With the Republican Party holding nominating contests in 15 states and Democrats doing so in 15 states plus the territory of American Samoa, more delegates are at stake tomorrow than on any other day of this Presidential Primary Election season.
While our nation’s presidential nominees are almost a foregone conclusion at this point, here in Humboldt County there’s plenty at stake.
Tomorrow’s the day we decide the fate of the controversial cannabis reform initiative known as Measure A, for one thing.
We may also decide who wins three of the five seats on the county Board of Supervisors. (With three candidates running for both the First and Second District seats, it’s possible, if unlikely, that none of them will clear the threshold necessary to avoid a November runoff: 50 percent of the vote plus one more.)
We’re also likely to decide whether incumbent Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Gregory Kreis should keep his seat on the bench despite a formal investigation by the California Commission on Judicial Performance into 19 counts of alleged misconduct. Kreis is facing two challengers at the ballot box: April Van Dyke, a contract attorney with the Humboldt County Office of Conflict Counsel, and Jessica Watson, a deputy district attorney who launched a late write-in campaign.
And of course, voters across Assembly District Two will select the top two candidates from these six contenders:
Michael Greer – Del Norte Unified School District trustee, Republican
Rusty Hicks – Chair of California’s Democratic Party
Ariel Kelley – Mayor of Healdsburg (Dem)
Franklin “Frankie” Myers – Vice-Chairman of the Yurok Tribe (Dem)
Chris Rogers – Santa Rosa city councilmember (Dem)
Ted Williams – Mendocino County’s Fifth District supervisor (Dem)
Early indicators suggest that voter turnout may be depressingly low, but if you haven’t yet voted, it’s not too late! Below you’ll find a rundown of the various options available to you.
Ballot Drop Boxes
The Humboldt County Office of Elections has drop boxes available in communities across the county, with each one available during the location’s regular business hours:
Willow Creek
Ray’s Food Place: 38915 Highway 299
Trinidad
Murphy’s Market: 1 Main Street
McKinleyville
Ace Hardware: 2725 Central Avenue
Murphy’s Market: 1451 Glendale Drive
Arcata
Murphy’s Market: 785 Bayside Road
Murphy’s Market: 100 Westwood Court
Eureka
Office of Elections: 2426 6th Street
Murphy’s Market: 4020 Walnut Drive
Fortuna
Ray’s Food Place: 2009 Main Street
Redway
Shop Smart: 3430 Redwood Drive
Vote Centers
Maybe you prefer to stand in the booth and scribble ink into those bubbles, getting a rush from doing your civic duty in public. If so, many vote center locations are already open, and a few more will be available tomorrow only.
IMPORTANT! Make sure to bring along the ballot that was mailed to you. If you don’t, you’ll have to fill out a provisional ballot.
The following spots are open Monday and Tuesday:
The Humboldt County Office of Elections 2426 6th Street, Eureka, CA 95501
Arcata Community Center 321 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, Arcata, CA 95521
Fortuna Veterans Memorial Building 1426 Main Street, Fortuna, CA 95540
Arcata High School 1720 M Street, Arcata, CA 95521
College of the Redwoods (Fieldhouse) 7351 Tompkins Hill Road, Eureka, CA 95501
Jefferson Community Center 1000 B Street, Eureka, CA 95501
Gene Lucas Community Center 3000 Newburg Rd B, Fortuna, CA 95540
McKinleyville Middle School 2285 Central Avenue, McKinleyville, CA 95519
Prasch Hall 312 S Railroad Ave, Blue Lake, CA 95525
And the following locations will be open on Tuesday, March 5, only:
Hoopa Neighborhood Facility 11860 Highway 96, Hoopa, CA 95546
Humboldt County Fairgrounds 1250 5th Street, Ferndale, CA 95536
Redwood Playhouse 286 Sprowel Creek Rd, Garberville, CA 95542
Mail-In
Since the advent of universal mail-in voting here in California, which started during the COVID pandemic, your ballot should have been mailed to you with a return envelope, no postage necessary.
As long as you get that thing into a mailbox early enough to be postmarked by tomorrow, your vote will count.
You can also return your envelope (with your filled-out ballot inside, obviously) to any of the voting centers or drop box locations listed above.
Curbside Voting
The following information comes directly from the Elections Office website:
Curbside voting enables voters to have a voting experience outside the voting area when a Vote Center is not accessible. Voters may use curbside voting from their vehicle or along the path of travel to the voting area.
Elections officials will bring you a roster to sign, a ballot, and any other voting materials you may need to cast your ballot privately and independently. Once your voting experience is complete, an elections official will provide you with confirmation that your ballot was cast successfully.
If you would like to arrange for curbside voting accommodations, please contact the Humboldt County Office of Elections at 707-445-7481.
Lastly …
If you missed the February 19 registration deadline, don’t worry! You can still submit a conditional voter registration and vote in-person on a provisional ballot at any Humboldt County vote center. (See above for locations.)
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
On March 1, 2024, at about 8:50 p.m., deputies from Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 100 block of Main St. in Scotia for the report of a male subject who was reportedly loitering and making odd comments to a local business owner.
Upon arrival, deputies located the male subject in the area of Church Street. He was identified as Rio Dell resident, 50-year-old James Jones. He was advised of the complaint and asked to leave the area.
