South San Francisco Unified School District schools will be closed Thursday due to the major storm expected to hit the state today.

“According to the National Weather Service, a major storm will hit the Bay Area at 3 pm on Wednesday, Jan. 4,” said Superintendent Shawnterra Moore. “Based on this information and out of an abundance of caution, our district is planning to cancel classes on Thursday, Jan. 5.”

The district serves the communities of Daly City, South San Francisco and San Bruno.

The storm is expected to bring heavy rain and high winds that could result in flooding and power outages that impact roads and make driving difficult, according to a press release from the district. Consequently, all extracurricular and athletic activities scheduled for today and Thursday have been canceled.

“Jan. 4 is a minimum day, and we highly encourage families to pick up their children from school as soon as possible and to be off the roads and home by 3 pm on that day,” Moore said.

After school care will be available this afternoon for essential workers who are unable to take time off, but there will be no extended care services on Thursday.

Latest update:

Wednesday, January 4, 2023, 3:57 pm

Pasadena Unified South by Latino civil rights group over school closures

Wednesday, January 4, 2023, 11:24 am

South San Francisco Unified schools closed Thursday due to storm

Wednesday, January 4, 2023, 11:14 am

Castro sworn into as new Alameda County superintendent

Tuesday, January 3, 2023, 10:32 am

Federal spending bill increases maximum Pell Grant by $500

Tuesday, January 3, 2023, 10:32 am

No charges filed following sexual abuse allegations at Ojai prep school

The post South San Francisco Unified colleges closed Thursday as a result of storm appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

South San Francisco Unified School District schools will be closed Thursday due to the major storm expected to hit the state today.

“According to the National Weather Service, a major storm will hit the Bay Area at 3 pm on Wednesday, Jan. 4,” said Superintendent Shawnterra Moore. “Based on this information and out of an abundance of caution, our district is planning to cancel classes on Thursday, Jan. 5.”

The district serves the communities of Daly City, South San Francisco and San Bruno.

The storm is expected to bring heavy rain and high winds that could result in flooding and power outages that impact roads and make driving difficult, according to a press release from the district. Consequently, all extracurricular and athletic activities scheduled for today and Thursday have been canceled.

“Jan. 4 is a minimum day, and we highly encourage families to pick up their children from school as soon as possible and to be off the roads and home by 3 pm on that day,” Moore said.

After school care will be available this afternoon for essential workers who are unable to take time off, but there will be no extended care services on Thursday.

Latest update:

Wednesday, January 4, 2023, 11:24 am

South San Francisco Unified schools closed Thursday due to storm

Wednesday, January 4, 2023, 11:14 am

Castro sworn into as new Alameda County superintendent

Tuesday, January 3, 2023, 10:32 am

Federal spending bill increases maximum Pell Grant by $500

Tuesday, January 3, 2023, 10:32 am

No charges filed following sexual abuse allegations at Ojai prep school

Thursday, December 29, 2022, 11:04 am

Grim forecast for public pension funds in California and elsewhere

The post South San Francisco Unified colleges closed Thursday attributable to storm appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

By Jason Gillis

Indoor air quality (IAQ) has dominated the news cycle for the past two years due to the ongoing COVID pandemic. Developing clean air inside schools became a top priority due to the airborne nature of COVID and other pathogens. While providing clean air is still pivotal, one area that has been overlooked is the importance of indoor environmental quality (IEQ).
For K-12 schools, IEQ plays a key role in the experience of both students and faculty, alike.

The primary goal of any school is to create an environment that promotes a healthy learning environment for students and an enjoyable workspace for employees. To reach these goals, IEQ should be a focal point for facility managers.

Mechanical HVAC units can help enhance IEQ within a school by focusing on two major factors: IAQ and noise reduction. The air students and faculty breathe contribute heavily to the environmental quality due to the need for clean, comfortable air. Noise contributes to the students’ ability to concentrate in a learning environment.

It is critical for facility managers and school leaders to create a strategy that promotes positive IEQ using HVAC solutions as the catalyst.

Reduce HVAC noise

Imagine being a student right in the middle of a major test. You’re trying to concentrate on a tough question only to be distracted by a loud HVAC unit. This does not promote a comfortable learning atmosphere. Therefore, having the proper HVAC solution to help reduce noise is important to IEQ. To find the right solution to reduce HVAC noise, facility managers need to understand what affects sound within a classroom.

