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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The commission will meet virtually beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 19.
The meeting will be viewable live on the Lake County PEG TV YouTube channel livestream.
Submit comments and questions in writing for commission consideration by sending them to City Clerk Melissa Swanson at
Identify the subject you wish to comment on in your email’s subject line or in your Town Hall submission. Each public comment emailed to the city clerk will be read aloud by the chair or a member of staff for up to three minutes or will be displayed on a screen.
To give the commission adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments prior to 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 19. Public comment emails and town hall public comment submissions that are received after the meeting begins will not be included in the record.
The single agenda item is a determination of whether or not the city’s proposed sale of the Austin Resort property, 7.68 acres located at 14061 and 14071 Lakeshore Drive, to Bailey Building and Loans LLC is consistent with the city’s general plan.
In March, with the approval of the Clearlake City Council, Flora signed a letter of intent for the property sale, as Lake County News has reported.
The company is proposing to build a waterfront resort including a new hotel, restaurant and marina, according to the report from City Manager Alan Flora.
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051920 Clearlake Planning C... by LakeCoNews on Scribd
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The meeting will take place via webinar beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 19.
To speak on an agenda item, access the meeting remotely here or join by phone by calling 415-930-5229 or toll-free, 877-309-2074. The access code is 620-529-293; the audio pin will be shown after joining the webinar. Those phoning in without using the web link will be in “listen mode” only and will not be able to participate or comment.
Comments can be submitted by email to
Please indicate in the email subject line "for public comment" and list the item number of the agenda item that is the topic of the comment. Comments that read to the council will be subject to the three minute time limitation (approximately 350 words). Written comments that are only to be provided to the council and not read at the meeting will be distributed to the council prior to the meeting.
The council will meet in closed session at 5 p.m. to discuss a case of litigation, public employee appointment regarding the city manager and conference with the labor negotiator before the public portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m.
On Tuesday, City Manager Margaret Silveira will ask the council to consider approving safe and sane fireworks sales with the approval of the Lake County Public Health Department and city staff, and conditional on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She also will ask the council to consider whether it wants to go forward with the July 4 fireworks display and include the $20,500 expense to the 2020/21 budget.
Other agenda items include consideration of the proposed resolution adopting the Eleventh Street Corridor Multimodal Engineered Feasibility Study and a recommendation that the Lake Area Planning Council also adopt the proposed study, and a resolution authorizing the submission, signatory and approval of the 2019-2020 Community Development Block Grant application for housing rehabilitation, micro-enterprise assistance and planning technical assistance programs.
On the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the special and regular council meetings on May 5; the May 13 warrant register; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the Mendocino Complex fire; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the February 2019 storms; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the October 2019 public safety power shutoff; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the COVID-19 public health emergency; receipt and filing of the third-quarter financial report; adoption of a resolution calling for and providing for, and giving notice of the general municipal election in Lakeport on Nov. 3 for the purpose of electing three council members to four-year terms; adoption of the resolution accepting construction of the Library Park Sidewalk Replacement Project by Granite Construction Company and authorize the filing of the notice of completion.
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- Written by: James D. Kirylo, University of South Carolina
The Education Department is letting states cancel standardized tests. The move is a practical one: School buildings across the nation are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, even though distance learning efforts are widespread.
As a result, 2020 is the first year without federally mandated standardized testing in nearly two decades. Washington has required all states to use these tests to evaluate students, teachers, principals, schools and entire school systems, first in accordance with accountability measures shaped by the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act and later under the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act.
Until now, students in third through eighth grade were taking standardized tests annually for language arts and math, and then at least once again in high school. In addition, they took at least one science standardized test in elementary, middle and high school. All told, not counting practice sessions and drills, students spend between 20-25 hours a year taking standardized tests. By the time many Americans graduate from high school they’ve taken approximately 112 of them.
As an educational researcher who explores the concept of assessment in my book “Teaching with Purpose: An Inquiry into the Who, Why, and How We Teach” and the father of two school-aged children, I do believe students should be assessed on a regular basis. But I wonder whether they are taking too many standardized tests and if there are better ways to evaluate whether students are on track.
Evaluating teachers
States get to decide how their public schools use standardized test scores when they evaluate teachers. For example, scores in New Mexico count as 35% toward evaluation, while Florida school districts choose how much weight they give test scores for this purpose. Some states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Oklahoma no longer include scores in their system of teacher evaluation.
