FAA: Deal set, but toll heavy on Inland workers
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10:06 PM PDT on Thursday, August 4, 2011
By BEN GOAD
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Lawmakers struck a deal Thursday to restore funding to the Federal Aviation Administration, signaling an end to a partial shutdown that has cost the agency hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue and forced an estimated 74,000 workers off the job.
The agreement, announced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , did not, however, come soon enough to prevent the temporary layoffs of scores of construction workers in Riverside County or avert a setback for a major Inland airport project.
"This partial shutdown has hurt a lot of people, it has hurt the economy," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., moments after she learned a deal had been reached. "It's not the way to run this government."
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Still, Boxer and other lawmakers expressed relief that congressional leaders from both parties had resolved the two-week impasse. Under the agreement, the Senate today is expected to approve House-passed legislation funding the agency through mid-September.
"It's a bipartisan compromise, and it would fully fund the FAA," said Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, "It's unfortunate the Senate didn't do it a week sooner."
The deal came about as Senate leaders were able, by a maneuver known as "unanimous consent," to approve a House bill extending the FAA's operating authority through mid-September, including a provision that eliminates $16.5 million in air service subsidies to 13 rural communities. Passage of the bill is expected today.
Most senators have left the capital for their August recess.
Bono Mack had been in frequent communication with Republican leaders and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood throughout the stalemate. She was particularly concerned about Palm Springs International Airport, where the shutdown halted work on a $14 million air traffic control tower project, sidelining 60 construction workers.
"A good portion of them are unemployed and wondering how to feed their families," Tom Nolan, the airport's executive director, said hours before the agreement was announced.
Even with an impending end to the shutdown, those employees and nearly 70,000 like them who were forced off worksites at airports around the country would not be able to immediately return. It would take time, aviation officials said, for the projects to ramp back up.
An additional 4,000 FAA officials, including more than 200 in California, have also been furloughed since Congress allowed the agency's funding to expire on July 23.
Unable in recent years to reach an agreement on long-term legislation to fund the FAA, Congress has approved 20 short-term extensions to keep the agency at full strength since 2007.
Before leaving Washington last week for their August recess, House Republicans used their majority status to pass another short-term extension bill. But it contains language that would cut subsidies for a program that aids airports in rural communities. Demanding a "clean" extension bill without that language, the Senate -- controlled by Democrats -- had refused to approve that bill before the July deadline.
Air traffic controllers, federal inspectors and other FAA employees remained on the job throughout the shutdown, and federal officials have repeatedly said airport operations and safety were not affected. But the agency's coffers were.
The FAA has been unable to collect airline ticket taxes, which amount to roughly $30 million a day that the agency cannot recoup. As of late Thursday, the lost revenue had exceeded $363 million over the course of the 13-day shutdown, according to a tally released by the American Association of Airport Executives.
Much of the revenue is directed toward airports in the form of grants and reimbursements for a variety of projects. With no one present to administer the money, the shutdown threatened to delay some endeavors, including a $3.1 million security fence project at the Palm Springs International Airport, Nolan said.
Ontario International Airport had no such projects under way and has not been affected by the shutdown, spokeswoman Maria Tesoro-Fermin said.
At San Bernardino International Airport, workers finished a $1.8 million project to replace lights along the runways earlier this year, but closing out the project will wait until FAA officials return to work, said Bill Ingraham, the airport's aviation director. He is awaiting the agency's response to a $29,000 change to the project.
"Until the FAA approves it, I cannot be reimbursed for my expense," he said. "Those are the very people who have been gone."
The end of the shutdown does not spell the end of the debate over FAA funding. Democrats and Republicans remain at odds over the proposed cuts to the subsidies for rural communities.
"It's time to rein in wasteful spending and these subsidies are prime examples of wasteful spending," Bono Mack said.
