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The start of school for Lakeport Unified School District is going to be delayed due to impacts of the Mendocino Complex Fire.
Air quality, evacuation orders, and cleaning are some of the factors considered in Lakeport Unified's decision to delay the start of the school year.
“We do have families that have lost homes and right now we are sending all available bus drivers to our friends in the north end of the county that are being evacuated,” said Lakeport Unified Superintendent April Leiferman in an email to ABC10.
“Right now, we only have one of our six districts (Middletown) that does not have an evacuation order in all or some of their boundaries.”
The School Board discusses the issues
With the original start of school pegged for August 8, Lakeport Unified’s Board of Education addressed the situation.
The issues discussed by the School Board included evacuation orders, facility safety, construction projects, cleaning buildings, air-quality issues, replacing food from refrigeration units, and administrative and faculty preparation time.
In order for the schools to open, evacuation orders have to be lifted, facilities need to be checked for safety, and buildings need to be cleaned. Air quality also needed to be at a healthy level both inside and outside of the buildings.
According to Superintendent Leiferman, there is smoke all around the county. Lake County Supervisor Tina Scott updated her social media account with an image of the smoke in the Lakeport area.
Lakeport Unified delays the start of school
With all of these issues, the school district is not anticipating a return to school prior to August 16for teachers and August 22 for students. Students will not be allowed into offices or classrooms until all safety issues are addressed.
There is a possibility that students could start even later, however the district intends to update their staff and families weekly.
Lakeport Unified will be adjusting the school calendar and will be consulting the California Department of Education for guidance.