Pacific Elementary Superintendent Eric Gross is pitching an ambitious plan to purchase and redevelop the long-shuttered 172-acre Davenport cement plant into a new school campus with workforce housing and public safety facilities, backed by an anonymous local philanthropist willing to fund the acquisition and cleanup.
K-12 Education
Posted inEducation
School board to discuss issuing letter barring district trustee Gabe Medina from Pajaro Valley High
Pajaro Valley Unified School District board members will decide at Wednesday night’s meeting whether to restrict fellow trustee Gabe Medina from the Pajaro Valley High School campus after he had an argument with the principal late last month.
Posted inEducation
Pajaro Valley Unified to eliminate assistant principal positions in elementary schools
Pajaro Valley Unified School District administrators are proposing to eliminate 17 assistant principal positions at elementary schools next academic year, a move that has alarmed teachers already reeling from roughly 160 recent layoffs.
Posted inEducation
Watsonville teacher placed on leave after making pro-ICE comment on social media
Lookout spoke with Sarai Jimenez, the teacher who in January posted a pro-ICE comment on social media, prompting a flurry of angry posts on Watsonville internet groups. Pajaro Valley Unified administrators declined to comment, but parents at the school where she taught until last month say they’re shocked and unsettled.
Posted inEducation
Here’s how Newsom proposes to revamp California’s education department
Gov. Gavin Newsom has put forth his plan to shift responsibility for the California Department of Education from the state superintendent to the governor and state board of ed. Rarely has a proposal to transform a bureaucracy moved so quickly from academia to legislation.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Berry growers should pay to restore special ed in Pajaro Valley schools; it’s the right answer
Retired special needs teacher Woody Rehanek believes Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s unusually high rates of special needs students are linked to decades of pesticide exposure near schools and homes. He’s shocked by the district’s December decision to cut 160 positions, including 40 serving special needs students. He cites research showing organophosphates and related chemicals can impair brain development, contributing to learning disabilities. He calls on berry growers to go organic near schools and make large donations to make up the budget gaps. The PVUSD cuts, he warns, could trigger lawsuits and cause lifelong harm to kids and our community.
Posted inLatest News
More than 1,000 students throng downtown Santa Cruz in anti-ICE protest
More than 1,000 students from local schools staged a walkout and marched through downtown Santa Cruz on Friday to protest against ICE and Trump administration policies before settling in outside the county courthouse.
Posted inLatest News
Sheriff’s office confirms gun found at Aptos High linked to winter break incident
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed a gun discovered earlier this month on the Aptos High School campus was in fact connected to a December incident. The statement released Wednesday said there’s no ongoing threat to the community.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Judge rules Trump administration must keep funding child care subsidies in five states, including California, for now
A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must keep federal funds flowing to child care subsidies and other social service programs in five Democratic-controlled states — including California — at least for now.
Posted inEducation
Pacific Collegiate School changes laptop policy after student privacy concerns
Weeks after issuing Chromebooks to all students, the charter school on Santa Cruz’s Westside revised its laptop policy after student feedback, adding limits on monitoring and an opt-out for older students.