Hometown News Since 1916 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CIV, NO. XXIII
THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2020
EDUCATION
AUSD Works to Cut $4M from 20-21 Budget
atascaderonews.com • $1.00 • WEEKLY
CLASS OF 2020
13 STARS MEDIA
AHS Valedictorian Jonathan Dolan to Attend UC Berkeley
Also, trustees approve $522K for design services and planning for new pool By CONNOR ALLEN connor@atascaderonews.com ATASCADERO — The Atascadero Unified School District board of trustees revealed the proposed budget cuts for the upcoming school year as well as approving $522,000 for the architectural planning and design services for a new pool. AUSD announced, based on the Governor’s May revised budget proposal, the District is facing over $4 million in reductions for the 2020-2021 school year. A majority of the cuts will be to classified personnel. Even with the modifications, the District will likely dip into reserves and be deficit spending. The District stated it could not identify $4 million in cuts but did outline reducing what amounts to nine full-time certificated employees and 29 full-time classified personnel. The District is taking a worstcase scenario approach to its budget process, realizing that everything is fluid due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We do know that the state will adopt the budget here in a couple weeks, and we’ve been told that there will probably be a state budget revision in August or early September due to the tax receipts that have been delayed due to COVID-19. The board could adopt this budget today, and it could change tomorrow, and we do hope this is a worst-case scenario,” AUSD Assistant Superintendent Jackie Martin. “We have the reserves, excess reserves above our required 3 percent, because of COVID-19 we have been doing our best to save. We basically did a hiring freeze. We froze all costs once we did close schools to capture as many savings as possible in anticipation of the economy being hurt because of the closure, and that will help us get through 2021 and potentially 2022.” The certificated cuts include four elementary teachers and two high school teachers. The majority of the classified employee reductions will be instructional assistants and special circumstances instructional aids. In addition to the reductions, the District eliminated all one-time expenditures, reduced textbook and device allocations, reduced Special Ed Extended School Year expenditures, and left eight teaching positions vacant to start the next school year. As of now, the District will fill those positions with substitute teachers, alluding to them as “vacant but CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
LOCAL NEWS
Atascadero News, Paso Robles Press Welcome Back Brian Williams Veteran returns home to lead editorial department STAFF REPORT
I the city’s most iconic structure, the Rotunda. More than 350 students made their way around the Sunken Gardens, including graduates from Paloma Creek and ACE. While many valedictorians address their classmates during the graduation
n September 2019, the Paso Robles Press and Atascadero News were acquired by local owners Nicholas and Hayley Mattson under the 13 Stars Media umbrella with Paso Robles Magazine and Colony Magazine. During the merger, current editor Brian Williams joined the new team. He assisted in bringing the weekly newspapers into the fold and spent three months working with the Mattson’s to improve the quality of the historic newspapers. During that time, Williams was recruited to a position in Brookings, Ore., where he managed two newspapers — the Curry Pilot in Brookings and the Del Norte Triplicate in Crescent City, Cal.
CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
Atascadero Valedictorian Jonathan Dolan stands in front of the Rotunda Building after receiving his diploma. Contributed photo
Top Greyhound leaves AHS with a 4.56 cumulative GPA By CONNOR ALLEN connor@atascaderonews.com
A
tascadero High School senior Jonathan Dolan is known as a fierce competitor on the Greyhounds cross country and track and field teams and is no slouch in the classroom either.
Dolan earned the top honor in the class — valedictorian — by finishing with a lofty cumulative 4.56 grade point average. He was recognized when Atascadero High School celebrated its graduates on Wednesday, June 10, via a drive-byparade-style ceremony. Each student received their diploma in front of
CITY OF ATASCADERO
Atascadero Mayor Talks Police and Prejudice The time has come to speak out, question, reflect and review
By HEATHER MORENO MAYOR OF ATASCADERO
D
uring this unprecedented period of our history, we’re all living through extremely unsettling times and events. From the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic with the near-total economic shutdown; to the recent nationwide protests and political unrest; to the vegetation fire that we had in town last week that could have been so much worse; to the gunman and tragic deaths nearby in Paso Robles – all told, it’s left us feeling overwhelmed. These very weighty issues call for a great deal of thoughtful consideration, many discussions and empathic understanding, none of which can be adequately addressed in the space allowed for this article, but I will attempt to begin a conversation here that I hope continues throughout our community. When those we want to believe are heroes betray the trust we have placed in them in a horrific manner, as seen recently in Minneapolis between police officers
SPORTS
and George Floyd, we must speak out, question, reflect and review. Surrounding these issues, the City has understandably received a lot of inquiries and comments regarding our Use of Force Policies. Anyone with internet access may want to visit the Police Department’s page of the City’s website which has a great deal of information available, including the entire Police Policy Manual, along with information from Chief Jerel Haley regarding our department’s policies in regards to the 8 Can’t Wait Initiative. Some of our friends and neighbors feel they have experienced racism here in Atascadero. I believe we should all be concerned because this is much more than a police problem; it is a community problem. We must not tolerate racism, individually or collectively. We must seek to uncover our unconscious biases and learn how we can change them. Diversity advocate Vernā Myers warns that our internal, unconscious biases can be dangerous and we all need to work on looking for them, acknowledging our discomfort and then moving toward, not away from, what
RECORD
Protesters gather in Sunken Gardens with Atascadero City Hall in the background. A quote from Abraham Lincoln faces the park, inscribed as “The most valuable of all arts will be that of deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest area of soil.” Photo by Nicholas Mattson
may make us uncomfortable. We need to expand our circles and build relationships. Finally, when we see something, we need to say something – we need to learn how to speak up if our friends, family members or coworkers say or do something that
EVENTS
may be biased. I invite you to watch this video featuring Ms. Myers, “How to Overcome our Biases”. I believe that anyone should be able to CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
atascaderonews.com
WEATHER
twitter.com/ @AtascaderoNews facebook.com/ @AtascaderoNews
ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENT MLB SIGNS LOCAL athletes Mac Lardner and Hunter ends with multiple deaths Barnhart | A4 and injuries | A3
SUPREME COURT makes
major ruling on LGBTQ employment rights | A5
THIS FATHER’S DAY guide
will help you get the perfect gift for him | A13
The Atascadero News Atascadero. Real News. Good News • Real News • Your Hometown News
atascaderonews.com
High 81º | Low 53º
5
67808 24135
Congratulations
to the 2020 graduating class!
7