An Eastside Mexican food mainstay for decades, Casa Rosita’s features the original founder’s family recipes passed down over the years.
Head chef Fernando Gonzalez was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, before moving with his family at a young age and being raised locally. A former soccer player with a chance to turn pro, he chose to become a cook to provide for his family and be closer with his mother.
He has been running the kitchen at Casa Rosita’s, his father-in-law’s business, for two years and he pairs traditional Mexican restaurant vibes with a family feel. Favorites include sizzling fajitas with bountiful peppers, onions and proteins, as well as Chili Colorado (red sauce) and Chili Verde (green sauce) with slow-cooked pork.
The Botano, a medley of fish and shellfish combined with mildly sweet and spicy diabla sauce, is a dream come true for seafood lovers at $50 for two. Gonzalez’s favorite is the birria taco, combining shredded beef with melted cheese and garnished with onions, cilantro and a side of consommé. The classic square-shaped flan for dessert is postre perfection. Dark on Mondays, hours are 11am-8pm every other day.
What got you into cooking?
FERNANDO GONZALEZ: I started working at 18 right after high school. I didn’t have a career path, but I talked to my mom and told her I was going to become a cook just like my brother so that I could provide for my family. So, I started as a dishwasher at another spot in town, and got moved up to prep cook and then line cook. I learned a lot about food and safety along the way, and now I’m able to use the same knowledge here and continue learning as well.
Tell me about the casita?
FG: Before it was a restaurant, Casa Rosita’s was a laundromat, so there is a raised little house/room right in the middle of the restaurant with many windows. People really love to be in that room for special events like birthdays, and Father’s and Mother’s Day. It fits about 20 people, and the customers love that they have their own private space that’s a little higher off the floor. It’s a very special ambiance, people and families throughout multiple generations have had many lifetime moments in there.
2608 Portola Drive, Santa Cruz, 831-346-6907; casarositas.com
I’m disappointed to see people blaming San Francisco’s politicians for the fact that the landmark Macy’s in Union Square is shutting down.
Must we blame everything on politics?
The real reason Macy’s and countless other brick and mortar businesses are leaving, including here in Santa Cruz, is simple. Just look out your door and see how many Amazon packages there are. Every one of them is a kick in the shins to our local stores. We all knew this would happen eventually, yet people refuse to pump the brakes and shop local. There are plenty of excuses for shopping online but one has to realize, just as with all the plastic packaging we purchase and throw away, there are consequences to our actions.
Jeffery Bezos gets another yacht and mansion, while our neighborhood store owners barely hang on. Is there any hope?
I remember when Santa Cruzans protested the opening of a chain bookstore that was threatening our two local downtown bookshops. But they missed the bigger picture. It wasn’t just a chain bookstore that was threatening, it was the online Godzilla of Amazon that wreaked havoc.
The answer is still in shopping local and patronizing merchants who keep their tax dollars in our towns. Supporting them brings an honest and genuine local smile.
On the bright side this issue features our coverage of the Watsonville Film Festival, an important landmark on the horizon that features local artists, filmmakers and car builders. What could be cooler? Check it out and see if the War song “Lowrider” doesn’t get glued to your brain. It’s stuck in mine as I read the story.
One of the most surprising things in this story is that things have indeed changed. Lowriders were illegal and harassed by law enforcement, clearly a violation of civil rights. No one was bothering the drivers of hopped-up high trucks. So, we can put equal treatment for lowriders on the list of things that have gotten better.
And we can celebrate it at the Festival and the Porter Building, across from the Watsonville library, where there will be a lowrider exhibit through June. It will be a wildly colorful treat for the whole family.
Finally, as part of International Women’s Month, we asked residents which women they most admire. Check out their answers in the Street Talk column and drop us a line about who you think we should add to the list.
LOOK UP Stunning view of the Santa Cruz Mission. Photograph by Kelly Gavin
Good Idea
California leads the country in getting energy from solar power with 27.8% of its electricity coming from solar panels, according to stats presented by Payless Power, of Texas. The state is followed by Nevada, 25.3% and Massachusetts, 24.5%.
