A Win and a Loss

Students who took part in STARS with City Council members and the school district superintendent

El Cerrito High School students who worked for the city this summer as interns reported to the City Council Sept. 16 on their experiences. They gave enthusiastic reviews to the partnership between the city and the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD).

It was the eighth year of the El Cerrito Students Training and Ready for Success (STARS) program and the first time it has been offered since 2020. The five-year hiatus was due to the pandemic, said Assistant City Manager Alexandra Orologas.

WCCUSD Superintendent Cheryl Cotton thanked the City Council for the successful partnership, saying she’d like to see it continue and even expand next summer.

El Cerrito High School's college and career counselor, Michelle Seymour, who had been laid off in March, was able to assist the students with applying for the program. It was the first time many of the students had applied for jobs. The city received about 40 applications, interviewed 25 students, and hired seven interns.

Carefully Planned Internships

The students said mentors at the city carefully planned work experiences that gave them a taste of local government in ways that were fun, inspirational, and educational. They worked six weeks and were paid the El Cerrito minimum wage of $18.34 per hour.

The seven students are Daniel Betanzos, Adam Fieszli, Noor Mariam, Jonah Graves, William Bowden, Lila Edgell, and Lydia Boreen. Each student was assigned to a different department, with two interns joining the fire department.

The interns did jobs like scanning and indexing more than 2,500 building permit records, helping to design and launch a new city employee intranet, and helping employees who needed of IT assistance or repairs.

They also had “amazing” experiences.

Lilia Edgell said, “I learned a lot of stuff that I never would have even thought to learn.”

William Bowden said, “Every day was different but it was also incredibly enjoyable and interesting to learn more.”

And Adam Feiszli said, “A huge thank you to everyone for making this possible!”

A student in one of the radio studios last year

Radio Program “Evaporated”

Unfortunately, students in the high school’s radio program started the year with a disappointing experience.

They returned to find that radio classes were canceled and the school’s radio station was still shut down.

Jeanne Marie Acceturo, the radio teacher for the last three years, resigned in June. She returned to work at KQED radio as an on-call announcer and operating technician. She also was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame as an educator.

“It’s bittersweet,” she said. “I’m happy to be recognized for what I was able to do in the three years I was there. I’m happy that so many of my students went on to work at college and community radio stations, but I would have liked to stay and be supported for my professional knowledge.”

Students who had signed up for radio classes this fall said they were assigned to another media academy class without any notice.

Parent Larry Nelson said, “There’s no teacher. There’s no program. The radio station is still off the air. It just evaporated with no explanation.”

Nelson said the radio program provided an “island of success” where students could develop speaking and writing skills along with technical expertise and use it in the real world.

One radio student who did not want to be named said she was placed in a different media class with a media academy teacher who had already been at the high school. No new radio teacher was hired.

“Loss of a Good Teacher”

“I personally hold a lot of sadness at the loss of a good class and a good teacher,” the student said. “This was a class that helped me improve my confidence and made me feel like I had a voice.”

Acceturo has worked in radio for about three decades in a variety of roles at college, commercial, and public radio stations including fundraising director, DJ trainer, announcer and station manager. She resigned her 67% teaching position just before the teacher contract year ended June 30.

Reasons for her resignation date back to January 2025. At that time WCCUSD stopped paying her for any hours beyond her two-thirds teaching position. The extra hours were needed to accomplish tasks to keep the station on the air, she said. By Feb. 27, the unpaid total was $777. Acceturo said she later filed a union grievance to get the money and to request a formal job description for managing the station.

Also on Feb. 27, she stopped doing the station management tasks and emailed Communications Director Raechelle Forrest that the station was no longer operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Acceturo’s students continued to broadcast during radio classes.

Then, on March 18, 2025, the school’s electrical system failed. Although repairs of the system still have not been completed, the school was up and running almost immediately on power from two leased generators.

At that time, Acceturo conferred with station engineer Ernest Herrera, who recommended buying two surge protectors and installing them before using the studio equipment.

Decision to Keep Station Off Air

However, Forrest stated that no money was to be spent and no radio station equipment was to be used until electrical repairs at the school were complete. She told Livable El Cerrito she had consulted experts.

Acceturo, who said she consulted two station engineers in northern California in addition to the KECG station engineer, said stopping the use of all radio equipment was not necessary and would disrupt her ability to offer a radio curriculum culminating in students running the live radio station for a full day.

Forrest ruled out any attempts to use radio studio equipment.

In mid-March, the district sent a layoff notice to Acceturo, but not to her current address. The notice was rescinded in April.

Nelson, an active member of the high school’s Parent Teacher Student Association, said he is determined to learn what the plan is to bring back the radio station and possibly, radio classes.

Plans to Fix Power and Bring Back KECG

“I talked to the new principal about planning to bring it back,” Nelson said. “She said that will happen after power is fixed on Oct. 25. I’m glad to hear that but it doesn’t really make much sense because all the other electrical equipment is running on generators. And saying that means it could happen anytime after Oct. 25.”

Superintendent Cotton, reached at the Sept. 16 El Cerrito City Council meeting, shared an email to the El Cerrito High community which said, “I want to reassure you that KECG will indeed return to regular broadcasting. We remain in communication with the FCC and will resume broadcasting as soon as we transition back to permanent power.”

The email also said the station would be available for students to use as part of their radio station instruction.

In response to a question, Cotton said she would look into whether there is a plan to hire a qualified radio instructor.

Forrest did not respond to requests for comment.

New Principal’s Perspective

The school’s new principal, Stacy Wayne, said operating the school on generators has not been a problem except for one day when one of the generators failed. A repair was made quickly, Wayne said.

“I’m a go with the flow kind of person and I know there’s a plan to fix it in October,” she said.

Wayne applied in July for the principal’s job that was reposted this summer after an earlier search ended with two qualified applicants taking positions in other districts. She already likes the community and looks forward to being part of it.

“I was just looking for something new and different and I was surprised when I saw the posting,” Wayne said. “I started the first week in August and I’m loving it. It’s really great. The faculty is very strong, very committed, dedicated, and passionate. I’m really excited to work with them.”

Wayne joins the district after 14 years at Orinda Intermediate School, first as associate principal and then for seven years as principal. Her husband teaches in Moraga and the youngest of her three children is still a student at Miramonte High School in Moraga. Before working in Orinda, she said, she worked 14 years in the Pacifica School district.

Hope for Station’s Future

Nelson said he will continue to monitor what’s happening with radio at the school.

“I’m not aggressive or mean but I don’t think we’re getting transparency from the district,” he said. “There are solutions available and I’m more than willing to donate effort and money to get the radio station back up. Both the superintendent and principal are brand new. You have to give people a little grace.”