On March 2, at about 8:21 p.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Communication Center received a call from the same business owner who was reporting the subject had returned and was loitering outside the business again. Jones left the area prior to the deputies’ arrival. The deputies contacted the business owner and provided her information on how to obtain a restraining order.
On March 3, at about 6:18 p.m., HCSO dispatch received another call from the same business owner stating that Jones had returned to her business and was in the parking lot waiting for her. Prior to the deputies’ arrival, dispatch advised the caller was at her residence and she did not feel comfortable going to the business with him there. A few minutes later HCSO dispatch received a 9-1-1 call from her stating Jones was standing outside her residence.
Upon arrival, deputies contacted Jones in the 100 block of Main Street. After further investigation Jones was taken into custody for stalking, possession of a switchblade knife and possession of methamphetamine.
James Jones was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility and booked for (PC 646.9(A)) Stalking, (PC 21510(A)) Possession of a switchblade knife and (HS 11377(A)) Possession of a controlled substance.
This case is still under investigation.
Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the
Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
On Feb. 29, 2024, at approximately 12:18 a.m., a Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputy conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle at the intersection of State Highway 36 and Alderpoint Road in Bridgeville.
Upon contacting the occupants of the vehicle, the deputy observed multiple firearms in the backseat. Due to the firearms being in the backseat, the backseat passenger who was identified as 21-year-old Clayton Moore was removed from the vehicle first followed by the driver, who was identified as 19-year-oldWeylan McKnight.
Roberts. Photo: HCSO.
As the deputy was instructing Moore and McKnight to walk back to the front of his patrol vehicle, his attention was drawn to the front seat passenger identified as 19-year-old Payden Roberts exiting the vehicle holding a handgun near his right leg, which contained a high-capacity magazine. The deputy drew his department issued firearm and ordered Roberts to drop the gun. Roberts complied and placed the handgun on the floorboard of the vehicle.
Upon further investigation, the handgun that Roberts was holding was loaded with a round in chamber and multiple rounds inside the high-capacity magazine. The other firearms located in the vehicle included three bolt action rifles, an AR-15 rifle with no serial numbers, and a Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol. During a search of the vehicle, located on the front passenger floorboard, (where Roberts was seated), the deputy found a camouflage backpack that contained four 30 round .223 magazines and a 17 round Glock magazine.
Roberts was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for charges of (PC 30605(a)) Possession of Assault Weapon, (PC 25850(a)) Carrying a Loaded Firearm, (PC 32310(a)) Possession of Large Capacity Magazine and (PC 1203.2) Violation of Probation.
The driver of the vehicle,19-year-old Weylan McKnight, was issued a citation for (VC 23140(a)) Minor driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.05% and released to a sober driver.
Clayton Moore was released at the scene.
Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the
Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.
Just some of the many dogs currently available for foster placement or adoption at the Humboldt County Animal Shelter. | Images via Facebook, used with permission.
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Dogs hate thunder, and winds are the nemesis of backyard gates and fences. Those are just two of the factors in our recent bout of tempestuous, stormy weather that have led to an influx of canines at the Humboldt County Animal Shelter in McKinleyville.
“Between last Wednesday [March 28] and today we’ve taken in 16 dogs,” said Andre Hale, the county’s animal control facilities manager. She said that with more than 50 dogs currently crowding the facility, the county has reduced adoption fees from now through Friday in hopes of finding them all homes.
“We had those terrible thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday, and dogs freak out in the thunder – they’ll just take off running,” Hale said. Shelter staff has managed to reunite some of these frightened runaways with their owners, but many others remain unclaimed.
Hale said that concerned members of the public will often corral strays when inclement weather is on the way, hoping to at least give them shelter from the wind, rain and hail.
But the shelter has been crowded for months, and now it’s over capacity, which is simply not sustainable.
”In short term you make do, but it can’t continue,” Hale said. “So I try to get ‘em adopted out or placed in foster homes. If all that fails, we’re forced to look at euthanasia.”
The reduced adoption fees for dogs are as follows:
The shelter, located at 980 Lycoming Ave. in McKinleyville, is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
For more information, email hsoanimalshelter@co.humboldt.ca.us or call the shelter at 707-840-9132.
Third grade students participate in an art class at San Pasqual Valley Unified School District at Winterhaven in Imperial County on Dec. 12, 2023. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters
Dasan Lynch, a junior at San Pasqual Valley High, clearly envisions his future: He wants to go to college, play sports and pursue a career in law enforcement, like his great-grandfather.
That’ll be the easy part. The hard part will be saying goodbye.
“It’ll be like leaving a piece of my body behind,” said Lynch, a member of the Quechan tribe in the southeastern corner of California. “But I know I have to leave if I want to help my community.”
Leaving home can be wrenching for any student going off to college, but for Native Americans like Lynch, the decision can be especially fraught. Not only are they moving out of the family home, they’re leaving behind their unique culture, which in some cases depends on their presence to survive. Yet staying home has repercussions, too: Native communities typically have high unemployment and few opportunities.
Dasan Lynch. Photo courtesy of Katrina Leon
The challenges are reflected in the data. Native American students have a college-going rate that’s about half the rate of their peers in other racial or ethnic groups, and only 42% graduated from college within six years, compared to 64% for all students, according to the Post-Secondary National Policy Institute. Among K-12 students, Native Americans significantly trail their peers in nearly every educational indicator.
