The emails and calls started coming in last Friday over the two-week Mammoth schools shutdown. 

It’s fair to say no one was terribly happy. 

And there were plenty of mixed messages to go around. 

A press release received Monday stated that Acting Public Health Officer Rick Johnson “issued a Local Health Order requiring the closure of in-person instruction at Mammoth Middle School and Mammoth High School due to an outbreak of positive Covid-19 cases. These cases have led to a shortage of staffing to appropriately support in-person instruction.” 

That was literally the first line of the presser. 

It goes on to say that of the approximately 33 administrative staff and teachers at the District, “18 are subject to quarantine, resulting in a drastic shortage of staff available to ensure compliance with California Department of Public Health guidelines.” 

So plenty of exposure. 

At the Wednesday morning board meeting, Mammoth Unified Superintendent Jennifer Wildman said there were three current Covid positives amongst staff. 

Though one of her charts contradictorily listed no active positives. 

In terms of the Covid outbreak, Wildman said numerous cases could be linked to Volleyball (the team had a home tournament the weekend of September 11). She also cited a busy Labor Day with a slew of event gatherings. 

But wait. Can any of that activity compare to the Tri-County Fair which occurred over Labor Day weekend in Bishop? Bishop schools haven’t closed. And during the weekly Covid update at the Inyo County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Inyo Health and Human Services (HHS) Director Marilyn Mann said the county had had just six cases over the weekend and was averaging between 3-5 cases daily. 

It was a very low-key, run-of-the-mill report. 

The Sheet reached Bishop Unified Schools Superintendent Katie Kolker on Tuesday. 

Kolker said Bishop’s Covid policy gives three options. 

1. If you’ve been exposed, but you’ve been vaccinated, you do not need to quarantine. 

2. A second option is to consent to on-site testing twice per week. Keep testing negative and you’re good to go. 

3. Independent study at home. 

Just seems odd that Mammoth is quarantining 18 teachers and 250 people total who’ve been exposed. By Bishop rules, many of them could be in school. 

The Bishop Broncos Football team had a Covid-positive case which led to the cancellation of its September 24 home game versus Rim of the World. 

According to Coach Arnie Palu, “Exposure to the entire varsity team at practice means that under current rules only vaccinated players can continue.  Non-vaxxed athletes have to be out of extracurricular activities for 10 days from exposure.  Even if they test negative – and none of our “exposed” players tested positive. They can return to class, but not practice, games or team workouts. 

We were ready to call up JVs to give Rim a game, but they were not too interested in playing a team that had been “exposed” to Covid just prior to their league opener. If they have a positive, it is my understanding that their district shuts down all activities for all athletes for two weeks.”

Staff Shortage 

Now let’s circle back to the staffing shortage. 

Wildman said in a phone interview Tuesday that “you can’t conjure up people just because you know there’s a problem.” 

“We had a good sub list at the beginning of the year,” said Wildman, “but as we went down that list … there was nothing.” 

She said the Mono County Office of Education is responsible for developing that list. 

Sub rates in Mammoth are just $20/hour. Raising that rate was on the Mammoth Unified School Board agenda for its September 23 meeting. 

Wildman cautioned that raising those rates may not solve the problem. 

A shortage of substitute teachers is a nationwide issue. “There is also a shortage of drivers, special education instructors and even superintendents,” she said. 

Even with MMS and MHS closed this week, a principal had to moonlight as a substitute in an Mammoth Elementary classroom this week. 

In Bishop, Kolker said “Normally, you have a list of 12 on your sub roster, but we only have three or four who are consistent.” 

On Tuesday, she said there were four staff absences and three subs available. 

The fourth class was covered by a carousel of teachers who took the class during their prep periods.

Subs in Bishop are paid $175/day and the district is currently waiving CBEST qualifying tests. One only needs a Bachelor’s Degree to apply. 

“Our philosophy is all hands on deck,” said Kolker. “Admin has been subbing. Some of our aides have sub credentials so they’ve been added to the mix. And we have said no to professional development for now.”

Rapid reset 

On Tuesday, a second press release was issued which promised to halve the school district closure from two weeks to one. 

“Thanks to Mono County Health Department, a Covid-19 Outbreak Response Team will be coming to MMS and MHS to administer Covid tests and vaccines … starting tomorrow. This test and return protocol will allow students who test negative to return to school in person as early as Monday, September 27.” 

