ACCIDENTS:

• None.

ARRESTS:

• Falcon Pl. Violate Court Order to Prevent Domestic Violence; Probation Violation.  A 54-year-old Brentwood resident was arrested after officers responded to a call for service.  He was transported to Concord Police Department for booking.  (10/22/21 – 2131 hrs.)

BURGLARIES/THEFTS:

• Mt. Zion Dr.  Petty Theft – Vehicle.  (10/29/21 – 1405 hrs.)
• 5400 Clayton Rd.  Robbery.  (10/31/21 – 1300 hrs.)
• Lydia Ln.  Petty Theft.  (11/01/21 – 0958 hrs.)

VANDALISMS:

• None.

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By John Fensterwald – EdSource

In a hastily scheduled webinar this week, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond apologized profusely to hundreds of leaders of private schools serving low-income families for delays in distributing tens of millions of dollars in federal COVID aid.

Promising to quickly remove the bottlenecks, Thurmond said Tuesday, “We regret any heartburn or difficulties that you have experienced.” He asked for “some grace” as the department fixed the problems it created.

The California Department of Education mismanaged dispatching $187 million for 547 private schools that applied and were approved for the first round of Emergency Assistance for Non-Public Schools. Congress approved that funding last December and included a second round of $181 million for California private schools from the American Rescue Plan. California hasn’t received that money yet.

Acknowledging that the pandemic affected all students, and all schools faced additional expenses and need more resources to help students recover, Congress included nonpublic schools in the unprecedented pandemic funding for K-12 schools. Schools could buy personal protective equipment, air purifiers, Chromebooks and other supplies, pay for COVID testing, and contract for counseling, mental health, tutoring and other student services to meet the same needs as public school students.

Congress put state education agencies in charge, under a tight timeframe, of getting the funding out the door. But, as EdSource reported last month, the California Department of Education was slow to set up structures to reimburse schools for expenses and provide services.

Most affected were nonpublic schools serving low-income families, particularly urban parochial schools in the diocese in San Bernardino and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Operating on tight budgets, they lost students during COVID when families struggled financially. The first reimbursements for COVID-related purchases didn’t go out until the last week in October, seven months after the state received the first round of funding. And there has been confusion over paperwork schools had to fill out to be repaid, Thurmond acknowledged.

Schools that spent tens of thousands of dollars faced a cash crunch and were worried about making payroll. Schools assuming there would be counseling and mental health services for the reopening of school were told by the department not to expect them until early February, after a monthslong needs-assessment process that would begin in November.

The breaking point for frustrated school leaders occurred late last month. Administrators from the Education Department had told schools they would be reimbursed for items purchased through Oct. 31. Then, on Oct. 25, the department emailed them that they had been misinformed. It had received new guidance from the U.S. Department of Education on the reimbursement deadline, which in California’s case, would turn out to be late September. That meant schools wouldn’t be eligible to be repaid millions of dollars, even though the department, until late October, had encouraged the schools to buy ventilation equipment and other items, said Ron Reynolds, executive director of the California Association of Private School Organizations.

Flabbergasted, they were able to reach out directly to Thurmond and asked him to become involved.

From the start, the department urged patience because overseeing services for private schools was a new function for states; it’s usually done by school districts within whose boundaries the schools are located. Unlike some other states, California has procurement laws that limited the department’s ability to hire vendors to handle reimbursements and provide services quickly.

California is not the only state having trouble meeting Congress’ deadlines and interpreting the law’s language. However, federal law did not require the department to impose a lengthy needs-assessment process on private schools and to make them justify the services they said they needed. And, although it was allotted nearly $1 million in administrative overhead, the department chose to handle reimbursements itself without adding any staff.

Within days of being contacted, Thurmond called for the news conference with his top administrators, including Chief Deputy Superintendent Mary Nicely and Deputy Superintendent for Special Projects Malia Vella, to report they had taken steps to cut through red tape and solve the problems.

“In no way do we intend to minimize the frustration or difficulty that you’ve experienced. It’s significant, and we will address it,” Thurmond said.

State officials negotiated with the U.S. Department of Education to extend the deadline for making purchases to Nov. 5 instead of late September. Vella said the department was working with the state controller’s office to expedite reimbursements. She promised a streamlined application for services and indicated there would be flexibility in identifying vendors because many schools have existing relationships with community agencies. The state also will reach out to county offices of education to coordinate services instead of working through the nonprofit research organization WestEd, a choice schools had criticized because, unlike some county offices, it lacked experience working to provide services for private schools.

“They’re doing what I had recommended in March,” Reynolds said. “It’s better late than never, but kids still remain in need of services, and schools are out significant amounts of money.”

Thurmond framed the meeting as “a day of healing and reconciliation that we have to do better, and will in coming days.”

His words resonated with parochial school leaders.

“I appreciated his statement backed by action,” said Paul Escala, superintendent of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese. “A crisis a week ago that should not have happened to begin with was rectified in a manner of days. There was a genuine and authentic recognition of challenges our schools have faced in an authentic manner you don’t often see among elected officials.”

“We’re incredibly grateful for leadership that sought solutions that reflected listening to the concerns of nonpublic schools,” said Kathleen Domingo, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the Catholic Church of California. “All on call breathed a sigh of relief.”

Reynolds, Escala and Domingo said they were also pleased by Thurmond’s announcement that he would revive the state superintendent’s advisory council with representatives from nonpublic schools. Reynolds said there had been one for decades until Thurmond’s predecessor, Tom Torlakson, ended it.

“I believe that we will benefit by coming together as public and private school leaders. One of my interests will be how do we work together to support the needs of low-income students in private schools,” Thurmond said. “I think that’s got to be our conversation. When there are disputes about funds to support low-income students, I always say, ‘Do what’s fair, do what’s right for kids.'”

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Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statement lauding the passage Saturday of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act bill package, saying the bill will help create quality jobs for Californians and support the modernization of state infrastructure.

The legislation includes funding for roads, bridges, broadband internet access and other projects.

“This historic infrastructure package stands to accelerate investments in our clean transportation infrastructure, help mitigate some of the worst impacts of climate change and accelerate new projects that will create thousands of jobs,” the governor said.

According to the governor’s office, California expects to receive:

• $25.3 billion for federal-aid highway apportioned programs and $4.2 billion for bridge replacement and repairs over five years
• $9.45 billion over five years to improve public transportation options across the state
• $384 million over five years to support the expansion of an EV charging network in the state and the opportunity to apply for the $2.5 billion in grant funding dedicated to EV charging
• A minimum of $100 million to help provide broadband coverage across the state
• $84 million over five years to protect against wildfires and $40 million to protect against cyberattacks
• $3.5 billion over five years to improve water infrastructure across the state and ensure clean, safe drinking water for California communities
• $1.5 billion for infrastructure development for airports over five years

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Widespread rain is expected to return to the Bay Area next week, with up to 4 inches of rainfall possible in some higher elevations Monday and Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service said the storm is a “weak to potentially moderate atmospheric river” that will be preceded by wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph.

Forecasters expect the rain to arrive in the Bay Area around midday Monday, with the North Bay mountains and Santa Cruz Mountains likely to see the most precipitation. Those areas could see 2-4 inches, according to the weather service.

The rain from this system “looks to be mostly beneficial with limited threat of widespread flooding concerns,” the weather service said in the briefing.

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Early Sunday morning marks the end of Daylight Saving Time in Claycord, so before you go to bed tonight, set your clocks back one hour.

Enjoy your one extra hour.

Below is a video explaining Daylight Saving Time.

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Happy Friday to all the wonderful citizens in the City of Claycord.

This is a post with no subject, you can talk about whatever you want. If breaking news happens (such as a shooting, earthquake, etc.), or you hear about something newsworthy, feel free to post it here.

Please Note: Users who use multiple names will be deleted. Please choose a name so others can easily chat with you. Users must provide a name in the ‘name field’, please do not use the ‘@’ symbol in the name field.

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This post is “Talk About Politics”.

Please use this post to talk about politics, and keep politics out of the “whatever” thread.

Thank you, and be kind to each other.

Please Note: Users who use multiple names will be deleted. Please choose a name so others can easily chat with you. Users must provide a name in the ‘name field’, please do not use the ‘@’ symbol in the name field.

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State Sen. Josh Becker announced his new legislative initiatives for a cleaner California during the United Nations Climate Conference this week, one of which calls on state government operations directly to go carbon neutral.

California already has a goal to meet carbon neutrality for its entire economy by no later than 2045, based on then-Gov. Jerry Brown’s executive order in 2018. This means all citizens and companies in the state would adjust to eco-friendly vehicles, energy options and conservation methods in production.

Becker’s new legislation, which will be introduced in January when the state Legislature reconvenes, would push for government operations to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, 10 years earlier than the statewide goal.

“If we are going to ask the entire state to achieve net zero, shouldn’t the government lead by example and show how to get to zero before asking everyone else to do it?” Becker asked in a news release.

Becker’s hope is that this bill could encourage California to kickstart progress by trying out zero emission operations.

“The state could — and should — lead on these issues by developing clear plans for how the state government will get to net zero emissions within its own operations by being an early adopter of the necessary technologies that will ultimately be needed by the rest of the state,” Becker said.

Becker also wants to make reforms to “Build Clean Faster” to build up essential, environmentally-friendly projects and infrastructure at a quick pace.

“We cannot let business as usual, with all that red tape, prevent us from doing what must be done. It’s time that we stop paying lawyers to fight about these projects and start paying workers to get them built.”

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The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.

The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.

QUESTION: It’s Nov.5 – Is it too early for Christmas lights & other Christmas decorations?

Talk about it….

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