Graduation Celebration 2017
EDITOR: Healdsburg High School (HHS) Graduation Celebration is an annual all night party for graduating seniors, which is fun, safe and alcohol and drug free. Â
All 150 upcoming graduates are invited to this popular all night event at Driven Raceway in Rohnert Park on graduation night, June 9. Graduates are provided transportation, a great venue, unique entertainment and activities and delicious food. To view the fun had by previous graduates, check out the 2016 video on the Healdsburg High School Graduation Celebration Facebook page.
Since Graduation Celebration’s founding in our school district 25 years ago, there have been no serious alcohol related incidents on HHS graduation night.
Graduation Celebration is an all volunteer effort. Volunteers raise the funds for this event from local school families, service organizations and businesses. To date, we have secured approximately half of the 2017 event’s $25,000 budget.
Community financial support of this program is more important now than ever, especially in light of the recent shift in EScrip funding away from programs like Graduation Celebration, which previously represented a third of Graduation Celebration’s budget.
Please consider contributing to this event. We invite you to share in our commitment to a fun, safe and sober HHS 2017 Graduation. Contact me at su*********@co*****.net with any questions.
Susanne Esquivel, President/HHS Parent
Healdsburg
Time for supervisors to act
EDITOR: Our county supervisors should take a cue from the Healdsburg City Council’s unanimous support for a limitation on the concentration of tasting rooms in the downtown area. It was realization that Healdsburg is at a tipping point with the saturation of alcohol establishments.
Likewise in the rural areas surrounding Healdsburg, the Board of Supervisors directed county planners to propose regulations to better manage the impacts of an overconcentration of tasting rooms and events along Westside Road and Dry Creek Valley, areas with some the highest concentrations of tasting rooms anywhere in the County, with 29 and nearly 60 tasting rooms respectively. Similar to how tasting rooms have driven up rents in town, issuing ever more use permits in the county drives up prices for agricultural lands, as it confers an additional value for its commercial potential over simply that for farm land. In addition, each tasting room must provide parking lots, based on the size of events, taking farmland out of production.
Finally, more tasting rooms mean more buildings, offices, traffic and noise in rural areas — all of which degrade one of our most precious assets for locals and tourists alike — rural character. Residents seem to want to maintain Healdsburg’s small town charm. It is equally important to protect the rural character of our surrounding area. We must demand that our supervisors demonstrate the same wisdom and leadership in dealing with the over commercialization of our rural areas, as our city council did with the overconcentration of tasting rooms in town.
Marc Bommersbach
Healdsburg
Heaps of reasons to support Gold
EDITOR: As 30 year residents of Healdsburg we are moved to write our first letter because we feel so strongly about electing Leah Gold to fill the vacant seat on the city council. There are heaps of reasons why Leah Gold deserves our support for this position, including her exceptionally effective track record during previous service as council member and mayor.
We would like to remind our fellow Healdsburgers of a few of these accomplishments relative to critical community enhancements including: working to negotiate purchase of the 40-acre Fox Pond section of the Healdsburg Ridge Open Space Preserve (above Parkland Farms) so many hikers use daily; advocating for and helping to plan the Foss Creek bicycle/hiking path (loved by our dogs at least 3 times a week); and working with the parks and recreation department to create easy neighborhood access to Badger Park.
Clearly Leah Gold’s past performance demonstrates the calm, respectfully collaborative temperament required to effectively address the myriad of challenges our council faces both near and longer term to ensure the Healdsburg of the future continues to be the gem of a town we are fortunate enough to call home.
Denise and Kevin Feldman
Healdsburg
True courage
EDITOR: On behalf of all the parents and volunteers who participated in the season opener for The Wonder League, a special needs childrens’ event, I would like to personally thank the Healdsburg High School baseball team, and the events organizer, Mr. George Lawson. The kindness and love shown by these individuals made the day a roaring success, and the smiles on everyone’s face spoke a thousand words. A collaboration of the Rotary Club of Healdsburg Sunrise and Rotary Cares, the Rotarians and their parent volunteers made sure every child felt like a superstar, and the high school students were fantastic in their efforts to assure each child felt successful. We have six more games scheduled for the next six Saturdays, starting at 10:30 and playing at Foss Creek Community Center on Healdsburg Avenue in Healdsburg. I invite each and every one of you to come out and support this worthwhile endeavor. You will get to witness what true courage really is.
Robert Redner
Cloverdale Rotary Club
Celebrating teachers and classified
EDITOR: Education is a force for good in the lives of Sonoma County children. Our teachers and school support staff constantly adapt to best fit the needs of our changing student population and prepare them for success a rapidly evolving world.
For this reason, the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) applauds the hard work of Sonoma County’s 3,700-plus teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week, May 1-5. SCOE also celebrates the county’s dedicated classified school employees during the week of May 21-27. This week provides an opportunity to appreciate the important contributions made by non-credentialed employees, such as the bus driver who brings your child to school, the friendly face who greets her in the front office when she arrives and the person behind the lunch counter who serves her a warm meal.
A series of teacher appreciation posters on the back of Sonoma County Transit buses are now being displayed throughout Sonoma County. The posters include photographs of 13 educators chosen to represent their colleagues for this promotional campaign. The teachers are from local elementary schools and SCOE special education programs. (Last year’s teacher appreciation week promotion featured middle and high school teachers.)
The bus poster project was coordinated by SCOE and supported by community partners, including Clover Stornetta Farms; Community First Credit Union; Exchange Bank; Girard, Edwards, Stevens, & Tucker LLP; Kaiser Permanente; Ray Morgan Company; Redwood Credit Union; Redwood Empire Schools’ Insurance Group (RESIG); Santa Rosa Junior College; School & College Legal Services; and Sonoma Clean Power.
I believe it’s important for all of us to let Sonoma County’s teachers and classified school staff know that they are appreciated and valued. They are an essential part of our children’s lives and their work is key to the future of our communities.
Steven D. Herrington, Ph.D.
Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools
