LAKEPORT— The Lake County Office of Education held its monthly board meeting on Wednesday. The meeting began with a discussion of a variety of new policies coming down the pipeline. The first was the flexibility of excused absences for students’ religious events and holidays.
“These excused absences will be crucial and give the opportunity to our diverse communities to have the freedom to rejoice in their cultural events and traditions”, said Superintendent, Brock Falkenberg. Officials additionally noted this will hopefully eliminate the fear of academic consequences while neglecting their celebrations. Students will be given the opportunity to make up work and face no penalties for missing days.
A second item discussed was gun mandates for parents to release how many guns are in their household when their students are registered for the school year. With the increase in school shootings throughout the country, this may help to ensure a tragedy of that nature doesn’t happen here in Lake County.
The discussion of artificial intelligence was brought up by Dr. Mark Cooper, a board member and dentist in Clearlake. The discussion included concerns about the impact that AI would have on Lake County teachers and students. Topics included plagiarism of papers written for students and teachers being replaced. It was tabled as a point to review next month by adding I.T. to the conversation. In regard to the safety of students, a proclamation of Child Abuse Month was made by board member Melissa Kinsel to acknowledge the 3.6 million children reported as abused every year.
In a unanimous vote by the board, board member Nancy Hudson was given the go-ahead for being a delegate member for Region 1. Hudson was raised in Lakeport and graduated from Clear Lake High School. Officials noted that Hudson will be a great representation of Lake County since she first-hand has seen our county through changes, natural disasters, and economic challenges.
The board also met to discuss the donations given to LCOE for the month. The funds given to them are usually supplied by Lake County organizations, partners of LCOE, or private donors. This month, LCOE received over $4,000 with funds being used for the Early Childhood Educator event happening in mid-May and Foster Care Awareness month. Officials noted that anyone interested in donating money as well, they can call (707) 262-4100.
A big agenda item is the superintendent’s report given by Brock Falkenberg. He discussed his recent trip to Washington DC with other superintendents in Northern California. They met with the Federal Communications Commission and talked about the harm of cyberterrorism and the need for more measures related to cybersecurity for students.
A big issue brought up by Falkenberg and others was the vacancies in the Head Start programs throughout various counties. With the increase in the California minimum wage as of January 2023 to $15 an hour, many families are past the income limit on paper, but in reality, are only surviving. Lake County faces this issue directly and education officials hope changes will be made so all students, despite financial constraints, can get a good education. Falkenberg said that he is also anticipating keeping the COVID funding active until 2024 to provide more opportunities for students and stated that “administrators in Lake County have been doing great in utilizing these funds to their full potential.”