There are two main areas of focus when understanding how noise will affect a particular space: sound pressure and sound power. Sound pressure is the force of sound on a surface area and is predicated on the characteristics of the room. Sound power is the energy of sound per unit of time and is dependent on the sound source alone. With sound power, the construction of the room and the location of installation are less important. Understanding these two areas can help school leaders determine the proper location and HVAC solution for the school.

In addition to selecting the proper HVAC system, there are also upgrades that can be added to an existing unit to help reduce noise. Upgrading to an improved acoustic insulation with a barrier can help decrease noise, while a redesigned acoustic plenum will reduce noise by up to 7db.

Enhance air quality

While IAQ has been an important topic regarding the COVID pandemic, it is also a major factor in IEQ. Poor air quality can be detrimental to IEQ for both students and faculty. Mechanical HVAC units are best suited to improve IAQ for K-12 schools. These units have the capabilities to create fresh clean air while also enhancing comfort for students. There are three main areas pertaining to IAQ: ventilation, filtration, and dehumidification. Addressing each one of these areas will provide students and faculty with the air they need.

Bringing clean outdoor air into a facility is a must. HVAC units allow facility managers to control ventilation and determine how much outdoor air is pushed into an interior space. It is important to determine how much outside air is best for the interior space. While fresh, clean air is being pulled inside, the HVAC unit is also pushing old, contaminated air outdoors.

While bringing in fresh air is vital, filtering out pathogens within that air is just as important. This can be done by utilizing the proper MERV filters for your unit. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers recommends using MERV 13 filters for most applications, if compatible with the unit. This allows for more particulates to be filtered out of the air. Other options that can be added to HVAC systems to increase filtration include UV lights and needlepoint bipolar ionization solutions.

Humidity within a space plays a vital role in IAQ and IEQ as well. If relative humidity levels are too high or too low, the air can be uncomfortable to breathe for occupants. In addition, relative humidity can also contribute to the growth of bacteria, mold and mildew. The relative humidity inside a space should stay between 40% and 60% to ensure satisfaction from students and faculty.

Improve IEQ

Mechanical HVAC equipment can be the catalyst for improving IEQ inside a K-12 facility. When it is time for students to learn, creating a space that sustains and promotes a positive, healthy environment is paramount. Enhancing IAQ and reducing HVAC noise throughout the building will go a long way in developing positive IEQ. With fresh air to breathe and a quiet atmosphere to learn in, facility managers will be helping both students and faculty succeed inside the classroom and throughout the building.

Gillis is a regional sales manager at Modine Manufacturing Company. Having been with the company for over 18 years, he once served as its sales engineer. Modine specializes in thermal management systems and components, bringing highly engineered heating and cooling components, original equipment products, and systems to diversified global markets through its four complimentary segments: CIS; BHVAC; HDE; and Automotive.

Click here for more insight about Indoor Air Quality.

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SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Unified School District will no longer use the word “chief” in job titles because of concerns from Native Americans.

District officials said they haven’t decided what they will use instead of “chief.” The San Francisco Chronicle first reported the ban on Wednesday.

“While there are many opinions on the matter, our leadership team agreed that, given that Native American members of our community have expressed concerns about the use of the title, we are no longer going to use it,” the district statement said.

“With nearly 10,000 employees, SFUSD is one of the largest employers in San Francisco and in addition to site leaders, we need central leaders who serve all of our 119 schools,” it said.

The statement acknowledged that those positions require significant responsibility and specific expertise.

“By changing how we refer to our division heads we are in no way diminishing the indispensable contributions of our district central service leaders,” it said.

The district’s decision follows such moves as the recent renaming of Northern California’s former Squaw Valley Ski Resort. The word “squaw,” derived from the Algonquin language, has morphed over generations to a misogynist and racist term to disparage Indigenous women.

Thursday, lawmakers in the state Assembly passed a bill that would remove “squaw” from all geographic features and place names in the state. Lawmakers would not say the word while debating the bill. Democratic Assembly member James Ramos, a member of the Serrano/Cahuilla tribe, referred to it as the “s word.”

“This word that is still being used in well over 100 geographical areas in California,” Ramos said. “This word is very derogatory toward Native American women.”

The word “chief,” however, is commonly used to connote leadership and authority — from fire and police chiefs to chief executives, chief scientists and engineers, and a host of other jobs.

