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The unanimous vote to hire Dr. C. Richard Smith of Education Leadership Solutions came at the end of the hour-and-a-half-long meeting.
Superintendent Jill Falconer announced her plans to retire effective June 30. The board accepted her resignation at its Jan. 14 meeting.
Board Chair Dan Buffalo was concerned that the district already is late in getting into the market for a new superintendent, with recruiting often starting early in the year.
Falconer said superintendent hires usually come in three waves, with the first wave early in the year, when established superintendents move into new jobs. By late spring, the third wave arrives, and during the discussion, Buffalo noted those candidates would be less desirable.
Falconer encouraged the board to make a decision sooner rather than later to start the process.
She told the board during the discussion that she received a list of seven consulting firms that conduct searches from Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg.
She reached out to those firms, some of which said they were not interested in submitting a proposal.
However, two proposals came in, from Smith and from Leadership Associates of Santa Barbara, a headhunting firm that has conducted hundreds of executive searches.
Smith’s proposal estimated the search would cost $7,500 for him to complete. Leadership Associates gave an estimate of $14,500 for an all-inclusive fee, also offering a guarantee that if the new superintendent leaves within one year, it would conduct a new search at no cost except for travel and advertising expenses.
Smith, who made an appearance during the virtual meeting to answer questions, said he has only conducted one previous superintendent’s search.
That was one he and former Lake County Superintendent of Schools Wally Holbrook completed for the Konocti Unified School District. That search led to the selection of Dr. Becky Salato, hired just one week before the Lakeport Unified Board hired Falconer in May 2019.
During the Konocti Unified recruitment, Smith’s firm used a search committee process. His proposal for Lakeport Unified suggests doing the same.
Smith said his firm previously worked on a bond-related contract with Lakeport Unified.
The firm also was hired in January 2016 to help with formalizing the creation of the Upper Lake Unified School District, as Lake County News has reported.
Smith told the board on Thursday night that Holbrook has moved to Vacaville and he did not expect him to be part of this search process.
Board member Jeannie Markham asked about Smith’s education and career.
He said he spent five years in the US Navy before going to school to get his education degree, which led to him becoming a science teacher at Santa Rosa High School.
Smith went on to take an assistant administrator job in Ethiopia before attending the University of Kansas, where he received his doctorate in administration.
He served as superintendent of the American School in Taipei, Taiwan, worked as an executive at Stanford University and started a research institute in Washington, DC. Smith returned to California, where he was vice president of research and product development for Jostens Co., whose products include high school yearbooks and class rings, and sports championship rings.
Smith retired and moved to Kelseyville, where he and his wife have been active in working with the Kelseyville Pear Festival. He’s also worked on productions with Mendocino College’s Shakespeare at the Lake.
“In my career, I’ve hired an awful lot of people,” said Smith.
Asked by Markham about his strategy, Smith said he would work on a winnowing process that would only bring in candidates the board would seriously consider. He said they would want to prepare the interview so they know exactly what they’re looking for in a superintendent candidate.
Board member Jennifer Hanson asked if Smith is comfortable working with a committee of teachers, staff and community members.
While he said he’s not in a position to insist on it, Smith said he thinks it’s critical to include both staff and community members in the search if for no other reason than to build community support for schools.
Board member Phil Kirby, who spent decades in school administration, made clear early in the discussion that he supported hiring Smith.
Kirby moved to hire Smith and his firm to conduct the superintendent search and to authorize Buffalo to negotiate and execute and agreement with him.
Markham seconded and the board approved the motion 5-0.
Buffalo said he would contact Smith on Friday to begin those negotiations.
Smith thanked them and said that the heavy lifting in the hiring process will be on the part of the board.
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The California Employment Development Department said unemployment statewide was 9 percent in December, up by 0.9 percent, with the state’s employers losing 52,200 jobs following a gain of 5,200 jobs in November.
The California unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in November 2020 and 3.9 percent in December 2019, the agency reported.
California’s slight jobless rate rise in December was the state’s first month-over rate increase since April 2020.
The report said California payroll jobs totaled 16,144,400 in December 2020, down 52,200 from December 2020, and down 1,410,000 from December of last year.
Despite last month’s losses, California has regained more than 44 percent of the 2,615,800 nonfarm jobs that were lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March and April, the Employment Development Department said.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the nationwide jobless rate was 6.7 percent in December, unchanged from November. The nationwide unemployment rate in December 2019 was 3.6 percent.
In Lake County, unemployment rose in December to 9 percent – matching the state’s number. That’s up from 7.2 percent in November and 5.1 percent in December 2019.
Lake County’s civilian labor force in December totaled 26,050 individuals, down from 26,640 in November and 27,320 in December 2019, according to state data.