Nevada (34,728 homes) leads in solar panels per capita and Hawaii (33,685 homes)was second. At the bottom are North Dakota (23) and West Virginia (188).Texas’ projects an increase of 38,523 megawatts and California’s anticipated growth of 20,767 megawatts in the next five years.California’s $97 billion investment in solar underscores its leading role in the solar energy revolution.
Good Works
The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County acquired 14 acres of core habitat critical to the recovery of the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander. Located in the heart of Larkin Valley,
this upland wooded habitat known as Little Glen, is adjacent to a
40-acre privately held open space, creating 54 acres of contiguous
preserved habitat.
With funding from the Wildlife Conservation Board and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, this property will be protected and
managed in perpetuity by the Land Trust.
“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.” ― Toni Morrison
Quote of the week
CORRECTION
An article in last week’s edition misstated the names of members of the Hive Poetry Collective. The are Julia Chiapella, Farnaz Fatemi, Geneffa Jahan, Julie Murphy, Dion O’Reilly and Roxi Power. Former members are Victoria Bañales and Billy Butler.
I’m a Live Oak schools parent, and I would like to see LOSD sell the Live Oak senior center property and recover the $2.4M. Even if those funds couldn’t be used for teaching positions, our district could surely use the money as both a much needed buffer against insolvency, and to start making the repairs needed for our schools–for which the District is now asking taxpayers to fund in the form of Measure H.
What angers me is that the District is holding onto this property for workforce housing, which is something that voters have yet to approve. I strongly oppose workforce housing, because it adds yet another layer of administrative bloat to our district expenses. Do I want to see my tax dollars go to support all that goes along with managing an apartment building? Absolutely not.
Given that there are only 180 days of instruction in the school year, I would argue that teachers are more underemployed than underpaid. We as a society need to revisit this idea that it’s ok to offer education to our children for so few days a year.
Housing in Santa Cruz County is ridiculously expensive for everyone, not just the education workforce. We desperately need more housing. There is no ‘us and them’ here, we are all in this together.
—Claudia Burgin
Teachers Work Hard
Underemployed??? If you think I am underemployed you clearly have not experienced teaching before. I suggest you consider taking a year and investing it in our students as a teacher before you bother offering your two cents!
—KC O’Brien
No Pay for Summer Work
Just FYI, most teachers spend the summer doing professional development. During my “summers” I have a) done a six-week internship at Applied Biosystems; b) written an entire Genetics curriculum; c) participated in Math academies, Earth Science Academies, NGSS academies, writing academies, etc.; d) taken college classes to get re-certified and to earn more teaching certifications (I have more than 10); e) lesson plan; f) batch planning for scope & sequence; g) clean and restock (WITH MY OWN MONEY!) my classroom (which takes days).
You should also be aware that we are paid for 186 days per year, not the summer.
A fabulous wine to have on hand for the coming spring holidays is Soquel Vineyards’ Trinity Rosso.
This full-throttle red wine is an amalgam of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah and Zinfandel. For the reasonable price of $16, what you get is a rich mouthfeel and soft tannins – along with a ripe blackberry flavor. “The length is elegant with sweet, creamy French and American oak,” say the folks at Soquel Vineyards.
Another red wine by Soquel Vineyards I would recommend is their 2015 Pyramid. A blend of 30% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Malbec, and 8% Petit Verdot, this is a beautiful Bordeaux-style blend with lush notes of blackberry, licorice and tobacco. This wine is $50, and perfect for the upcoming holidays.
Soquel Vineyards has a warm and welcoming tasting room. It has been voted Best Winery many times by Good Times readers, including for the Best Of awards of 2023.
I am totally smitten with Heraclea extra-virgin olive oil. Having lived in Turkey for a year, I am very familiar with their exceptional culinary offerings such as olive oil, olives, figs, apricots, and other produce. Izmir, where I lived, is well-known for all kinds of tasty food, including honey and honeycomb. Turkey shines when it comes to olive oil, and the rich, velvety oil made by Heraclea in the city of Milas is worth its weight in gold! All my food is prepared with olive oil, including french fries. I cook them for a lengthy time so they soak up as much oil as possible, a technique I picked up from Greek cuisine. (I lived in Athens for 12 years). Visit Heraclea.com for more info.
