SLO County Roundup

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• San Luis Coastal eyes new grading procedure for teachers

  San Luis Coastal eyes new grading procedure for teachers

  A new evaluation system for teachers is being proposed in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District that would link student achievement to teacher performance.

  The goal is to improve learning and overall student success, according to Superintendent Eric Prater.

  “At the end of the day it is about accountability,” Prater said. “The only way to achieve our initiatives is to have great teaching.”

• South County Beat: Volunteers give kids a Head Start

  South County Beat: Volunteers give kids a Head Start

  Young children were getting their faces painted and receiving balloon animals. Santa Claus was taking requests from children seated on his lap. A very merry party for South County children enrolled in the Five Cities Head Start program was under way Dec. 3 at the Women’s Club in Arroyo Grande.

  Stan Garland, 81, of Arroyo Grande and president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 639 Retirees Club, was himself very merry as he watched the children, parents and staff from the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County and other union members interact at the event, which included a nutritious breakfast and ended with ice cream donated by Doc Burnstein’s Ice Cream Lab.

  “We get enjoyment looking at the kids’ happy faces,” Stan said. He said that about 30 years ago, he and other members decided “we should contribute something to the community.” They wanted to “donate our time and raise money.” Many of the local children’s parents were working in the fields.

• New Tech High raising some doubts

  New Tech High raising some doubts

  Next fall, a new school is slated to open in the South County that would provide its students with college-level courses, internships, a digital portfolio of their work — and a drastically different way of learning than what is seen at most high schools today.

• Nipomo revs up pipeline efforts

  Nipomo revs up pipeline efforts

  EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to include links for information on the water-shortage publicity campaign and opposition to the Santa Maria water pipeline project.

  Every day, when residents on the Nipomo Mesa fill up their coffee pots, irrigate their lawns or take a shower, they’re using water that comes from under their feet.

  Nipomo residents rely on water from an enormous underground aquifer that covers a surface area of about 256 square miles and serves parts of southern San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties.

• Nipomo district to lead in financing for pipeline

  Nipomo district to lead in financing for pipeline

  The Nipomo Community Services District — not the county — will lead efforts to finance construction of a pipeline that would deliver water to the community from Santa Maria.

  San Luis Obispo County supervisors agreed Tuesday to allow district officials to form a property tax assessment district of about 8,000 property owners in the Nipomo area, including the Mesa, some of whom live outside the services district boundaries.

  The supervisors’ action helps move the $25.3 million project ahead — and could save the district time and money, because the district won’t have to wait for the county’s approval to form an assessment district and issue bonds to finance the project.