Staff writers Dug Begley and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reach Ben Goad at 202-661-8422 or bgoad@PE.com
Showing posts with label Inland Empire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inland Empire. Show all posts
Friday, August 05, 2011
Monday, July 04, 2011
Obama's Economists Admit Stimulas Has Cost $278,000.00 Per Job
Obama's Economists Admit 'Stimulus' Has Cost $278,000 per Job
July 4, 2011
When the Obama administration releases a report on the Friday before a long weekend, it's clearly not trying to draw attention to the report's contents. Sure enough, the "Seventh Quarterly Report" on the economic impact of the "stimulus," released on Friday, July 1, provides further evidence that President Obama's economic "stimulus" did very little, if anything, to stimulate the economy, and a whole lot to stimulate the debt.
The report was written by the White House's Council of Economic Advisors, a group of three economists who were all handpicked by Obama, and it chronicles the alleged success of the "stimulus" in adding or saving jobs. The council reports that, using "mainstream estimates of economic multipliers for the effects of fiscal stimulus" (which it describes as a "natural way to estimate the effects of" the legislation), the "stimulus" has added or saved just under 2.4 million jobs — whether private or public — at a cost (to date) of $666 billion. That's a cost to taxpayers of $278,000 per job.
Monday, June 20, 2011
INLAND: Many Cities Weighing Police vs. Sheriff (The Press-Enterprise) by John Asbury June 20, 2011.
INLAND: Many cities weighing police vs. sheriff
12:52 PM PDT on Monday, June 20, 2011
As Inland cities try to put the most police officers on the streets for the least amount of money, communities are asking if the best option is a city police department or a county sheriff's contract.
In several cities, including San Jacinto, Canyon Lake and Norco, leaders have questioned the rising costs of their contracts with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
Meanwhile, other cities such as Hemet and Redlands have discussed reviewing whether running their own police department is the most economical option amid a budget crunch.
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Jurupa Valley, which will incorporate as a new city on July 1, is determining how much police service it needs from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. In his budget, the sheriff anticipates getting $13 million from Jurupa for his department's services.
Both city police chiefs and sheriff's officials say what they provide is the best model.
Police chiefs tout a local connection with the community, whereas sheriff's officials say they can bring the strength of a larger organization to communities.
"Every business model shows a broad set of shoulders is a more cost-effective way of doing things," Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff said. "The bigger we are across the board, the more economic it becomes. ... What makes it cost-effective is you end up sharing. You don't have to have all the overhead. When you duplicate overhead, it becomes very expensive."
Sheriff's contracts are generally more cost-efficient, agreed Andrew Scott, a police consultant and former police chief of Boca Raton, Fla., but they also offer less service than a city police department and the costs are more likely to increase more steeply.
"On first blush, it makes sense that a city may consider bringing in the county sheriff to bring in services with more personnel," Scott said. "But historically, though the numbers look attractive, the cost of business and police services has a tendency to escalate."
PROS, CONS OF POLICE
Hemet is at a crossroads when it comes to police services. Though a sheriff's contract has not been proposed, city leaders have spent months discussing hiring a consultant to review the most cost-effective option, or hiring a public safety director.
Its police force has been besieged by cuts, and its staff is one-third smaller than it was in 2008. Faced with closing a multimillion-dollar budget gap next year, the city has been issuing layoff notices in the Police Department with the intention of demoting some officers to save money and get more officers on patrol. At least two top officials have taken early retirement.
Still, Hemet Police Chief Dave Brown said he's confident the city will find the Police Department is the best option.
"I feel that way now more than ever, without reservation. There's been no discussion at the city level of contracting with the sheriff," Brown said. "Our community and our City Council believe we are the better option."
Many Hemet police officers have spent their entire careers in the city, know the residents well and care about the issues the city faces, Brown said.
Brown noted that each city's budget allocates costs differently. The Hemet Police Department's budget last year also included $1 million in city employee retirement funds not related to police services.
However, some residents have also expressed concerns that with recent layoffs notices and retirements, they may be seeing their city Police Department slipping away.
Connie Hall, a 25-year resident of the San Jacinto Valley and vice president of the Central County United Way, said she has pride in Hemet maintaining its own Police Department. She knows many of the officers who have been affected and fears that the service level may drop if the department changes.
