PRSRT STD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID SAN DIEGO, CA PERMIT NO. 835
The
BOXHOLDER
THE RANCHO SANTA FE NEWS
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SERVING NORTH COUNTY SINCE 1987
VOL. 15, N0. 6
MARCH 15, 2019
Library turns to community for new roof
School board eyes electronic locks for Rowe
By Christina Macone-Greene
By Christina Macone-Greene
RANCHO SANTA FE — For decades, the Rancho Santa Fe Library has undergone roof patching and repairs. Despite these efforts, the heavy rains have soaked through the roof damaging books and the library’s interior from water damage. The hardest hit has been the Children’s Library. The Rancho Santa Fe Library Guild decided it was time to launch its Redo the Roof Campaign. “Our biggest concern we have right now, particularly with the amount of rain that we have had, is that our little 50-year-old roof is not holding up very well, and we have patched for years,” Sara Shafer, Rancho Santa Fe Library Guild executive director, said. In 2017, the Children’s Library, located on the upper level, lost hundreds of books with an estimated loss of more than $2,000 in picture books. “We lost more children’s books this year,” Susan Appleby, the guild’s associate director, said. “It seems like if there is a storm with a lot of water it creates new cracks into the repairs.” According to Appleby, the Children’s Library recently sustained about $3,500 worth of damage which included brand new books. Hundreds of books were damaged, and the county cannot replace those books due to budget constraints. Once books are water damaged they are deTURN TO ROOF ON 20
efforts, as well as certain land use decisions such as the environmental review of development projects. “You don’t have to be a professional botanist to find a new occurrence,” said Patten, as she led the group to a Rancho Santa Fe entrance of the Coast-to-Crest trail. The event, hosted by the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy, was meant to serve as a “training wheels” treasure hunt for participants looking to take their outdoorsmanship to a new level.
RANCHO SANTA FE — A special board meeting on Feb. 20 offered board members of the Rancho Santa Fe School District the opportunity to discuss the options of access control systems, electronic locks, and manual locks following a presentation by Jeff Kaye of School Safety Operations based in San Marcos. All board members were present for Kaye’s follow-up report on the school’s Hazard and Vulnerability Assessment. Kaye said his end goal is to bring the district into recommended best practices. At times, he referred to the After-Action Reports following the devastating school shootings at Sandy Hook and Stoneman Douglas for the purpose of recommendations. Kaye said that while R. Roger Rowe had a high baseline regarding “safety and security,” the proposed door security project would add to an already existing high level of campus safety. “The desired goal is to have every door be locked (from the inside) without the use of a key and without being able to open the door,” he said, adding how a teacher or other staff member could look at the door and determined its locked position. There are currently 71 doors at the R. Roger Rowe campus, which are all manual. Kaye also noted that it would be optimal to eliminate keys. In circumstances of an extreme stress incident, fine motor skills might
TURN TO PLANTS ON 7
TURN TO LOCKS ON 5
ABOUT 15 plant enthusiasts from across San Diego County gathered March 8 to participate in a “treasure hunt,” an event hosted by the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy. Photo by Lexy Brodt
PROSPECTING FOR GREEN
Plant enthusiasts hunt for treasures in Rancho Santa Fe By Lexy Brodt
RANCHO SANTA FE — Several plant enthusiasts meandered up a lush, off-trail hill in the Santa Fe Valley Open Space on a cool day in early March, their eyes peeled to the ground. To the untrained eye, the group seemed to be looking for something lost in the bushes. But the participants — led by California Native Plant Society Rare Plant Biologist Amy Patten — were actually “treasure hunting” for a plant called the Juncus Acutus Leopoldii. The plant, commonly called a spiny rush, is na-
tive to California. “What a rush!” said one participate as the group finished their count, adding to the morning’s panoply of plant puns. “Treasure hunting” is a method by which individuals can observe “occurrences” of a rare plant in certain locations and submit them to the California Natural Diversity Database, an inventory of the state’s rare plants and animals and their locations and statuses. Operated by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the database helps inform research and conservation