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Special Olympic Basketball Tournament bounces back in March News, Page 5
including tax
Meet Winters PD’s newest CSO Features, Page 1
Volume 140, Number 3 — Locally-owned since 1884
Winters, Yolo County, California, Wednesday, February 15, 2023
The hometown paper of John Stephens
February 18th & 19th Dixon Fairgrounds Saturday 9-5 • Sunday 9-4
General Admission: $10 • Free Parking
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Dixon Gun Show brings exhibitors selling anything gun related to the Dixon Fairgrounds. We encourage responsible gun ownership.
School district discusses state metrics, accountability measures By Jacob Hoffman Express staff writer
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
Senior Accountant Shery Enos and Fire Chief Jack Snyder were sworn into office at the Feb. 7 City Council meeting. Their official first day was Feb. 6
City hires new fire chief, approves Main Street seasonal road closure By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief The Winters City Council welcomed new staff members and approved a seasonal road closure at the Feb. 7 City Council meeting.
New city staff
EXPRESS
After months of searching, City Manager Kathleen Salguero Trepa announced that a new fire chief and senior accountant had been identified. “We are thrilled to announce the arrival of two new staff members; our Fire Chief Jack Snyder and Senior Accountant Shery Enos. Both will be valuable additions
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to the team,” Trepa told the Express. Trepa swore in Snyder and Enos. Snyder previously served as the Fire Chief in Elko, Nev. He was hired as Elko’s Deputy Chief in 2017 and promoted to the role of Fire Chief in 2021. Prior to his position in Elki, Snyder worked for the City of Vacaville. Enos also comes to Winters with experience working for the City of Vacaville.
Seasonal road closure Chris Turkovich, Downtown Business Association President and owner of Turkovich Family Wines, was on site to answer questions councilmembers had regarding the WDBA’s request for the seasonal Main Street closure, and for an extension to Close down Railroad Avenue for its Spring
Festival at the end of March. Trepa informed Councilmembers the staff recommendation was to approve the schedule just for 2023, since the City is in the process of the Downtown Visioning Project. The WDBA’s request had asked for Councilmembers to consider a rolling annual seasonal closure to determine a consistent closure to communicate to the community. One of the bigger discussions in the street closure request revolved around whether to close down Railroad Avenue at Main Street. Turkovich said WDBA was looking into utilizing a crossing guard program out of Vacaville to help control traffic for
See ROAD, Page 3
Index Features ........................ B-1
We at he r
Winters students partnered with local nonprofits and businesses to create a Valentine for the Winters community. Valerie Whitworth, Winters Participation Gallery chair, and Rotary Club of Winters members worked to gather and hang up hand-crafted valentines from local children sharing why they love Winters and what they would like to see Winters bring to the community that isn’t
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Rain for week: 0.11 in. Season’s total: 23.56 in. Last sn. to date: 17.09 in.
A 16-year-old boy got some unwanted police attention Monday after he allegedly brandished a replica pistol near a local business. Shortly before 1:30 p.m., dispatchers received a call about a male seen pointing a handgun at the AM/ PM convenience store on Matsumoto Lane
Sports ........................... A-2
Winters rainfall season began 7/1/22. Weather readings are taken at 9 a.m. daily by local weatherman Joe Bristow.
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
Student love notes to the community hang along the Cradwick Building downtown in Paseo Park. currently available. The hearts are hanging from PVC pipes along the side of the Cradwick Building in Paseo Park along
downtown Main Street. “It will be up at least through February. It is a photo op wall as well as an art installation” Whitworth said.
Police confiscate altered replica gun at high school, make drug-related arrest
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from his vehicle, according to a Winters Police Department Facebook post. “Officers located the vehicle parked at Winters High School and contacted school administration,” the post said. “The driver of the vehicle was identified and school administration had the student exit their classroom with the Police Department
standing by for safety.” The student reportedly admitted to having an Airsoft pistol, which officers retrieved from under his vehicle’s front seat, police said. Designed to resemble a Colt handgun, the pistol had its orange replica markings covered with black electrical
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Editor-in-Chief
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Community .................. A-5
See METRICS, Page 3
By Crystal Apilado
Feb. 08
Classifieds ................... B-4
would agree that our suspension rate does demonstrate that we are excluding students from school too frequently” as it causes “students leaving the school space (and) not being included in instruction because of suspension” and that the district is looking into solutions both for the remaining school year and in the long term. She expounded on this later, saying the district will use “other lower-tiered interventions and ways to reengage students before (a) suspension.” The next presentation focused on the California School Dashboard. As summarized by Girimonte “the California School Dashboard provides parents and educators
Art installation honors love for Winters
Date
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During the Feb. 2 Winters Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting, Assistant Superintendent Phoebe Girimonte presented two recent state accountability measures for California school districts. The first of these measures was the School Accountability Report Card (SARC). As described by Girimonte’s presentation, the SARC “provides comparability data for the community and for educators, includ[ing] student achievement outcomes” and “communicates a school’s progress in achieving its goals.” Girimonte briefly reviewed the information included in the Winters schools’
SARCs, including “demographic data… school safety and climate for learning… academic data and outcomes,” and a number of other metrics related to education metrics and logistics. This information was submitted to the state on Feb. 1, and Girimonte asked Trustees to approve the SARCs. Trustee Everardo Zaragoza, having reviewed the SARCs, asked Girimonte about suspension rates at Winters Middle School, noting “the state average is three percent, our other sites are around two to five percent, but the middle school is at 15 percent, so are we doing anything to improve that?” Girimonte said the school district shares this concern, saying “I
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