"The decline of our precious community is upsetting. For whatever reason, I know the city's got a tough job at hand, but chipping away will only lead to an increase in crime," Hall said. "Hemet's still a small town and I want to know the police officers."
The Rialto City Council voted in 2005 to disband its Police Department, established in 1911, and use the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department to save $3.2 million. The next year, the city rescinded the plan and kept its police force.
SHERIFF'S COSTS
In San Jacinto, which eliminated its city-run Police Department in 2004 in favor of sheriff's services, the annual sheriff's fee increases have drawn criticism from City Councilman Steve Di Memmo.
"Every year we get increases and we're not increasing our service or adding more officers," Di Memmo said. "If we're going to pay for everything, why don't we have our own Police Department?"
The city voted last week to continue its sheriff's contract and not explore forming a police department, with conditions that the city would explore other options, such as having a third party provide police services or forming a Joint Powers Authority to serve both San Jacinto and Hemet.
The Riverside County Sheriff's Department does raise its fees most years because of increasing personnel costs. Last year, the contract rate rose by about 4 percent.
The sheriff's contracts are solely based on the cost of services in each contract city, Sniff said.
He attributed the rising costs either to raises with unions -- which are approved by the supervisors, not the Sheriff's Department -- or to cities' requests for additional services or materials.
"Every city's howling about how much it costs, but it's driven by the board's approval of multiyear raises," Sniff said.
A number of smaller cities also are struggling with the sheriff's contract costs.
The Norco City Council voted unanimously last month to lay off some staff members at the Norco sheriff's substation.
Canyon Lake has the minimum sheriff's service, requiring one deputy on duty during each 12-hour shift, and is trying to renegotiate its contract.
"We appreciate the sheriff's service and we get the best service possible, but we can't afford it," Mayor Barry Talbot said.
PRAISE FOR SHERIFF
While many cities have complained about rising sheriff's contract costs, an analysis of city budgets shows that Inland cities with their own police departments spend more per capita on those services.
Among 12 cities with police departments in Riverside and San Bernardino counties that were reviewed, the average policing cost per person is $245.
Among 18 cities reviewed that have contracts with the sheriff's departments, the average cost was $160 per person.
The sheriff's departments also provide a wide range of specialized units that contract cities aren't required to maintain, such as a team of homicide detectives, a special investigations bureau, a bomb squad and an aviation unit.
Some of those services are available to city police departments through a mutual-aid agreement.
The Riverside County sheriff's largest contract city, Moreno Valley, has praised the services it receives.
Mayor Richard Stewart said the sheriff's contract offers a host of advantages. It shields the city from police liability claims and gives it access to all of the specialty teams. In addition, the city can label the Moreno Valley sheriff's station as its own police department, with its own patches and cars.
Moreno Valley has hired three consultants since the city's inception 1984, Stewart said, and each study showed it would cost $5 million to start a city-run Police Department.
"The sheriff has kept costs down. They provide services you don't get in Riverside," Stewart said. "It's too bad we have to spend millions each year and not get more officers, but those are part of contract negotiations."
Reach John Asbury at 951-763-3451 or jasbury@PE.com
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Obama's Ultimate Betrayal (January 12, 2011) Personal Liberty Digest..
Obama's Ultimate Betrayal
January 12, 2011 by John Myers
Welcome to 2011; another year for President Barack Obama, whose energy policies are dictated not from the White House but from Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.
Obama's Christmas gift to the nation was the December announcement by the President himself to clamp down further on domestic oil and gas drilling. Welcome to the New Year where pump prices now average more than $3 per barrel.
Despite the worst recession since the Great Depression, we are paying the highest gas prices since 2008. All thanks to Obama's need to go Green, which is enriching Arab oil producers while putting America's future at risk.
Obama regulators have been busy slipping in ill-advised energy policies. First came the pre-Thanksgiving announcement that oil exploration and drilling in Alaska would be curtailed. All for a good cause, said the Obamaites, to help save vast expanses of polar bear habitat. Then Obama's Department of the Interior made a pre-Christmas policy change that would further cut domestic oil supplies by making energy-rich lands untouchable.
