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: Written by: Marc Albert; Published: 10 March 2021

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Sonoma County schools are preparing for students’ return to campuses. Credit: “Courtesy of SCOE

With vaccines more available, cases waning and the ink dry on a 6.6 billion dollar state plan, Sonoma County schools are preparing to resume in-person for the first time in a year.

Under the deal signed by Governor Gavin Newsom Friday, about two-

thirds of the money will fund tutoring, mental health counseling and summer school. The remainder pays for school ventilation system upgrades and the now ubiquitous PPE.

There are, however, plenty of unknowns. Jaime Hansen is communications director for the Sonoma County Office of Education, which coordinates and oversees the county’s school districts.

“At this point it is too soon to have any exact idea of a figure because there are so many details yet to be worked out, and it depends on a range of factors including how many students the districts bring back and when they bring them back.”

According to information posted on the state’s California For All website, Santa Rosa schools will receive just shy of 15 million dollars and a three-month supply of PPE.

Hansen says the additional funds will help, but will likely fall short.

“If you were to ask a district, ‘will this bill cover all of their costs that they could imagine related to COVID-19, the answer would be no, but it certainly is a help and a shot in the arm.”

Under the state deal, districts failing to provide at least some in-person instruction by March 31st lose out on some funding.

Mindful the long summer vacation looms over reopening plans, Hansen says districts are looking to provide more classroom time. That could be regular summer school...

“Or extending their school year into the summer, other options might include extending the school day for some students who need additional support this spring, providing some additional tutoring, there’s a lot of different ways it can be achieved.”

Nearly a third of the county’s 17,000 educators have had their first COVID-19 vaccination.

Hansen said Petaluma’s Two Rock Elementary is set to reopen on the 18th, with many more following on the 29th.

: Written by: Tessa Paoli; Published: 05 March 2021

classroom 2093743 640 Santa Rosa’s public school district and its teacher's union have agreed on a plan for getting kids back into classrooms on April 1. The tentative deal includes schedules, safety protocols and a timeline for teachers to access both doses of the vaccine before they return to in-person instruction. The agreement still needs to be voted on by union members. For more information on Santa Rosa City School's plan, click here.

: Written by: Tessa Paoli; Published: 03 March 2021

covid 19 4960254 1280 Since August, Sonoma County’s been stuck in the state’s most restrictive tier in terms of COVID-19 recovery. But the possibility of opening up the economy a bit more is finally possible.

Sonoma’s one of four Bay Area counties still in the purple tier, according to state guidelines. But because COVID cases are dropping, the county’s inching closer to the less-restrictive red tier, meaning restaurants can start indoor dining and gyms open with modifications.

The county’s current case rate has dropped to 9.5 per 100,000 people. That means the county could move tiers soon. But dozens of local businesses have already shuttered since the start of the pandemic. Federal, state and county funds have been set aside to help those businesses, but for many it’s been too little too late. KRCB’s Tessa Paoli has more:

Local business owners struggling right now can visit http://sonomaedb.org/ for information about grants and resources.

: Written by: Tessa Paoli; Published: 02 March 2021

Dozens of people living in Santa Rosa’s largest homeless encampment were forced to pack up and leave Tuesday morning. It marks Santa Rosas’s second encampment clearance in the past week. Activists showed up before sunrise to protest the clearing of Santa Rosa’s biggest homeless encampment on Industrial Drive on the city’s northwest side. They held signs reading “Sweeps are Illegal” and “Honk for the Homeless.”