Hi there, everyone. It is Thursday, Aug. 7, and the back-to-school forecast for many Santa Cruz County students and educators is for mostly sunny skies after a foggy start, with maybe 90 in the mountains and 70s closer to the bay.
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Students settling back into classrooms will be seeing new restrictions on cellphones, Hillary Ojeda reports, as many local districts move to get ahead of state rules set to go into effect next year. “Cellphones represent a distraction,” one teacher said. “It is fundamentally impossible for teachers to be more interesting than all the things happening on teenagers’ and kids’ cellphones.”
Our Ask Lookout series is back, with Carly Heltzel looking into why the downtown Santa Cruz town clock was running late for so long, and why it’s now back on time.
In Lookout’s Community Voices opinion section, former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane responds to a recent op-ed on local homelessness, particularly pushing back on the idea that Santa Cruz is a “magnet” for people from other places seeking housing and that the city spends more on the unhoused than other cities.
The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music continues at the Civic through this weekend, and Lookout photojournalist Kevin Painchaud got a behind-the-scenes look as guest conductor Daniela Candillari led the festival orchestra through its paces.
Before the Thursday headlines, this snapshot:
Photo of the day
Avogadro’s Number – comprised of Autumn Andra, Chris Lynnes, Jim Bull, David Kranz and Pat Czapp – was the winning team at Wednesday’s Lookout Trivia Night at Abbott Square, hosted by Wallace Baine. You’ve got one more chance to put your knowledge on display this summer – RSVP here for this year’s final trivia night, free in Abbott Square on Wednesday, Sept. 3.
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Santa Cruz County districts get tough on cellphones in class as new school year begins
Most of Santa Cruz County’s school districts were set to welcome students back to school Thursday, with many announcing new cellphone policies to improve student well-being and to reduce distractions during school hours. Hillary Ojeda reports.
Ask Lookout: Why was Santa Cruz’s town clock five minutes early? And who just fixed it?
Santa Cruz’s downtown town clock finally reads the correct time after years of becoming progressively earlier. The city contracted an electrician to fix it last week. Carly Heltzel has more.
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Best of luck to everyone heading back to school – you’ve got this!
Will McCahill