Sunday RoundUp: Mother's Day and more
A win for moms, what happened at SOUP, awards at Analy, and the Art at the Source opening at SebArts
A local win for moms
The West Sonoma County Union High School District (WSCUHSD) and its teachers union (WSCTA) just got their tentative contract approved by the school board for the next school year. WSCUHSD is now the first district in Sonoma County to offer 15 days of paid maternity leave for members. The union had asked for 20 days, but still considered this compromise a “momentous equity win,” said union member Beth Jones. Union lead Lily Smedshammer credited their union negotiator, Shealon Bertsch, for this win. “This was really her baby,” Smedshammer said, no pun intended.
Full house for the SOUP project
On Thursday night, several dozen curious folks streamed into the Sebastopol Grange Hall for the inaugural Sonoma County SOUP, a community dinner where your vote funds a local idea. Diners paid $5 to $50 to participate, but the food took second place to the main business of the evening: hearing pitches from four people about projects they believed would improve the community. Diners would then vote for their favorite idea.
Mason Fernandez wanted to create a public circus event—a kind of philosophical circus called The Circus of Life—in a local park; Daphne Riley wanted to have a community bike ride and BBQ; Davin Cardenas, organizing director for North Bay Jobs with Justice, wanted to have a Cumbia gathering with a political mission (Cumbia is a form of Latin American dance music from Colombia); and Martin Reed, the new director of the Sonoma County Tool Library, wanted to open local tool-sharing hubs in towns around West County, initially focused around tools you could use to help make your home fire safe. Each presenter had four minutes to pitch their idea and answer questions from the audience.
After the presentations, everyone had soup—or actually soup and salad. One soup came from the Clam Bar’s Rick Rozet and the other came from the folks at Westminster Woods. The salad came from Beet Generation in Forestville. Music for the evening was by guitarist Scott Elliott Ferreter.
While we ate, everyone talked about who they were going to vote for and why, and then we voted by secret ballot.
The winner was Martin Reed of the Tool Library, who got to take home over $1,500 (the proceeds from the door) to help grow his project.
The event was organized by Hunter Franks, who we profiled earlier this year, and the SOUP team. Franks said he hoped to make this a quarterly event, and the folks at the grange said they’d be glad to have him back.
Recognizing Analy students
Keira McKnight was one of 12 students chosen for the Youth Service Awards by the Press Democrat. Teacher John Grech introduced Keira, who has been the layout editor for the student publication, West County World. He said that Keira “knows the power of words but also that actions can speak louder than words.” He also commended her work as president of the Interact Club, which has 65 student members. Interact is a Rotary group for students, aged 12-18.
Grace Vogel won a State Champion in Culinary Arts award in the SkillsUSA state competition, and she will go on to compete against 49 others. Culinary Arts teacher Sarah Piccolo introduced Grace, pointing out that she competed with “poise and skill but also had fun.”
John Justus, Sebastian Alvarez Figueroa, Lauren Brady, and Bailey Cassady were recognized for their success in state FFA competitions. CTE teacher Emily Lokka introduced the award winners.
The entire team won the California FFA State Champion Team Overall in Enology and Viticulture. Sub-contest awards were: 1st in Wine Spur and 1st in Table Spur (in which students are evaluated on their ability to properly spur prune a wine grape and table grape vine); 2nd in Reasons (oral explanation for pruning choices); 3rd in Table Cane and 3rd in Wine Cane. (These categories test a student’s ability to identify and prune specific varieties of wine grape and table grape vines, according to industry-standard cane pruning methods.)
Individual highlights in the Enology and Viticulture category: Bailey Cassady was the Champion Individual Overall; Lauren Brady was Reserve Champion Individual Overall; and Sebastian Alvarez Figueroa was 7th High Individual Overall.
Art at the Source opens at SebArts
The opening reception for Art at the Source was mobbed last night at Sebastopol Center of the Arts. The reception marked the opening of the Art at the Source Preview Exhibit, featuring works from the 140 artists who will be participating in this year’s open studio event on June 6-7 and June 13-14.
SebArts director Serafina Palandech said there are 40 new artists participating this year and that the event just keeps on growing. “More and more people want to be involved, and more and more people want to go buy art directly from artists and see the studios and see how they make their art,” she said.
The Preview Exhibition Reception runs from May 8 to June 15, Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm, at Sebastopol Center for the Arts Gallery.
Scam alert from Sebastopol Police
From the Sebastopol Police Facebook
The Sebastopol Police Department reports that a fraudulent email, appearing to be associated with the Sebastopol Planning Department, is in circulation. The email includes an illegitimate invoice containing Sebastopol’s city logo and instructions to wire money to the suspects.
Don’t fall for this scam. The Planning Department does not email invoices, and they do not seek payment via wire transfers.
If you’ve received what you suspect to be a fraudulent email from someone impersonating the Sebastopol Planning Department, especially if you sent money, please notify the police department by calling them at (707) 829-4400.
Thank you Laura, for the new title. 😊 And happy Mother's Day 💐