Sulphur Springs Union School District officials canceled the board meeting set for Wednesday, due to potential power outages in the district,
One of the items expected to be discussed was the request of an allowance from the state’s Department of Education due to the Saddleridge Fire.
“We would need to have power and lights in a facility for the meeting, and (the) facility has to be public and within our district boundaries,” said Denis DeFigueiredo, SSUSD board president. “With our whole district under (Public Safety Power Shut-off) advisory, and Edison keeping their word on outages last week, we thought it prudent to take the necessary steps to cancel tonight.”
When the meeting is rescheduled, SSUSD officials plan to discuss how power shut-offs during the Saddleridge Fire prompted minimum days on Oct. 10, and all nine school sites being shut down on Oct. 11.
The district is recommending to the board the number of school days be reduced from 180 days to 179 days, and approve Form J13A. Form J13A, according to the California Department of Education website, serves to document SSUSD’s compliance with instructional time laws and provide authority to maintain school for less than the required instructional days and minutes without incurring a fiscal penalty to the SSUSD’s Local Control Funding Formula, ot LCFF, funding.
The district is also making a similar request after the emergency closure of its state preschool program, when three afternoon classes were cancelled on Oct. 10, and seven classes were canceled Oct. 11.
The district has had all school sites closed starting Monday, Oct. 28, through Friday, Nov. 1, due to smoke damage caused by the Tick Fire.
Additionally, the district is recommending that the board approve a “memorandum of understanding” between the SSUSD and the new CLASS Sulphur Springs Education Foundation.
The MOU states that due to the support the foundation will give to the district, the district will provide office space and equipment to serve the foundation. In exchange, the nonprofit will continue to support the district while abiding by all state and district policies and procedures required of them.
SSUSD officials said they would be rescheduling but the date is not certain as of the publication of this article.