There are states, including Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, that have suspended or waived their teacher evaluations altogether for the 2019-2020 school year. Others, such as Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have waived some of their requirements. And still others, such as Ohio, Texas and Virginia have granted school systems flexibility and discretion.
Guiding instruction
Teachers may use test data to guide instruction. For example, if a student gets a low score on a portion of a standardized test, the teacher might focus on that area of weakness to better meet the needs of that student through individualized or small group instruction. However, this practice isn’t always helpful because as many as four months can elapse between when students take tests and teachers get to see their scores.
Telling parents about their child’s progress
At least in theory, standardized test scores are supposed to let parents and other guardians know if their children are on track. In practice, that’s not always the case. It’s usually quite challenging for anyone unfamiliar with educational terms and metrics to decipher what the results indicate.
Alternatives
Standardized testing is a fraught issue. Many educators and parents are concerned that there are too many of them and that the scores are misused. Other widespread concerns are that schools are narrowing the curriculum by overemphasizing subjects like math and reading and that high-stakes testing is making children suffer high levels of anxiety.
Many teachers and educational researchers question whether test scores say anything about teacher performance and whether the costs of administering them are justified.
Nevertheless, school systems can’t function without assessing their students and teachers. They will need to figure out how to proceed without standardized tests.
Moving forward, in my view, school systems and other authorities can take advantage of this remarkable time to seek alternatives to standardized tests. One good option is a portfolio-based assessment system that includes a diverse range of student work, along with systematically giving students immediate feedback on their work.
For a broader sense of whether all students are learning, I think that the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card, is very valuable in providing data on how students are progressing in reading and math. Large representative samples of fourth and eighth graders who attend public and private schools take this standardized test every other year.
[You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors. You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter.]
James D. Kirylo, Professor of Education, University of South Carolina
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace said the latest two Lake County residents who tested positive for COVID-19 are members of the same household, and there is a known connection to a confirmed positive case in Mendocino County.
Pace said one of the individuals is hospitalized.
Case investigations and contact tracing are ongoing at this time, Pace said.
Lake County’s confirmed COVID-19 case total now stands at 10.
Health departments statewide on Sunday reported more than 79,000 cases and more than 3,200 deaths have been caused by COVID-19.
The Mendocino County Public Health Department said Sunday that Lake County’s two latest cases are related to Mendocino County’s 14th case, which was reported to that agency on Friday evening.
“The case investigation and contact tracing was immediately initiated by Public Health to learn the source of infection and ensure that asymptomatic contacts were quarantined and symptomatic contacts were tested and isolated,” Mendocino County Public Health reported.
The agency said that the Initial findings of this investigation were determined and verified by Saturday evening.
Mendocino County’s 14th COVID-19 case is an elderly male living in the Ukiah Valley who is a close contact of the two Lake County residents just diagnosed with COVID-19. The Lake County cases were confirmed on Saturday afternoon, officials said.
The source of this outbreak involving three people has been determined to have happened at an inland Mendocino County church where a livestream church service with singing occurred on Mother’s Day, Mendocino County Public Health reported.
Officials said all three of the new cases were at the venue during the livestream and two of the individuals participated in the livestream event with singing at the church.
Mendocino and Lake County Public Health officials are working together to reach any other individuals who are contacts of these three new cases, including anyone who participated in the livestream church service with singing.
One of the Lake County residents was hospitalized at Adventist Health Ukiah Valley on Saturday. The other Lake County resident and Mendocino County’s 14th case are in stable condition, in isolation, at their homes, officials said.
To protect privacy, Mendocino County Public Health is not releasing the name of the inland Mendocino church at this time but is urging the church leaders to do so themselves in order to encourage members of the church to seek testing for COVID-19 and medical attention if needed.
Pace declined to release further information about the Lake County cases in order to protect the identity of the individuals.
Lake County’s previous cases also were connected to out-of-county contacts and some involved multiple people in the same households, as Lake County News has reported.
The other eight individuals in Lake County who tested positive for the virus have recovered, Lake County Public Health reported.
To date, Lake County Public Health reported that more than 1,100 county residents have been tested for COVID-19.
The news comes as Lake County is preparing to submit a variance to the state to seek a quicker reopening under the governor’s Roadmap to Recovery.
If you have symptoms or are otherwise concerned you may have been exposed to COVID-19, contact your medical provider, visit https://www.projectbaseline.com/study/covid-19/ to schedule drive-thru testing or contact the Health Services Department, Public Health Division, for information on your options.
Public Health can be reached by email,
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