California is trying to reverse that trend. It funds early childhood programs for Native children and two dozen education centers that provide tutoring and other services to ensure Native students are ready for college. And under Assembly Bill 167, passed in 2021, the state is creating a Native American studies curriculum for K-12 schools, focusing on the unique culture and history of California tribes.
Colleges, tribal education advocates and school districts such as San Pasqual Valley Unified are also working to strengthen support for Native students and build trust with tribal communities. They’re bringing tribal elders to classrooms to teach Native language and traditions, they’re weaving Native American curriculum into subjects like math and art, and they’re encouraging students to go to college — and then return.
“The burden should not be on the students. It shouldn’t be on the families, either. The burden is on us,” said Rachel McBride-Praetorius, a member of the Yurok tribe and Chico State’s director of tribal relations. “We all know the issues and barriers. We need to do our best to remove those barriers so students feel supported. … It doesn’t matter if a school has one Native student or 100, all schools need to do this.”
Building relationships and trust
At San Pasqual Valley Unified, located on the Fort Yuma Indian reservation in Imperial County, about half of its 591 students identify as Native American, one of the highest percentages in the state. That shapes the campus atmosphere, where Native celebrations are part of the school culture, and tribal history and traditions are taught in school. Signs around campus identify numbers, objects and colors in three languages: English, Spanish and Quechan.
District counselors also reach out directly to families to build relationships and address their needs — whether it’s help finding work, getting children to school, finding help for substance abuse or any other impediment to students’ success.
“We listen without judgment, we try to be consistent, we do what we say we’re going to do. If families are upset, we’re willing to take it,” said Rose Meraz, a counselor at the district. “We try to be culturally sensitive, and always stay focused on the child.”
For many parents who are tribe members, those efforts have made a difference.
“They say we have to rely on our elders, but I don’t have many elders. So I’m glad my daughter is learning about our culture in school,” said Venisha Brown, whose daughter is in fifth grade at San Pasqual Valley Unified. “It’s good for her. And now she’s teaching me.”
First: Pamela Manchatta teaches an after-school Quechan language class at the Quechan Education Complex on the Fort Yuma reservation. Last: San Pasqual Valley Middle School near Winterhaven in Imperial County on Dec. 12, 2023. The elementary, middle and high schools are located on the same campus. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters
The school district spans more than 1,800 square miles of desert, scrub and agricultural fields. The daily school bus route stretches from the Colorado River to the Mexico border to the Gila Mountains looming dramatically to the north.
The Quechan are one of a handful of related tribes who thrived for millenia fishing and farming along the Colorado River. Spanish missionaries arrived in the 1700s, and in the mid-1880s, the U.S. military built Fort Yuma on a steep hill overlooking the river to safeguard a crossing used by emigrants. In 1884 the government turned Fort Yuma over to the Quechans, and the hill is now home to tribal offices, a cafe, a store and historic buildings. The town of Winterhaven is adjacent to Fort Yuma, and the three schools in the San Pasqual Valley Unified School District, a gleaming new health clinic and a pair of casinos are within a few miles.
But the injustices of the past are not forgotten. For more than a century, as part of an effort to “civilize” Native children, the U.S. government forced hundreds of thousands of Native children to leave their families and live in boarding schools, where they were not allowed to speak their language or practice cultural traditions. Many suffered abuse and neglect, and at least 500 died, according to the U.S. Interior Department.
Most were closed by the 1970s, but a handful still exist, including the Sherman Indian School in Riverside, which is now run by a local tribe. Still, distrust bleeds into the present day.
The Paradise casino is located at the boundaries of Winterhaven, California, and Yuma, Arizona. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters
“Some families have no interest in supporting the school because their experience was toxic,” said San Pasqual Valley Unified Superintendent Katrina Leon, who is not a tribe member but grew up in the area and did her dissertation on the impact of Indian boarding schools. “We work really hard, and we need to continue to work hard, to rebuild that trust.”
The ‘trauma … is real’
Allyson Collins, a local parent and former financial analyst for the Quechan tribe, is among those who think the school can do more to support Native students — and the tribe should do more to support the school.
“People sometimes roll their eyes when you talk about trauma. But it’s real, it’s there,” Collins said. “There’s a lot of distrust of the government. The school and the tribe need to be partners. Sometimes it just feels like both sides are just checking the boxes.”
Pamela Manchatta, another local parent, would like to see the district weave Quechan traditions into more subjects and bolster academic opportunities for students, such as dual-enrollment in community college. As head of an after-school and summer program at the tribal community center, she tries to provide some of that support directly to Native students.
Working with children in pre-K through 12th grade, she teaches Quechan language and culture, helps with academics and leads activities like Native singing and dancing throughout the year. On a recent afternoon, she used flash cards to teach a dozen elementary students the Quechan words for colors and numbers. The children sat quietly at desks, following along.
Pamela Manchatta at the Quechan Education Complex at Winterhaven in Imperial County on Dec. 12, 2023. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters
Born and raised on the reservation, Manchatta is among those who left for college and work, then returned. It was important to her, she said, to raise her children on the reservation so they’d absorb the Quechan culture.
“Me and my husband knew that moving back was going to be a challenge. There’s less pay and fewer opportunities, but I grew up here knowing the language and culture, and I wanted my children to have that,” she said. “I didn’t want it to be lost.”