Among the meaningful statistics woven through Tonya Fleck’s busy days, number 136 is important. Having founded Santa Cruz Naturopathic Center 15 years ago, I asked whether she was one of the first NDs in town. And yes, this pioneering practitioner was the 136th person to receive a doctoral degree in Naturopathy 20 years ago.
Learning Naturopaths are licensed physicians was also news to me: the term sounds kind of squishy. So I asked Dr. Fleck; what’s the difference between Naturopathy and traditional Western medicine? As it turns out, for the first two years of medical training, nothing. Students study all the same basic sciences and lab diagnostic tools and are also trained in pharmacology and are licensed to prescribe pharmaceuticals (though Dr. Fleck says she rarely needs to.).
I was also surprised to learn a Naturopathic Doctor (ND) can be a primary care physician, licensed to diagnose and treat the same way your regular doctor can. Yet here’s where things differ: Naturopathic medicine emphasizes the body’s inherent ability to heal itself and focuses on treating the root cause of illness. The goal is a holistic balance of physical, mental and emotional wellness.
Dr. Fleck explained “Regardless of the health concern, whether it be sleep issues, hormone issues, gut issues, or even depression or anxiety, I recognize that that’s the symptom and it’s important to treat it, but ultimately, we always need to figure out the underlying root cause. Where’s the imbalance in the vital force?
“As an ND, I’m looking at the whole person. I want to know everything; How’s your gut? How’s your sleep? What’s your vitamin D level? How’s your thyroid? How are your adrenals, right? So it’s very much a holistic approach to health and vitality.”
A traditional Westen model offers a reductionist approach to medicine which assumes different bodily systems and functions operate independently. Fortunately, this model is also evolving as more current research sheds light on the intricate relationship between the mind and body.
Which brought me to my next question, is there a medical component to the rise in stress and burnout so many people are currently experiencing? Specifically, is this the result of what’s known as “adrenal fatigue”, a term used to describe symptoms that often include fatigue, body aches, difficulty concentrating, trouble sleeping, and feelings of being overwhelmed by everyday tasks.
While adrenal fatigue is not a diagnosis recognized in Western medicine, so many people experience these symptoms I wanted to know if it’s a condition she addresses.
“Our adrenals are really the foundation of our endocrine system and on a cellular level our bodies are designed to survive. So whenever we’re stressed, like running late to work, my kid is sick, whatever the stressor may be, our adrenals think we’re running from a tiger.
“They don’t know the difference. And so our adrenals are a bit like a fetus where the body will steal from you to make sure the fetus is okay. In the same way, our body will steal nutrients to make sure the adrenals are fed because the adrenals are essential for survival.
“From there, the body then will send nutrients to the thyroid and put more energy into replenishing sex hormones, and eventually producing neurotransmitters that help with depression and anxiety. With most of my patients, there is an adrenal support component, particularly in this high-stressed world that we’re living in.
“The adrenals love B vitamins, vitamin C and adaptogen herbs. In my office we also offer high dose nutritional IV therapies, which is a great way of getting high doses of nutrients directly into the body.
“Although I treat patients with diagnosed diseases, many of my patients don’t necessarily have a diagnosable ‘disease’ but they also don’t feel well or vital. They know when something is off in our bodies.
“I see three pillars of health. One is having a diagnosed disease, the 2nd is not feeling well but not having a diagnosis, and the third pillar is feeling optimal. My goal is to bring all of my patients into the third pillar.”
As we finished our conversation, Dr. Fleck was greeted by a peppy lady in her 70s, who broke into a little happy dance as she waited for her infusion treatment. As we laughed she exclaimed, “Well, when you have an opportunity to feel great, why not!?”
March is Women’s History Month. Who is a history-making woman you admire?
Max Stonebloom
Greta Thunberg because she made such an impact on global warming and how she made an impact on corporations and how they think about what they’ve done.
Max Stonebloom, 12, Student
Tyson Miller
Michelle Obama, for all the things she did as First Lady, and just the way she carries herself.
Tyson Miller, 46, Engineer
Gabriela Candelaria
There are so many. Dolores Huerta because of her activism in rights for farm workers. She’s done so much for minorities in general, it’s really inspiring..
Gabriela Candelaria, 43, Nurse
Joyful
Bertha Benz, wife of Carl Benz, the inventor of the first automobile. She actually drove it herself 60 miles, for the first long-distance journey by automobile. She invented the leather brake shoe, so the brake would grip better.
Joyful Heart, 60, Writer
Lilly Martin Candelaria
A new one is definitely Taylor Swift, she’s pretty powerful. She knows how to market herself and put herself out there and made herself very very recognizable.
Lilly Martin Candelaria, 13, Student
Zachary Salazar
Candace Owens, the conservative commentator. She never gives up, doesn’t back down, doesn’t surrender to anyone pushing her towards how she should believe as a black woman.
“Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow talent to the dark place where it leads.” So wrote Aries author Erica Jong. Is that true? Is it hard to access the fullness of our talents? Must we summon rare courage and explore dark places? Sometimes, yes. To overcome obstacles that interfere with ripening our talents, there may be tough work to do. I suspect the coming weeks and months will be one of those phases for you, Aries. But here’s the good news: I predict you will succeed.
TAURUSApril 20-May 20
In October 1879, Thomas Edison and his research team produced the first electric light bulb that was viable enough to be of practical use. In September 1882, Edison opened the first power plant on the planet, enabling people to light their homes with the new invention. That was a revolutionary advance in a very short time. Dear Taurus, the innovations you have been making and I hope will continue to make are not as monumental as Edison’s. But I suspect they rank high among the best and brightest in your personal life history. Don’t slack off now. There’s more work to be done—interesting, exciting work!
GEMINIMay 21-June 20
I watched as the Thai snake charmer kissed a poisonous cobra, taming the beast’s danger with her dancing hands. I beheld the paramedic dangle precariously from a helicopter to snag the woman and child stranded on a rooftop during a flood. And in my dream, I witnessed three of my Gemini friends singing a dragon to sleep, enabling them to ramble freely across the bridge the creature had previously forbidden them to traverse.
CANCERJune 21-July 22
The horoscopes you are reading have been syndicated in publications all over the world: the US, Italy, France, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Netherlands, Russia, Cambodia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Ireland and Finland. Yet it has never appeared in a publication in the UK, where there are over 52 million people whose first language is English—the same as mine. But I predict that will change in the coming months: I bet a British newspaper or website will finally print Free Will Astrology. I prophesy comparable expansions in your life, too, fellow Cancerian. What new audiences or influences or communities do you want to be part of? Make it happen!
LEOJuly 23-Aug.22
Author Jean-Dominique Bauby wrote, “Today it seems to me that my whole life was nothing but a string of small near misses.” If you have endured anything resembling that frustration, Leo, I have good news: The coming months won’t bring you a string of small near misses. Indeed, the number of small near misses will be very few, maybe even zero. Instead, I predict you will gather an array of big, satisfying completions. Life will honor you with bull’s eyes, direct hits and master strokes. Here’s the best way you can respond to your good fortune and ensure the arrival of even more good fortune: Share your wealth!
VIRGOAug. 23-Sept. 22
Virgo advice expert Cheryl Strayed wrote some rather pushy directions I will borrow and use for your horoscope. She and I say, “You will never have my permission to close yourself off to love and give up. Never. You must do everything you can to get what you want and need, to find ‘that type of love.’ It’s there for you.” I especially want you to hear and meditate on this guidance right now, Virgo. Why? Because I believe you are in urgent need of re-dedicating yourself to your heart’s desire. You have a sacred duty to intensify your imagination and deepen your willpower as you define what kind of love and tenderness and togetherness you want most.
LIBRASept. 23-Oct. 22
Author Adam Alter writes, “Perfect success is boring and uninspiring, and abject failure is exhausting and demoralizing. Somewhere between these extremes is a sweet spot that maximizes long-term progress.” And what is the magic formula? Alter says it’s when you make mistakes an average of 16% of the time and are successful 84%. Mistakes can be good because they help you learn and grow. Judging from your current astrological omens, Libra, I’m guessing you’re in a phase when your mistake rate is higher than usual—about 30%. (Though you’re still 70% successful!) That means you are experiencing expanded opportunities to learn all you can from studying what doesn’t work well. (Adam Alter’s book is “Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most.”)