It seems that Obama forgot that designating Federal lands as wilderness areas was supposed to require an act of Congress. Yet the day before Christmas Eve, Obama's Department of the Interior did a coup d'état. As a result, the Obama administration alone is able to judge where oil can or cannot be drilled. In doing this, Obama has thwarted George W. Bush's policy that restricted unilateral action by the White House.
Then there is the drilling in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico. Nearly three months after the Obama administration lifted its ban, oil companies are still waiting for approval to drill the first new oil well in the Gulf. In fact, the petroleum industry expects the wait to continue until the second half of 2011, and perhaps well into 2012.
This long delay by the Obama administration is costing Big Oil billions of dollars that they have tied up in Gulf projects; projects that are now on hold while petroleum companies pay out thousands of dollars every day on rigs that stand idle.
Last week the Wall Street Journal wrote this indictment of Obama' energy policy:
"Their impact goes beyond the oil industry. The Gulf coast economy has been hit hard by the slowdown in drilling activity, especially because the oil spill also hurt the region's fishing and tourism industries. The Obama administration in September estimated that 8,000 to 12,000 workers could lose their jobs temporarily as a result of the moratorium; some independent estimates have been much higher.
"The slowdown also has long-term implications for U.S. oil production. The Energy Information Administration, the research arm of the Department of Energy, last month predicted that domestic offshore oil production will fall 13 percent this year from 2010 due to the moratorium and the slow return to drilling; a year ago, the agency predicted offshore production would rise 6 percent in 2011. The difference: A loss of about 220,000 barrels of oil a day."
All of which leaves America more susceptible to an Arab oil embargo. The last one happened in the 1970s when the U.S. was pumping twice as much oil as it is now.
With the U.S. gulping more foreign crude than ever, Arabs could bring America to its knees. You would think that a President as smart as Obama would understand the risk he is putting the nation in; a nation which he has sworn to protect.
Perhaps the greatest waste of American resources is out West where there is potentially hundreds of millions of barrels in oil reserves and trillions of cubic feet in gas deposits; all of it just waiting to be drilled and pumped to a thirsting nation. Yet our President is obstructing America from meeting its energy needs.
Ben Lieberman of The Washington Times explains:
"Utah is particularly hard hit, with up to 6 million acres in jeopardy of being locked away from development. Rep. Rob Bishop, Utah Republican, told The Salt Lake Tribune, "[This decision will seriously hinder domestic energy development and further contribute to the uncertainty and economic distress that continues to prevent the creation of new jobs in a region that has unduly suffered from this administration's radical policies."
But there is more. Two days before Christmas the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) undertook a Pearl Harbor-like pre-emptive attack on U.S. refiners with an order that will place severe limits on carbon-dioxide emissions. The EPA, in language Joseph Stalin would have been proud of, said: "The details have yet to be determined."
The Moroccan Candidate
The bottom-line is that under Obama, Washington is certain to increase the cost of converting oil into gasoline. If you are looking forward to spending $5 per gallon at the pumps, you will love Obama's bold new move to make America more green.
The $5 per gallon is not just a number I picked out of the air. The former president of Shell Oil says that's entirely possible as high demand pushes the price of crude oil higher and higher.
Culminating some time by the third quarter of 2012, retail pump prices in places like California and New York will reach roughly $5 per gallon, said former Shell Oil president John Hofmeister.
Former energy secretary Bill Richardson was asked about Hofmeister's stark prediction: "I hope he's wrong, but this is a very volatile energy market and we haven't moved as fast as we should in America towards reducing our dependence on fossil fuels."
Hofmeister underscores the urgent need to develop domestic oil production and he even accuses the Obama administration of being anti-oil.
"I have no problem moving beyond oil but not today, not tomorrow, not 2011 or 2012. We can't. It's simply impractical and unreal," Hofmeister said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DOE) has put out a statement saying it will continue to pursue responsible oil and gas production while focusing on vehicle efficiency standards and investing in electric vehicles, bio-fuels and mass transit.