Her children and grandchildren all live nearby, and are active in tribal affairs. By passing on the traditions such as bird dancing and the tribe creation story to her family as well as the children in her program, Manchatta feels that no matter what they end up doing with their lives — whether they move across the globe or stay on the reservation — they’ll always know who they are.
“Being Quechan, it’s something you live and breathe. It’s a way of being. You carry it with you everywhere,” she said. “And hopefully, they’ll pass it on after I’m gone.”
Student Dasan Lynch’s great-grandfather is also among those who left the reservation and returned to help the community. Charles O’Brien, a one-time San Francisco police officer, returned to the reservation later in his career to serve as a tribal officer, inspiring his great-grandson to follow the same path.
Returning to the reservation
For Tudor Montague, returning to the reservation was always his plan, ever since he graduated from San Pasqual Valley High three decades ago. He knew he wanted to help his community, so after he moved away to attend University of Kansas and work on environmental policy for tribes in Arizona, he returned to Fort Yuma in 2017. He now runs a coffee roastery and cafe, employing five people and serving as a mentor to others.
The goal, he said, is to boost the local economy, create a healthy place for people to gather, provide job training to local young people and, of course, serve high-quality coffee in an area where it’s not easily available. He also incorporates Native practices into his coffee business by supporting Indigenous growers, using biodegradable materials and buying organic beans when possible.
His cafe, a cozy and clean space at the foot of a hill, is adorned with local artwork and historic photos of Quechan people. Native seed catalogs are scattered on the tables for perusal. An espresso machine hisses in the background, and customers, most of whom seem to be old friends, reminisce and catch up.
He’d like to see more, though. He’d like to see a community garden, where students can learn about Native plants and farming. He’d also like to see students work with tribal leaders to compile books of recipes for beans, squash, rabbit and other traditional foods, farming practices and other Quechan traditions for future generations.
Tudor Montague, a Quechan community member, at his coffee shop, Spirit Mountain Roasting Co., in Winterhaven on Dec. 12, 2023. Montague, who grew up in the area, opened the coffee shop in June of 2023. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters
“The language is dying. We have very few fluent speakers left,” Montague said. “But the culture is still here, and it can come back even more. The youth are hungry for it. They welcome it. It’s inspiring to see, and it gives me hope.”
Still, he knows the quandary that young people faces. The reservation might be home, but opportunities are scarce.
“It’s really hard for kids who grew up on the reservation to leave the reservation. It’s a total culture shock,” Montague said. “But it’s even harder for them to come back. … That’s one thing I’m trying to do: let them know it’s possible.”
Undercounted, under-enrolled
California has about 26,000 Native students in its K-12 schools, fewer than half a percent of the overall student population, although that’s likely a significant undercount. Native Americans are often undercounted in official tallies, according to the Brookings Institution, because most are multi-racial and often end up classified as another ethnic group. Some families are also reluctant to identify themselves on government forms.
In California, most Native students are concentrated in the northern end of the state. Schools and universities there are also trying to build trust with local tribes and support Native students academically.
At Chico State, McBride-Praetorius and the staff at the office of tribal relations work to ease students’ transition to college and encourage them to maintain their ties with home, so they feel less conflicted about leaving.
For local Native middle and high school students and their families, the staff arranges regular college visits, dinners and activities to meet current college students, and exposes them to college and career options they might not have known about, such as arts or gaming. The staff also arranges for a few dozen students to attend a weeklong American Indian Summer Institute, held in conjunction with Butte College and UC Davis, which introduces them to public college options in California.
For students already enrolled in college, her goal is to keep them there.
The office recently opened a tribal relations center where students can socialize, study and relax. Each year it hosts a Native graduation celebration and a Native American College Motivation Day featuring workshops and information about college life. Speakers, cultural events and activities with nearby Butte College are among the regular activities for Native students.
Ms. UCR Powwow Princess 2023-24, Tishmal Herrera, dances at a performance during Native American Celebration Day at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Sept. 22, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
Still, generations of trauma create huge barriers, McBride-Praetorius said.
“For our community, education was literally used to take our children, our language, our culture. In a way it’s another genocide,” McBride-Praetorius said. “Given that history, there is a lack of trust. It won’t be easy to reverse that.”
Schools can help, she said, by hiring more Native staff, promoting positive contributions by Native people, and broadening curriculum in all subjects so it includes the history and culture of Native Americans, especially local tribes.
A new Native curriculum
Under a law passed in 2021, California is crafting a comprehensive K-12 Native American curriculum, apart from what’s already included in ethnic studies or U.S. history. The San Diego and Humboldt County offices of education are leading the effort and collaborating with tribes, teachers, curriculum experts and Native American studies professors.
When it’s released next year, the optional curriculum will integrate Native history and culture into all subjects, even math. Younger students, for example, can learn to count using acorns, and older students can learn geometry by studying Native basket patterns.
The curriculum is meant to complement the state’s new ethnic studies requirement, which includes a segment on Native Americans, and the updated fourth grade history curriculum, which focuses less on the Spanish missions and more on the history and contributions of Native Californians.
“While we have a long way to go, the model curriculum is a step in the right direction,” Smart said. “We intend on continuing this work well past 2025 in hopes of developing curriculum as comprehensive and unique as the cultures who are from here.”
San Pasqual Valley Unified’s recent efforts to prepare students for college have shown signs of success. Four years ago, only six students from the high school went on to community college, and none went to either the University of California or California State University. Last year, 22 students went to either two- or four-year colleges, with $136,000 in scholarship funds. This year, 35 students have applied to college and 98% completed financial aid applications.