SCORPIOOct. 23-Nov. 21
Sometimes you Scorpios are indeed secretive, as traditional astrologers assert. You understand that knowledge is power, and you build your potency by gathering information other people don’t have the savvy or resources to access. But it’s also true that you may appear to be secretive when in fact you have simply perceived and intuited more than everyone else wants to know. They might be overwhelmed by the deep, rich intelligence you have acquired—and would actually prefer to be ignorant of it. So you’re basically hiding stuff they want you to hide. Anyway, Scorpio, I suspect now is a time when you are loading up even more than usual with juicy gossip, inside scoops, tantalizing mysteries, taboo news and practical wisdom that few others would be capable of managing. Please use your superpowers with kindness and wisdom.
SAGITTARIUSNov. 22-Dec. 21
Here’s a little-known fact about me: I am the priest, wizard, rabbi and pope of Parish #31025 in the Universal Life Church. One of my privileges in this role is to perform legal marriages. It has been a few years since I presided over anyone’s wedding, but I am coming out of semi-retirement to consecrate an unprecedented union. It’s between two aspects of yourself that have not been blended but should be blended. Do you know what I’m referring to? Before you read further, please identify these two aspects. Ready? I now pronounce you husband and wife, or husband and husband, or wife and wife, or spouse and spouse—or whatever you want to be pronounced.
CAPRICORNDec. 22-Jan. 19
“You don’t have to suffer to be a poet,” said poet John Ciardi. “Adolescence is enough suffering for anyone.” I will add that adolescence is enough suffering for everyone, even if they’re not a poet. For most of us, our teenage years brought us streams of angst, self-doubt, confusion and fear—sufficient to last a lifetime. That’s the bad news, Capricorn. The good news is that the coming months will be one of the best times ever for you to heal the wounds left over from your adolescence. You may not be able to get a total cure, but 65% is very possible. Seventy-five percent isn’t out of the question. Get started!
AQUARIUSJan. 20-Feb. 18
A psychic once predicted that I would win a Grammy award for my music. She said my dad and mom would be in the audience, smiling proudly. Well, my dad died four years ago, and I haven’t produced a new album of songs for over ten years. So that Grammy prophecy is looking less and less likely. I should probably give up hope that it will come to pass. What about you, Aquarius? Is there any dream or fantasy you should consider abandoning? The coming weeks would be a good time to do so. It could open your mind and heart to a bright future possibility now hovering on the horizon.
PISCESFeb. 19-March 20
I invite you to entertain the following theory: Certain environments, companions and influences enhance your intelligence, health and ability to love—while others either do the opposite or have a neutral effect. If that’s true, it makes good sense for you to put yourself in the presence of environments, companions and influences that enhance you. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to test this theory. I hope you will do extensive research and then initiate changes that implement your findings. Homework: What’s one way you wish you were different from who you are? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com
Here are the preliminary results of some the important races in the area. Follow-up stories to come
Santa Cruz City Council District 2
The District 2 Santa Cruz City Council race is being contested between incumbent Sonja Brunner and newcomer Hector Marin. As of Tuesday night, Brunner enjoyed a substantial lead with 60.75% of the vote.
Marin said that despite what he considered a low primary election turnout, he was feeling good about the race and would await the final results.
Santa Cruz City Council District 3
In the District 3 Santa Cruz City Council race, incumbent Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson took an early lead Tuesday night.
With only the first batch of votes counted, Kalantari-Johnson led 75.12% to Schendledecker’s 23.87%.
Schendledecker was feeling hopeful.
“It will only get better from here,” she said.
Kalantari-Johnson said she was feeling, “Good!”
Santa Cruz City Council District 5
In Santa Cruz’s District 5, which encompasses UCSC and the upper-west side civil-engineer Susie O’Hara took an early lead over UCSC student Joe Thompson.
The all-important student vote could still be outstanding. In recent cycles progressive votes have come in-late. However, as a midterm election, turnout is expected to be low this year.
Thompson came to prominence in 2022 when they led the first unionization of a Starbucks in California. Parlaying this notoriety, Thompson ran for State Assembly, only to lose to Gail Pellegrin. This time around Thompson gained an impressive list of state endorsements, not only progressives, including Rep. Ro Khanna, State Senator Scott Weiner, and former State Senator Bill Monning. Thompson also won the support of local unions and the Santa Cruz Democratic Party.
