FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2020
SERVING OUR COMMUNITY SINCE 1879 • WWW.TRIPLICATE.COM
School proposes starting with all distance learning By David Hayes The Triplicate
Del Norte High School students will start the 2020-21 school year under a full distance learning plan if the administration’s proposal is adopted. Superintendent Jeff Harris asked parents to weigh in on the proposal during his weekly Facebook video update Aug. 3. The school board was expected to take action on the proposal at a special meeting Thursday, after the deadline for this edition. If the plan is approved,
students will begin the school year in Phase 1 of the DNUSD’s continuum of learning, Harris explained. About three weeks later, teachers will evaluate which students will benefit from physical attendance on campus in the afternoons, rolling them into what the district calls Phase 2. This next phase features distance learning in the morning and small cohorts of students attending in person at the school in the afternoons. “Six weeks in, they’ll reevaluate the system and adjust as needed to better meet the needs
of students,” Harris said. Meanwhile, much of the rest the school district (elementary and middle school) will start school in Phase 3, with two days of in-person learning and three days of distance learning. A work group of administrators, students, teachers and parents worked on the high school proposal. They discarded the two-on, three-off and AM/PM schedules because those would bring more than 500 students in the building — and approximately 17 students in each classroom — at any given time.
“This would create a challenging, and potentially unsafe environment with regards to physical distancing,” the work group wrote. “DNHS classes aren’t self-contained; creating cohorts with the same schedule (six periods) would lead to exponential variations.” Harris clarified the difference between the planned distance learning and the crisis learning the district was forced to cobble together during the shutdown. “For those of you that were dissatisfied with crisis learning, and there were many of you and
justifiably so at the time, distance learning is different,” Harris said. “Actual class times, actual interactions with a teacher live in the content area, actually using curriculum – math, English, science, history, all of our classes – will be available to your child. They will work as if they were in the classroom, because they are in the classroom, it just happens to be virtual instead of in person.” He said parents can read the proposal itself online at https:// bit.ly/3kd70Ic and the rationale and background at https://bit.
Please see Learning, Page A5
COVID-19 update
Oregon governor may restrict travel The Triplicate
David Hayes, The Triplicate
Controversy over this billboard on Crescent City Harbor property resulted in a discussion — but no action — at the harbor commission meeting Tuesday.
Billboard stirs debate By David Hayes The Triplicate
The Crescent City Harbor Commission on Tuesday flirted with the idea of terminating a lease with a media company over a billboard on its property that has generated controversy. After some of the commissioners received complaints, even a threat of vandalism, against a California Endowment billboard ad, Harbormaster Charlie Helms brought the issue to commissioners. The port leases land to Outfront Media, which owns the billboard. The billboard depicts seven people of differing ethnicities, all wearing facemasks touting political slogans, including “Universal Health Care,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Dreamers,” and “End Racism.” However, Helms explained
that the Harbor District has no legal right to terminate the lease with Outfront Media, which provides space for five signs at about $16,000 annually. Helms reported that the Harbor District’s lease with Outfront Media began in June 2019 and lasts for five years. Beginning June 1, 2023, Outdoor Media will increase its annual rent to $17,557.92. Helms pointed out to the commissioners they have no plans for the land the billboard sits. He added a second, similar billboard by the California Endowment in on Highway 101 near South Beach. “To me, we’re getting paid $16,000 a year for dirt,” Helms said. “We don’t have to do anything in the way of maintenance of the signs. They don’t have anything up that is pornography or anything else. It’s good earn-
ings for the Harbor District with very little time invested.” While Commissioner Rick Shepherd was amenavle to asking Outfront Media to remove the billboard, the others did not wish to wade into political waters. Commissioner Wes White indicated taking action could be seen as an infringement on freedom of speech and potentially open the harbor district to a lawsuit. “This body is supposed to be apolitical. That clearly is a political sign,” White said. “We’re supposed to be an apolitical organization and if we start messing with a sign that’s political in nature, we’re no longer apolitical for those reasons.” California Endowment is a non-profit organization created in 1996 when Blue Cross of California acquired the for-profit subsidiary WellPoint Health Net-
works. California Endowment website touts that is has more than $3 billion in assets, which it has used to fund the $1 billion Building Healthy Communities initiative. The program invested in 14 California communities including Del Norte County. However, the initiative’s message on the billboards generated negative comments, including by Del Norte County Supervisor Roger Gitlin on his Facebook page July 25. “Inserting the very serious COVID-19 pandemic dilemma into politics, the California Endowment has mixed partisan, divisive opinion with public health in erecting this billboard(s) entering Crescent City,” Gitlin wrote. “The billboard is exclusionary and insulting to Del Norte County and changes no minds, further polarizes us