Hard choices
Karra Johnson, a senior at San Pasqual Valley, is among those who hopes to go to college next year. She’d like to study psychology, inspired in part by the mental health challenges she sees in her community. But she’s reluctant to move away because she’s afraid of losing ties to the culture and her extended family.
“I feel this big responsibility. People are relying on us,” she said. “It can feel overwhelming.”
Henrietta Vasquez, also a senior, echoed Johnson’s sentiments.
“I’ve always wanted to leave for better opportunities. But if you leave, it can be a shock. People don’t always root for you because they don’t want you to leave,” she said. “That impacts me a little but my mother says the chance to overcome generational trauma outweighs the negative impacts. And seeing people come back gives me hope. Someone else did it, I can do it too.”
First: A mosaic with Hispanic and Native imagery on display at the high school campus of the San Pasqual Valley Unified School District. Last: St. Thomas Indian Mission at Tribal Hill, where the Quechan tribal offices are located on Dec. 12, 2023. Photos by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters
Their classmate, Dasan Lynch, was born and raised on the Fort Yuma reservation, surrounded by family. He said that leaving — gaining new perspectives and experiences, as well as an education — will be the best way to help his community.
But there is a wisp of doubt.He’s a little nervous about leaving the reservation, where every road, every home, every vista is familiar and filled with memories. And he’s very close to his father, an undertaker at the local cemetery, who teaches him Quechan traditions and language.
“I’m going to worry about missing things, missing events, missing people,” he said. “I have a strong connection here. But I’m young and I want to explore the world, see what’s out there. Then come back.”
Fittingly, there’s no word in Quechan for goodbye. There’s only nyayu`untixa – “see you soon.”
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Data reporter Erica Yee contributed to this reporting.
CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
School buses outside the San Pasqual Unified School District in Winterhaven in Imperial County on Dec. 12, 2023. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters
When Denise Massey’s daughter was 6 years old, she put the girl, who has Down Syndrome, on a van every morning for speech therapy in El Centro: 100 miles round trip, sometimes braving 120-degree heat, monsoons and severe dust storms known in the desert as haboobs.
Thirteen years later she’s still making that daily trek, because her Imperial County school district is so small it can’t offer a full gamut of special education services, and so remote that there’s nothing closer.
“It was hard at first. My daughter was really tired, and she’d act out,” Massey said. “But it’s been worth it because it’s so important my daughter gets the services she needs.”
Special education is only one of the challenges in rural districts like San Pasqual Valley Unified, a 591-student district in the southeastern corner of the state where Massey’s daughter, Annabelle, is enrolled. Transportation, recruiting teachers, finding contractors, tracking mountains of paperwork and complying with state regulations have become so burdensome that superintendents in those districts are begging for relief. Meanwhile, students like Annabelle sometimes miss out on opportunities that their peers in more populated areas take for granted.
Seventh grade students prepare to take a test on laptops at the San Pasqual Valley Unified School District at Winterhaven in Imperial County on Dec. 12, 2023. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters
“We have a system that works through an urban and suburban lens, but leaves rural schools behind,” said Rindy DeVoll, executive director of the California Rural Ed Network, which advocates for California’s hundreds of small, remote schools. “Everyone in education has challenges, but they are amplified for rural districts.”
Rural vs. urban outcomes
Despite California being the most populous state, 35% of its school districts are considered rural – which the state defines as having fewer than 600 students and located more than 25 miles from a city. Nearly every county, including some of the most populous, has rural schools, even Los Angeles.
By most measures, rural students lag significantly behind their urban and suburban peers. They’re well behind the state average in meeting English language arts and math standards, and their graduation rate is 79% — 12 percentage points lower than the state average, according to a CalMatters analysis of California Education Department data. Only 29% complete the classwork required to attend California’s public universities, compared to 50% statewide. The college-going rate is nearly 20 percentage points lower than the state average.
Despite the hardships, superintendents said, state political leaders rarely consider the needs of rural districts when crafting policies.
“There are those who don’t understand that California extends past Woodland (near Sacramento),” said Jeff Harris, superintendent of the Del Norte Unified School District and chair of a coalition of the state’s six single-district counties. “There’s a lot of well-intended legislation that gives no thought to the impact on rural areas.”
A place of extremes
San Pasqual Valley Unified is near Winterhaven, adjacent to the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian reservation on the California-Arizona border. The area is a patchwork of tribal and non-tribal lands, arid desert and lush green lettuce fields, opulent casinos and a dilapidated trailer encampment called the Jungle. The Colorado River, lined with reeds and cottonwoods, winds slowly to the east. Atop a hill in the center of town sits a historic Catholic mission, a white stucco reminder of the days when the Spanish and Americans colonized the area.
Like many rural communities, Winterhaven struggles with poverty and drug abuse. The town has four cannabis dispensaries and a strip club, but no grocery store. Yet there are also signs of hope and renewal. Cultural festivals are well attended, a modern health clinic recently opened, and a thriving new cafe serves as a community hub.
San Pasqual Valley Unified is also a center of the community. Generations of families have attended school in its tidy cinder block buildings, where the elementary, middle and high schools share one campus. Native American cultural festivals, San Pasqual Valley High Warriors basketball games and science fairs can draw the whole community, and signs in Spanish, English and Quechan adorn school walls and hallways.
