THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF SAN BENITO COUNTY
FEBRUARY 22, 2019
A supplement to the Hollister Free Lance
Get a taste of home at San Juan’s Natural Wonders
SAN BENITO MAGAZINE INSIDE THIS ISSUE
HEALTHY HAVEN SJB’s Natural Wonders is a big surprise in a little package P4
HIGH-SPEED RAIL P2 | SEX OFFENDERS BUSTED P4 | HOLLISTER PREP LEASE P12 GODSPELL REVIEW P8 | NEW WINES P12 | BLACK LEGACY P14
HOLLISTER • SAN BENITO COUNTY
Friday, February 22, 2019
A New SV Media publication
sanbenito.com • Vol. 147, No. 8 • $1
Season’s rains slow county jail opening NEWCOMPLETION FOR EXPANSION OF COUNTY LOCKUP IS SET FOR JUNE Michael Moore Reporter
Submitted photo
The $24.5 million expansion of the San Benito County Jail is nearing completion despite some weather-related delays this winter. Construction on the jail expansion—designed to prepare inmates for reentry into society rather than simply keep them incarcerated—on Flynn Road in north Hollister is about 91 percent complete, according to San Benito County Sheriff ’s Capt. Don Bradley. Originally expected to be complete in April, the project is almost two months behind schedule due to “moisture content in the air and mud on the ground throughout the unusually wet winter,” he said. The current expected completion date is June 9, Bradley said. From there, the “best guess” is the sheriff ’s office will in July gain notice to occupy the new jail building from county supervisors and the state fire marshal. Construction began in late 2017. The larger jail will require more county corrections staff. The San Benito County Board of Supervisors approved two new full-time corrections positions to staff the jail in the current county budget. The sheriff ’s office has said they need five more officers to appropriately staff the
CELEBRATE THE EARTH San Benito High senior Shelby OíNeil, shown here next to
Monterey County bus with her photo on it, works to help the environment.
SBHS bans Styrofoam SCHOOL BOARD FOLLOWS LEAD OF SAN BENITO HIGH ENVIRONMENTALISTS Staff report
With encouragement from the student leaders of the Environmental Club, the San Benito High School Board of Trustees adopted a resolution Feb. 12 to end the use of polystyrene food. ware on campus Commonly referred to as Styrofoam, polystyrene is difficult and expensive to recycle and can contain toxic chemicals such as
styrene and benzene, which are neurotoxins. “While safe to use as a plate or a cup for food consumption, the produce can release these toxins when it becomes heated” as they are burned or melted down, said SBHS Food Supervisor Jim Lewis. He said the cafeteria used Styrofoam bowls for soups, salads and yogurt, and foam cups for beverages. “We are proud to say that we are now using eco-friendly paper goods for all of our food and beverage needs,” Lewis said. The new heavyweight paper goods are renewable and compostable. In a statement from the Environmental Club, co-presidents
Shelby O’Neil and Ian Sills said the club is “elated” about the ban and thanked SBHS principal Adrian Ramirez and Superintendent Shawn Tennenbaum “for their assistance in this project. Sills, who has been accepted to Stanford University, and O’Neil, who founded the nonprofit Jr. Ocean Guardians to teach schoolchildren about the importance of oceans, said the Environmental Club “recognizes the necessity of teaching students how to live sustainably.” “A major part of living a sustainable life is using sustainable materials,” the student leaders said in their announcement.
“Consequently, the Environmental Club has pursued this polystyrene ban since the beginning of the school year in order to avert the use of this harmful and environmentally detrimental material on campus.” Lewis said all bins in the cafeteria and around campus will be clearly marked and accessible to make sure students are recycling the environmentally friendly food and beverage containers. “Unlike most footprints that blow away in the wind and become unnoticed, this footprint will be sure to have a lasting impact on future students and generations at San Benito High School.”
➝ Jail, 4
Hollister faces special ed challenge K-8 DISTRICT CORRECTING DEFICIENCIES CITED IN NEW REPORT Scott Forstner Reporter
Less than a week on the job and new Hollister School District Superintendent Diego Ochoa is already faced with the task of bringing his district’s special education program back into compliance with state and federal guidelines. Before even officially joining the HSD staff, Ochoa was in the audience
Jan. 8 when an internal report—contracted by the district—unearthed numerous deficiencies in Hollister’s special education program. Complaints filed with the California Department of Education dating back to the 2015-16 school year included instances of staff not following mandated protocols for Individualized Education Programs (widely known as IEPs) by failing to provide instructional services and specialized academic instruction to students with special learning needs or disabilities. In one case this year, a student was removed
from class 16 times due to behavior before the district held a single IEP meeting to address the issue and find a path toward resolution. That non-action was in violation of federal regulations, according to the report’s findings. The district has since taken corrective action by providing a “more restrictive setting to address their needs,” the report concludes. In another complaint from the 2017-18 school year, the state determined that the district failed to provide a required 180 minutes of occupational therapy services to a student enrolled at one of its schools. The
district has since completed those mandatory hours. “It was an extensive and thorough report,” said Ochoa, who was still introducing himself to site principals and staff last week during his first days as HSD’s education leader while also reviewing the special education report in order to take further corrective measures. “I have been in special education my whole career. It’s really my comfort zone to be working in special education,” added Ochoa. “When I chose to interview for this position, one of the main motivators was the opportunity to work in a district
that needed assistance and focus on its special education program.” Problems in special education—among other issues he witnessed firsthand as a part-time substitute teacher in Hollister schools—is also what prompted first-term board president Stephen Kain to run for school board in November 2018. “I saw serious issues not being addressed by the school district,” said Kain, who credited interim superintendent William Barr for starting the process of fixing the special education program that ➝ Special ed, 12