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Senior commission bringing activities to community News, Page 6
including tax
School clubs empower youth to say no to drugs Features, Page 1
Volume 139, Number 34 — Locally-owned since 1884
Winters, Yolo County, California, Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Winters JUSD accepting applications for Trustee Area Four vacancy By Angela Underwood Express staff writer Winters Joint Unified School District is busy filling important district positions. Between the superintendent search and board member vacancy — leadership positions are yet to be filled, but district officials are working hard to change that. The next position to be filled is the upcoming vacancy of an Area Four board trustee. Acting Superintendent Phoebe Girimonte directed officials on the bylaw and mandates for selecting
a subcommittee to review the board vacancy applications. The bylaw states that “a committee consisting of less than a quorum of the Board shall ensure that applicants are eligible for Board membership and announce the names of the eligible candidates.” “The full Board shall interview the candidates at a public meeting, accept oral or written public input, and select the appointee by a majority vote,” Girimonte said. Girimonte also proposed a timeline
to fill the vacancy, beginning with advertising in local media to solicit applications or nominations. All applications are due to the Superintendent’s Office by 4 p.m.on Oct. 25. On Oct. 26-28, 2022, the board subcommittee will review applications, and by Oct. 31, there will be a posting of the board meeting agenda with eligible candidates’ names. Then, on Nov.3, board trustees will interview qualified candidates
See APPLY, Page 3
The hometown paper of Cheryl & Bruce Filarsky
Porchfest, Carnitas Festival and more entertain this fall By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief Porchfest returned after two years of not being able to host due to challenges from the pandemic. Multiple other popular local events are also scheduled to make a comeback this fall.
Porchfest Despite the scattered showers, a sprinkling of community members donned their umbrellas and ventured out to enjoy the Porchfest musical stroll. Sarah Madsen, event organizer, posted on the Porchfest social media accounts, “And those who took a chance on the weath-
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
Katie Fry performs on Porch Two at Porchfest Sept. 18. er — You rule! You on Main Street and brought the sunshine Russell Street. out with you, thank This year’s Porchyou. The day was ex- fest t-shirt sales bentra beautiful with you efit the Winters High in it.” School Senior Class The 2022 Porchfest of 2023 Sober Grad musical event fea- Night and Winters tured 20 musicians See EVENTS, Page 5 across eight porches
Trustees discuss flavored tobacco and naloxone By Angela Underwood Express staff writer
Courtesy photo
The Winters High School cheer squad is working on a special routine for the Oct. 14 Pink Out football game. Their goal is to bring awareness to breast cancer screenings.
Senior Capstone bringing awareness of breast cancer screenings, resources By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief
EXPRESS
Three Winters High School seniors are leading the charge to encourage the community to get regular screenings to detect signs of breast cancer. Seniors Sofia Sanchez, Aliyah Holliday and Anneliese Gonzalez are hosting
a Pink Out for the Oct. 14 WHS football game to help raise awareness. They designed a t-shirt for community members to wear to the game. The trio hopes the shirts will help to raise awareness about the importance of scheduling early breast cancer screenings, as well as raise funds to support life-saving research and life-changing support. “A lot of people aren’t aware of some of these cancers, like breast cancer — I
want this one to specifically be known. I feel like it happens to a lot of people. People can struggle financially with everything when they go through it,” Sanchez said. “We recently had a teacher (Kate Humprey) pass away due to breast cancer. It was hard on a lot of students because she changed their lives in many ways.” All funding from the shirts will benefit the DONNA Foundation, whose mission
See PINK, Page 3
Index Features ........................ B-1 Classifieds ................... B-4
We at he r Date
Rain
High
Sept. 14
.00
89˚
Low 55˚
Sept. 15
.00
84˚
55˚
Sept. 16
.00
83˚
53˚ 54˚
Opinion ......................... B-3
Sept. 17
.00
86˚
Sept. 18
.04”
83˚
58˚
Real Estate ................... B-2
Sept. 19
.43”
71˚
54˚
Sept. 20 .43”
76˚
57˚
Sports ........................... A-2 Senior News ................ A-6
Rain for week: 0.90 in. Season’s total: 0.90 in. Last sn. to date: 0.05 in. Winters rainfall season began 7/1/22. Weather readings are taken at 9 a.m.
Winters Joint Unified School District officials discussed some significant issues during their regularly scheduled meeting on September 16. Banning flavored tobacco in Winters, a million-dollar school construction project, and introducing naloxone into the district were just a few agenda items, leaving officials with serious decisions. Acting Superintendent Phoebe Girimonte started with a board resolution that supports banning the sale of flavored tobacco products in Winters. She recalled Winters High School Friday
Night Live Group Revoke the Smoke Campaign July presentation by teacher and advisor Matt Baker and students Jadon Clifford and Cristina Ramirez. “They asked the board for their support with this resolution to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products in our town,” Girimonte said, adding she also attended a 2x2 meeting on Aug. 24, where city officials discussed the matter. “Given the public health risks associated with youth tobacco use and the tobacco industry’s effort to target youth in vulnerable communities like ours, staff recommends that the Board of Trustees approve
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By Jacob Hoffman Express Correspondent On Sept. 12, the Climate Action Commission met virtually for its monthly meeting to discuss two principal agenda items. The commissioners agreed to form two work groups related to key objectives of the commission as detailed in the packet. One will identify grant and incentive funding opportunities to support development of infrastructure that will increase resilience and reduce carbon emissions, while the other will focus on public information dissemination and community engagement. Chair Kenneth Britten described the process of work group
action reaching City Council, saying the groups will work on the specific function they were assigned and once they come up with something to be approved, the group will “make a formal proposal,” to the commission, who, “will amend these proposals, as guided by input from city staff,” and, “where significant action is proposed, WCAC (Winters Climate Action Committee) and/or staff will present the proposal to City Council for discussion, modification, or adoption.” In line with the Brown Act, a transparency measure meant to prevent government bodies from acting outside of public oversight, each work
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Climate Action Commission creates focus groups, fine-tunes workflow
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the resolution.” After approval, officials got right to Senior Project Manager Mary Fitzpatrick’s facilities report for the WHS and Physical Education and Music Building. She handed over the details to CORE Construction Project Manager Kurt Parriott, who discussed scope quantification, bid results and the total budget. Parriott said since the “extensive subcontractor outreach that has helped maximize the bidding participation for this project,” that started in July, the group got 86 proposals for 25 different trade groups. “Upon receiving
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group can have no more than two commissioners, one less than necessary for a quorum, which would constitute a meeting that had to be public. Commissioner David Springer and Britten volunteered to head the grant and incentive funding opportunities group, while Commissioners Woody Fridae and Gar House volunteered to head the public information dissemination group, with Senior Planner Kirk Skierski noting that outside experts can be included in these groups. In addition to these groups, commissioners agreed to form additional groups to work on other tasks deemed necessary
See CLIMATE, Page 3
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