Obama's DOE must think America alone can make the Earth green. What the President seems to forget is the fact that China, India and Russia, along with a host of Third World polluters, are using coal and even wood furnaces to drive their industries.
It appears to me that Obama's Green policies are nothing more than collateral damage to a nation that needs domestic petroleum and the jobs that that industry provides. Instead Obama's policies seem to be helping Arab oil exporters.
If you think I exaggerate, consider this from the Dec. 29 Economist, not known as a bastion of conservative ideals: "Mr Obama's team of managing the Middle East is even more inept than Mr Bush's. The American right and many Israelis think he is too pro-Arab."
Dubya Billboard: "MISS ME YET?"
People in the petroleum industry don't believe Obama is pro-North America, at least not when it comes to energy. Canada's oil sands — which help keep America on the road every day—have been labeled "dirty oil" by Obama Democrats (as if the crude they pump out of the Saudi desert was somehow clean). And given the political realities that exist in many parts of Alaska, Sarah Palin has a greater chance of hitting a gusher with an errant shot from her AR-15 than Big Oil has with a drill-bit.
Despite Bush's multiple mistakes in the Middle East, he was a patriot who at least wanted to ramp up domestic oil and gas production. That's not true of Obama, who seems intent on increasing America's dependency on Arab oil.
As I write to you, oil has topped $90 per barrel. I believe that by summer it will break over $100 per barrel. That makes Big Oil a good investment. But at what cost?
Under Obama's presidency we are headed for an energy crisis worse than anything President Jimmy Carter could have engineered. Just how high oil prices will go I don't know. Much depends on what happens in the 2012 election.
Yours in good times and bad,
John Myers
Myer's Energy and Gold Report
Monday, January 10, 2011
Eight Inland Hospitals show highter then expected death rates! (The Press Enterprise by Lora Hines) Jan. 9, 2011
Eight Inland hospitals show higher than expected death rates
11:01 PM PST on Sunday, January 9, 2011
A recent report shows that eight Inland area hospitals had higher than average death rates for problems and conditions that government agencies have identified as possible quality indicators, according to state analysis.
Five of those hospitals had been identified as poor performers in a previous report for 2006 and 2007 by the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, which evaluates health care data.
The report assessed outcomes for patients who were admitted to California hospitals for esophageal and pancreatic resections, brain surgery, acute strokes, gastro-intestinal bleeding, hip fractures, surgeries to widen narrowed or blocked blood vessels and remove carotid artery plaque, congestive heart failure and pneumonia.
It is the second such report to be released by the department. The 12 conditions and procedures assessed in the report are among hospital quality measurements developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a federal agency charged with improving health care quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness.
Administrators whose hospitals did poorly disputed the findings. They said the analysis used inaccurate office data, not clinical information, on which to base results. It also unfairly included seriously ill elderly people and clinically dead patients whose medical records indicated they not want to be resuscitated, which negatively skewed results.
"(The agency) might believe that giving something is better than nothing. I don't," said Dr. Dev GnanaDev, medical director at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. He also is past president of the California Medical Association, an organization that represents more than 30,000 doctors.
Review of clinical data would have explained the deaths of 22 Arrowhead patients listed in the report as having died from brain surgeries, GnanaDev said. Nine of them had terminal brain cancer, he said. Six suffered severe brain injuries, such as gunshot wounds. The other seven didn't have brain surgery at all, GnanaDev said.
"That's why the report just bothers us," he said. "I do not know what they are trying to do."
Jerri Randrup, spokeswoman for Hemet Valley Medical Center and Menifee Valley Medical Center, also took issue with the report.
"We take these reports very seriously and we agree that health care information should be easily accessible and transparent to aid consumers," she said. "That is why when it is communicated; it should be as complete as possible. In this case, the ratings do not account for several contributing factors, including the wishes of the patients, many of whom had legally binding 'do not resuscitate' orders in place. Had such factors been considered, our facilities would have secured substantially higher ratings."
