Every week, on Sunday morning, I kiss a black man’s hand in front of several hundred people. And I’ve been doing that for twenty years. It happens in the middle of our Sunday service at a moment called the ‘Kiss of Peace’. We do this because, in Eastern Orthodoxy, it’s considered a deep hypocrisy to worship together while claiming to be ‘perfectly united, with no divisions’ (1 Cor. 1:10) while being upset with someone or holding a grudge.

As summer merges into the upcoming school year, parents, teachers, students and staff are all caught in an ever-changing wave machine of scientific advice, county-wide policies and direction from state and local governmental agencies that will impact the education of our children. Our two local school districts—San Lorenzo Valley and Scotts Valley—are doing their level best to keep up with each new set of instructions that emerge on a daily basis. How do we even begin to keep our children safe while providing them with the quality education they deserve? From canceled science camps to homecomings on hold, the leaders from each district weigh in on what 2020/2021 is going to look like for our area students. From Scotts Valley USD Superintendent Tanya Krause and Assistant Superintendent Michelle Stewart:Press Banner: Do you have the estimated start and end dates of the school year?  Krause and Stewart: August 24, 2020-June 9, 2021 PB: Given your experience with transitioning to online learning this past spring, what do you see as positives and negatives for the fall semester?K&S: With the current status of COVID-19, all of our sites are starting the year with distance instruction. Distance instruction is different from the remote learning that SVUSD provided when we closed schools in March of 2020. Moving forward, there will be daily face-to-face interaction, instruction, and structure, regardless of whether students are meeting in person or in a distance environment. We will ensure that all students have access to technology, and we have processes in place to ensure that students are engaged and participating. Obviously, we know that in-person instruction is best, and we have plans to transition to bringing students back to school in some form, once we are permitted by public health. PB: Are there extra trainings provided to staff to help navigate this new learning environment?  K&S: Yes, we have offered weekly trainings over the summer for our teachers in using technology to support our students and families through distance instruction. We have follow-up trainings planned in August and throughout the year. Additionally, there will be a series of parent trainings that support students in these unchartered times. PB: How are your staff providing support to at-risk students (students with IEPs, those with financial hardships, etc.)? K&S: We are still working on this. We are still awaiting state guidance and allowances to work with individual students for assessments, IEP services, and counseling. Once we have clearer guidelines from the state, we will work with our teachers and service providers to support our students. PB: How are seniors who had counted on sports-related scholarships managing the process? K&S: We are not sure at this point - we have been focusing on whether sports are going to be allowed and if so, how and when. PB: What are your plans for end-of-year graduation activities (if the virus continues to make traditional ceremonies too risky)?K&S: It is far too soon to be able to answer that question. And from San Lorenzo Valley USD, Superintendent Laurie Bruton:Press Banner: Do you have the estimated start and end dates of the school year?Laurie Bruton: SLV will start on Thursday Aug. 13. Last day of school is June 4.  PB: Given your experience with transitioning to online learning this past spring, what do you see as positives and negatives for the fall semester?LB: SLV will be considering the online learning opportunity as Mission Possible. We will be doing synchronized interactive learning for the school period. We will also offer small group instruction in the afternoons to support all learners. SLV will offer grade level orientation, parent and student online training sessions, staff development, and student assessment periods to help students transition to Distance Learning. PB: Are there extra trainings provided to staff to help navigate this new learning environment?LB: SLV will participate in a professional development in Social Emotional Learning and how to utilize online learning to connect to students in this time of COVID19. We will also train staff, parents, and students in online systems and school routines for Distance Learning. PB: How are your staff providing support to at-risk students (students with IEPs, those with financial hardships, etc.)? LB: Afternoon small group instruction, tutoring, and intervention sessions for all students needing additional time and instruction. Extracurriculars like drama, music, athletics, and social clubs have been placed on hold unless they can be done online. SLV offers both academic and mental health counselors, support from staff and school administrators, and daily work in classrooms to support social emotional issues at this time. PB: How are seniors who had counted on sports-related scholarships managing the process? LB: We are doing our best to support all students during this difficult time. Teachers are utilizing discussion groups, writing, and problem solving to help students adjust to changing conditions.  

 The soil is made of butterfly wings, dinosaur teeth, pumpkin seeds, lizard skins, and fallen leaves.  Put your hands in the soil and touch yesterday, and all that will be left of tomorrow shall return so that new life can celebrate this day." -Betty Peck Soil is a wonderful thing. It grows our food, anchors our trees and provides a foundation under our feet. But it sure can be hard to work with when it's not the soft, crumbly loam that many plants prefer. It's amazing that anything grows in some of the soils here in the Santa Cruz mountains. Some folks near Quail Hollow garden in an ancient sea bed of sand and there are others who have such heavy clay in their gardens that you wonder how anything survives. I used to live up under the trees in Felton where the soil was heavy clay. Now in Bonny Doon, I garden in gritty soil. Both soils have their challenges, but I think clay soil is the hardest to deal with. Soil that doesn’t drain quickly during the winter is especially challenging. Where’s that perfect loam when you need it?  Some soils in Boulder Creek requires a pickax to break up enough to plant. Sound familiar? Although rich in nutrients, clay soil requires compost to provide the environment necessary for beneficial microbes, worms and other critters could do their work and aerate the soil. A thick layer of mulch spread over the soil helps to preserve soil structure and prevent it from packing down again. There are plants that are tolerant of clay soils but California native plants won’t tolerate standing water for any length of time. They’ll die from either root rot or suffocation as saturated soils prevent oxygen from getting to plant roots. You can plant on a slope where the water is unlikely to saturate the ground around the plant. Search for native plants that will survive slow draining soils at Calscape -  https://calscape.org. Using the Advanced Search Tool you can see which plants tolerate different conditions. Enter your address to find plants for all kinds of sun, moisture and drainage situations. I found 48 plants native to Boulder Creek that tolerate slow drainage on the website. From ceanothus to manzanita to California fuchsia to Douglas iris you’re sure to find plants that look great and perform well.  There are plants from similar environments in other parts of the world that would also do well if you garden in heavy soil. One of my favorite trees for these conditions is the strawberry tree. Also hackberry, ash, gingko and paperbark trees work well also. Shrubs to try to include; flowering quince, bottlebrush, Australian fuchsia, smoke tree, escallonia, pineapple guava, mahonia, osmanthus, Italian buckthorn, elderberry and vitex. Easy perennials for clay soils are yarrow, bergenia, carex grasses, fortnight lily, coreopsis, echinacea, nepeta, salvia, teucrium and verbena to name just a few. If you're not familiar with some of these plants, it's easy to see what they look like by Googling images. It's what I do to see a plant full grown and not just a line drawing or a close-up of the flower.  So you see, there are plants that will be successful even in heavy, clay soil, you just have to pick the right ones.     

As of August 3rd, 36 percent of Coronavirus cases in Santa Cruz County were contracted by 18-34 year olds, by far the largest age group of virus carriers.  In response to this sudden and large case increase amongst the County’s younger population, the Santa Cruz County Business Council, Santa Cruz Works, and the Small Business Development Center of Cabrillo College put together a town hall on July 29th.  For a little less than two hours, Dr. Gail Newell, the Santa Cruz County Health Official, and Dr. Marm Kilpatrick, UCSC Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, advised youth to “#dontkillgrandma.”

Childcare has proven a vital resource these past few months.  It’s also been constantly evolving with health mandates, forcing parents into difficult decisions and some services to close entirely.  The eternal favorite summer childcare, camp, which is generally bountiful in our beautiful valleys, has become a scarce commodity. As summer wears on, summer camps have finally stabilized their protocols and found a small patch of certainty.  I checked up on several camps to learn more about their struggles and accomplishments throughout this strange summer.

Sandy Oppenheim, a Ben Lomond resident since 1995, always enjoys a game of tennis in Highlands Park, her “home court.”   She plays every week and gushes, “My Ben Lomond life is so lucky, I couldn’t be happier than here, in this beautiful spot.”  Before her penchant for Highlands’ courts, she won championships in the United States Tennis Association (USTA), coached at Soquel High School, and played at the La Madrona courts for several years.  However, she’s “never played a game in a more beautiful place than Highlands.”