According to Webster’s New World dictionary, the origin and development of the word “chief” runs back through Middle English and Old French to Latin.

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This week, San Francisco is expected to once again ease certain indoor mask mandates for portions of the adult population. Mayor London Breed has celebrated this news “because it will allow offices to have more normal routines and interactions.” Noticeably lacking in the new guidance is any update for school and child care mask mandates or even any acknowledgment that kids might also need more normal routines and interactions. Considering they are in peak development years, children need these things even more than adults.

It’s not as if mask relief for kids couldn’t safely become a reality. In fact, Mayor Breed and the San Francisco Department of Public Health recently acknowledged what has been known almost from the beginning: Serious COVID-19 illness in those under 18 is extremely rare, pediatric cases make up a small percentage of total cases, and this percentage has been relatively consistent over time, including during our delta wave. In fact, numbers indicate that COVID-19 poses a significantly lower risk to kids than drowning, homicides, suicides, cancer, car accidents, common flu and heart disease — all risks we’ve previously accepted without dramatically altering the school environment.

San Francisco has also acknowledged that the majority of pediatric COVID-19 cases in the city are a result of household adult-to-child transmission. The simple truth is even when they are infected, children rarely pass on the infection at high rates. A study suggests that less than 4% of household outbreaks are caused by children, meaning approximately 96% are not. Since March 2020, there have been a total of 13 pediatric hospitalizations among San Francisco residents at San Francisco hospitals, and hospitalizations are so low that the city says “the data cannot be publicly reported without concern for privacy and confidentiality.” There also hasn’ t been a single COVID-19-related death under the age of 20 in San Francisco.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 risk assessments by age estimate that simply being a child aged five to 17 is 99.9994% protective against the risk of death and 98% protective against hospitalization. While any death of a child is tragic, of the 74 million Americans age 17 and under, there have been just 499 deaths attributed to COVID-19 since January 2020, while more than 57,000 deaths in that age group have been attributed to other causes. Additionally, any concern around the risk of long COVID in kids appears to be unsubstantiated.

Even with this established good news, San Francisco remains an outlier on child mask mandates compared to the vast majority of Europe. The CDC’s European counterpart the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control only recommends masking for children ages 12 and up. After consulting an “international and multidisciplinary expert group” on COVID-19 disease and transmission in children, and taking into consideration “childrens’ psychosocial needs and developmental milestones,” UNICEF and the World Health Organization have not recommended masks on age 5 and under. They also allow for nuance when it comes to masking children ages 6 to 11, including a “child’s proximity to other people who are at high risk of developing serious illness, such as the elderly.”

This guidance is likely why England, for example, has never masked children in school, reasoning that “there is greater use of the system of controls for minimizing risk, including through keeping in small and consistent groups or bubbles, and greater scope for physical distancing by staff within classrooms. Face coverings can have a negative impact on learning and teaching and so their use in the classroom should be avoided.” During the UK’s delta wave in June, the country actually saw lower case rates in schools compared with the previous fall and the general population, and have since removed any recommendations around classroom bubbles.

Similarly, Sweden has continued to run school as normal, even during their peak COVID-19 wave. An analysis from March through June 2020 took a look at roughly 2 million preschool- and school-age children (ages 1 to 16), where there was no masking, no social distancing and no school building ventilation improvements. Just 15 total kids (0.00075%) required hospitalization from COVID-19, with zero deaths. Another significant finding is that there was no greater COVID-19 illness risk for the preschool and school teacher population than members of the general public.

Norway has also never recommended face masks for any age of schooling, while Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland have either never recommended masks on elementary age students or have shifted to no masks for the current school year. Switzerland instead focuses on maintaining good ventilation and testing. Denmark, Norway and Sweden all have lower adult vaccination rates than San Francisco, yet have removed most, if not all, COVID-19 restrictions. Spain and Italy make mask exceptions for ages six and under, while France is in the midst of removing elementary mask requirements in communities with low case rates.

As the above examples demonstrate, Europe has consistently acknowledged children’s incredibly low risk of serious illness from COVID-19 and the importance of the learning environment and children’s developmental and psychosocial needs. We believe that faces are essential to early speech and language development, as well as social skills, and that masks can impair face recognition and nonverbal communication for young children. It’s not until they are teenagers that children are able to move beyond a reliance on facial features, and that was before we entered a 20-month phase of heavy mask wearing. It seems very few are actually studying any potential downstream impacts.