The report examined deaths that happened during hospital admission and considered risk factors such as age and co-existing illnesses. Thousands of records from more than 300 hospitals, including 32 in the Inland area, were analyzed.
The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development did not audit records for accuracy, which it typically does, because it didn't have the manpower or money for it, said Joseph Parker, the department's director of its health care outcomes center. By law, the agency is required to periodically issue reports on health care.
All hospitals received copies of the report in November and had at least a month to respond. Few did.
The agency doesn't regulate hospitals, so it can't force them to improve.
Parker said the strategy behind the reports is to give patients and employers with large health care plans information they can use when deciding on hospitals to use.
"We are empowering them to ask questions when they have options," he said. "These are not the definitive measures of quality. They should be used as a starting point for asking questions."
Of the eight Inland-area hospitals named, the agency identified Hemet Valley Medical Center, Menifee Valley Medical Center, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton and Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs as having worse than expected mortality rates in 2008 and 2009. Riverside Community Hospital and Redlands Community Hospital had worse than expected mortality rates in 2008. Community Hospital of San Bernardino and Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree were identified as having worse than expected mortality rates in 2009.
Kathi Sankey-Robinson, spokeswoman at Redlands Community Hospital, said her hospital takes all quality reports and assessments seriously and uses them to develop ways to improve, including special assessment teams created to catch problems more quickly.
"They're good for the industry and good for the person," she said. "They are one thing for people to look at, but not the only thing."
Reach Lora Hines at 951-368-9444 or lhines@PE.com
HOSPITAL MORTALITY RATES
Eight Inland-area hospitals exceeded the state's average mortality rate for patients who arrived at facilities suffering from six conditions or requiring six procedures, according to the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. The facilities:
Hemet Valley Medical Center
Menifee Valley Medical Center
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton
Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree
Redlands Community Hospital
Riverside Community Hospital
Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs
Community Hospital of San Bernardino
Go to www.oshpd.ca.gov to see the report.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Epidemic forcing students to get vaccinated (Press Enterprise by Michelle L. Klampe) November 29, 2010
Epidemic forcing students to get vaccinated
07:05 AM PST on Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Thousands of Inland middle and high school students will need a booster shot to ward off whooping cough if they want to go back to school next fall.
State, county and school officials have a few months to notify parents of a state law passed in September that requires seventh- through 12th-graders at public and private schools to get immunized.
RELATED
ON THE WEB
Health officials hope the additional vaccination against whooping cough, also known as pertussis, will prevent the spread of the highly contagious disease in California, which has seen more cases this year than any year since 1947.
To prepare, health officials are notifying private doctors and offering vaccinations at public health clinics. School officials are informing parents and considering giving shots on campuses.
"It is going to be a huge challenge for schools," said Cathy Owens, lead nurse for the Murrieta Valley Unified School District. "We've never had a high school vaccination requirement before."
The new law will affect roughly 40 percent of the Murrieta Valley's 22,000 students, most of whom will likely need vaccinations, Owens said. Once all current middle and high school students are vaccinated, the law in future years will affect only incoming seventh-graders.
If students aren't vaccinated, their absence could hurt schools that rely on student attendance to get state funding.
"This is a no shots, no school policy," Owens said. "There is no grace period."
The rapid rise in pertussis cases this year spurred the law. Between Jan. 1 and Nov. 16, California recorded 6,795 confirmed, probable or suspected cases of the disease, the most cases since 1947, statistics from the California Department of Public Health show.
The disease can cause severe illness and, in rare cases, death -- particularly in infants. Since Jan. 1, 10 deaths have been reported in California, including two infants in San Bernardino County.
In Riverside County, 307 pertussis cases were reported between Jan. 1 and Nov. 4 this year, compared to 46 cases during the same period in 2009, statistics from the county Public Health Department show. There have been no deaths in Riverside County.
Public health officials have been urging older children to get a booster vaccination since last summer, so some already comply with the new school requirement, said Barbara Cole, Riverside County's disease control director.
