CalFire provides an outlook on this year’s wildfire season. A settlement has been reached between SCUSD and the Black Parallel School board over claims of segregation and discrimination for students with disabilities. Comedian Keith Lowell Jensen’s upcoming show.
Wildfire season outlook
After this winter season’s barrage of atmospheric rivers, it’s really anyone’s guess as to what California’s wildfire outlook will be like. Will the saturated foothills and Sierra mountains be able to dampen the chance for catastrophic wildfires? Or will our super blooms turn into super combustibles and make our already volatile landscape even more dangerous? Chief Daniel Berlant, CalFire’s Acting Fire Marshal, joins Insight to talk about what the agency is doing to get prepared for wildfires, how this year’s near-historic storms may impact the threat and what everyone should do to get ready, regardless of where they live.
SCUSD lawsuit settlement
The Sacramento City Unified School district settled a class-action lawsuit with the Black Parallel School Board and district families first filed in 2019. The lawsuit alleged the district mishandled the needs of students with disabilities (especially Black students) and ultimately impacted them at a disproportionate rate. The Black Parallel School Board is a grassroots non-profit group that supports the growth and development of African-American families within the school district. Their claims also included that students were segregated and excluded from classrooms, disciplined and suspended wrongfully and disproportionately, and students with special needs were not given important resources in the district’s special education program. The settlement, which the district calls “a step forward”, requires Sac City Unified to appoint an independent monitor not employed by the district to review and improve the district’s special education program and policies. That independent monitor will also implement an Action Plan to bring SCUSD in compliance. Mark Harris, Sac City Unified Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Monitor, Darryl White, Chairperson of the Black Parallel School Board, and parent advocate Larayvian Barnes, all joined Insight to discuss the settlement and the next steps.
Comedian Keith Lowell Jensen
Comedian Keith Lowell Jensen joins us ahead of his performance at Punch Line Sacramento on June 4 and the release of his latest special.
