State recommends ‘danger’ advisory at Lake Pillsbury as toxic algae warnings spread across Lake and Mendocino counties
LAKEPORT, CA., 9/3/26 — The State Water Resources Control Board has recommended a danger advisory, its highest warning for toxic algae, at Lake Pillsbury after sampling ahead of the Labor Day weekend found toxin levels above the state’s danger threshold, Lake County Health Services said in a notice. The reservoir sits behind PG&E’s Scott Dam on the upper Eel River and is the largest lake in the Mendocino National Forest. It has 31 miles of shoreline, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
The county said State Water Board staff collected a water sample at Lake Pillsbury Resort on Aug. 24 as part of a pre-holiday assessment and found high concentrations of cyanobacteria, the microscopic bacteria also called blue-green algae, and 23.84 micrograms per liter of microcystins and nodularins, the toxins the bacteria produce.
State staff saw visible blooms at the resort and at Pine Point, and satellite imagery showed cyanobacteria at multiple locations on the reservoir, the county said. People and pets were advised to stay out of the water until further notice, and the county said danger signs are expected to be posted around the lake.
Lake County said the State Water Board was notifying drinking water officials because a drinking water intake sits near the sampling location, and that boiling water does not remove the toxins and may even concentrate them.
The State Water Board’s advisory data, posted on the state’s open data portal and pulled Wednesday, show a caution advisory was recommended for the area around the resort Aug. 25 based on visual monitoring alone, and the danger advisory Monday, citing visual observations and high toxin concentrations. A separate state case file for the reservoir was opened Aug. 3 on a public report of a bloom near the Pine Point and Sunset boat launches, and notes that a suspected illness was reported. The state recommended a caution advisory for that area Aug. 27 based on visual observations and toxins.
A note in that file attributed to PG&E says camp hosts had sent photos of the reservoir showing dead fish. Because of observed animal deaths and satellite imagery showing elevated cyanobacteria, PG&E asked that all of its Lake Pillsbury recreation areas be posted with advisory signs, the note says. PG&E filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in July 2025 to decommission the Potter Valley Project and eventually remove Scott Dam.
A danger advisory is the highest of the state’s three tiers for planktonic blooms, the kind that float in the water. Under the posting guidance the State Water Board uses, caution signs go up at 0.8 micrograms per liter of total microcystins, or when scum or discoloration is visible or an illness is suspected. Warning signs go up at 6 micrograms per liter and danger signs at 20.
A North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board toxic algae alert sign placed along the Navarro River, near Philo, Calif. on August 23, 2024. (Steve Jahelka via Bay City News)
Mendocino County rivers also at risk
The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board said Aug. 27 that visual assessments and testing had confirmed potentially toxic algal mats in some of the rivers it monitors with tribes and counties. The rivers it monitors include the Eel, South Fork Eel, Navarro, Russian and East Fork Russian. The mats grow on the river bottom but can break loose and float or wash up on shore, where children and dogs can pick them up, the regional board said. The mats produce toxins that can make people and animals sick and pose a particular risk to children and dogs, the board said, and it is working with tribal and county partners to post Toxic Algae Alert signs where mats have been found.
In Mendocino County, the state’s data show algal-mat alert signs recommended for the Navarro River at Hendy Woods State Park and for the East Fork Russian River at an access point near Elledge Ranch Road. The Navarro advisory dates to July 27, when a bloom on the river bottom was observed at the bridge near the park and a suspected illness was reported. The state’s data list that case as under investigation, and a second entry for the park on Aug. 13 notes detached mats were observed. The East Fork Russian advisory was recommended Aug. 18 based on visual observations and toxins. The regional board said it also works with partners to monitor blooms that float in the water at Lake Mendocino and Lake Pillsbury. The state’s posted data listed no advisory for Lake Mendocino as of Wednesday.
