How much wood
In 2016, Ed Sceery, a rancher in La Cieneguilla filed a lawsuit ($ TNM) against the Santa Fe Girls School, seeking to remove beaver dams on the school's property. He says the beavers caused flooding, which in turn limited his access to parts of his property; he also admitted to shooting a beaver on school property, and had previously left sharp devices on school property. Though a judge ruled that he does not have the right to dictate how the Girls School manages is property, the saga continues; there's a separate issue involving Sceery's water rights and whether he should have access to school property for irrigation ditch maintenance.
A look at ABQ schools
The Council of Great City Schools has conducted a third-party expert review of Albuquerque Public Schools' special education programs, and the results are mixed. Hurdles found include poor communication with parents and segregation between special and general education students, while some strengths, saying that teachers and staff in the district are particularly hard-working. Education is in the front of many peoples' minds right now, as the PED has seen some turnover and a recent report shows less than a third of New Mexico students are proficient in reading, and less than a fifth in math.
Shake it out
Shakeups in Española public schools' athletic teams are still causing trouble, only two weeks before the start of practice. The Albuquerque Journal takes a look at the gap in the volleyball program (namely, a coach and maybe even a gym), and the Rio Grande Sun outlines how the football coach abruptly quit last week and who's been appointed to fill in.
Stainless salads
Do you like getting take-out (yes) but feel bad about all the waste associated with the containers (also yes)? Erin Wade, the proprietress behind Vinaigrette and Modern General, has a solution. You can join a bit of a secret society at the fresh neighboring restaurants with a reusable cup or container for your to-go meals, and keep bringing it back and trading it in when you get more. This could be the perfect motivation to eat more salad.
Everybody must get stoned
If you're friends with anyone who has a penchant for pies or preserves, you've likely eaten something with apricots recently. The New Mex looks at Santa Fe's bumper crop ($) of the wee little stone fruit.
Fishy friends
A parcel of private land on the Rio Grande has become a reclamation site for the silvery minnow, a fish that was in dire straits last year but is getting some help this year. Not only is Doris Rhodes' property near the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, but it has many natural attributes that make it a perfect minnow habitat; thus, an ideal public-private partnership was born.
He ain’t who he says he is
Anyone who follows community forums or logs into Facebook occasionally has likely noticed that a lot of people seem to be wandering around Santa Fe lately, claiming to be from PNM or the city or the state or wherever. The latest one is a man impersonating a county worker in the Vegas Verdes mobile home park. Keep an eye out, and if anything feels weird when someone comes to your door, remember to exercise caution.
Storms moving out
Temps will be in the mid-to-high 80s today, and the chances of afternoon storms still flutter around (though cloud coverage will be less and less as time goes on). Much of this week looks like much of the same.
Thanks for reading! The Word loves beavers. Like, LOVES beavers.