While there continue to be articles on how schools and parents can help kids compensate for mask wearing, the bigger question should be: Why concern ourselves with any of that if mask wearing by kids is simply unnecessary? The onus should be on SFDPH and Mayor Breed to demonstrate that the benefits of masking kids outweigh the costs. They have been enforcing a fundamental, risky shift in classroom interactions and childhood development indefinitely, and they should prove with certainty there is no other way. Neither have offered such proof.

It’s incredibly illogical that SFDPH doesn’t mandate face coverings for children under 10 in indoor public buildings, yet requires them for children ages 2 and up in child care and school settings, where learning and socialization are key components. In addition, school interactions happen in much more stable groups than interactions at a grocery store or restaurant, for example, yet masks are only required for them at the former, often for eight to 10 hours a day.

As San Francisco parents, educators and concerned adults, we believe city officials are long overdue in balancing public health requirements with the medical necessity for kids, and the impact on their overall well-being, psyche and development. We ask SFDPH and Mayor Breed to allow for mask choice for chilren ages 12 and under in child care, youth programs and in-person school, as much of Europe has. This would also be in line with California Department of Public Health guidance, which allows for local flexibility. Parents who prefer that their kids still wear masks would of course be free to make that decision.

Our duty as adults is to not only protect the younger generation, but also to do as much as possible to ensure they thrive. Their incredibly low COVID-19 risk should be celebrated and reflected in public health policy. It is well past time for our children to return to “normal routines and interactions” and to be freed from this singular focus on virus mitigation.

This op-ed was submitted by a group of 41 Bay Area parents and residents. Their names follow:

Laura Fagan (12-year San Francisco resident, professional, and parent of three)
Ram Duriseti (Menlo Park parent of three)
Michelle Koskella (Burlingame parent of two)
Lelia Glass (San Francisco resident, educator, academic linguist)
Anh Shah (San Francisco parent of two)
Pradyut Shah (San Francisco parent of two)
Kathleen Laipply (San Francisco parent of three)
Ashwin Krishnan (San Francisco parent of three)
Daniel Bryant (Windsor Unified parent of three)
Anne Woodward (San Francisco resident)
Mercedes Hoglund (San Francisco parent of three)
Heath Hoglund (San Francisco parent of three)
Lesley Fisher (San Francisco parent of two)
Katja Wishart (San Francisco parent of one)
Robin Attia (San Francisco parent of three)
Jenny Gillespie Mason (Berkeley parent of two)
Mary Wellhausen (Antioch parent of three)
Sally Hwang (San Francisco parent of one)
Eric Passetti (San Francisco parent of one)
Elizabeth Woods (Berkeley parent of two)
Michael Senger (San Francisco resident)
Reza Musavi (San Francisco parent of two)
Markus Shayeb (Marin parent of four)
Meghan Weber (San Francisco parent of two)
Geoff Weber (San Francisco parent of two)
Julia Sterling (San Francisco parent of two)
Eva Chung (San Francisco parent of two)
Kai Sparnas (San Francisco parent)
Justen Sepka (San Francisco resident)
Michelle Gyorke-Takatri (San Francisco resident parent of three)
Katelyn Ribero (San Mateo resident)
Ashton Wilson (San Francisco parent)
Alexandra Gutentag (Berkeley resident)
Erica Sandberg (San Francisco parent of one)
Evan Bailyn (Berkeley parent of one)
Eileen Godsey (San Francisco parent of two)
Jed Godsey (San Francisco parent of two)
Robert Chappell (Berkeley resident)
Marie Hurabiell (San Francisco parent of two)
Matthew Ryan (San Francisco and Marin County parent)

