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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay
July 16 - 22, 2020
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IN THIS
ISSUE
Two more days of Covid-19 testing scheduled, page 2
Border closure likely extended, page 4
Summer camps and activities for kids, page 13
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
School district plans for hybrid schedule for fall B y G r a c e M c C a rt h y
(See School, page 13)
EXPERIENCE THE
! N FU
s Birch Bay resident Bryan Bell has worked at Alcoa Intalco Works in Ferndale since 2006. He stands outside the house that he says it paid for, along with a comfortable life for his wife and two children.
Photo by Grace McCarthy
Intalco workers look for options amid shutdown B y G r a c e M c C a rt h y When Bryan Bell found out his wife was pregnant in 2006, his uncle helped him get a job that would support a family. It had benefits, pension and 401(k). That good job allowed him to buy a house in Birch Bay a few years later and support his two daughters. He planned to be there until retirement. But nearly three months after Alcoa announced the curtailment of its Intalco Works smelter in Ferndale on April 22, workers like Bell are grappling with questions about the future of their livelihood. “I felt secure, to be honest. I didn’t think I needed to look for another job,” said Bell, who is now 39 and anticipates being laid off next month. “We’ve had so many threats before I just always assumed they’d keep doing this.” Bell and his coworkers will benefit from the U.S. Department of Labor’s July 2 approval of the Trade Adjustment As-
sistance program for Intalco employees, which offers opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t have been available with unemployment benefits such as retraining and income support. About 200 workers remain at the last smelter west of the Mississippi River, estimates Glenn Farmer, local business representative for International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW). Job losses began in June and will continue until mid-August, when the number of employees will drop to a core staff of about 35 people, he said. That group will dwindle to 14 by July 2021. Workers say some have moved on; IKO Pacific, a roofing manufacturer in Sumas, has hired laid-off Intalco workers and Bell said a former coworker already moved to Texas. Others have plans to start school at Bellingham Technical College and find a new trade. Bell has crafted his first resume in 15 years and gets alerts on his phone for the few job openings in the county.
“Once you go through something like this, you don’t want to have to go through it again,” Bell said. Every Intalco job lost equates to 2-2.5 unstable jobs in the county when workers scale back their normal spending habits, (See Intalco, page 6)
INSIDE
The Blaine school district announced it will start the 2020-21 school year with a hybrid plan that splits students into two groups that switch between in-person and remote classes on a weekly basis. The decision came in a July 8 video announcement from superintendent Christopher Granger following a preliminary announcement on June 17 and nearly two months of planning from the school district. “As we have planned for the necessary changes in education that must take place in this pandemic, the health and safety of our students, staff, families and community has been at the core of our decision making process,” Granger said in the superintendent’s video message released on July 8. Students are expected to start on August 26 but Granger emphasized that the tentative plan could change at a moment’s notice depending on the number of Covid-19 cases in Whatcom County. The district prioritized keeping households on the same hybrid class schedule, Granger said in a July 13 webinar on the upcoming school year. Switching groups is a complicated process that requires assessing multiple areas of the hybrid model including meals, class capacity and transportation. Classes will have 15 students or fewer to maintain space for physical distancing in the classrooms. In-person classes will happen Monday through Thursday from 8:20 a.m. to 12:20 p.m., with two hours of remote learning in the afternoon, and online classes every Friday. In a survey that will be available from Monday, July 27 to Thursday, July 30, families will need to choose if their children will be participating in the hybrid model. They can instead sign up for online-only learning. Families who do not complete the survey will be placed in the hybrid model, according to the July 8 email. Students in online learning will stay with the same teacher through the school year to allow an easy transition if school resumes as normal. In December, a request system will open if online students wish to transfer to the
Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Pet Care . . . . . . . 10 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Dining Guide . . . 13 Police Reports . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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