How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
CLEARLAKE – For educator Bill MacDougall, successful education relies on smaller classrooms, and allowing teachers to get to know, understand and nurture their students.
MacDougall knows what he's talking about. For 13 years he's been principal of William C. Carle Continuation High School, which the state Department of Education last week named a model continuation high school for the third time.
“We've been on a good run,” he said.
MacDougall has been an educator for 28 years; for 20 of those years, he's worked in administration. He started his career in a one-room Humboldt County continuation high school.
His belief in nurturing his students has created family bonds. He said that on Thursday one of the students from that one-room schoolhouse walked into Carle to say hello.
Carle's successes in educating at-risk students isn't the result of luck or an accident. MacDougall put together a faculty of five teachers who he said are among the top professionals in the county. They include Steve Hamann, Martha Bakerjian, Verna Rogers, and Alan and Angie Siegel. Keeping the school office running smoothly is secretary Barbara Dye.
All of Carle's teachers have been mentor teachers, or have been selected as a Northern California Continuation Educator of the Year, said MacDougall.
Angie and Alan Siegel were both named county teachers of the year, with Alan Siegel winning State Teacher of the Year honors in 2005.
“This is an amazing group of educators,” MacDougall said.
MacDougall said his team of teachers is crucial to the success of Carle's students. He said he didn't want teachers of average skill.
“I wouldn't want my child to be taught by someone who was an average teacher,” said the father of five, four of them students he welcomed into his family.
MacDougall said the time for education change in the U.S. is now. Schools have gotten too big and impersonal, he said, with teachers expected to educate hundreds of students without being able to get to know them.
MacDougall said Carle, and other continuation schools like it, need to be replicated throughout education. These smaller schools, he said, can try new things and not be afraid to fail, and the result is that they've all come to the same conclusions about the need to focus on students.
At Carle, where there are 95 students this year, MacDougall said they've been able to prove that the formula for successfully reaching students includes smaller teacher-student ratios, with increased emphasis on creating relationships between teachers and students.
“We spend 80 percent of our staff time weekly talking about each and every student,” said MacDougall.
They don't focus on tardies and policies, he said, but on what actually works for the kids.
MacDougall said it's also important to look at parents and students as clients, and for teachers to be mindful of the “gift and responsibility” of time with students, which becomes even more crucial for kids whose parents are absent.
He said his staff is constantly amazed by their students.
These are kids, said MacDougall, who, in many cases, have had terrible hardships to overcome. Most come from backgrounds of poverty. Eighty-seven percent of their students receive free or reduced-price lunches, he said.
Students come on a voluntary basis. Many are referred by counselors at other schools, he said, or make the request themselves. They must, however, qualify to attend, which includes showing the proper maturity level and desire to succeed, which can be shown through attendance and a lack of discipline referrals.
Eighty-percent attendance is required at Carle, he said. The students also are required to do community service, he added.
MacDougall said there's only one rule at school: respect.
The result is students who want to connect, and actually like being at school.
During a recent session of Saturday school, at which only two students who needed to make up attendance time were expected to show up, MacDougall said 10 kids came, because they found out school was open and they enjoy the activities there.
That's because the school provides food, shelter and intellectual stimulus, said MacDougall. “Why wouldn't you want to come?”
MacDougall said it takes three things to be a successful adult: show up, put in extra effort and be nice (it doesn't hurt, he said).
“If I can get the kids to do those three things, I know they're going to be successful in their work,” he said.
Part of the school's family atmosphere, included Carle's own cat, Jack, who died last May. MacDougall said Jack wandered into the school several years ago, sick and hungry, and missing an eye and an ear.
With love and care, Jack blossomed. “He was a tremendous symbol of our school,” said MacDougall.
He said it was inspirational to him to see the kids interact with Jack, who brought out their compassion and acceptance.
MacDougall said 95 percent of Carle students go to college, trade school,s the military or directly into employment, a number he believes is high compared to other schools across the county.
The other 5 percent, he said, get constant phone calls and other communication from school staff in order to encourage them toward school or jobs. “We do not let up,” he said.
MacDougall said substance abuse is the No. 1 reason that the members of that 5 percent don't make it. Crank is the most devastating drug by far, he said, followed by alcohol, although the more troubled students abuse several substances.
Although many of Carle's students going to college, MacDougall said they found that many of those same students weren't going back for a second year.
The way to change that, he said, was to go beyond the educational basics and increase the rigor of Carle's curriculum, in order to give students a better foundation. MacDougall credits that decision with giving Carle some of the highest Academic Performance Index scores in the county.
The safe, encouraging atmosphere at Carle isn't just rewarding for the kids; for MacDougall, it's also been a place of growth and reward.
“I have never been in an environment where I have grown more as a human being and as a man,” he said. “You can't help but be a better human being after watching the kids.”
He added, “I'm very, very grateful to be here. It does something for your soul and your spirit, and that's not something that you usually see in schools.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
CLEARLAKE OAKS - The California Highway Patrol has arrested a Clearlake Oaks man who allegedly left the scene after hitting a bicyclist with his vehicle on Saturday.
Josh Dye, public affairs officer for the Clear Lake Area CHP office, reported that Jon Somdahl, 58, of Clearlake Oaks was arrested Monday for felony hit and run.
