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Ocean Restaurant is back News, Page 5
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Volume 137, Number 19 — Locally owned since 1884
The hometown paper of Jeff Hesemeyer
Winters, Yolo County, California, Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Elementary schools propose early release Fridays for next school year By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief Administrators at Waggoner Elementary School and Shirley Rominger Intermediate School announced the addition of two Friday early release days a month to their school site bell schedules for the 2020-2021 school year. In 2019, Winters Joint Unified School District Superintendent Todd Cutler tasked the site administrators to work with their staff to create a three-year instructional plan around a site-specific focus. Rominger staff selected “Differentiation” as their three year focus, and Waggoner staff is working on implementing Literacy Systems for Assessment and Data. “These robust plans are designed to positively impact the achievement of our students across the district, and with these plans comes
much needed time to collaborate around data and professional learning needed to make these plans successful,” the media release stated. Using the Winters High School late start schedule as a model, Waggoner Principal Jennifer Kloczko and Rominger Principal Monica Moreno began to look at creating a similar opportunity to provide their staff more time to work on collaborating on their site plans. “At Rominger and Waggoner, a late start is not a possibility, due to child care and the after-school program, so we have selected two early release Fridays a month for collaboration at Waggoner and Rominger,” was stated in the media release. The two designated early release Fridays will be aligned at both school sites. This is in addition to the current Minimum Day early release
schedule on Wednesdays. The following changes were made to each school site’s bell schedule to ensure the state instructional minutes requirements are still met: Waggoner: All grades will begin at 8:15 a.m. Rominger: Wednesday dismissal time will change to 1:20 p.m. The proposed new Waggoner start time and new Rominger Wednesday dismissal time will take effect at the start of the school year in August, pending approval of the Board of Trustees. Plans for August are still unknown, although Cutler mentioned proposing a plan at the June 18 Board of Trustees meeting. Currently the state or Yolo County Office of Education have
See CHANGE, Page 5
Courtesy image
The Walnut 10 development would add 54 housing units if approved by City Council.
Planning Commission approves Walnut 10 development, awaits Council approval By Rodney Orosco Staff Writer With a unanimous vote, the Winters Planning Commission on Tuesday, May 26, approved the development of 54-unit housing subdivision at the end of Walnut Lane. The future development, known as Walnut 10, currently encompasses about 10 acres of almonds trees located at the
northern boundary of the city limits. The vote came after the city contract planner Dave Dowswell assured the commission the development had met all the requirements necessary for approval by the commission. Project engineer, Tim Denham, also assured the commission that the future development would include the necessary
Same downtown charm, more sky provided
Accident claims life of Winters resident
By Rodney Orosco Staff Writer
By Rodney Orosco Staff Writer A Winters woman died of injuries she suffered in a head on collision in front of Berryessa Sporting Goods on Thursday, May 28. Sabrina Kase, 38, was traveling westbound on Grant Avenue at about 6:01 a.m in her 1994 Honda Civic when her vehicle collided with a Chevy 2500 truck turning into the sporting goods store, according to a Winters Police Department media release. According to police, the driver of the truck, also a Winters resident, did not see the Civic. The name of the male driver is being withheld by police as the accident is
under investigation. There is no indication alcohol or gross negligence was a factor in the collision, police reported. Kase, who police reported was not wearing a seatbelt, was taken to Kaiser Permanente Hospital, Vacaville where she later succumbed to her injuries. Police also reported her car, a salvaged vehicle, did not have a driver’s side airbag. Winters Fire Department and American Medical Response were also dispatched to the injury accident. Vacaville Police Department assisted and brought a “Total Station” for measuring the scene and a drone for aerial images.
I ndex Features ........................ B-1 Classifieds ................... B-4 Community .................. A-5
Weather Date
Rain
High
Low
May 27
.00
101˚
67˚
May 28
.00
101˚
60˚
May 29
.00
99˚
58˚
May 30
.00
83˚
57˚
Eventos hispanos ....... A-4
May 31 TRACE
80˚
58˚
June 1
.00
81˚
60˚
Opinion ......................... B-8
June 2
.00
86˚
59˚
Real Estate ................... A-6
Rain for week: TRACE Season’s total: 13.37 in. Last sn. to date: 39.26 in.
Athlete of the Week.... B-2
Winters rainfall season began 7/1/19. Weather readings are taken at 9 a.m.
As Yolo County officials gave the OK to reopen indoor dining at restaurants, downtown Winters eateries faced the challenge of how to provide service while still operating under the State’s social distancing guidelines. Of course, there are changes: customers are now eating in the street. Twenty-two tables now make up the Winters al fresco downtown dining commons. Barricades on the corner of Railroad Avenue and Main Street and barricades in front of the
munity, including farmworkers, the homeless and the undocumented, however, children under age 12 will not be tested. For those who do not have health insurance, the cost of the test will be covered by the state. Otherwise insurers will be billed with no out-of-pocket cost to those being tested. Residents must
Superintendent Todd Cutler noted, at the May 21 school board meeting, that Governor Gavin Newsom’s suggestion that schools begin in July has sparked questions within the school community. Winters Joint Unified School District intends to follow their original schedule. “We are planning to begin school as we always have,” Cutler said. “We are preparing for distance learning or a hybrid model if that is what is allowed.” A survey was sent out to parents to gather information regarding distance learning. One of the potential hybrid models Cutler said the district has considered was an A/B Group Block situation with the school week broken up into: a group on Mondays/ Wednesdays, a group on Tuesdays/Thursdays, with Friday as an opportunity for intervention. Cutler said the district plans to present a plan of intent by the June 18 board meeting. He also reported that Newsom’s 2020-21 May Revision budget
See TEST, Page 4
See SCHOOL, Page 4
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
County COVID-19 testing site moves to West Sacramento A community COVID-19 testing site that has been operating at the county fairgrounds in Woodland for the last four weeks is now moving to West Sacramento. Beginning Tuesday and continuing until June 20, appointments will be available for anyone seeking to be tested for the novel coronavirus.
The West Sacramento site will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and testing is available by appointment only. Call 888-6341123 or complete an online application at: https://lhi.care/ covidtesting. The address of the testing site will be provided upon completion of the application. Testing is open to anyone in the com-
WINTERS AGGREGATE
We deliver friendly hometown service! Restaurant: 795.4503 Catering: 795.1722
Winters JUSD school board news brief Editor-in-Chief
Guests at Winters restaurants can enjoy their meals at
McNaughton Media
See HOUSING, Page 4
By Crystal Apilado
See TABLES, Page 4 the new downtown outside dining area on Main Street.
By Anne Ternus-Bellamy
drainage to prevent flooding—a section of the current orchard is prone to flooding. An organized and determined group of area residents attended the meeting in hopes of delaying the development until more flooding studies could be done, density issues could be researched and the issue of emergency vehicle access to the
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