BOOSTER SHOT
Children are vaccinated against whooping cough through a series of shots that begin in infancy. But the immunization wears off over time, so a booster shot around age 10 will keep children protected while in school, Cole said.
Parents are encouraged to vaccinate their children now to avoid the crush expected when the start of school nears next year.
Officials at several Inland school districts said they already are working to educate parents.
"We're telling anybody who walks through the door, especially at the high schools," Owens said.
Steve Behar, director of child welfare and attendance for the Lake Elsinore Unified School District, said officials plan to send fliers with students several times over the next few months. The district also is considering clinics at schools or in the community, he said.
The challenge is "going to be making sure people understand it is not a district policy," Behar said. "It is the law, so we don't have a choice."
San Bernardino City Unified School District officials sent letters to all students in October and are filming informational programs, in English and Spanish, for the local community access television channel, spokeswoman Linda Bardere said.
Nancy Carpenter, district nurse for the Temecula Valley Unified School District, said she also is looking at vaccination clinics, likely in summer before school starts to avoid losing lesson time.
Temecula Valley officials are reviewing health records to determine how many students will need vaccinations, she said.
COMPLIANCE ISSUE
They also must determine how to record students' compliance, because the cards used to track immunizations don't have a spot for the new pertussis requirement, she said.
For now, school officials will accept whatever documentation parents have as proof of vaccination, she said. Parents can provide the proof anytime, she said.
Now that he learned from Hemet High officials about the requirement, Blake Sanches, 16, said he is planning on getting the booster in a few weeks. The junior said he hoped the vaccination would cut down on his classmates being out sick.
"It's just another shot on the list," Sanches said on a recent day at the Hemet Valley Mall. "We have a school of 3,000 kids coughing on each other."
California law allows some exemptions to vaccine requirements for medical purposes or if the immunizations go against parents' personal beliefs. Owens, the Murrieta school nurse, said parents who want their child exempted must fill out a new waiver for the pertussis booster. Existing waivers won't work, she said.
Hemet parent Michelle Fisher said her 13-year-old daughter won't be getting the shot because of the family's Christian Science beliefs. Her daughter, she said, would stay healthy through a proper diet.
"There's no such thing as required vaccinations," Fisher said. "We don't need to drug our kids to keep them healthy."
Staff writer John Asbury contributed to this report.
Reach Michelle L. Klampe at 951-375-3740 or mklampe@PE.com
WHOOPING COUGH
WHAT: An infectious disease, also known as pertussis, that is caused by bacteria. Pertussis can cause violent and rapid coughing followed by a high-pitched "whoop."
SIGNS/SYMPTOMS: Infants will show signs of a cold, including runny nose, and may or may not have a cough or fever. They may also develop trouble breathing. In adolescents and adults, symptoms start with a cough and runny nose for one to two weeks, followed by severe coughing for weeks to months.
DANGER: The disease spreads easily from person to person through close contact. It can be serious for infants, and in rare cases, can cause death.
Source: Riverside County Department of Public Health, Centers For Disease Control
NEW REQUIREMENTS
A law passed in September requires all public and private school students entering seventh- through 12th-grade in fall 2011 to show proof of a whooping cough booster shot, or Tdap, before starting school. Beginning in 2012, the law will affect only students entering seventh grade.
TO COMPLY: The state recommends that children receive Tdap on or after their 10th birthday. However, a student will have met the new school requirement by showing proof of a pertussis booster on or after their 7th birthday.
EXEMPTIONS: Parents or guardians can seek a waiver if the immunization is against their personal beliefs. Physicians also can provide a medical exemption.
IMPACT: Students who are not vaccinated and are not exempted cannot attend school.
VACCINATIONS: Shots are available through private physicians or at public health clinics. Riverside County clinics offer the shots for a small fee on a walk-in basis. No one will be turned down if they can't afford to pay. Call 800-720-9553 for clinic locations. The vaccine also is available at public health clinics in San Bernardino County for $10. To make an appointment and get clinic schedules, call 800-722-4777.
INFORMATION: www.getimmunizedca.org
Source: State and County Health departments
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