’s meeting to set the retention for two Measure S projects at 10 percent because they are considered substantially complex. Measure S is an initiative that was approved by Benicia voters in 2014 to provide $49.6 million in bond […]
Benicia High grad among runners-up in international marketing competition
A Benicia High School graduate was among 20 Cal Poly students honored by state lawmakers on the floors of the Assembly and State Senate recently for taking second place in an international business simulation competition. “I am humbled to have been recognized by the university and the state for my achievements, and I sincerely […]
Split decision in Board of Appeals hearing over historic property
The historic Foundry and Office buildings will stay standing…for now. After a split 1-1 decision by the Building Code Board of Appeals on Wednesday, no immediate action was taken on the decision to issue an emergency demolition permit for the buildings, which means it could go before the City Council in the future. The two […]