First: St. Thomas Indian Mission in Winterhaven. Second: A field of crops near San Pasqual Valley Unified School District. Third: The high school campus of the San Pasqual Valley Unified. Last: A sign showing the word “door” in English, Quechan and Spanish at the San Pasqual Valley Unified. Dec. 12, 2023. Photos by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters
But challenges persist, and state laws can sometimes make things even harder. Last year, for example, California mandated that school districts switch to electric school buses by 2035. In San Pasqual Valley, which covers 1,800 square miles of sand and scrub in the Sonoran Desert, the two-hour charge on an electric bus barely gets you through the morning route.
“It makes no sense,“ said Superintendent Katrina Leon. “I’m all in favor of clean energy, but there’s no way we can comply with this. There has to be some flexibility for districts like us.”
Leon applied for a waiver for the electric bus requirement and is hoping the state grants it — for her students’ sake. One of the district’s bus stops is in a small community called Senator Wash, a remote pumping station on the Colorado River 17 miles away. Leon fears what could happen if an electric bus loses its charge or breaks down, stranding students and the driver in the middle of the desert in extreme heat with no cell service.
“It’s a safety issue,” she said. “We just can’t take that chance.”
Other rural districts face the same challenge. In Mono County, Superintendent Stacey Adler worries whether an electric bus could ascend 8,100-foot Conway Summit in a snowstorm, getting children safely to school. In Del Norte, one of the bus routes runs 70 miles round-trip, on a rugged backroad, and it’s far too risky to send an electric bus loaded with students through the mountains every day, Harris said.
Limited help from government
Small and rural districts can apply for some help through the federal Rural Education and Achievement grant programs. They could use the money for salaries, internet broadband, safe drinking water or other expenses. But the money isn’t much, and not all districts receive funds. In 2022-23, 89 small districts and schools in California shared $5.2 million, with some receiving as little as $6,000. An additional $5 million is available for rural school facilities through a federal grant the state recently won.
The Legislature hasn’t been much help in recent years. Most rural legislators are Republicans, the minority party in both the state Senate and Assembly, with whom urban Democrats often have little incentive to cooperate, said Assemblyman James Gallagher, a Republican from the Chico area who heads the Assembly Republican Caucus.
“California policy largely does not take into account the needs of rural areas. It’s geared toward wealthier, coastal communities. There might be some lip service, but inland, less wealthy areas are stuck with some pretty expensive burdens,” Gallagher said.
DeVoll, of the California Rural Ed Network, said the state can help rural districts by streamlining the bureaucratic paperwork, assisting them in applying for grants and offering more flexibility with regulations.
Harris’ single-district counties group, meanwhile, is pushing legislators for state assistance to build affordable housing for school employees, allow reciprocal agreements with neighboring states to hire teachers and relax student-administrator ratios to accommodate schools that might only have a few dozen students.
“It’s not a Del Norte County issue. It’s not even a Northern California issue,” Harris said. “It’s an issue of creating equal opportunities for every child, no matter where they live. In small and rural communities, that isn’t always the case and it has to change.”
Students walk through the elementary school campus at the San Pasqual Valley Unified School District at Winterhaven in Imperial County on Dec. 12, 2023. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters
In San Pasqual Valley, special education is particularly vexing because Yuma, Arizona, only a few miles east, has a plethora of special education services. But they’re off limits to students in San Pasqual Valley because the teachers and therapists are licensed in Arizona, not California, unless the state grants a waiver.
So students like Annabelle, with special needs, either have to rely on virtual services or travel long distances. But in places still more remote than San Pasqual Valley, such as Mono County, even having that choice seems like a luxury.
“We can’t even bus a child for special ed services, because there’s nowhere to bus them to,” Adler said, noting that Reno is three hours away and Bakersfield five, and in winter the roads are often impassable.
‘Our teachers can’t afford to live here’
But for Adler, Mono County’s school superintendent, the most daunting challenge isn’t special education, it’s housing — or the lack of it. The county is home to Mammoth Mountain, a popular ski resort, and much of the available housing is vacation rentals or second homes.
“Our teachers can’t afford to live here. We get fabulous candidates, but they can’t find a place to live. A lot of them have to turn down the job,” Adler said. “And when you have to hire more specialized positions, it becomes even more challenging.”
Rural schools also find it daunting to hire contractors — especially in districts that border another state. Under California law, districts must hire contractors licensed in California. So even if a district finds a qualified roofer in the next town, for example, the district can’t hire them if the next town happens to be in Arizona, Nevada or Oregon. Few contractors are willing to accept a job that might be hours away, which means many jobs are left undone.
For example, last year the state made two moves to help schools combat extreme heat — a significant issue in San Pasqual Valley, where temperatures can hover in the 100s for weeks on end. In July, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced $47 million for schools to replace pavement with trees and plants, and in October, he signed legislation making it easier for schools to build shade structures.
Although both initiatives would provide welcome relief for San Pasqual Valley, Leon said it was almost impossible to find California-based contractors to do the work.
“We all go into Yuma every single day. It is not a big deal,” Leon said. “Yuma is our community. It makes no sense that we can’t hire there.”
Superintendent Katrina León poses inside her office at the San Pasqual Unified School District at Winterhaven in Imperial County on Dec. 12, 2023. León took the position in April 2021. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters
Harris has the same problem in Del Norte, which is close to Brookings, Oregon, but off-limits for hiring without applying for waivers, which is time-consuming, complicated and sometimes unsuccessful.