Clear Lake not an option for Labor Day swims
Clear Lake carries danger advisories at Clearlake Keys and Lily Cove and caution advisories at some 20 other monitoring sites around the lake, according to routine monitoring results the state updated Tuesday. A caution advisory recommended Aug. 21 for a stretch of Putah Creek in Lake County, upstream of where it meets Dry Creek, also notes a suspected illness was reported.
Signs of blue-green algae poisoning include eye irritation, skin rashes, mouth ulcers, vomiting, diarrhea and cold and flu-like symptoms, and children and adults can suffer serious injury to the liver, kidney and nervous system if they swallow affected water, according to the California Department of Public Health. Dogs are at particular risk because they drink the water and can ingest algae while grooming, and in some cases exposure can lead to serious illness within minutes to hours, the State Water Board said in a statement it issued before Memorial Day. That serious illness can lead to death within hours.
The State Water Board recommends avoiding water that is bright green, blue-green or reddish, has paint-like scum or streaks, or has thick mats along the shoreline.
“People often have just a few seconds to decide whether the water is safe,” Marisa Van Dyke, a senior environmental scientist with the State Water Board’s freshwater harmful algal bloom program, said in the statement. “If the water looks unusual — discolored, cloudy, or covered in scum — the safest choice is to stay out.”
The regional board said anyone who develops signs of illness after contact with a bloom or mat should contact a health care provider or the California Poison Control System and mention possible exposure, and dog owners should seek veterinary care immediately if a dog shows signs of illness.
Current advisories are mapped at mywaterquality.ca.gov/habs. Blooms and suspected illnesses can be reported to the state’s harmful algal bloom hotline at 844-729-6466 or to CyanoHAB.Reports@waterboards.ca.gov.
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American badger, a ‘species of special concern,’ prevalent in San Benito County
On the morning of Aug. 3, Bureau of Land Management biologist Mike Westphal came upon a dead American badger struck by a car on San Benito Street near Hollister High School.
That, it turns out, is not as unusual as it seems. The badger (Taxidea taxus) likely came up from the San Benito riverbed area before being struck. However, knowing it is a species of special concern in California, Westphal said he wanted to make the public aware that badgers and other animals are often on roadways at night where they cannot be easily seen.
According to Kristen Ahrens of UC Davis and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), the American badger is listed as a “species of special concern and a species of greatest conservation need” in the state.
However, the Central Coast area supports a healthy population and San Benito County is a hotspot. Ahrens said they can be found near urban areas when there are natural corridors such as rivers. Other areas where they can be found are near Hwy 101 and Hwy 25.
American badger found dead near Hollister High School. Photo by Michael Westphal.
Ahren said she is undertaking genetic studies of the species for CDFW and has been collecting road kill and other samples to study gene flow. She said she is looking at how urban roads can interfere with dispersal and finding mates, which can lead to a decrease in genetic diversity and an increase in inbreeding.
The research is still in the preliminary stage, Ahrens said. She added that information about the number of roadkill in certain areas and evidence of lower gene flow could help pinpoint where wildlife crossings could be most beneficial.
Ahern asks that anyone spotting a badger report the sighting to the CDFW. This allows the agency to get more information for the study and enables the public to take part in a small way. Sightings can also be reported on iNaturalist.
According to the CDFW and the National Park Service:
Measuring between 23.5 and 29.5 inches in length, male badgers are slightly larger than females. The average weight is 14 to 16 pounds for females and up to 19 pounds for males.
Living in burrows, they use their long claws to dig. They also use their digging technique to prey on small burrowing mammals such as ground squirrels and gophers.
Except for the head, the American badger is covered with a grizzled, brown, black and white coat of coarse hair or fur, reflecting a mixed brown-tan appearance. Its triangular face shows a distinctive black and white pattern, with brown or blackish “badges” marking the cheeks and a white stripe extending from the nose to the base of the head.
Badgers are generally nocturnal or crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk), though they can be seen during the day or at twilight. They do not hibernate but can become less active in winter. Badgers can spend much of the winter in cycles of torpor that last around 29 hours.
Female American badger with young at Wildfarmers in Paicines. Photo by Veronica Stork.
Though interspecies collaboration is rare in wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports this species is often seen hunting in concert with the coyote (Canis latrans). Researchers have found that the coyote benefits by an increased catch rate of about 33% as a result.
According to research, this partnership works because of the different hunting styles of the predators and how their prey reacts to them. A ground squirrel, upon spotting a coyote, will crawl into its hole to escape. Upon seeing a badger, the ground squirrel will climb out of its hole and use its speed to outrun the badger. Hunting in tandem raises the prey’s vulnerability, benefiting both predators.
However, according to Ahern, coyotes could also prey on young badgers.
Westphal said he advises people to slow down on local roads, noting that many nocturnal and crepuscular animals are hard to see until drivers are nearly on top of them such that, when traveling at high speeds, hitting them cannot be avoided.
Video by Peninsula Open Space Trust used with permission.
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San Benito County’s six rural school districts—Bitterwater‑Tully, Cienega, Jefferson, Panoche, Tres Pinos, and Willow Grove—operate as lifelines in the county’s most remote corners, where ranch lands stretch for miles and the schoolhouse often stands as the sole public institution. These districts operate with small, ever-fluctuating enrollments, with teachers covering multiple grade levels while often simultaneously functioning as the teacher, principal and superintendent.
San Benito County shows a split picture compared to the rest of California. In Hollister, new housing has caused classrooms to overflow rather than close down. Out in the countryside, tiny single-school districts like Panoche, Bitterwater-Tully, and Cienega Union have seen a drop over the last ten years in student counts.
However, according to public enrollment and district records from the California Department of Education’s DataQuest system and the San Benito County Office of Education, these remote schools stay open because state rules provide them extra “necessary small school” funding, and the steep terrain of the Gabilan and Diablo ranges makes busing children to neighboring towns impractical.
Yet, even as funding fluctuates, staffing grows harder to sustain, and the number of students bounces like an errant stock market ticker, these districts offer something larger systems cannot: deeply personal instruction, tight‑knit relationships and a sense of identity that binds families scattered across the natural landscape together.
Common Ground: What Rural Schools Mean to CommunitiesAs rural schools face declining enrollment, shifting learning models and growing demands on limited resources, the consequences extend far beyond the classroom. With on-the-ground reporting from INN’s Rural News Network and data analysis from Big Local News at Stanford University, six newsrooms from across the country examine what rural schools provide their communities, who is most affected when those supports erode and what their future means for community sustainability.
BenitoLink has joined a yearlong collaboration with a network of nonprofit news organizations to spotlight the unique challenges and opportunities at rural schools. The collaboration, backed by a $3,500 grant from the Rural News Network (RNN), will include publishing four feature articles.
RNN is a reporting consortium of up to 90 member newsrooms across 46 states, which is part of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) and will provide guidance for the reporting. Also involved in the project is Stanford University’s Big Local News.
According to its website, Big Local News collects, processes and shares governmental data that is hard to obtain and difficult to analyze. It partners with local and national newsrooms on investigative projects across a range of topics.
The collaboration began by identifying San Benito County’s state-defined rural schools, classified by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES). According to NCES, there are at least six rural schools in the county that meet its criteria, which is a school “that is in census-defined rural territory that sits within specific distance bands from urbanized areas or urban clusters.”
These are categorized as: Rural-Fringe (5 miles from an urbanized area or 2.5 miles from an urban cluster), Rural-Distant (5–25 miles from an urbanized area or 2.5–10 miles from an urban cluster), or Rural-Remote (25 miles from an urbanized area and 10 miles from an urban cluster).
In addition to using data provided by RNN and Big Local News, BenitoLink also will use data from NCES, The California Department of Education, and the San Benito County Office of Education.