Somdahl was charged with hitting Joshua Lundquist at 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Dye reported, as Lundquist rode his BMX bicycle on the right shoulder heading eastbound on Highway 20.
Lundquist was just east of Oak Grove Avenue in Clearlake Oaks when he allegedly was struck from behind by Somdahl's vehicle. Dye reported that it was raining when the collision is alleged to have taken place.
Somdahl then allegedly fled the scene, according to Dye's report.
Lundquist was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital where he was treated for his injuries, including head trauma.
CHP Officers Domby and Barnes analyzed the evidence at the scene and developed leads on the suspect vehicle, Dye said.
Their investigation led them to a suspect vehicle at a Clearlake Oaks residence, less than half a mile from where the Saturday collision occurred.
At the residence they located Somdahl, who was arrested and transported to the Lake County Jail, Dye reported.
Somdahl is being held on $10,000 bail, according to the jail's arrest records.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY – A wet and windy Sunday is predicted - but the rains that moved through the county last night should decrease to showers today, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Sacramento.
A breezy Sunday with gusts from the Southwest to 40 mph and showers are predicted during the day on Sunday, with high temperatures to be in the mid to upper 40s.
Snow level will remain around 3,000 feet during the day, with accumulations up to 3 inches over higher elevations according to the NWS. Snow level will drop to 2500 feet overnight, with lows in the mid 30s.
Rain is likely on Monday, with snow levels remaining around 3,000 feet. Highs are expected to be in the mid 40s, lows in the mid 30s.
Colder air is predicted to move into the county Tuesday and Wednesday lowering snow levels.
Contact Terre Logsdon at
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
LUCERNE – State and local officials are taking a close look at the finances of the Lucerne Senior Center, after center board members asked for help in accounting for funds they say came up missing nearly two years ago.
Jim Swatts, the center's executive board president, and J.J. Jackson, the center executive director, both agree that they have been unable to account for between $150,000 and $175,000 in funds from the center prior to taking over leadership of the center in the summer of 2005.
Sheriff Rod Mitchell confirmed this week that an investigation into the center's finances had recently been “revived,” thanks to interest from the Lake County Grand Jury.
Mitchell explained that the center investigation had been opened last year, but that his staff had been unable to continue because homicide and burglary cases had taken precedence, and investigating personnel changed.
The Grand Jury came to Mitchell and asked about what information he had in the investigation, and eventually opened up their own, Mitchell said.
“They're having someone with accounting experience look at it,” he explained.
“It's really the right way to approach a white collar crime-type investigation,” Mitchell added.
Mitchell said his staffers don't have the skills of forensic analysis specific to accounting investigations.
So he and the Grand Jury are collaborating on the investigation. “I'm lending money to help pay for the staffers,” he said.
Mitchell said he's grateful for the Grand Jury's efforts, because “it may provide the resolution that this case needs.”
The District Attorney's Office also is getting involved, said Mitchell. He and DA Jon Hopkins are networking to move the case forward, and Hopkins is lending extra investigators from his department to the effort.
Mitchell would not comment on whether or not the investigation was looking at any specific individuals.
Hopkins confirmed involvement in the case, and said he and Mitchell have discussed working together to finish the investigation.
As to the case's particulars, Hopkins said he could not comment. “I don't want it (the investigation) to run into any problems getting finished,” he said.
Documents in the care of Swatts showed numerous financial oddities, including many checks in large amounts – some has high as $6,000 – written from the center to the center, which then were cashed with no accounting of where the money went.
There are also dozens of checks to then-senior center employees which bounced, and resulted in those employees suing the center through the state Labor Division's Department of Industrial Relations. Swatts and Jackson said the state has ruled the center must pay $9,000 in back wages to four staffers, along with a $3,000 fine.
At times, the center's financial needs were so serious that center board members and private individuals wrote large checks to cover the center's bills. One individual wrote a $7,200 check to cover the center's Pacific Gas & Electric bill.
Documents showed that state Employment Development Department quarterly wage reports in 2004 weren't filed, medical premiums for employees weren't paid and the Lucerne center was borrowing thousands of dollars from the Lakeport Senior Center for purposes including keeping its Meals on Wheels program going.
Swatts and Jackson say there are many missing documents missing, which makes it impossible ever to conduct an official audit of the years before 2005.
They have slowly found more documents that showed the center's tenuous financial situation. Swatts said he and another senior center staff member have delivered two boxes of materials to Deputy Attorney General Jeff Ogata in the California Department of Justice.
Calls to Ogata's office were not returned. Gareth Lacey, spokesman for the California DOJ, said he could not confirm or deny if the agency's charitable trusts division received a complaint about the Lucerne Senior Center.
Neither Hopkins or Mitchell said they had yet had any contact with DOJ in the case.
Through a lot of hard work, senior center officials have managed to put the center on a better track. Jackson estimates that the center's overall debt is now at about $120,000.
The center and the county are working on an agreement in which the county would buy the center's thrift shop building for $150,000 and lease it back to the center for $1 a month. That, said Swatts, would help the center pay its debts and re-roof the main building.
Lake County News will continue to follow the case and publish updates as soon as they are available.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson