Alan Thompson is an El Dorado County resident since 1958, and a licensed amateur radio operator. He's the owner and field engineer for El Dorado Networks and provides satellite Internet services for businesses and government. His clients include Facebook, Intelsat, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, the Department of Defense, Cal Fire, the U.S. Forestry Service, the Department of Health Services, T-mobile and the Federal Aviation Administration. He's also the Public Information Officer for the El Dorado County Amateur Radio Club, and a member of Toastmasters International.
In 2018, Alan was part of a disaster-recovery team that helped restore cell-phone service after the 2018 Camp Fire destroyed electronic communications in and around Paradise and Magalia. What Alan learned about the colossal emergency communications failures during the Camp Fire and many other disasters, turned him into an "Accidental Advocate" for fire and communications safety.
Since 2019, Alan has been giving talks throughout the US to Civic Groups, Homeowners' Associations, Amateur Radio groups and Fire Safe Councils in an effort to alert others to the dangers of an over-reliance on vulnerable cell-phone and Internet services, especially during disasters. Alan also outlines a unique Neighborhood Radio Watch program where we can all learn to use simple, low-cost, "non-Ham" radios as a reliable backup communications system to help keep our friends, families and neighbors safer, when all else fails.
Most recently Alan's group, the El Dorado County Amateur Radio Club, is providing emergency radio communications for public agencies and non-profit groups from throughout California to support small- and large-animal rescue efforts during the CalDor Fire.
Principal Jeremy Hunt provided us with an update on what is happening at Ponderosa High School, and a retrospective on what it is like to lead a high school during the uncharted waters of a pandemic.
Mr. Hunt later spent seven years at Center High School as a College/Career Coordinator and Counselor. In 2008, he transitioned to Ponderosa High School (PHS), serving three years as Director of Guidance, and as Assistant Principal for the past nine years. Mr. Hunt's educational experience also includes ten years of service as a school Board Trustee in the Center Joint Unified School District including two years as Board President.
Jeremy was hired as PHS Principal in April of 2020, when COVID was just becoming a massive issue. Everything was undefined at the time as to how to manage a school and instruction in this situation. They decided to use the Edgenuity system for remote learning. In a situation where the kids were at home with many distractions, including apps on the device with which they were using for video teleconferencing. The staff did an amazing job of keeping the kids engaged as well as they could. A number of kids had insufficient internet or other resources at their home, so they were asked to come to the school's cafeteria to use the good Wifi to connect with their classes. PHS was one of the early schools to return to in-person instruction at least in a hybrid mode in October of 2020.
For the 2021-2022 school year, there has been a return a focus on learning: 1) Capture the kids hearts by connecting them more tightly to their teachers and the school; 2) Introducing a Flex time period so the kids can take a breather during the school day. A 33 minute period, twice a week, in which the students can either work on homework, do something active and fun like playing cornhole, or participate in a club, like Academic Decathalon.
Mr. Hunt's key takeaways from the experience; 1) The biggest difficulty was the fear of the unknown. It drained people; and 2) Relationships are key. He was really fortunate to already know everybody due to his previous twelve years of experience at PHS.
Joe Ryan: Bicycle Program. The program is on the move again. The prison has people to repair bikes. During the Holiday Season, at ~ December 15, we normally distribute 150-200 bikes to the schools. This year, to the extent possible, we'd like to distribute bikes to the Caldor fire victims. Steve Long volunteered to find the contacts for making that possible.
Dave Sargent: Christmas Dinner and Auction. The planned date is the 2nd Thursday in December, the 9th. This is traditionally the largest fund-raising event of the year for our club. Dave announced that he would send out an email with a list of roles he needed volunteers for, to serve as subcommittee leaders. (That email has already been sent. Please volunteer.)
Guests and Visitors:
Carol Abbanat - Pollock Pines Rotary
Joe Shoemake - Supt. of Rescue Union School District.
Happy (or Not) Bucks
Marlyn Pino-Jones: $50 happy to have Jeremy Hunt as the Principal of Ponderosa High Schoool
Mike Dugan: $25 happy that all his puppies are going home this week
Principal Jeremy Hunt provided us with an update on what is happening at Ponderosa High School, and a retrospective on what it is like to lead a high school during the uncharted waters of a pandemic.