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Jim Hartman

By Jim Hartman

Saturday, June 18, 2022

You can’t make this up: The San Francisco Unified School District is dropping the word “chief” from all job titles (“chief technology officer, “chief of staff,” etc. ) for its 10,000-employee workforce because – you guessed it – the word is associated with Native Americans.
According to spokesperson Gentle Blythe, “While there are many opinions on the matter, our leadership team agreed that, given that Native American members of our community have expressed concerns about use of the title, we are no longer going to use it.”
While the word “chief” can be used in connection with American Indian tribes, it also appears in many phrases that have no connection, including “chief of police,” “chief executive officer” and “sorry about that, chief.”
No substitute for the word has been determined, which suggests how little thought was put into the decision.
Blythe quickly noted dropping the word does not reflect “a downgrade in job status.”
The district didn’t indicate whether it advocates President Joe Biden be called something other than “commander in chief,” or whether John Roberts should renounce being “chief justice.”
What’s particularly amusing in this attempt at progressive sensitivity: While the English language has many words that can be traced to Native Americans, including “chipmunk,” “barbecue” and “hurricane,” they don’t include “chief.”
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word “chief” has no connection to Native American languages. Instead it derives from the Old French word (chef ), meaning “leader” and originally from Latin (capus), meaning “captain.”
The San Francisco school district is still learning, apparently, even after the city’s liberal Democratic voters ousted three school board members in a special recall election in February.
The school district appears to be a parody on “woke” excesses of political correctness. Will they next ban books by Laurence Tribe?
Parents were outraged the school board kept schools shut through the entire 2020 school year based on teacher union demands even as San Francisco Mayor London Breed pressed them to reopen. High school students returned to school for a single day in May 2021 so the school district would qualify for $12 million in state aid.
Many parents had already voted against the board by removing their children from district schools. Enrollment declined by 3,500 during the pandemic.
School board members had also indulged their “woke” progressive obsession by seeking to rename 44 schools with allegedly sexist or racist designations, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
The school board recall was a landslide, with Alison Collins (79%), Gabriela Lopez (75%) and Faauuga Moliga (72%) losing overwhelmingly. Successful recalls are rare. It takes real effort to lose by 3-1 margins.
The recall was a populist groundswell supported by fed-up parents and liberals, including Breed.
That’s San Francisco where Republicans are only 6% of the city’s registered voters and where 85% of voters supported Joe Biden in November 2020.
Breed noted “the school board must focus on the essentials of delivering a well-run school system above all else.” Amen.
On June 7, San Francisco voters also sent a national message on crime by recalling the city’s far-left district attorney, Chesa Boudin, in another landslide (60%-40%).
Son of convicted felon Weather Underground domestic terrorist parents, Boudin was elected district attorney in 2019 advocating “decarceration” of jails and ending cash bail. He refused to enforce criminal laws, sharply reducing felony prosecutions.
Crime has taken off. In 2021 homicides in San Francisco were up 36% from 2019 and 222 people were killed by gun violence in the city compared to 137 in 2019. With shoplifting an epidemic, Walgreens closed 11 stores there since 2019.
Homelessness and drug use are rampant on San Francisco streets. There were 640 drug overdose deaths in 2021 — more than COVID deaths.
Recalling Boudin is a start in cleaning up crime in “The City.”
Email Jim Hartman at lawdocman1@aol.com.

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Megan Potente and Laurance Lem Lee

Special to The Examiner

The initial findings of a much anticipated San Francisco Unified School District curriculum audit were released Tuesday, adding to pressure from parents and educators to change how kids are taught to read. The audit findings point to major deficiencies in the district’s K-5 English language arts curriculum as it is written and observed inside classrooms. Those who have been pushing for change are not surprised by the findings, and are now hopeful that the district will finally acknowledge the deep problems and commit to change.

At public comment during the Monday meeting, parent Havah Kelley said, “Nothing about what I heard today surprises me. … I’ve been trying to help my son for about five years.”

Literacy is the foundation of an equitable education and far too many SFUSD students leave elementary school without achieving their basic right to read. The most recent SFUSD performance data indicate 55% of students do not meet standards in English Language Arts and there are huge gaps in performance between subgroups. Only 20% of Black students, 15% of English learners and 16% of students with disabilities met standards in English Language Arts.

When asked if he was concerned about the state of literacy, SFUSD grandparent Rex Ridgeway responded, “Concerned is an understatement. A better word is ‘distressed.’ Just look at the Reading Test Scores at Bret Harte: 8%, Charles Drew: 19%, El Dorado ES: 11%, Carver ES: 16% and MalcolmX: 23%. It is so obvious that the district has failed those schools and their students.”

The California Reading Report Card ranks districts by 3rd grade reading performance of socioeconomically disadvantaged Latinx students, an “apples to apples” comparison that gives a good picture of how well districts teach reading. SFUSD falls in the bottom 10% of the 287 ranked districts. There are districts with lower funding and higher levels of poverty that have better reading outcomes than SFUSD.

