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Pioneer Valley High School students raise donations for families in need during special drive-through event
Student leaders at Pioneer Valley High School (PVHS) in Santa Maria organized Holiday Lights, a special drive-through event held on campus on Dec. 12. The event was designed to “give our community a place for the family to see holiday lights and celebrate the season with our PVHS family,” said Lisa Walters, the school’s Panther Activity director, in a press release.
Ticket to drive
PHOTO COURTESY OF KENNY KLEIN
More than 300 vehicles drove through the program, according to the release, and many visitors made donations to benefit local families of students enrolled at PVHS in need.
Public school districts in Santa Maria and Orcutt have had no choice but to further delay plans for returning to in-person learning once again, as Santa Barbara County s purple tier status and skyrocketing COVID-19 cases leave the future uncertain.
In response to the second COVID-19 spike and accompanying state restrictions, the Santa Maria Joint-Union High School District has revised their reopening plan created earlier in the year, eliminating the January target date for initiating the hybrid model.Â
Instead, the district must wait until Santa Barbara County has been in the state s red tier for two weeks to shift into hybrid learning. Based on current COVID-19 trends, district officials have designated March 1 as the earliest possible return date.
By Kenny Cress, Noozhawk Correspondent
December 17, 2020
| 6:10 p.m.
Jeff Monteiro was on the coaching staff when Pioneer Valley High won its first football game in 2005, a year after the school opened its doors.
Jeff Monteiro, the athletic director at Pioneer Valley High, is retiring after 36 years in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District.
He attended the Santa Maria school s first graduation in 2007, and was the athletic director when the program moved from the CIF Southern Section to the Central Section.
And he was in charge when the Panthers won a Central Section boys wrestling title last February.
Now, after 36 years with the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, Monteiro has decided to retire.
Creating a long-sought secondary access to the Elks Unocal Event Center took another step forward this week with an Orcutt Community Plan amendment to include the new section of road in its Transportation section text and circulation map.
Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the amendment, as recommended by the Planning Commission in October, at its meeting Tuesday.
Not including the unknown cost of acquiring rights of way, the project is currently estimated at $5.51 million, including $3.8 million in construction costs alone, and those figures are likely to rise before work is completed.
The roadway is widely supported by residents in Orcutt and Santa Maria as well as Santa Maria Elks Recreation Inc. and Santa Maria Joint Union High School District trustees.
By Janene Scully, Noozhawk North County Editor | @JaneneScully
December 16, 2020
| 7:44 p.m.
A proposal to extend a frontage road to connect with Union Valley Parkway improving access and safety near the Santa Maria rodeo grounds and a new high school facility received one more green light on Tuesday.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously supported the project, which would involve amending the Orcutt Community Plan to include the extension and approving environmental aspects.
“I would just say that this project has been a really long time coming, and there’s a lot of good safety benefits to it,” Fourth District Supervisor Peter Adam said.