For many residents living outside of the two major towns of Hollister and San Juan Bautista, these districts are more than educational entities—they are anchors of rural life. In places where the nearest grocery store may be an hour away and cell service fades in and out, or is non-existent, the district becomes the community’s gathering point, its cultural memory, and its guarantee that children can learn without leaving the land that surrounds them.
That’s why ranching families, wine makers and remote community members feel strongly that the schools stay open—even if only a single student is attending. If a rural school closes it doesn’t just eliminate the school; it erases the heart and history of a community.
Jefferson School students in 1890. Photo courtesy San Benito County Historical Society
There have been rural schools in San Benito County since before the county came into existence in 1874. According to a BenitoLink article, rural school districts—most rural schools are their own districts—opened in the mid- to late 1800s. By 1879, there were 24 districts. They primarily served small, geographically isolated communities of ranches and farms.
While state-mandated curriculums and funding sources have changed over the last 150 years, BenitoLink’s trip to south county to visit the six rural elementary school districts showed that, except for air conditioning and other modern conveniences such as Wi-Fi and Chromebooks, much of the remote educational experience remains reminiscent of what it was in the 1800s.
All six fit the state’s legal definition of a rural school district. All at one time were surrounded and primarily supported, either materially or in spirit, by owners of local cattle ranches. The original buildings were, for the most part, paid for and even built by ranchers who felt it was important for children in small communities to have the best education possible.
That hasn’t changed, according to the teachers BenitoLink spoke to. Neither has the nature of remote country teaching and learning.
Teacher Alison Wirz at Jefferson Elementary School. Photo by John Chadwell.
At Jefferson Elementary, Alison Wirz, who started teaching there only two days before speaking with BenitoLink, said one student asked if he could ride his horse to school, a common mode of transportation in the 1800s. Wirz said he could but couldn’t leave the horse unattended all day. He told her his mother would walk down from the ranch and take the horse back home.
At Panoche Elementary, teacher/principal/superintendent Amanda McCraw described how the school is surrounded by cattle ranches and there have been times when a cow was about to give birth just across from the playground in full view of the students. McCraw said the class would be dismissed for a short time so the students could go outside and experience a biology lesson firsthand. She also described a field trip to one student’s ranch to watch a cattle branding. She was concerned it might traumatize one of her sons, who also attends the school. Instead, he came away announcing that he wanted to be a cowboy.
One issue that is particularly exclusive to rural schools in the county is transportation, or the lack of it. There are no buses for rural elementary schools, and when children are ready to advance to ninth grade, families must travel long distances on rough backroads to get to high school. If a student cannot take advantage of home or online schooling, it can take up to an hour each way to attend high school in Hollister, or King City, where Bitterwater-Tully students typically go.
McCraw told of how parents would trade carpooling duties to drive students to Hollister. When it was one woman’s turn, McCraw said she would drop the kids off at school then spend the day delivering food for grocery stores to kill time and make extra money.
Another important issue is the dramatic fluctuation of student enrollment year-to-year in the county. NCES, Condition of Education, and its Common Core of Data, identify declining birth rates, migration patterns, and shifts in public, private, and homeschool participation as primary drivers of annual enrollment change nationwide.
San Benito County rural schools student enrollment
Of the six rural schools Tres Pinos saw the most dramatic drop in student population, mainly caused when the Hollister School District stopped approving interdistrict transfer students moving from larger town schools . Courtesy of RNN.
The county’s rural terrain and small numbers of students only amplify these forces. The data shows that small rural districts experience sharper year-to-year swings because even a handful of families moving in or out—often tied to agricultural employment or housing availability—can significantly shift enrollment totals.
Enrollment logs (see chart) at Cienega Union and Bitterwater-Tully demonstrate temporary intra-year enrollment surges linked to seasonal agricultural cycles, particularly wine grape harvests in the Cienega Valley and livestock operations in South County. State reporting allows these schools to log short-term enrollments, which temporarily boosts their average daily attendance metrics during specific quarters before settling back to baseline levels in late winter.
One school district, in particular, Tres Pinos, saw more than a 75 percent decline in students from 2015-16 to 2024-25, from a high of 160 students to less than 50. Ed Schmidt, Tres Pinos board president, told BenitoLink that for several years around 2016 some parents who had children in larger schools wanted to send them to smaller schools and submitted interdistrict transfers to Hollister School District. He said this increased the student populations of Tres Pinos and Willow Grove.
Hollister School District “started turning down the transfers,” Schmidt said, “because they lost the funding for those kids.”
Schmidt also said many of the students came primarily from the nearby community of Stonegate, which he described as “aging out.” He said there aren’t many elementary school-aged kids in the neighborhood anymore, which drastically affected the number of students at the school.
With schools like Jefferson enrolling just eight students and Panoche only three this year, the dramatic fluctuations projected in charts as percentages are misleading, according to Sarah Fruit, teacher/principal/superintendent at Cienega Elementary. One family moving into the district can impact student population.
The low student count can also skew overall school test scores, Fruit said. With only a few students taking a test at her school, it only takes “one who is having a bad day,” to cause the overall score for the school to plummet, while at a larger school with several hundred students, “one kid having a bad day is insignificant.”
Willow Grove Union Elementary School. Photo by John Chadwell.
The school is located 42 miles southeast of Hollister on Hwy 25. It serves K–8 grades. During the 2024-25 fiscal school year, there were 35 students (an increase of nine students from the previous year) and two full-time teachers.
The school is 17 miles south of Hollister on Old Hernandez Road, less than a half-mile from the original school that still stands and was chartered in 1874. The original school closed in 2009, when the present school opened. According to Wirz, there are eight students, in grades TK–6. She told BenitoLink that as of Aug. 10 she still had not received books or curricula. She also said she was not certified as an administrator, so she would be traveling to the Hollister School District, along with Board President Amy Strohn, to find out why no materials had been provided.
In 2021, Jefferson School students competed at the County Fair in photography, focusing on where they live and won several awards. Photo by Elizabeth Volmer
The school is 33 miles southeast of Hollister on Panoche Road. The school has three students, down from five last year. McCraw said each student is in a different grade level, which means she has to devise 15 study plans in three different curricula for each student.
The school is six miles southeast of Hollister on Hwy 25, with grades K–8. There are 56 students and three teachers, one of which is also the principal.
The original school was chartered in the late 1800s and the new school was opened in 1980. It offers K–8 classes. It has two teachers and one aide.
Rural schools for community activities
According to RNN, in many rural areas in the U.S., rural schools are “the only public institutions in their remote communities. These districts often host community traditions, holiday gatherings, agricultural events and intergenerational activities that reinforce local identity and social cohesion. In sparsely populated ranching regions, the school becomes the central meeting point for families who may live miles apart, functioning as a cultural anchor rather than merely an academic site.”
But in San Benito County, the representatives who responded to BenitoLink said their school facilities are rarely used for non-education purposes.
McCraw, at Panoche, lives on the school grounds, raising two sons who are also two of the three students she is teaching. She said in the seven years she’s taught there no one has asked to use the facilities. She said she does invite the community to see her students’ art works and other projects but said it’s mainly the parents who show up, and sometimes the owner of the nearby Panoche Inn.
Panoche Inn is a central meeting spot in Panoche Valley. Photo by Leslie David
“Historically, the Panoche Inn has been the gathering/meeting place for our community. It’s a warm, welcoming location open to all ages,” she said about why residents don’t use the school facilities. “Additionally, speaking from personal experience only, there aren’t often enough residents to justify a Panoche-only organization/meeting. For example, 4-H and Scouting. There aren’t enough children out here to justify creating a Panoche-specific chapter/group, so the kids who participate in these activities join groups that meet in Tres Pinos or Hollister.”
Asked if the school might close if there were just one student, McCraw said she was told it is more important to be sure that even if there is only one student, they must have the opportunity to go to a local school.
Wirz, at Jefferson, said there is a building near the school that the community could use, but no one has asked to do so. Some rural schools still offer housing for the teacher and his or her family. In her case, Wirz chose not to live in the house provided by the district because she already lives on a ranch nearby, and she wanted to “keep a distance from the school.”
Fruit, at Cienega, said the local amateur radio operators club uses the school for periodic meetings and to practice emergency communications in the remote area.
Greg Swett, president of the Willow Grove School Board, said the school typically holds a fall festival, but it wasn’t held last year due to a staff overhaul. He said the new principal, Gabriella Armenta, is planning “some form of a Christmas pageant.”
In 2019, students, parents, faculty and community members spent the day sprucing up the school. Photo courtesy Samela Perez with San Benito Public Health.
Tres Pinos’ website includes several activities open to the surrounding community:
Color Run (Wellness & Community Event)—A large family‑school event promoting movement, wellness, and community partnership.
Rural Schools Health Fair—Hosted at Tres Pinos, bringing dental, vision, mental health, nutrition, and safety services to students from multiple rural schools.
Panther Paint Night (Community Art Event)—A family paint night held on campus with food and supplies provided.
Mental Health Awareness Spirit Days—School-wide participation days with class competitions and themed gear.
YMCA supported sports signups and activities—YMCA partners with the school for youth sports and wellness programming.
Annual Picture Day—Standard school photography event.
Welcome Assembly—Held at the start of each school year in the multipurpose room.
Bitterwater-Tully did not respond to requests for information for this story.
Bitterwater-Tully Elementary School. Photo by John Chadwell.
Future articles in this series
October or December 2026: Reporting will track the cascading effects of declining enrollment and fragmented learning models on funding, staffing and student support.
Spring 2027: Reporting will provide a focused look at student-specific programs, such as youth mental health, English language learning, special education, etc.—where limited services intersect with higher rates of need.
August 2027: The series will conclude with a forward-looking examination of what’s at stake: how the erosion or reinvention of rural schools shapes local economies, workforce pipelines and community sustainability.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news!BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. Producing local news is expensive, and community support keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service nonprofit news.
With the onset of the new school year, local schools are again attempting to battle something that’s been affecting student engagement for years: cellphones.
In 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 3216, which states that all school districts, charter schools and county offices of education must develop a phone policy that limits phone use. This was to be accomplished by July 1, 2026.
Knowing that this deadline was coming, the San Benito High School District created a cellphone task force that included administrators, Hollister High Principal Brian Medeiros, community members and students.
“What we did was we went through the process of deciding what that looks like,” Medeiros said. “As with anything, whenever laws come out they’re a little bit vague at first, and it gives you the discretion as the school to work within those parameters of how you’re going to design it.”
The school piloted a policy where students put their phones in lockers or caddies during instructional time.
“What that means is any time class is in session, cellphone use is prohibited,” Medeiros said.
For the 2026-27 school year, the policy was officially adopted and also prohibits use of other devices such as wireless earbuds, smart watches, tablets or anything else that can connect to phones.
“It really adds a little bit more teeth to it and there’s a clearer expectation that in every classroom you walk into, this is how it’s going to be done,” Medeiros said.
Anzar High School has a similar policy in place. The students put their phones in what they call “phone hotels,” said Anzar Principal Shamoon Ebrahimi.
Similar to Hollister High, Anzar only allows the use of school-issued Chromebooks during class time, but outside of class, students are allowed to use their phones.
“There’s just a new addition to the policy that’s going to impact the kids and it’s that you really can only use your school device on campus,” Ebrahimi said. “So, you cannot have your own personal laptop, your own iPad, smart watch, whatever the case may be. You’re only going to be able to use the Chromebook that the school gives you.”