The truth is we know how to teach kids to read, but SFUSD ignores the science and has done so for many years. A vast body of research from many related disciplines, conducted in the US and around the world over five decades, has resulted in an emerging consensus about how learning to read happens and what is going on in the brains of those who struggle. This body of research is commonly referred to as the science of reading and documents what has worked for the largest number of children.

Asked about updates to early reading instruction curricula, Nicole Priestly, SFUSD’s chief academic officer, indicated at that Monday meeting that nothing will change soon, since “some of the curriculums have high marks in some of the areas but not in others. And so that will beg the question of how we might want to make that come together in some form of action. But that’s a question that remains to be seen and we won’t be able to answer that until we actually engage with the materials and perhaps go through the pilot.”

Districts serious about improving literacy implement systems and teaching practices grounded in the research. Recent California success stories, including Lodi Unified and Nystrom Elementary, show how following the evidence scientific improves reading outcomes. In a recent EdSource roundtable on early literacy, Attorney Mark Rosenbaum made the point, “We don’t need a task force. We don’t need more studies. We just need a commitment.”

Indeed, what we need from SFUSD is a commitment to the changes recommended in the curriculum audit. The district maintains a firm grip on a controversial approach widely recognized for failing to meet the needs of many children. SFUSD names its approach the “Comprehensive Approach to Literacy”, which is more commonly referred to in other districts as balanced literacy.

This approach is based on a discredited “whole language” theory debunked decades ago. Balanced literacy teaches kids to guess words using an assortment of cues, like pictures and context, instead of sounding words out. It treats foundational skills haphazardly, without the practice many kids must have in order to learn. Balanced literacy also fails to build the vocabulary and background knowledge necessary for reading comprehension and access to grade-level content.

The most popular balanced literacy curricula used in K-2 SFUSD classrooms, Lucy Calkins Units of Study and Fountas & Pinnell Classroom, are also the most poorly rated on the market. In addition, one expensive intervention program, Reading Recovery, intended to close reading gaps for the lowest performing first grade students, which recently found to actually have a negative impact on reading performance over the long term. This comes as no surprise to those who understand the science of reading and the design of Reading Recovery. Yet instead of moving away from the program, SFUSD is actively hiring new Reading Recovery teachers for the 2022-23 school year.

When we talk to concerned parents about this issue, they usually are dumbfounded. Why doesn’t the district change its ways? Why are they using methods and materials known to fail so many kids? Many parents ask us how they can teach their children to read, because they are not getting what they need at school. And business is booming for private tutoring, which can cost between $100 and $200 per hour session, with three to five sessions per week recommended. Literacy should not be a luxury afforded to those with financial resources or parents who can take on the job of teaching their kids to read.

Many SFUSD teachers, who have faced no shortage of challenges in recent years, are fed up with the district’s early literacy plan. Douglas Rich, a long-time SFUSD literacy specialist, believes the district is dangerously change averse.

“The SFUSD administration is too focused on an outdated and harmful philosophy of teaching and learning,” he said. “They like to talk a lot about their philosophy, but none of that has translated into useful guidance for teachers. I read somewhere that you don’t have to operate out of great malice to do great harm. The absence of understanding is sufficient.”

Megan Potente, M.Ed. is a 20-year elementary school teacher, who worked for many years in SFUSD, is a parent of an SFUSD graduate and serves as co-state director of Decoding Dyslexia CA. Laurance Lem Lee is a second-generation Chinese American, SFUSD graduate, general contractor and good government advocate. You can follow him on Twitter @eyessfboe

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Property taxes will be going up in the Town of Greeneville next fiscal year.

The Greeneville Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted Tuesday to pay for a Greeneville City Schools HVAC and Lighting project by raising taxes by an amount to be determined at a later date.

The measure passed on a vote of 4-1.

Alderwoman Kristin Girton voted no on the proposal.

The tax increase will not occur immediately. It will have to be voted on at a future meeting.

Greeneville City Schools’ Superintendent Steve Starnes and Assistant Director of Schools for Administration Beverly Miller presented the HVAC project to the board.

The first phase of the project will cost $7.7 million in total.

Greeneville City Schools will contribute $4.6 million, while the Town of Greenville will contribute $3.3 million.