The MUSD Board met Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. for a community update of sorts. 

Board President Kathleen Taylor said comment would not be taken at the meeting. 

But comment was offered on the chat board. 

Parents noted that the rapid tests being offered Wednesday to allow kids to return to school required they sign a waiver giving the state the right to test their kids twice weekly for the remainder of the school year. 

So parents asked if they could take their children to the community clinic on Wednesday for a PCR test (which is further deemed to be more accurate). 

They were told a negative test from the community clinic would not be valid. 

Huh? 

Those are the rules, said the Board and Superintendent. 

And exactly the type of stuff that fuels mistrust and conspiracy theories. The District should have told the Outbreak team to stay home and had every kid go to the the community clinic. Wildman herself said during her presentation that the rapid tests are not very accurate unless you are showing symptoms. 

Wildman asked the Board how it would like her to prioritize her time. The Board said move forward with the Outbreak response clinic, in part, because “a mental health disaster is presenting,” said Board member Shana Stapp. 

On a completely unrelated topic, I attended a CSAC/RCRC (California State Assn. of Counties/Rural County Representatives of California) webinar on Calpers on Thursday morning. 

The guest speaker was Calpers’ Deputy Chief Actuary Randall Dziubek. 

The good news: Calpers enjoyed a 21.3% return on investment for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, boosting its fund assets to $469 billion. Overall, it considers the system 82% funded.

But what I found fascinating is how Calpers has been forced to change its investment approach over time to hit its targeted return numbers.

Dziubek said that in the old days, Calpers could put 100% of its assets in low-risk investments and still make numbers. 

These days, just 30% is in low-risk investments, with 70% in higher risk categories. 

“The world has changed. Inflation is low,” said Dziubek. So while Calpers has enjoyed an 8.4% return on investment over the past thirty years, Dziubek does not expect the same success over the next two decades. 

Calpers’ most recent estimates formulated this year anticipate a 5.3% return over the next ten years and a 6.2% return over the next twenty. 

That’s given current portfolio allocations (53% public equity, 28% global fixed income, 11% real assets and 8% private equity).

So they’re faced with the choose of either levering up risk to make the current targeted return of 7%, or lower that target and ask participating members to pony up greater annual contributions. 

One thing he did say was that we should all appreciate that California’s public employee retirement system is in better shape than Illinois’ system. 

“If I were a member of the Illinois system, I wouldn’t be counting on those benefits,” said Dziubek, who paused before saying, “There’s no one from Illinois on this call, is there?” 

And from Page’s desk…

Inyo County was dealt a setback in their quest to assume control of landfills in late August, as an appellate court sided with LADWP against them on the matter.

LADWP has argued that Inyo County would need to perform an environmental analysis before assuming control of the properties.

Inyo has argued inversely that no changes will occur at the sites, removing the need for any sort of review.

The appellate court cited two issues with Inyo’s arguments that tilted the scales against them:

1. The county omitted sources of water for usage at Bishop-Sunland landfill and did not include development of groundwater rights at other sites (actions required by environmental law).

2. The forseeable importing of waste from outside of the county, which would violate the terms of the existing lease.

Never mind that Mono County, the cited likely source of imported waste, is planning to send landfill materials to Fallon, NV.

Additional reasoning for siding with DWP was the numerous violations and fines imposed upon Inyo County for “mismanagement.”

 But, as was noted in a Sheet article from June 2020, LA has refused to sign a lease accomodating necessary changes at the landfills. As a result, the changes had to be instituted but without approval.

Inyo County is not the only entity dealing with LADWP lease problems. 

Eastern Sierra Transit Authority (ESTA) has been in the process of erecting a new building out by the Bishop Airport.

But the land designated for work remains empty. 

The airport can’t give ESTA the sublease because DWP simply refuses to sign off on it.

ESTA Director Phil Moores said that without that sublease, he cannot use the grant money he’s received. 

That money includes a promise up to $1.2 million. 

“But because LADWP isn’t working with us, that money is in jeopardy,” Moores said, “They really jammed us up…they are not concerned about our little problems.”

Moores is working to build a temporary facility, funded by tax dollars, that will house ESTA until lease issues are untied. 

“It just seems irresponsible that a public or government organization like Water and Power would disregard the needs of the public regarding transporation…and other services that people pay taxes to get,” Moores said.