C ALI FORN IA’S OLDE ST NE W SPAPER
DISASTER RESOURCE GUIDE
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Be ready, be prepared. mtdemocrat.com
FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2020
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VOLUME 169 • ISSUE 89 | 75¢
School reopening plans trickling out Dylan Svoboda Staff writer
of the virus and the county’s testing program improve,” according to the recommendation. This week’s announcements follow El Dorado Union High School District’s move to start the school year fully remote. El Dorado County Superintendent of Schools Ed Manansala said during an El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday individual county school districts will make decisions on how their schools reopen, provided they follow Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Department of Public Health coronavirus safety guidelines.
“In-person instruction is preferred. Nothing replaces in-person instruction. But in this current environment it must be safe for students and families and educators.”
With August days away, the upcoming school year for some El Dorado County students is coming into focus. Rescue Union School District, which includes eight elementary and middle schools on the West Slope, announced Tuesday evening it would start the year in a hybrid model with students alternating between the classroom and virtual learning. RUSD students will be split into morning and afternoon shifts to allow for social-distancing requirements. Parents will have the option of
— Ed Manansala, superintendent of schools enrolling their students in the hybrid system or going entirely virtual. Rescue Union is not the only school district expected to announce its decision this week. Thursday the Buckeye Union School District Board of Trustees was expected to ratify a recommendation from Superintendent David Roth that would move schools to distance learning for the first six weeks and push the district’s start date to
Monday, Aug. 17. Both moves, Roth said, would buy the county and district time to increase COVID-19 testing capacity and prep administrators, teachers and parents on future reopening plans and distance learning. Buckeye school site councils, which include parents, employees and administrators, “would meet to develop school plans for reopening at the end of six weeks, should the rate
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See REOPENING PLANS, page A3
Vegetation management ordinance enforced ■ Fines follow warnings
for noncompliance Dawn Hodson Staff writer
After California suffered through three straight years of catastrophic fires, preventing wildfires — particularly in rural areas — jumped to the top of everyone’s agenda. Now property owners are being held accountable for keeping their land fire safe. Moving to protect El Dorado County in April 2019 the Board of Supervisors took action by adopting a comprehensive Vegetation Management and Defensible Space Ordinance that was revised in this February. Program Manager Kristine Guth, who worked on the ordinance, said this year inspectors have been out in Garden Valley and Pollock Pines helping residents attain defensible space. The ordinance does not specify what the owner has to do in the way of vegetation clearance because the county topography and vegetation vary quite a bit; people are referred to Cal Fire’s website Ready for Wildfire.org, where they can find guidelines on spacing and trimming. “Then when the inspectors go out, they can use their judgment and make recommendations to property owners,” said Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Sue Hennike. “Most property owners were informed in advance that their property would be inspected,” Guth noted. “We also held community meetings and ■
See VEGETATION, page A11
Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
City of Placerville officials last year had signs placed discouraging use of Clay Street as a Highway 50 bypass. Traffic mitigation discussions now include adding speedbumps or closing the road to traffic entirely.
City’s new traffic policy looks for green light from public ■ Tuesday meeting discussion
includes speed bumps, toll booths Pat Lakey Staff writer Blame it on the coronavirus, but the intriguing concept of having the three Highway 50 traffic signals in Placerville stay green — nothing but green — during portions of Apple Hill weekends isn't going to come to light this fall. And blame it on whatever you like, but out-of-towners aren't going to stop using their GPS devices to try to get around the parking lot that once was a highway as U.S. 50 clogs to a virtual standstill when Tahoe-area visitors
try to get home. So other ways of keeping side roads such as Clay and Coleman streets and Bedford Avenue clear of often-speeding, sometimes swearing drivers intent on using "shortcuts" were discussed this week during a Zoom-assisted community meeting that found city officials and area residents talking about ways to alleviate the seasonal headaches. Placerville City Manager Cleve Morris, Mayor Michael Saragosa, City Councilwoman Kara Taylor and city Director of Development Services Pierre Rivas joined the meeting to ■
See TRAFFIC POLICY, page A9
Generators to keep some schools powered, students or not ■ Campuses prepare to keep
instruction going despite possible PG&E power shutoffs Dawn Hodson Staff writer This past school year was a double whammy for county educators and students as they were first hit with PG&E shutting off the power, often for days at a time, then a months-long shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools plan for both to occur again in the coming school year, either separately or together, administrators are having to be especially creative in how they continue to provide instruction to El Dorado County’s school children.
Some districts are resorting to buying generators to take up the slack when the power goes off even if, depending on the size of the generator, the cost is thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Black Oak Mine Unified School District recently announced it is in the process of installing back-up generators at its four main school locations (American River Charter School, Georgetown School, Golden Sierra High School and Northside). The estimated cost of the project — $184,000. Two of five high-capacity generators were expected to be installed by the end of June with the remaining to be installed by the end of July. Otter Creek School, the district office and the transportation department’s fueling station were previously set up with operational generator power for back-up purposes. The goal is to have all back-up power supplies fully operational by the start of school Aug. 12.
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“Education has been disrupted enough already,” states Superintendent Jeremy Meyers in a letter to students and parents. “The Black Oak Mine Unified School District is committed to minimizing further disruptions by hardening our schools against power outages. This project means our schools will be operational when PG&E shuts off power to our community and schools in the fall.” Latrobe School District is also in the process of purchasing generators to run its two water systems as it has its own wells. The district has also purchased two portable generators to use for each office to keep phones and internet going. On campuses elsewhere the generators only power administrative offices and ancillary functions, not the classrooms. That is the case with Camino Union School
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See GENERATORS, page A12