Ebrahimi pointed out that the most drastic change he’s seen is at Aromas School, whose policy allows students to bring their cellphones to school but collects them in the homeroom class and brings them to the office for the day.
A poster detailing the steps for Aromas School’s new phone policy. Photo by Isabella Beltran.
According to the policy, students do not get their phones back until the end of the school day and parents may call the office if they wish to reach their child.
“If you read the board notes on the policy information,” Ebrahimi said, “it’s a really drastic change for the TK-8 school, and at Anzar, we already had the hotels so we’re just going to continue to do more of the same.”
The new cellphone policies are aimed at increasing student engagement and focus during class, according to both principals.
“From my understanding, I think kids have struggled with cellphones for quite some time now in our society, and it probably was amped up a little bit more after the COVID era,” he said.
Both principals said they believe that their policies are helping students engage more fully with their schoolwork.
“Believe it or not,” Medeiros said, “in that summer school pilot, when they surveyed students, even students said that they felt like they were paying attention more.”
He also said that even though the school year has only been going for a few weeks, teachers have reported that they have seen increased student engagement.
Embrahimi said he believes that Anzar students are also following the new rules.
“This, essentially, is an opportunity for us to just refocus a little bit on what school’s all about to begin with,” Ebrahimi said. “Which is for us to be able to sit down in the classroom and actually be able to learn what the teacher is giving us and participate with my peers and get the most out of the lesson.”
At both Anzar and Hollister High, students are always permitted use of their phones in case of emergencies. Aromas School has no specific policy on the matter.
Prior to the current school year, Hollister High didn’t allow phones during instructional time, however, Medeiros said that this new policy makes it more “concrete.”
For middle schools Marguerite Maze and Rancho San Justo, cellphone policies look a little different.
Marguerite Maze’s policy doesn’t require students to secure their phones in lockers or caddies. Instead, students must turn off their phones completely and store them in their backpacks during school hours.
The policy also states that “cellphones may be used only as instructional resources in the classroom under the director.”
Rancho San Justo’s policy is similar to Marguerite Maze’s but does not allow use of cellphones as instructional resources and says that phones should be turned off before students arrive on campus.
Violation of the policies at either middle school can result in the cellphone being confiscated and requiring pick-up by a parent.
An example of the phone lockers that Hollister High School uses. Photo by Isabella Beltran.
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Changes to California law aimed at limiting the use of recall elections as a political weapon has opened the door for recalled officials such as San Benito County Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez to run again to finish their term in office.
That’s according to an election law attorney who told BenitoLink that state law now allows what some might consider a counterintuitive practice.
Velazquez is running in the Nov. 3 general election against two other candidates, business owner and San Benito County Board of Education trustee Rodney Bianchi and Hazel Hawkins Hospital Auxiliary President John Williams, to complete the current District 5 term in office which expires in 2028.
Velazquez was successfully, albeit narrowly, recalled from is District 5 seat in June.
Confusion over whether state election law prohibited Velazquez from running to replace himself on the Board of Supervisors even flummoxed the San Benito County Elections Office, which ended up reversing itself on the matter.
County Clerk, Recorder, and Registrar of Voters Francisco Diaz initially cited state law to explain why his office rejected Velazquez’s petition to file his candidacy on July 21. Diaz pointed to Election Code 11381(b) as the grounds for rejecting Velazquez’s request to file candidacy papers.
The election code Diaz cited states, “No person whose recall is being sought may be a candidate to succeed himself or herself at a recall election.”
But Diaz said he later found that the recalled supervisor was “allowed” to run again, after consulting with the County Counsel Gregory Priamos’ office and registrars of voters from other counties. Diaz cited the case of a Riverside County school board trustee who successfully ran in 2024 for the remainder of his term in office after he was recalled.
“As colleagues in counties like Riverside agree, current law doesn’t bar a recalled official from running,” Diaz said. “While common sense might suggest otherwise, updated analysis clarifies this is a vacancy election rather than a succession election, making the candidate legally eligible.”
