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Fire Update and Staff Training

The good news is that the Rim Fire is now 80% contained, the bad news is that the back fires that they have been lighting to fight the fire have been causing lots of smoke at SOS.  Because smoke levels can cause the air quality to sometime reach unhealthy levels we have had to postpone some of our visiting schools; we look forward to seeing Knightsen, Pinewood, and Napa Valley Learning Academy later this fall.  We are still planning on having Garfield Elementary coming on September 18, but we will be monitoring the air quality and the fire to make sure it is safe for everyone.

Here is a picture of a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane helicopter flying over campus yesterday on the way to drop water or foam on the fire.  Did you know that the Skycrane can carry more than 2,650 gallons of water of foam?  It can fill its tanks while hovering (by using the hose you can see hanging) in less than one minute!


With no students on site yet we have been busy getting our new staff ready for the year with lots of training and in services.  Here are a few shots of the teaching staff checking out life in our pond  with the new dissecting scopes that we got donated from JH Technologies, and training on the high ropes course.




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