Borders and barriers
San Pasqual Valley faces another border challenge, as well: Mexico. A wall traverses the district’s southern boundary, with the Andrade border crossing just a few miles from the campus. Several dozen students commute through the crossing from Los Algodones, Mexico to attend school. Many are U.S. citizens who live part-time with family in Mexico, and some are children of Mexican farmworkers who travel across the border to toil in Imperial County’s lettuce fields.
The district’s school buses don’t cross the border, so students rely on rides from their parents. Waits at the border can be long and unpredictable, which means students might have to leave home at 5 a.m. to make it to school by 8 a.m. In addition, the border closes at 10 p.m., which restricts students’ ability to play sports, perform in school plays or hang out with friends on weekends.
Borders can seem like arbitrary lines dividing communities, creating barriers in many aspects of daily life, Leon said.
“Borders are not a thing here. Most of our families have some connection to Mexico,” she said, noting that some employees rely on Mexican health insurance. “When we drive across a border, nothing happens. Flashing lights don’t go off. It’s just part of life here.”
A sacrifice, but ‘worth it’
Trailers at the Sleepy Hollow RV Park, which is just a half-mile away from Los Algodones, Mexico, at Winterhaven in Imperial County on Dec. 12, 2023. At capacity, San Pasqual Valley Unified School District gets about 40 students from this trailer park. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters
Despite the challenges, rural schools can offer benefits that are almost unheard of in urban and suburban schools: tight-knit communities where everyone’s rooting for you.
Micah Ericson, a senior at Mono County’s Mammoth High School, said he appreciates the camaraderie he’s experienced at his 350-student school. He plays football, basketball and baseball, and takes online college classes through Cerro Coso College in Kern County. His previous high school in Los Angeles County had 4,000 students — about a third of the population of Mono County — and sports were far too competitive for Ericson to join anything but the wrestling team.
“It’s just more relaxed here, and it feels like there’s more opportunities,” Ericson said. “I really like the social aspect. You walk around town, and you know a little bit about everybody.”
Ericson plans to move away to attend college next year, and feels he’s well prepared academically as well as socially.
For Denise Massey, Annabelle’s mother, moving away is unthinkable. Her family is there, and as a member of the Quechan tribe, she feels a deep connection to the area. So even when Annabelle needed speech therapy, Massey felt it was better to put her on a van every day to El Centro than move.
That decision was exhausting for the entire family, including Massey’s two older children. Massey switched to the graveyard shift at a local hospital so she could drive Annabelle, when necessary. And Annabelle, stressed from the long commute and being away from home so long, sometimes had meltdowns.
Now 18, she’s adjusted and has benefited greatly from the special attention she receives in El Centro, Massey said. Outgoing and confident, Annabelle has a slew of friends and is always giving someone a hug or a high five.
“She’s our little superstar,” Massey said. “So it’s been worth it, but we did have to build our whole lives around it. … I wish we had services closer. I think kids in rural areas deserve the same education that other kids get.”
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Data reporter Erica Yee contributed to this reporting.
CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
Fast food workers cheer before Gov. Gavin Newsom signs legislation boosting wages to $20 an hour, starting in April, during a press conference at SEIU Local 721 in Los Angeles on Sept. 28, 2023. Photo by Alisha Jucevic for CalMatters
Both sides billed the high-profile California fast food deal last year as a resolution to two years ofescalating political tensions.
But a month before the new wage — $20 an hour for workers at fast food chains with 60 or more locations nationally — goes into effect, the temporary truce is unraveling.
As the Legislature pushes through a bill exempting fast food restaurants in airports, hotels and convention centers, Republican lawmakers who had vehemently pushed back on the wage hike are calling for the deal to be investigated, after Bloomberg reported that Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed for a bakery exemption that benefited a donor who owns two dozen Panera locations in California.
On Thursday, Newsom’s office denied the story and said their lawyers believe Panera and other chain bakeries aren’t actually exempt — a decision that could lead numerous additional businesses to scramble to prepare for a wage hike. In a Bloomberg story Friday, billionaire Greg Flynn says he did not seek a special exemption, though he met with the governor’s staff along with other restaurant owners to suggest a carve-out for “fast casual” restaurants. On Saturday, the California Restaurant Association weighed in, saying there was never any discussion of any brand seeking an exemption, including Panera. And in an interview with KNBC aired Sunday, Newsom, himself, called the report “absurd.”
The Service Employees International Union, which pushed for the legislation, said it agreed with Newsom’s reasoning. Senate Republican leader Brian Jones called for scrapping the fast food agreement altogether.
The renewed fights have moved to the local level, too.
Some franchise owners are cutting jobs in advance of the minimum wage increase, while workers have begun pushing for additional benefits in San Jose and Los Angeles, prompting businesses to gear up to lobby back.
Worker advocates are also pledging to push for job security measures once a first-in-the-nation fast food regulatory council (another part of the deal) is in place. On Friday, Newsom announced his seven appointees to the council, including Chairperson Nicholas Hardeman, chief of staff to state Senate leader emeritus Toni Atkins. The governor’s other picks are a mix of franchisees, workers and others.