The town’s contribution will take the form of a $1 million cash contribution and $2.3 million in debt service

The replacement of the HVAC system at Greeneville Middle School was emphasized by Miller as the most pressing part of the project.

“If we aren’t able to do something at GMS we are going to find ourselves in dire straits,” Miller said. “It is not a matter of if, but when. When will we get a call one morning that the system has failed and we can’t have school.”

Town board members agreed the HVAC system is an immediate need.

“It seems like our politicians have kicked stuff down the road for so long that we have to deal with them now, locally and at the state level,” Aldermen Cal Doty said.

The aldermen that agreed to the tax increase did not do so enthusiastically.

“Nobody wants to pay more taxes. I don’t want to pay more taxes, but it’s something we may have to do,” Aldermen Scott Bullington said. “You can’t have school if you don’t have heat and you don’t have light.”

“This is sort of a situation where you’re danged if you do and danged if you don’t. It is not a good situation but we have this project that has to be done,” Mayor WT Daniels said.

Daniels said that he believed that the last time taxes were raised was in 2016, also to help fund GCS.

Cuts to town employees’ pay or cutting out employee positions were raised as possibilities to fund the project by City Administrator Todd Smith, but were not received well by the board.

“I will not support cutting any employees, or cutting anyone’s pay,” Aldermen Tim Teague said.

The property tax rate increase could happen at any point before July 1 according to Smith.

The tax increase could come before the board when it approves its budget for the next fiscal year in the summer, or it could occur before then in the form of a standalone item.

Either way, the increase will have to have to come before the board twice for two readings and a public hearing.

A request by GCS for an additional $275,000 to help pay for half of the cost to replace the Greeneville High School football field turf was denied by the board.

Teague moved that the board approve the funding allocation, but no other board member seconded the motion. Therefore, the request did not come to a full vote.

Miller said that the turf had a 10-year warranty and it was 12 years old, having been installed in 2010.

GHS Head Football Coach Eddie Spradlen told the board the field is becoming unsafe and overly compacted, making the surface hard.

“It’s almost like playing on concrete in spots,” Spradlen said.

Some members of the board said they felt GCS should have budgeted for replacing the field over the years since system officials knew it had a 10 year warranty.

Starnes said that could be looked at in the future and that GCS does something similar to that for scheduled bus purchases.

Girton also pointed out that she wanted the request to go through the annual budget-making process.

Bullington noted the town is currently in the process of coming up with funding for the insurance benefits of its employees.

“Unfortunately, your timing is just bad. The insurance for our employees has to be worked out first, before we allocate money to any other requests,” Bullington said. “We have hundreds of employees hanging on, waiting to see what their insurance ends up looking like. We have to deal with that first. That’s the bottom line.”

OTHER BUSINESS

The board approved a resolution that encourages the Tennessee Department of Transportation to build a four-lane road on the current site of the Newport Highway instead of a super two-lane road.

“Hopefully this resolution will get someone’s attention in Nashville,” Daniels said.

The board tabled consideration of selling approximately 35 acres of town-owned land at Hardin Industrial Park to an adjacent property owner. Baord members said they want to ensure the the land could not be an asset to the town before they commit to selling the property.

The board also gave final approval after a second reading and public hearing to a request to rezone property along West Vann Road.

The property was split-zoned, with part of the property being zoned low-density residential and part medium-density residential. The property will now be zoned medium-density residential.

The property owner has plans to develop a 16-lot subdivision, according to Greeneville Planning Director Randy Davenport.

The board also celebrated the retirement of Kenny Carter from the Greeneville Police Department.

Carter served the department for 22 years.

“Kenny has done anything and everything you could ask. He has taken care of this community for years. We will miss him very much,” Greeneville Police Chief Tim Ward said.

Daniels also announced the town had been awarded a $944,000 grant to fund the replacement and additions of sidewalks on Main Street.

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California will drop the mask requirement inside K-12 schools. The new indoor mask policy will take effect on March 12.

gov. Gavin Newsom announces the state will continue to adjust its policies based on the latest data and science. According to the California Department of Public Health, nearly 3% of all of the state’s COVID-19 tests in the past two months were positive.

“We cannot predict the future of the virus, but we are better prepared for it and will continue to take measures rooted in science to keep California moving forward,” Newsom said.

