It was a peaceful spring morning when staff, clients, and friends of Del Norte Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) walked down Pacific Avenue to the Flynn Center to receive a proclamation for Mental Health Awareness. On May 13, the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors proclaimed May as Mental Health Awareness Month, with the aim to ”raise awareness and understanding of Mental Health and to increase access to Mental Health services by offering hope to those in need.”
Continue reading Del Norte DHHS Walk for Mental Health Awareness; Board of Supes Proclaim May as Mental Health Awareness MonthTag Archives: education
Contract Negotiations Between DNUSD, Teachers Union Commences; Board Approves AI Policy
Thumbnail photo: Members of Del Norte Unified School District’s AI Task Force discuss a draft policy with the Board of Trustees in this April photo. | Photo by Guiming Xiong
Superintendent Jeff Harris was absent. Among the items discussed at Thursday’s Del Norte Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting.
DNTA negotiations begin:
Del Norte Unified School District is not in a position to offer salary increases to teachers during the 2025-26 fiscal year, Superintendent of Business Jeff Napier told trustees.
Napier presented DNUSD’s first proposal for its 2025-26 contract with the Del Norte Teachers Association a little more than two months after a stalemate between the two parties concluded with help from state mediators.
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Route Cancellations, Delays Prompt Parents To Take Bus Woes To School Board
Thumbnail photo by Persephone Rose
Melissa Endert went before the Del Norte Unified School District Board of Trustees two days after bus service to her children’s school was canceled.
Endert, who lives in Crescent City while her kids attend Smith River School to be near their father who is a special education teacher, said finding out at the last minute that the bus wouldn’t be showing up was a sacrifice for her and left many parents scrambling.
“That’s a hardship for community members who are not like myself, who don’t have a spare car or don’t have time set aside to get their kids to school,” she said. “The district stresses that students should come to school every day. If buses aren’t running they can’t attend school. If they come to school an hour late, they’re missing breakfast, they’re missing time and they’re stressed, they’re hungry, they’re anxious and they’re worried and it’s already a long bus route.”
Continue reading Route Cancellations, Delays Prompt Parents To Take Bus Woes To School Board
Library Director Tenders Resignation As Trustees, Staff Fight For Del Norte Reads
Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz
Literacy means resiliency, stability and survival for Del Norte County, Terrin Musbach wrote in a letter she plans to send to state library officials.
Musbach, program coordinator for Del Norte Reads, read her letter before library trustees on Monday about six weeks after the California State Library recommended the local program not participate in the state’s literacy program.
But, while trustees agreed to partner with Musbach and petition the state to let Del Norte Reads rejoin California Library Literacy Services, they also received a letter of resignation from their library director, Phyllis Goodeill.
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DNUSD Foregoes Issuing Final Layoff Notices For Most Positions; District Still Has Funding Challenges, Superintendent Says
Pine Grove School | Photo by Amanda Dockter
Del Norte Unified School District has been able to forego issuing final layoff notices to most of its certificated and classified staff members, Superintendent Jeff Harris said.
But since many of those positions will continue to be paid for through one-time grant dollars, DNUSD may find itself in the same boat again next year, Harris told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday.
“We’ve lost about 450 students since 2019,” he said, echoing a statement from a press release the district issued Feb. 28. “Losing 450 students would be the equivalent, at this point, of closing ‘O Me-nok, Mountain, Sunset and Bess Maxwell schools. What that means is that prior to 2020, we had a certain number of teachers. And, today, we have approximately, I think it’s 21 teachers more than we had before the pandemic even though we’ve lost 450 students.”
Continue reading DNUSD Foregoes Issuing Final Layoff Notices For Most Positions; District Still Has Funding Challenges, Superintendent Says
DNUSD Discusses AI Policy
The AI Task Force Steering Committee came back to the Del Norte Unified School District Board of Trustees with a draft policy on the acceptable use of Artificial Intelligence, or AI, April 10.
The policy is meant to outline the acceptable uses of AI within schools, with goals to foster safe and ethical use, enhance learning and teaching, and develop digital literacy. It also outlines guidelines for use by teachers, staff, and students. The criteria needed to vet AI tools, frequently asked questions, and the consequences for violating the policy are also included.
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Del Norte County, Education Officials Lobby For Century-Old Funding Source
Thumbnail photo by Amanda Dockter
Pointing out that Del Norte County’s apportionment is a significant part of its general fund, District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard said continuing to lobby hard for the Secure Rural Schools program is important, even though Congress didn’t include it in the budget it approved last month.
Howard, whose district includes the Smith River National Recreation Area and parts of Redwood National and State Parks, called the loss of nearly $1.4 million to the community huge. It’s huge for Del Norte County and huge for Del Norte County Unified School District, he said.
But, while he urged Del Norters to let their elected representatives know where they stand on funding for infrastructure and schools, DNUSD Superintendent Jeff Harris said the district has learned not to count on those SRS dollars.
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DNUSD Spared From Cuts To USDA School Nutrition Programs
Thumbnail photo: DNUSD’s Nutrition Services Department fresh fish tacos to Del Norte High School students last year courtesy of the Community Food Council’s Sea-to-Market program. | Photo courtesy of Michael Hawkins
(Updated at 8:27 a.m. to correct an error. Julie Carter Bjorkstrand, Del Norte Unified School District’s director of nutrition services, will travel to Sacramento as part of the California School Nutrition Association’s legislative action committee.)
Potential changes to a federal program that offers free meals to socio-economically disadvantaged schools will impact 2.4 million Californian students, but those in Del Norte County won’t be among them, according to Julie Carter Bjorkstrand.
Bjorkstrand, Del Norte Unified School District’s director of nutrition services, also said that a $660 million cut to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Local Food For Schools program won’t impact Del Norte schools.
“It’s actually not going to impact us because I didn’t apply for that grant,” she said. “I didn’t like the reporting. They didn’t have it fully fleshed out and so I didn’t feel all that comfortable applying for it.”
Continue reading DNUSD Spared From Cuts To USDA School Nutrition ProgramsDNUSD Is Getting New Vans, Training New Bus Drivers, Transportation Director Says
Thumbnail photo by Persephone Rose
Del Norte Unified School District is putting four new vans on the road, replacing an aging fleet that drew concerns from parents and staff who said they weren’t safe for students.
But since it will take two or three weeks to be retrofitted to meet the district’s needs, DNUSD is still relying on those older vans, transportation director Chris Armington told the Board of Trustees on Thursday.
Providing an update four months after parents and staff complained of warped brake rotors, leaking brake fluid and school bus seat belts held together with duct tape, Armington said his department had implemented a check-in check-out system for use of the vans.
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School Board Signs Onto SitelogIQ Proposal After DNUSD Admin Says Potential $65k Fee Won’t Impact Staff
Thumbnail: DNUSD logo
Despite hearing from two skeptics who balked at the possibility that Del Norte Unified School District would be on the hook for $65,000, trustees endorsed a proposal from SitelogIQ to conduct energy audits of DNUSD campuses.
Del Norte Teachers Association President Amber Tiedeken-Cron was one of those skeptics. On Thursday, she pointed to the names of teachers that had been posted on the wall at the district office, asking trustees to keep them in mind when they think about spending money.
“We had put the names of every one of the teachers that received pink slips on the board,” she told Redwood Voice Community News on Friday, “and asked that the School Board keep our students and the names of the staff who have been given preliminary layoff notices at the forefront of every decision they make.”
Continue reading School Board Signs Onto SitelogIQ Proposal After DNUSD Admin Says Potential $65k Fee Won’t Impact Staff