And some McDonald’s franchise owners, who have complained they were frozen out from last year’s deal-making, are retaliating against state lawmakers who supported it as they seek other public offices in Tuesday’s primary. The new California Alliance of Family Owned Businesses PAC formed earlier this year as an offshoot of prior lobbying by owners of local McDonald’s restaurants.
Its opening salvo: attack mailers against Assemblymembers Chris Holden, a Pasadena Democrat running for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and Kevin McCarty, a Sacramento Democrat running in a crowded primary for mayor.
“In order to protect our family businesses in California now and into the future, it has become clear that we must more actively engage in politics across the state,” Kerri Harper-Howie, an alliance board member and a McDonald’s owner in Los Angeles County, said in a statement. “Politicians should know that if they agree to carry water for those who threaten our businesses, they will be opposed.”
Holden authored the bill forming a fast food council and mandating the wage hike, while McCarty was one of many Democrats who voted for it. The PAC has spent more than $300,000 against each. McCarty’s campaign manager Andrew Acosta said business owners are “trying to punish him for standing up for workers rights and higher wages.”
The PAC is also spending in an Inland Empire Assembly primary and in favor of Assemblymember Tim Grayson’s bid for the state Senate. Grayson, a Concord Democrat, voted in favor of the fast food deal last year.
The franchisee committee has spent more than $1.8 million so far this year. That’s not much compared to the tens of millions of dollars fast food giants such as McDonald’s and national industry groups poured into a campaign account for the effort to repeal the 2022 fast food law. The referendum was ultimatelypulled from the ballot in last year’s deal. But it indicates the increasing activity of franchise owners in state and local politics.
Marisol Sanchez, who owns 14 McDonald’s restaurants in the High Desert north of San Bernardino and helps run her family’s larger franchise business, said she never got involved in politics before last year. But when SEIU pushed a bill forcing fast food corporations to share liability for labor violations with franchise owners, Sanchez saw “the destruction of the franchise model, and basically … the destruction of my livelihood.”
“It was a quick jumping into action,” she said, which involved meeting with lawmakers and now, contributing to the PAC.
The joint liability bill ultimately became a bargaining chip to force a deal on the $20 wage. Sanchez said franchise owners were the “collateral damage.” She attributes that in part to a prior lack of political organizing by franchise owners.
“We weren’t communicating and organizing,” she said. “I think we took for granted that the community understood that we were not all corporate-owned restaurants.”
She said she’s always tried to offer starting wages of $1 more than the minimum wage, and had been in the middle of an expansion in recent years, buoyed in part by more Californians moving inland during the COVID pandemic. But she’s cutting back in advance of the wage hike, putting off a drive-thru remodel and slowing down hiring.
The union that pushed for the deal criticized the new PAC, but said it would be unsuccessful.
“It’s shameful for these multi-billion dollar corporations to attack these pro-worker champions — and voters are going to see right through it,” Arnulfo De La Cruz, president of SEIU Local 2015, said in a statement.
Restaurant giants and a handful of local franchise owners have also registered this year to lobby in San Jose, where the new Fast Food Workers Union is pursuing a city ordinance mandating employers provide paid time off, predictable scheduling and “know your rights” training.
The union in recent weeks accused one city council member, David Cohen, of reconsidering his support in response to industry influence. Several franchise owners this month contributed to a new PAC whose main spending so far has been to send $18,000 to another political action committee that has bought ads against Cohen’s opponent in his re-election bid.
The contributions were first reported by San Jose Spotlight. Cohen’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but he told Spotlight he hadn’t withdrawn any support and was only considering if the proposed ordinance would work.
Fast food workers rally at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Aug. 31, 2023. Photo by Rahul Lal for CalMatters
Celeste Perez, a Burger King shift leader in San Jose who has been advocating for the ordinance, said she wants a firm commitment from council members and accused Cohen of shutting workers like her out after meeting with industry lobbyists.
Perez, 43, makes $17.75 an hour and said the wage hike to $20 in April was supposed to help her keep up with inflation. This year the restaurant cut her hours by five a week due to the upcoming wage increase and slow sales at the beginning of the year, she said, but she still has the same amount of work to do, and often deals with threatening customers.
She wants to afford to take a family vacation for the first time in seven or eight years, or at least attend her son’s soccer games, she said. “It’s really important for us to keep (moving) forward, not backward,” she said. “I think $20 is only one step.”
On Friday, the union called for a similar proposal in Los Angeles. Neither ordinance has been formally introduced yet.
As part of last year’s deal, the state’s new fast food council is prohibited from enacting new policies on time off and scheduling — and the deal prohibited cities from raising fast food wages beyond the new statewide minimum. But there’s nothing to stop local governments from pursuing other regulations, which would furtherraise costs for operators.
The proposals and the bakery exemption controversy are likely to be more fuel for franchise owners to fight back.
Brian Hom, the owner of two Vitality Bowls health food restaurants in San Jose, said he’s begun using his relationships with city council members to push back on the local proposal. He said he already sets employee schedules two weeks in advance, but is wary that a predictable scheduling requirement may prevent him from asking workers to come in last-minute if someone calls out sick.
Hom said he has the option to open a third store, but has declined to do so with the prospect of new requirements. He said he and other franchise owners are discussing with the company how much to raise prices in April, and is hoping that’s enough to cover the wage increase without cutting staff or their hours.
“Businesses are going to speak up,” he said. “The $20 is already going to cause restaurants to close.”
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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
