Highlights, lowlights from the week’s news
HIT » This week Dr. Samia Yaqub, superintendent/president of the Butte-Glenn Community College District, announced her plans to retire on June 30, 2022. Dr. Yaqub, who began her career at Butte College 37 years ago as an instructional aide in ESL and writing, was appointed superintendent/ president in 2016.
Yaqub has shown great leadership and strength while navigating Butte College through a series of recent disasters including the Oroville Dam Spillway emergency evacuation, the Camp Fire, the
Bear Fire, numerous PG&E blackouts, and the current COVID-19 crisis. She has overseen Measure J construction projects including completion of a new welding and manufacturing building, renovations of other facilities, and the current construction of a new Glenn County Center. Yaqub has led efforts to assure equitable and inclusive practices across Butte College.
Through it all Yaqub has been a consummate professional keeping the students, faculty, and staff as her guiding light. It hasn’t hurt that she has a reputation of being welcoming, caring, personable, and accessible.
The board of trustees will soon initiate recruitment efforts to find its next superintendent/president, but Yaqub will be a tough act to follow. We wish her well in her upcoming retirement and thank her for a job well done.
MISS » The toll of COVID-19 on our students — both on students’ health, and the impact of missing time in the classroom — will no doubt be felt for many years, and decades, to come.
Typically, though, one group of students could be suffering even more than the others: those with special needs. Be it statewide budget problems or staffing issues, people with disabilities are all too often the first to have their needs ignored.
Case in point: A class-action lawsuit has been filed claiming California’s independent study framework shuts out thousands of disabled students who need special in-person services to learn.
According to an EdSource article written by Carolyn Jones, the complaint alleges that students at high risk of COVID, such as those with immune disorders, weakened lungs or an inability to wear a mask, cannot attend in-person school for safety reasons, yet districts aren’t providing the assistance those students need in order to participate in independent study.
In an era in which the state has been tossing COVID funds around like Halloween candy, that’s inexcusable.
About 13 percent of California’s K-12 public schools students are in special education. They deserve, and need, far more than 13 percent of the attention.
HIT » As the lake levels continue their dip into unchartered water levels, it’s good to see some actions taken so the people who paid for that water storage >> that you be you — are still able to enjoy it.
News that the Department of Water Resources is taking this opportunity during the drought to repair and extend the Loafer Creek boat ramp on Lake Oroville is fantastic.
Construction has already begun at the launch with excavators and bulldozers preparing for the extension. Many of the roadways near the launch as well as the Loafer Creek Campground and ramp accessways have been blocked off and barricaded, mostly due to the gap between the edge of the ramps and the water itself.
The construction will continue until the fall and winter rains bring the lake level back up. Obviously, that part can’t happen soon enough — but good on DWR for extending the boat ramp while it has the chance.
MISS » Look, we know all the teams are playing by the same rules, and this is what can happen because of the wild-card game setup, but that doesn’t make any of this seem right.
Why in the world are the two winningest teams in baseball squaring off in the first round of the postseason?
This means either the San Francisco Giants (107 wins) or Los Angeles Dodgers (106) will be watching from home within a week while a team with a comparatively inferior record will be playing in the National League Championship Series.
We get it. These are the rules. You can’t change them now.
But the end result could be the World Series seeming practically anticlimactic; it’s tough to imagine any matchup being more eagerly anticipated than the Giants versus the Dodgers.
In the meantime, enjoy the ride. It’s been a fantastic season of baseball for two of America’s oldest sports rivals.