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Debate over McKinley Dual-language immersion comes to westside SB school
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Vets, advocates react to withdrawal of troops Locals debate pullout from Afghanistan
newspress.com
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Santa Barbara Unified School District selected McKinley Elementary School to become a dual-language immersion campus by the end of 2027. Some community members are questioning the district’s choice. Roseanne Crawford, an advocate for neighborhood schools, is worried about families in McKinley’s enrollment area who may not want to participate. Incoming kindergarten students can enroll in their neighborhood’s school or transfer to McKinley for dual-language immersion. Students already within McKinley’s boundaries get first priority, and they may also transfer out. The district sent a survey to community members in January and February 2020 to see what residents thought about the possibility of adding a duallanguage immersion school on Santa Barbara’s westside. Of the 769 responses, 81% had a high or very high level of support for the program. Almost three-fourths of parents said they had high or very high interest in sending their student to a dual-language elementary school. Just 38 people answered negatively to the idea, and they were mainly concerned that students should learn English first to perform well on exams. The program starts in kindergarten, with 90% of the instruction in Spanish. Gradually, Please see LANGUAGE on A2
RAFAEL MALDONADO/NEWS-PRESS
Roseanne Crawford is worried about the change to dual-language immersion at McKinley Elementary School.
From Vegas to Santa Barbara Animal Services flies stray microchipped dog to Las Vegas home By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
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Gorda, a 13-year-old Chihuahua from Las Vegas, was found as a stray in Santa Barbara, so County Animal Services microchipped her and flew her home to her owner in Las Vegas.
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Framed for fine arts Allan Hancock College marks construction progress By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Allan Hancock College celebrated construction progress on its fine arts complex Thursday morning. The school’s officials, alongside the project’s architect and construction management team, signed the final beam to finish the building’s frame. “It’s an exciting day,” Dr. Kevin Walthers, the Santa Maria college’s president, said during the short event. “We all get to sign the beam, and hopefully nobody ever sees it. I think that it will be up there forever. We’ll all know it’s there, and we can point to it for our kids and grandkids in the future, so we’re excited.” The beam signing is part of a traditional “topping out” ceremony and was live streamed on the college’s YouTube page. “This is a real milestone
in the project,” said Craig Shallenberger, project manager. “Where we are only five and a half months into the project to actually be at this stage is a real achievement in our eyes, and we’re very proud of where we’re at so far.” Construction is planned to be complete by fall 2022 on the two-story, 88,000 squarefoot complex. It features a 400-seat concert and recital venue and classrooms for the college’s dance, drama, film, graphics, music, photography and multimedia arts and communications programs. Voter-approved Bond Measure I funded the project alongside support from the California Community College Chancellor’s office and the estate of former Hancock faculty member Patricia Boyd. email: ahanshaw@newspress. com
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Gorda certainly took a gamble when she left her home in Las Vegas. While she may have wanted to escape the city lights for a while or may have lost her way, it seemed that the odds were against the Chihuahua returning to her owner and her hometown, after somehow winding up in Santa Barbara County. However, Gorda’s microchip changed all of that, and allowed for a heartfelt, tear-filled reunion Thursday afternoon between her and her owner that consisted of a lot of snuggling, petting and loving. The 13-year-old Chihuahua went missing in July 2020, and her owner filed a lost dog report, but had no luck. Less than a week ago, Gorda was picked up as a stray by Santa Barbara County Animal Services, and staff members used the microchip technology to determine the email address of the owner, who delightedly responded
in less than five minutes, writing, “My baby!” Michelle Maltun, the community outreach coordinator for County Animal Services, was the liaison between the owner and her longlost Chihuahua. “She (the owner) said that she let the dog out to go to the bathroom for five minutes in her son’s yard and never saw her (Gorda) again,” Ms. Maltun told the News-Press. Gorda was found in good condition, healthy and stable, which leads Animal Services staff to believe Gorda was taken care of by somebody somewhere for the past year. How the small Chihuahua managed to survive interstate travel, Ms. Maltun said, “We have no idea.” However, Animal Services didn’t hesitate to return Gorda to her surprised owner. Using Pilots N Paws — a nonprofit with volunteer pilots and plane owners who arrange the rescuing, sheltering, transporting and adopting of
Following his announcement that all U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be withdrawn by Sept. 11, 2021, President Joe Biden has received both praise and criticism from lawmakers, veterans and regular American citizens. During his press conference Wednesday, President Biden defended his decision, saying, “I know there are many who will loudly insist that diplomacy cannot succeed without a robust U.S. military presence to stand as leverage. We gave that argument a decade. It never proved effective, not (when) we had 98,000 troops in Afghanistan and not now that we’re down to a few thousand.” However, Republican (and some Democratic) lawmakers warn that leaving too early or withdrawing without proper conditions could end poorly, especially if the security situation deteriorates. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, referred to the withdrawal as “abandoning our partners and retreating in the face of the Taliban,” according to national media reports. The Democrats in Congress who opposed the president’s decision expressed concern with human and civil rights for Afghans, especially after progress made as a result of the American presence. Others came to the conclusion that there was no easy answer, and President Biden’s hands were somewhat tied because the Taliban could have potentially never had the intention to cooperate. Jerry Farmer, the vice
president of the Santa Barbara Veterans Foundation, warned of a bad ending to the withdrawal for Afghans. “It’s not going to be good when we pull out (for) the minorities (and) the women in that country,” he told the News-Press. “Any kind of democratic progress they made, I’ve got a feeling it’s going to end, and it’s going to end very badly … It’s going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to really bring them any help.” Mr. Farmer said he supports getting U.S. troops out of there, but he hopes the president will deal with Afghanistan “from a long distance like Israel does with its enemies” and “keep it quiet.” “I think it would be best for us to keep our mouths shut. If the Taliban or ISIS or any other group starts to get a foothold in there, I think we should go in and take care of it, but not telegraph our moves,” he said. Under the deal the Trump administration signed with the Taliban in 2020, U.S. troops wouldn’t be withdrawn until insurgents met commitments such as breaking from alQaeda and reducing violence in the country, but U.S. military officials say the Taliban has yet to uphold those commitments. “They (the Taliban) are basically saying, ‘We’ve already made the deal with Trump. Anything after May 1 is open for us to attack,’ which is nasty,” Mr. Farmer said. Retired Lt. John Blankenship, founder of the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation, was stationed in Iwakuni, Japan, and then in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, where he flew T-34s, T-28s, S-2s and more. He said that, speaking as a Vietnam vet, “Some
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