Susie O’Hara is a civil engineer and former Water Commissioner. Susie O’Hara got the support of Ryan Coonerty and current city council members.
Santa Cruz County Supervisor District 1
Santa Cruz County District 1 Supervisor Manu Koenig led challenger Lani Faulkner as of Tuesday night with 54.61% of the votes counted. Faulkner trailed behind with 44.95%.
The incumbent felt confident about the lead.
“I’m feeling very encouraged by the results so far. Democracy is a team sport and I’m really proud of my team. It’s looking like our hard work paid off,” Koenig said.
Santa Cruz City: Measure M
In the City of Santa Cruz, Measure M, also known as the Housing For People Initiative, will not pass, according to Tuesday night’s preliminary election results. 60.97% of counted votes rejected the measure, while 39.03 % voted in favor. The measure proposed to increase the affordable housing requirement to 25%, as well as the right to vote on building heights that go over existing height limits.
The No on M campaign gained traction in recent months, and called the measure “misguided” and a threat to the development of local affordable housing.
Frank Barron, one of the main organizers behind the measure, said that he feel they ran a good campaign, but hoped it would be a closer race.
“it definitely resonated with many or most, but it’s hard to say if it’s a majority. I’d be surprised if it stayed 60-40,” Barron said
Former Santa Cruz Mayor Don Lane, who was part of the No on M campaign, said he was happy with the preliminary results.
“I feel pleased and energized to work further on affordable housing issues,”Lane said.
After delaying the vote on preliminary layoffs last week amid fierce public backlash, the trustees of the Live Oak School District (LOSD) voted unanimously to pass layoff notices to 42 full time employees. Additionally, nine jobs currently empty will not be filled.
Among the layoffs are a physical education teacher, seven elementary school teachers, a school psychologist, the Director of Special Education, and two preschool teachers.
After doing so, the Live Oak Elementary Teachers Association (LOETA) President Lauren Pomrantz and Vice-President Emily Avila charged LOSD Superintendent Daisy Morales with “neglecting to take actions to prevent our district’s fall into a multi-million dollar deficit.”
They asked that the Board “reconsider the terms of the contract for the superintendent.”
Yard Duty Supervisors, Night Custodians, and six Reading/Math Aides are also on the chopping block.
On the administrative side, the Director of Fiscal Services, Director of IT, an administrative secretary, a financial analyst and three Family Liaisons will also be cut.
Pfotenhauer reiterated that these layoffs are not final, awaiting feedback from the parents on Thursday. The final vote from the Board on its fiscal stabilization plan will be on March 6 at Live Oak Elementary before the state’s March 15 deadline.
Pfotenhauer also said that by answering audience questions out of turn during the meeting she had not followed the Brown Act, the code governing how public school board meetings are run in the state of California.
Pomrantz says the teachers’ union is angry with more than just the layoffs. Red flags were raised internally for years that were ignored by the District as it embarked on big initiatives that it did not effectively plan or fund, according to Pomrantz.
This includes initiatives such as the District’s plans for workforce housing, a new preschool, support programs and the capital facilities bond, says Pomrantz.
Superintendent Morales has also expressed anti-union sentiment, according to Pomrantz, and accuses her of saying she would “‘find someone else to do the job,’” during labor negotiations.
The LOETA also accuses Morales of withholding information from the Board, and discouraging the District’s administration from talking to the Board in full confidence about what was going on.
Board member Jeremy Ray thinks that there is a good reason why a strict separation exists between the Board and the administration. If an individual Board member is directing staff time, that doesn’t work because it undercuts the entire operation of the superintendent, Ray says.
Comparing the school board’s relationship to the administration to the city council and city staff, Ray says, “It is really not appropriate for me to contact the chief budget officer and start asking him questions without going through the superintendent.”
The new Chief Budget Officer Kim Hanwool only started in November after the past chief Alison Warner left after fierce labor negotiations, so Ray hasn’t had time to develop a relationship with him yet.
For Lauren Pomrantz the question comes down to what happened in December, 2023, when the state decertified the district’s budget. Before that happened, there was not a single word out about the budget problem from the district office.
This is why the teachers passed a vote of no confidence in Morales for “abetting the insulation of the Board of Trustees from any sources of information other than what she provides.” 82% of the union signed the vote of no confidence. The rest were afraid of retribution from Morales, according to Pomrantz.