San Francisco Unified School District, however, will continue the indoor mask mandate for public schools.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highly recommends wearing masks inside schools by students and staff.

SFUSD’s press release states that masking is “one of the least burdensome policies on schools.”

“It helps prevent infections among students and staff and their families, and reduces missed school days,” San Francisco Unified School District Public Relations Manager Laura Dudnick said in an email.

San Francisco Board of Education President Gabriela López in an email said the district agrees to keep the “important safety tool” and will keep the mandate in place until the end of the school year.

Cassondra Curiel, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, a teachers union, said that there is a need for students to have high quality masks since many elementary school students are not eligible for the booster vaccine. When asked if teachers prefer masks, Curiel said it’s more nuanced than a yes or no.

‘Do we all love wearing masks?’ said Curiel. “The answer’s probably no, it’s not a loved thing but it is a necessary thing.”

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Officials with the San Francisco Unified School District announced Monday that masks will continue to be required indoors on campuses after the state drops the indoor mask mandate for schools next month, a decision that appears to be at odds with city health officials and Mayor London Breed’s office.

“No changes to SFUSD’s masking protocols are going into effect on March 11,” the district said in a statement. “Universal indoor masking will continue to be in effect at SFUSD as part of our layered approach to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our schools.”

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District officials also reiterated that face masks are not required outdoors.

State health officials announced Monday that face coverings inside schools would no longer be required, but “strongly recommended” starting March 12, regardless of vaccination status.

“The strong recommendation is something to reinforce, that we’re not just moving from required to optional but that there’s gradations here,” California health secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said at a briefing on Monday.

Counties and individual school districts continue to have the right to implement stricter requirements.

“As part of the updated guidance released today, public health officials are still recommending that masks be worn in schools. Health officials have stated that masking is one of the least burdensome policies on schools and is effective at curbing transmission,” SFUSD went on to say. “It helps prevent infections among students and staff and their families, and reduces missed school days.”

District officials said they are in regular contact with the San Francisco Department of Public Health to determine COVID-19 safety protocols and that they would confer with labor group representatives before making major changes.

Following the district’s announcement, Mayor London Breed said the city’s public health guidance would align with with the state, allowing for schools to drop the mask requirement on March 11.

San Francisco’s public health guidance will align with the new state guidance on masks, including no longer mandating masks in schools starting March 11. @SF_DPH will work closely with SFUSD and our school community to provide any guidance or assistance needed in the coming days. https://t.co/G52xzpkaYP

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) February 28, 2022

“[San Francisco Department of Public Health] will work closely with SFUSD and our school community to provide any guidance or assistance needed in the coming days,” the mayor tweeted Monday.

“As always, individual entities like school districts and businesses can choose to be more restrictive than the state and local guidelines and people can of course choose to still wear masks. I urge everyone to respect each other’s choices during this transition period,” Breed said in a subsequent tweet.

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Meanwhile, the San Francisco Department of Public Health issued their own statement explaining their decision to align with the state’s new guidance citing the city’s high vaccination rate, at 83% of all residents, including 69% of children ages 5 to 11.

“What enables us to align with the state in recommending but not requiring masking in school and child-care settings is the foundational work we have done as a San Francisco community to keep each other safe throughout this pandemic,” Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip said. “Masks are still an important prevention tool for now and in the future, and we may need to rely on masks again if we see new surges in cases or new variants. For now, with case rates continuing to drop, this is a safe step in a direction toward fewer restrictions.”

Parents in San Francisco who spoke to KPIX 5 had mixed feelings about potential changes to mask rules.

“My kids will definitely continue to wear them in school,” said parent Latoya Pitcher.

Jennie Menke has a kindergartner, who’s taking speech therapy and wants the option to choose.

It’s hard, but I want my child to be able to breathe and to have it off, and his freedom and have his life come back to normal,” Menke said.

Across the bay in Oakland, school officials there said they were waiting for revised guidance from the Alameda County Public Health Department to issue its own guidance before making a decision. The guidance is expected to be released in the coming days.

Along with schools, California health officials announced that masks would no longer be required for the unvaccinated but strongly recommended for all people in most indoor settings as of Tuesday.

Mask requirements remain in place in “high transmission settings” including public transit, emergency shelters, health care settings, correctional facilities and long-term care facilities.

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Kenny Choi contributed to this report.

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