Velazquez is believed to be the second elected official in the state to seek the seat he was recalled from.
Election law attorney Stephen Kaufman with the Kaufman Legal Group based in Los Angeles and Sacramento said rules for local recalls changed in 2022 when state legislators passed Assembly Bill 2582, titled “Recall elections: local offices.”
Kaufman said the bill changed the recall rules by separating the recall question from the replacement one. Before the change, voters were asked whether they wanted to recall a public official and also to choose a replacement on the same ballot. Now, he said voters are only asked to decide on the recall question, leaving the replacement process for later.
“Essentially the reasoning was that it eliminates political gamesmanship by people who are unhappy with election results,” he said.
Kaufman said another rationale stated by legislators who supported AB 2582 was that candidates who sought to replace a recalled official had a lower vote threshold to win the office.
Assemblymember Steve Bennett, who authored the bill, said the change allows recall efforts to focus on the merits of recalling an official.
“This would allow voters to truly evaluate the cause for the recall, without being distracted by partisan politics, or focusing on potential replacement candidates,” Bennett wrote in AB 2582’s analysis.
Bennett also authored AB 94 in 2025, which prohibits a recalled official from being appointed to the same seat.
Bennett did not respond to BenitoLink’s request to comment on the two bills.
Kaufman said he believes these changes to the law were a response to what some people may call an abuse of the recall process, instead of waiting to oust an incumbent at the end of their term if they seek to be reelected.
He said voters may still believe that officials would be ineligible to run for the same seat from which they were recalled.
“It’s a circumstance that people are just getting used to because it is a fairly new area of the law,” he said.
That was apparently the case with Stacie McGrady, who was part of the group that spearheaded Velazquez’s recall. She said the proponents did not know he would be able to run again “right away.”
“I think we are as surprised as everyone else because clearly it seems illogical that an incumbent who has been recalled by a vote of the people would be eligible to participate in the next election for the same position,” McGrady said.
McGrady is also part of a committee that is attempting to recall Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki.
She said allowing public officials to run to finish their term even if they are recalled “adds another level of frustration” to the recall process because it takes time, energy and money.
Asked if it’s still worth pursuing the recall knowing Kosmicki could run again if the committee is successful, McGrady said she “never gives up.”
Kaufman said recalls have been increasingly used as a “political weapon” over the years, referencing the failed 2021 special election to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In San Benito County, there have been five attempted recalls initiated in the last five years. Only the Velazquez recall made it to the ballot.
Velazquez was also a target of a recall as Hollister mayor in 2021 but proponents scrapped the effort before making it to the signature gathering phase.
Kosmicki has been the target of two recall attempts. The most recent one is in the signature-gathering phase. Proponents of the first effort said they stopped collecting signatures in order to focus on recalling Velazquez.
San Benito Health Care District Director Josie Sanchez was also the target of a recall bid, but it did not move forward, according to the county Elections Office website.
Velazquez’s recall shares similarities with the successful recall of Temecula Valley Unified School District Trustee Joseph Komrosky in 2024 in that both were ousted by a narrow margin. The Komrosky recall won with 50.64% of the vote; the Velazquez recall won with 51.09%.
Komrosky regained his seat with 50.7% of the vote in a race against one other candidate.
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New telehealth site in Fort Bragg brings VA health care access to North Coast
FORT BRAGG, CA., 8/9/26 — A new chapter in veterans’ health care opened in Fort Bragg Thursday, Aug. 6, with the launch of a Veterans Affairs ATLAS (Accessing Telehealth Through Local Area Stations) site, bringing expanded health care services closer to veterans on the Mendocino Coast. The opening was marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by veterans, community members, VA staff, and local officials.
North Coast veterans now have expanded access to VA health care closer to home, following two years of planning and program development that culminated in the high-spirited ceremony at the Fort Bragg Veterans Memorial Building.
