News Briefs

Jessica Cleveland earns Masters Degree at Concordia University

Jessica Cleveland of Canyon Lake, earned a Master of Education degree from Concordia University, Nebraska at the conclusion of the just finished 2020 Fall Semester.

The Seward, Nebraska school conferred degrees to 626 undergraduate and graduate students to those who completed their studies in the Fall 2020 semester.

Concordia University, Nebraska, founded in 1894, is a fully accredited, coeducational university which currently serves more than 2,500 students. Concordia offers more than 100 undergraduate, graduate and professional programs.

Club invites golfers to Valentine’s Tournament

“All You Need is Love…and Golf” is the theme of this year’s Valentine’s Tournament being held on Feb. 9 by the Canyon Lake Women’s Golf Club.

The popular tournament is one of the most anticipated golf events of the year with its fun four-person Scramble Format, gross and net prizes awarded in different flights, Closest to the Pin award and, of course, the club’s own Pat Kemball teeing it off for each group on Hole 12.

Members are encouraged to form a team now and sign up in the Pro Shop. The tournament fee is $21. The fee does not include green fees. With COVID-19 restrictions, there will be no typical luncheon following the tournament.

The Valentine Tournament Committee includes KK Beecher, Linda Johnson, Linda Kamashian and Anne Norris.

Canyon Lake Little League registration open

The Canyon Lake Little League has now begun registration for the Spring Season of 2021.

Children as young as 4 years old, and old as 14 years old, can now register for the spring play. Prices vary per age group from $120 to $160 each.

Registration closes on Jan 17.

State extends Purple Tier; students to stay home

With the state keeping Riverside County’s stay at home orders intact, school district plans to return to in-person classes were nixed as COVID-19 cases continue to rise and intensive care units remain full.

The Lake Elsinore Unified School District Board of Trustees, under which Canyon Lake students are administered, met in mid-December and approved an updated school reopening strategy. The board decided to maintain its current Distance Learning model when the spring semester began on Tuesday with only a few modifications. The plan remains the same as discussed last month, the district said, to return to in-person learning once the county retreats back to the Red Tier.

Students in Elementary Grades TK-5, in order to facilitate a smoother academic transition for all elementary students, will have their current semester extended through Feb. 11. Distance learning under existing elementary teacher and student assignments will continue unchanged.

Spring semester for those grades will then begin on Feb. 17. Parents of those children received spring semester class rosters this week.

For students Grades 6-12, the spring semester began on Tuesday under the distance learning model. Those students’ classes will be subject to teacher and student roster changes to accommodate both virtual learning for families that expressed this preference when surveyed and on campus cohort/hybrid instruction once it is safe. Parents of students in these grades received spring semester class rosters earlier this month.

Protecting the medical needs of students and staff members remains a priority for reopening under California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, the board said.

Grab and Go Meal Service resumed Tuesday at the same school locations.

A modified sports season and calendar for the district’s high schools will be explored.

The district’s goal of moving into phase two cohort/hybrid instruction when Riverside County is in the red tier and it is safe for students and staff members to return remains unchanged. Conditions to return teachers and students to classrooms include being in the Red Tier or better, and Regional Stay at Home Order terms no longer applying to the Southern California Region.

Since Oct. 20, Riverside County has been in the most restrictive Purple Tier. The Governor’s Regional Stay-at-Home Order became operable in Southern California earlier this month.

Terms of the state order remain in effect for a minimum of three weeks or until ICU availability in the Southern California Region is 15% or better. The ICU availability this week is 0%.

The board granted authorization at its meeting recently that enables the superintendent to call an emergency board meeting at the earliest opportunity so reopening can begin two weeks after returning to the Red Tier, which is the soonest schools can open to in-person classes.