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NORTHERN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY’S NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY > APRIL 1 - APRIL 8, 2021 > VOL. 22 NO. 5 > WWW.SANTAMARIASUN.COM VISIT US ONLINE AT THE MOVIES @santamariasun.com. SIGN UP for E-Newsletter(s) LIKE US on Facebook FOLLOW US on Instagram FOLLOW US on Twitter Nobody: Male fantasy [18] 1 Santa Maria-Bonita School District and its employee association bargain over the return to in-person classrooms [7] BY MALEA MARTIN SMBSD addresses Santa Maria film debuts The Easter specials at NEWS learning inequality [4] ARTS in Santa Barbara [17] EATS Guadalupe Cafe [19] APRIL 1 - APRIL 8, 2021 VOL. 22 NO. 5 handful of local school districts already had plans in place for the return to in-person learning when the state passed legislation outlining the requirements for Your community. Your law school. Your future. A getting students back into the classroom. Santa Maria- Bonita School District had only just begun the process, and the new guidelines exacerbated existing tension between district 2 administrators and the teachers union. Staff Writer Malea RETURN TALKS: Santa Maria-Bonita Martin talks to both sides this week [7]. School District administrators and teachers struggle through conversations You can also read about how Santa Maria-Bonita plans to about going back to in-person teaching. tackle existing inequities for some students [4]; a Santa Maria screenwriter’s feature-length film [17]; and what Guadalupe Cafe’s got in store for Easter [19]. Take the next Camillia Lanham editor step with us. Cover photo by Jayson Mellom > Cover design by Alex Zuniga NEWS ARTS News Briefs ........................................................4 Arts Briefs ........................................................17 Political Watch ...................................................4 Spotlight .............................................................8 MOVIES Reviews ............................................................18 OPINION Web Poll ...........................................................10 Mayfield ...........................................................10 CLASSIFIEDS, HOME, AND slolaw.org Canary ..............................................................11 REAL ESTATE .......................................21 Apply today for Summer 2021! April 20th application deadline. EVENTS CALENDAR Hot Stuff ..........................................................12 LOOK WHO’S SINCE 2000 TURNING HELP SUPPORT OUR MISSION Informative, accurate, and independent journalism takes time and costs money. Help us keep our community aware and connected by donating today. www.santamariasun.com Stay Healthy 21 We’ll be back, Stronger than ever! Northern Santa Barbara County’s News & Entertainment Weekly SINCE 2000 Exercise is Essential! SantaMariaSun.com 2015 S Broadway B, Santa Maria • 805-348-1888 Email: [email protected] 2 • Sun • April 1 - April 8, 2021 • www.santamariasun.com VIVID FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT’S 4TH ANNUAL FREE 3 SHRED DAY SUGGESTED ITEMS TO SHRED • White Paper • Expired Credit Cards • Colored Paper • Expired Insurance Policies • Paper w/ Staples • Expired Drivers Licenses • Paper w/ Paper Clips • Old Pay Stubs • Statements older than three years • Old Employee ID’s • Tax Returns older than seven years • Junk Mail • Old Bank Statements • CD’s DRIVE UP - DROP OFF SERVICE APRIL 16TH 10-2PM VIVID FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OFFICE 340 E. Clark Ave OLD ORCUTT APRIL 23RD 10-2PM VIVID FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OFFICE 511 North H Street LOMPOC www.santamariasun.com • April 1 - April 8, 2021 • Sun • 3 SPOTLIGHT 8 BRIEFS FILE PHOTO COURTESY OF SANTA MARIA-BONITA SCHOOL DISTRICT access to adjacent properties SMBSD seeks to address where thefts have occurred,” Political Watch inequities between Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Raquel Zick said. • Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on March 25 that student groups At the end of February the state will expand COVID-19 vaccine eligibility in the Mixteco-speaking and English learning the Sheriff’s Office applied coming weeks. Starting April 1, individuals who are over students in the Santa Maria-Bonita School for funding from the State 4 50 will be eligible to make an appointment, and then on District are behind their peers in certain of California Parks and April 15, anyone over the age of 16 will be eligible. “We subjects, according to data presented at a recent Recreation Off-Highway remain focused on equity as we extend vaccine eligibility,” school board meeting. Vehicle (OHV) grant Newsom said in a statement. “This is possible thanks to The data was introduced at a March 24 school program. County residents the leadership of the Biden-Harris administration and board study session