When asked by this reporter to respond to the allegation made by the LOETA that she controlled information given to the Board, she said, “I do not respond.”
Another allegation by the teachers is that Morales’s mentorship of the youngest member of the Board of Trustees, Marlize Velasco, is a conflict of interest. Velasco is a UC Santa Cruz student who began her term in 2022 when no one else filed to run.
Velasco said she did get a binder of information from Morales.
“What hurts me is that they do not see me as my own person, ” Velasco said.
There has been a lot of catching up to do, Velasco said, with having to go through years of documents. She has reached out to the County Office of Education to get more data on the school’s comparative financial situation.
“I support Daisy,” Velasco said.
How to Save the Teachers?
Members of the teacher’s union think there could be another way.
Theresa Gilbert, a third grade teacher at Green Acres Elementary School, told the Board they should consider furloughs. She remembers taking a furlough-day during the Great Recession and doesn’t see why the staff of LOSD couldn’t take furloughs to keep those on payroll who work with the kids.
“Anybody who doesn’t work directly with children should furlow 5-15 days,” she said. “I do know that the Superintendent makes $1,000 [a day]. I do know that one RTI, who is a Response Intervention teacher makes $435 a week. So you can fund a whole department [with furloughs].”
By all accounts Live Oak School District is “top-heavy,” spending 8% of its budget on administration, while the average school spends 5% in California, according to California Department of Education data.
In the last four years, teacher salaries have declined 5%, while superintendent and administrative salaries have risen 49%, although from a much smaller base.
Not included in the layoff notices given at the Feb. 27 meeting was former Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Heidi Odom, who announced her resignation last week. She proposed that her job be dispersed into four separate positions.
Gilbert believes they are going to replace Odom with someone at a similar salary. In 2022-23, the Chief HR Officer made a minimum of $137,349, according to the Cabinet Salary Schedule.
“They are obviously going to hire-in behind her,” Gilbert said. “And they’re going to pay this new person how much money?”
An 85-year-old woman from Boulder Creek plowed into four bicyclists Tuesday on Highway 9 in the San Lorenzo Valley.
Israel Murillo of the California Highway Patrol said CHP responded to a reporrt of a crash at 6:21pm, south of Glengarry Road.
The woman was driving a blue Kia Forte northbound on Highway 9. At the same time, four bicyclists were riding southbound on the east dirt shoulder of Hwy 9, north of the Kia’s location.
For unknown reasons, the Kia veered off the roadway and collided with the bicyclists. After the collision with the bicyclists, the Kia kept moving in an easterly direction and crashed into a tree, where it came to rest.
Two of the bicyclists suffered major injuries and were taken by air ambulance to an out of county trauma center. The other two bicyclists also suffered injuries and were taken by ground ambulance to nearby hospitals.
The driver suffered minor injuries and was not taken to the hospital, Murillo said.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation. Alcohol and/or drugs are not believed to be factors in the incident.
On the bright side this issue features our coverage of the Watsonville Film Festival...Check it out and see if the War song “Lowrider” doesn’t get glued to your brain.
a Naturopathic Doctor can be a primary care physician, licensed to diagnose and treat the same way your regular doctor can. Yet here’s where things differ
March is Women’s History Month. Who is a history-making woman you admire?
Greta Thunberg because she made such an impact on global warming and how she made an impact on corporations and how they think about what they’ve done.
Max Stonebloom, 12, Student
Michelle Obama, for all the things she did as First Lady, and just the way she carries herself.
Tyson Miller,...
ARIES March 21-April 19
“Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow talent to the dark place where it leads.” So wrote Aries author Erica Jong. Is that true? Is it hard to access the fullness of our talents? Must we summon rare courage and explore dark places? Sometimes, yes. To overcome obstacles that interfere with ripening...
An 85-year-old woman from Boulder Creek plowed into four bicyclists Tuesday on Highway 9 in the San Lorenzo Valley.
Israel Murillo of the California Highway Patrol said CHP responded to a reporrt of a crash at 6:21pm, south of Glengarry Road.
The woman was driving a blue Kia Forte northbound on Highway 9. At the same time, four bicyclists were riding...