In December, 2,560 Lake County residents were unemployed, compared to 2,070 in November and 1,470 in December 2019, the report said.
Lake County’s job sectors that showed improvement in December included total farm, up by 7.9 percent. In the total nonfarm subcategories, manufacturing rose by 6.1 percent; retail trade grew by 2.2 percent; and trade, transportation and utilities was up by 2.1 percent.
The categories with the largest decreases were state government, which dropped by 14.3 percent, while information showed an 11.1-percent decrease.
In December, Lake County ranked No. 37 out of the state’s 58 counties for its jobless rate.
Lake’s neighboring counties’ jobless rates and ranks in the latest report are Colusa, 15.5 percent, No. 57; Glenn, 7.7 percent, No. 22; Napa, 7.3 percent, No. 14; Sonoma, 6.5 percent, No. 6; and Yolo, 7 percent, No. 10.
Half of state job categories show improvement
The report said the number of Californians with jobs in December totaled 17,260,100, a decrease of 91,700 jobs since November, and down 1,469,000 from December of last year.
At the same time, the state reported that the number of unemployed Californians was 1,700,400 in December, an increase of 163,700 over the month, and up by 945,700 in comparison to December of last year.
Total nonfarm jobs in California’s 11 major industries totaled 16,144,400 in December. Total nonfarm jobs decreased by 1,410,000, or an 8.0 percent decrease, from December 2019 to December 2020 compared to the U.S. annual loss of 9,374,000 jobs, a 6.2-percent decrease.
At the same time, the number of jobs in the agriculture industry increased by 24,300 from November 2020 to 380,800 jobs in December. The agricultural industry has lost 49,300 farm jobs since December 2019.
Six of California’s 11 industry sectors saw job gains in December:
– Construction had the state’s largest month-over increase (+31,600) thanks to strong gains in specialty trade contractors and construction of buildings.
– Professional and business services had the state’s second-largest month-over increase (+29,600) due to large gains in accounting, tax preparation and bookkeeping, as well as management, scientific and technical consulting.
– Trade, transportation and utilities rose by 8,600 jobs.
– Education and health services were up 6,100.
– Information increased 5,200.
– Government showed growth of 700 jobs.
Leisure and hospitality showed the largest month-over loss (-117,000) largely due to severe losses in accommodation and food services, which accounted for 83.2 percent of the industry sector’s overall loss, the report said.
As for unemployment claims, there were 1,007,331 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the December 2020 sample week. That compares to 1,278,220 people in November 2020 and 327,751 people in December 2019.
Concurrently, the state said 159,092 initial claims were processed in the December 2020 sample week, a month-over decrease of 9,896 claims from November 2020, but a year-over increase of 108,976 claims from December 2019.
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The following dogs are ready for adoption or foster.
‘Toby’
“Toby” is a friendly senior male boxer mix.
He has a short tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 4389.
‘Yule’
“Yule” is a male husky with a black and white coat.
Yule is dog No. 4432.
‘Rudolph’
“Rudolph” is a male shepherd mix.
He has a short tan and black coat.
He is dog No. 4436.
‘Jerry’
“Jerry” is a male American Pit Bull terrier with a short brindle coat.
He is dog No. 4455.
‘Inky’
“Inky” is a male German Shepherd mix with a long black coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 4324.
‘Bumble’
“Bumble” is a male Siberian Husky with a gray and black coat.
He is dog No. 4452.
‘Breeze’
“Breeze” is a female American Pit Bull Terrier mix.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 4445.
‘Ben’
“Ben” is a male American Pit Bull terrier mix.
He has a short brindle coat.
He is dog No. 4454.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
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- Written by: Patricia L. Foster, Indiana University
A bad year for flu can mean tens of thousands of deaths in the U.S. Getting vaccinated can protect you from influenza, but you have to get the shot every year to catch up with the changing virus and to top up the short-lived immunity the vaccine provides. The vaccine’s effectiveness also depends on correct predictions about which strains will be most common in a given season.
For these reasons, a one-and-done universal vaccine that would provide lasting immunity over multiple flu seasons and protect against a variety of strains has been a long-term goal for scientists.
Researchers are now one step closer to hitting that target. Scientists recently completed the first human trial of a vaccine created by recombinant genetic technology to fool the immune system into attacking a part of the virus that does not change so fast and is common among different strains.
I am a microbiologist interested in infectious diseases, and I’ve followed the seasonal flu epidemic for several years. I’m excited by this news, which could mark the turning point in the quest for a universal flu vaccine. Here’s how it all works.
Biology of the invading influenza virus
Like the virus that causes COVID-19, the influenza virus has a protein shell that is coated by a lipid membrane. Sticking through the membrane are multiple copies of three types of proteins: haemagglutinin, abbreviated as HA; neuraminidase, abbreviated as NA; and the matrix protein, M2.
