News

Cloverdale schools reopened for in-person hybrid instruction this week, with junior and high school students going back to school for the first time this year on both April 12 and April 13. Things were slightly different at Jefferson Elementary, though, where 306 students arrived for in-person instruction. The number of students going to school in person versus staying with distance learning means that students who choose to switch to hybrid learning will be going back four days a week, with a distance learning day on Wednesdays. 

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors announced earlier this week that it’s establishing a 15-member commission to aid the supervisors in redrawing supervisorial district boundaries, once it receives results from the 2020 Census. Those who are interested in applying to join the commission, which is expected to start meeting in May, have until March 23 to fill out an application.

An effort is underway to recall the three trustees of the West Sonoma County Union High School District (WSCUHSD) board who voted on March 10 to approve a plan involving the potential consolidation of Analy and El Molino high schools, according to Tasha Mattison, one of several recall committee leaders.  

Around 10 rivaling demonstrators stationed at the intersection of Main Street and Highway 12 in downtown Sebastopol on Jan. 8 for their weekly Friday noon rallies.

This is a challenging time for our community, and the Sonoma County Library is here to help with back-to-school needs. Are you a parent of a school-age child or children? A student yourself? Maybe you want to enrich your self-learning. The library has put together a list of resources you may find useful for the school year, and beyond. 

Gravenstein Health Action Coalition hopes adoption of a tobacco ordinance and permit will help address teen vaping

Sonoma County Superintendent Steve Herrington announced the county’s guidelines for reopening schools Thursday afternoon, June 11. The announcement came on the heels of the state releasing its own set of education guidelines on June 9. 

The United States (and Sonoma County) is in the middle of a tectonic opinion shift on the question of face masks. Last week, the controversy centered on the question of who should wear one — just frontline workers like doctors or nurses or everyone who goes out in public — and what masks should be made of? Are cloth masks OK?

On Friday, Jan. 31, the county cleared the homeless encampment on the Joe Rodota Trail. Sixty homeless campers went to a “sanctioned encampment” at Los Guilicos. Some accepted beds in local shelters. More than 100 people either refused what the county had offered or were somehow missed by county officials, but, under threat of arrest, they left the trail anyway, pitching their tents elsewhere around the county.

A group of Sebastopol residents is planning to circulate a petition to dissolve the Palm Drive Health Care District.