centered on equity, where have until April 1 to submit the countless public health officials across the state board members and district officials discussed their public comment on the who have stepped up to get shots into arms.” California how they can work to close some of the gaps that application. is estimated to receive 2.5 million first and second exist between different student groups. Generally, Zick said, doses per week in the first half of April, according to the Superintendent Luke Ontiveros said at the OHVs are prohibited in the statement, and more than 3 million doses in the second meeting that COVID-19 presented unique riverbed, however, the office gets frequent calls reporting half of the month. This is an increase from the 1.8 million challenges on top of the ones the district already trucks and ATVs in restricted doses the state currently receives each week. Right now, faced before the pandemic. “Systems-change work takes time,” he said. areas as well as adjacent California has the capacity to administer 3 million doses “And that’s been a hard thing to rationalize over private property. a week and is seeking to expand that capacity to 4 million the last year, because we’ve just been getting These complaints aren’t by the end of the month. “We are even closer to putting bombarded with developments that have been new. Zick said the issue has this pandemic behind us with today’s announcement and outside of our control, and having to take on skills broadened in recent years, with vaccine supplies expected to increase dramatically that we’re developing on the fly.” and the Sheriff’s Office is in the months ahead,” California Health and Human Data presented by SMBSD Coordinator seeing an increase in similar Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said in the of Assessment and Accountability Laurie activity throughout the statement. “However, we are not there yet. It will take Graack reveals that the number of junior high county, including in the time to vaccinate all eligible Californians. During this school students with two or more F’s increased Santa Maria and Cuyama time, we must not let our guard down. It is important that substantially after distance learning was riverbeds. we remain vigilant, continue to wear masks, and follow implemented. However, the number of F’s was This is the eighth year public health guidance.” already on the rise pre-pandemic. that the Sheriff’s Office has “It’s important to note that the trend line has applied for grant funding for • Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) announced been increasing steadily for the last three years, OHV enforcement in Santa on March 23 that he will serve as a co-chair of the from 2018-19 to now,” Graack said. “And in Barbara County. The Sheriff’s Office applied Congressional Offshore Wind Caucus, “a bipartisan the 2019-20 year, the data was not impacted by for a similar grant in 2016-17, group of lawmakers focused on improving offshore wind COVID, as this is the first reporting card period in and public comment received technology, investing in the offshore wind workforce, the fall of 2019, before COVID closures were even a concern.” CLOSE THE GAP: Santa Maria-Bonita School District students who speak English at for that application, which and making the United States a clean energy leader,” To look at the numbers through an “equity home are outperforming their Mixecto- and Spanish-speaking peers, but the district was approved, was evenly according to Carbajal’s office. The mission of the caucus lens,” Graack said the district pulled the same data hopes to change that with more investments in technology and multilingual resources. split. is to find bipartisan solutions to offshore wind industry for English learner (EL) students to see if they were Pictured: In October 2020, the Parent Institute for Quality Education gave tablets to 20 Mary Hamilton, an challenges. “My district on the Central Coast is no experiencing a disproportionate impact. SMBSD families to help them stay connected during the pandemic. environmental scientist for stranger to the devastating impacts of climate change. “What we can see is that ELs follow the same the Central Coast Regional Inaction is already costing us lives, homes, and money trend line as all students, but they do not exceed, poverty,” Loftus said. “The educational inequities Water Quality Control and it will only get worse with each passing day. Through proportionately, the percentage of students in the resulting in that disproportionate impact have Board, said in her comment that she had observed pragmatic policies and strategic investment, we can group receiving two F’s or three F’s over time,” further widened the learning gaps many of our the destructive effects of illegal OHV use in the harness the power of offshore wind to combat climate Graack said. students already have.” riverbed. change and grow our economy