It’s the properties of the HA and NA proteins that distinguish the different strains of the virus. You’ve probably heard of strains like H1N1 and H3N2, both of which are infecting people in the U.S. this year.
The HA molecule is shaped a bit like a flower bud, with a stalk and a head. Once someone inhales the virus, the tip of the HA molecule’s head binds to a receptor on the surface of the cells that line the person’s respiratory passages.
This initial binding is crucial as it induces the cell to engulf the virus. Once inside, the virus gets to work replicating its own genetic material. But the enzyme that copies its single-strand RNA is very sloppy; it can leave two or three mistakes, called mutations, in every new copy.
Sometimes the genetic changes are so drastic that the progeny viruses don’t survive; other times they are the start of new flu strains. Based on viral samples collected from around the world, the flu virus that arrives one year will have about seven new mutations in the gene for HA and four in the gene for NA compared to the previous year’s virus. These differences are a big part of why the same influenza vaccine won’t be as effective from one year to the next.
Fighting off a flu infection
When infected with the flu virus, your immune system produces antibodies to fend it off. Most of these antibodies interact with the HA head and prevent the virus from getting into your cells.
But there’s a downside to that strong reaction. Because the immune response to the virus’s head is so vigorous, it pays little attention to other parts of the virus. That means that your immune system is not prepared to fend off any future infection with a virus that has a different HA head, even if the rest of the virus is identical.
Current flu vaccines are inactivated versions of the influenza virus and so also work by inducing antibodies targeted to the HA head. And that’s why each version of the vaccine usually works only against a particular strain. But, as the flu spreads, the rapid rate of genetic change can produce new versions of the HA head that will evade the antibodies induced by the vaccine. These newly resistant viruses will then render even the current season’s vaccine ineffective.
The stalk portion of the HA molecule is much more genetically stable than the head. And HA stalks from different flu strains are much more alike than their head regions are.
So, an obvious way to protect people against different flu strains would be to use just the HA stalk in a vaccine. Unfortunately vaccination with only a headless stalk doesn’t seem to prevent infection.
Scientists are currently pursuing several different solutions to this problem.
A new kind of flu vaccine
A team of scientists led by Florian Krammer at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai just completed the first human clinical trial of what they hope will be a universal flu vaccine.
The researchers used recombinant genetic technology to create flu viruses with “chimeric” HA proteins – essentially a patchwork quilt built from pieces of different flu strains.
Volunteers for the clinical trial received two vaccinations separated by three months. The first dose consisted of an inactivated H1N1 virus with its original HA stalk but the head portion from a bird influenza virus. Vaccination with this virus induced a mild antibody response to the foreign head, and a robust response to the stalk. This pattern meant that the immune systems of the subjects had never encountered the head before, but had seen the stalk from previous flu vaccinations or infections.
The second vaccination consisted of the same H1N1 virus but with an HA head from a different bird virus. This dose elicited, again, a mild antibody response to the new head, but a further boost in response to the HA stalk. After each vaccine dose the subjects’ stalk antibody concentrations averaged about eight times higher than their initial levels.
Researchers found that even though the vaccine was based on the HA stalk of the H1N1 virus strain, the antibodies it elicited reacted to HA stalks from other strains too. In lab tests, the antibodies from vaccinated volunteers attacked the H2N2 virus that caused the 1957 Asian flu pandemic and the H9N2 virus that the CDC considers to be of concern for future outbreaks. The antibodies did not react to the stalk of the more distantly related H3 viral strain.
The antibody response also lasted a long time; after a year and a half, the volunteers still had about four times the concentration of antibodies to the HA stalk in their blood as when the trial started.
Since this was a phase 1 clinical trial testing only for adverse effects (which were minimal), the researchers didn’t expose vaccinated people to the flu to test if their new antibodies protected them.
However, they did inject the subjects’ blood serum, which contains the antibodies, into mice to see if it would protect them against the flu virus. Getting a shot of serum taken from volunteers a month after receiving the booster shot, when antibody levels were high, led to mice being 95% healthier after virus exposure than mice who got blood serum from nonvaccinated volunteers. Even the mice who received serum that was collected from vaccinated volunteers a year after the start of the trial were about 30% less sick.
These results show that vaccination with a chimeric flu protein can provide long-lasting immunity to several different strains of the influenza virus. Scientists will need to continue optimizing this approach so it works for different types and strains of influenza. But the success of this first human trial means you may one day get a single shot and, at last, be free from the flu.
[The Conversation’s science, health and technology editors pick their favorite stories. Weekly on Wednesdays.]
Patricia L. Foster, Professor Emerita of Biology, Indiana University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.