Hometown News Since 1889 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CXXXI, NO. XI
THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2020
EDUCATION
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SAFETY
SCHOOL BOARD
Thank You to All the Firefighters and First Responders Templeton Hills Adventist Elementary School received an in-person learning waiver. Photo by Brian Williams
Diversity Panel Updates PRJUSD Trustees on Progress
Eleven SLO County Private Schools Receive Waivers for In-Person Instruction
By CAMILLE DeVAUL For The Paso Robles Press
our mind waiting until things settled down and are now in there opening up brand new.” The Nutiles understand that they will need to once again build up their goodwill in the Atascadero community. They are focused on three things — customer service, consistency and speed. “Every owner runs their store a little differently, so when we go in here, we will be doing it our way and not the way it was done before, but we are really excited. We do have a reputation here, and we know people love Fatte’s, so we are excited to come back in and make it better than it was before,” Sarah Nutile said. “We focus here a lot on customer service,
PASO ROBLES — Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board members received an update on Paso Robles Task Force and Diversity Panel during Tuesday’s meeting via Zoom. The first day of school for PRJUSD was Thursday, Aug. 20, with distance learning and trustees learned of some initial challenges, specifically with special education. Dan Sharon, Principal of Alternative Education, and Niya Williams, a representative of the Paso Robles Task Force and Diversity Panel, recapped the task force’s progress and why it was formed. Williams, a Paso Robles graduate studying Political Science at California State University, San Jose, spoke on why she became involved with the task force. “I experienced some pretty harsh hate speech while I was there (PRHS) and racism as well when I was a student,” she said. “I hope to eliminate that experience for others as best that I can.” In 2018, Williams helped found the Black Students Union at Paso Robles High School. “Our goal is to promote inclusion and healing, where hate and exclusion may have existed. Our focus in the schools will fall primarily in education and restorative justice. Educating students and staff on what racism looks like in the school setting, how to identify hate speech, and how to properly report it,” explained Williams. She continued, “Restorative justice is really important because students are still learning. They may not realize that their behaviors and actions are disrespectful to others, and they deserve the chance to rectify their behaviors and the opportunity to grow.” The District will be collaborating with the education and training subcommittee, now under the diversity panel. More information on the panel is available on the Facebook page, Paso Diversity, or at pasodiversity.com.
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By BRIAN WILLIAMS brian@pasoroblespress.com SAN LUIS OBISPO — Eleven small private schools in San Luis Obispo County had waivers approved for in-person instruction. SLO County Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein said Aug. 19 that eight of the 12 schools and districts in the County that applied for a waiver were approved. Three more were added Tuesday, Aug. 25. The total enrollment of the 12 schools that applied for the waiver was estimated at 1,000 by Borenstein. Enrollment for all schools in the County was roughly 35,000. “It’s a small number but I am hopeful that we can use that as a tool to understand how to introduce in-person instruction and see how well these small schools do it,” Borenstein said. “And then use that as a way to expand on it in other elementary schools and eventually, I hope to be able to get all of our kids back in school.” The eleven private schools are: • Wishing Well School in Los Osos • Trinity Lutheran School in Paso Robles • Montessori Children’s School in San Luis Obispo • Children’s House Montessori School in Atascadero • Valley View Adventist Academy in Arroyo Grande • North County Christian School in Atascadero • Templeton Hills Adventist School in Templeton • Coastal Christian School in Pismo Beach • Old Mission School in San Luis Obispo • St. Patrick School in Arroyo Grande • St. Rose Catholic School in Paso Robles Reopening plans for the schools were posted on their respective websites. The County has not released the names of the other five schools or districts that submitted waivers. On July 17, Governor Gavin Newson announced that if a county CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
COMMUNITY
The Paso Robles Fire Department poses for a photo on the steps of the historic Paso Robles Carnegie Library in the Downtown City Park. Photo courtesy of Paso Robles Fire Department
Amidst A Pandemic, Heatwaves, and Wildfires We Are Grateful For Our Everyday Heroes By HAYLEY MATTSON able, and yet there were over 200 ing hazardous at times. containment. Since the lighthayley@pasoroblespress.com lightning strikes again in the last It was recommended to stay ning siege that started on Saturfew days across California. According to Richard Steadman, Control Officer of the Monterey Bay Air Resources District Air Pollution Control Office, “We have seen some of the worst air quality we have experienced since the agency formed in early 1970.” On Saturday, several of the counties within their threecounty jurisdiction were register-
W
ildfires have unfortunately become a part of the natural disasters that plague our beautiful state throughout the year. Currently, more than 14,000 firefighters are battling over two dozen major fires and lightning complexes across California. As of writing this, the weather conditions are becoming more favor-
inside due to the poor air quality and use common sense if you smell smoke, and if you cannot see across the street, that means the air is hazardous. On Sunday, the North County air started to lighten, and by Monday, there was blue in the sky again. Cal Fire reported on Tuesday that favorable weather conditions continue to aid firefighters in their efforts toward
day, Aug. 15, there have been over 13,000 lightning strikes, with 233 new strikes in the past 24 hours. There have been more than 650 new wildfires during this time period, which have now burned over 1.25 million acres. The significant acreage burned makes the fires collectively larger than Delaware. In this siege, there have been CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
BUSINESS
Paso Robles Owners to Reopen Fatte’s Pizza In Atascadero By CONNOR ALLEN connor@pasoroblespress.com
ATASCADERO — One of Atascadero’s longest-standing restaurants, Fatte’s Pizza, will be reopening its doors in September under the new ownership of Ron and Sarah Nutile, who own and operate Fatte’s Pizza in Paso Robles. Over the past year, the Atascadero location experienced some ownership issues that led to the departure of several dedicated workers and legal trouble that shut down the popular buy-one-get-one pizza spot. However, the Fatte’s faithful need not worry about any changes to their recipe or style of operation. This will be the second round of ownership for the Nutiles in Atascadero.
LOCAL NEWS
Fatte’s Pizza employees pictured from left to right are Jesus Osuna, Bolivar Arroyo, Damian Lagunas, Sarah Nutile, Acadia Nutile, Danika Nutile and Sam Nutile. Photo courtesy of Fatte’s Pizza
“We are excited about it now. It is kind of a sad story what happened with the Atascadero location. Our former business partner and a former friend got in a bad way. The business started failing. He ended up robbing us just a few months
COVID-19 UPDATE
ago, and he is now in jail,” Sarah Nutile told The Atascadero News. “He completely lost that store, the customers have been upset because they can’t get their Fatte’s Pizza anymore, the employee’s lost their jobs, and so we were in the back of
TODAY’S SENIOR
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WEATHER
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PASO REC. SERVICES ATASCADERO ALLOWS announces limited reopening open containers within of sports field | A3 responsible guidelines | A4
SLO COUNTY CONTINUES LEAVING A LEGACY to report COVID-19 cases and worthy of the life you’ve lived deaths | A5 can satisfy your soul | A13
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