Wier expects the sales tax increase to generate $1.3 million annually and go toward staffing at Crescent City Fire & Rescue and Crescent City Police Department. The money would also go toward infrastructure projects, such as potholes, resurfacing streets and installing and repairing sidewalks. Lastly, the extra dollars would fund keeping the Fred Endert Municipal Pool open. In addition, the tax proposal would create a citizens’ oversight committee to report on how the funds are spent and would require an annual audit of the tax measure. The City Council agreed to appoint Mayor Blake Inscore and Mayor Pro Tem Heidi Kime to an ad-hoc committee that would write an argument in favor of the measure and a rebuttal against an opposing argument. “I have already begun work on this and because Mayor Pro Tem Kime is a local business owner in the city limits, I ask the council
to approve my appointment of myself and Mayor Pro Tem Kime to serve on the ad-hoc committee,” Inscore said. Inscore added it will cost the city between $5,000 to $7,000 from its general fund to place the measure on the ballot. TBWBH Props & Measures Partner Joy Kummer explained how the City Council’s extra $3,500 toward a digital media campaign will help them. Static banner ads would run digitally for 70 days, generating about 200,000 impressions, increasing the likelihood a person is likely to see the ad to about twice a day on a variety of websites including CNN, MSNBC or Fox News, Kummer said. Kummer added TBWBH staff would work with the city to create 15-second video ads that could be shown on such platforms as Hulu or YouTube. “The digital provider, this particular one I’m suggesting
we use, we’re picking them because of the way they target. They perform much better in smaller communities,” Kummer explained. “The reason they do is they purchase a voter file of all registered voters within Crescent City — because we are communicating with all registered voters, we’re not going to exclude anyone — everybody in that segment will receive our advertising and given information about the city’s measure.” She said the digital provider uses global positioning or radio frequency to define a geographic boundary then use that information to send a message to the specified area, ensuring the digital campaign information reaches eligible voters. “The other advantage to this is if their ballot is going somewhere else, we’ll still be able to target and get them the information wherever they are,” Kummer said.
Please see Billboard, Page A6
Crescent City voters will be asked to approve a 1 percent sales tax increase By David Hayes The Triplicate
Crescent City is ready to send to voters Nov. 3 a 1 percent sales tax increase proposal to pay for many sectors within public safety. The City Council approved to spend up to $39,900 with the Arcata-based PlanWest Partners and its subcontractor TBWBH Props & Measures for an information campaign about the proposition. They also approved paying an additional $3,500 for a digital campaign to include content for videos, banner ads and social media. City Manager Eric Wier explained that if voters approve the sales tax measure, that rate within city limits would increase from 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent through 2022. It would then drop back down to 8.25 percent after a sales tax benefitting the Del Norte County Fairgrounds sunsets in 2022.
INDEX Crosswords..............................................A7 Crossword Answers..................................B3 Classifieds................................................B1 Weather..................................................A10
There were relatively few new confirmed positive tests of COVID-19 reported locally in the last week. As of the Thursday morning deadline for this edition, Del Norte County reported two active cases in self-isolation and 88 inactive cases — a total of 90. Curry County reported five active positive cases and nine recovered cases — a total of 14. No new cases of staff were reported at Pelican Bay State Prison and it appears that inmate testing thus far has not resulted in any confirmed positive cases. Curry County Public Health has not responded to our requests for information about the number of positive staff cases from Pelican Bay State Prison who are Curry County residents. Public health officials in both counties continue to advise the public to practice social distancing, observe face mask requirements in public places, and wash hands frequently. There were news reports this week that Oregon Gov. Kate Brown may be considering travel restrictions. In response to an inquiry, the governor’s press office responded as follows: “As mentioned in recent press availabilities, in recent weeks, doctors, health experts, and case investigators have reported seeing cases linked to interstate travel. The issue of travel restrictions was raised by members of the Governor’s Medical Advisory Panel based on COVID-19 cases linked to travel in southern Oregon, which is troubling based on the spikes in case counts California is currently experiencing. County-level COVID-19 data from across the country likewise shows increasing case counts between linked communities across state borders. “We are asking the health experts at the Oregon Health Authority and the Medical Advisory Panel for more data on travel-related spread of COVID-19, as well as recommendations for health and safety measures to address such cases. In conversations with legislators today, our office also discussed the reality that many Oregonians in communities on the state’s borders often cross those borders for work, and that any restrictions must take economic and supply chain implications into account. As the Governor has stated previously, our focus is on restrictions related to tourist travel from hotspot states and communities. Conversations are ongoing about how those restrictions could work.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom did not respond to our question about whether California is considering travel restrictions. Online at pilot.com and triplicate. com we publish a local COVID-19 update at 6 p.m. daily, Monday through Friday.
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