Dear LTN readers,

On March 11, the server that hosts Lake Tahoe News and other sites went down for several hours. This has resulted in the loss of some stories as we had to restore the database. There is a gap where some stories were not saved.

If there is a story missing that you know of that does not show up by noon March 12, please email info@LakeTahoeNews.net and we’ll do our best to resurrect it.

We will not be able to revive lost comments, so you may want to repost the comment if it was that important to you.

We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Thank you for continuing to read and support LTN.

Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the March 3, 2013, Sacramento Bee.

Workers who are hurt on the job deserve to be compensated quickly and fairly, even if those workers are pro football, baseball, basketball, hockey or soccer players.

That’s the fundamental point of the workers’ compensation system on which all workers depend. But fair cuts both ways, and professional athletes claiming cumulative injuries incurred during the course of their careers have been abusing the California workers’ compensation system.

In an article last month, Los Angeles Times reporter Marc Lifsher described how retired athletes tap into California’s generous workers’ compensation system to collect six-figure settlements for cumulative trauma, even though they played only a fraction of their games in California, or may never have played here.

Many of them are big-name players who earned huge dollars. Others attained neither fame nor fortune.

Just as some players cheat the game by taking performance- enhancing drugs, others are threatening the integrity of the workers’ comp system, to the detriment of California businesses and ultimately California workers. The Legislature is confronting the issue, as it should. Billionaire owners and millionaire players have hired blue-chip lobby firms and consultants.

The California Insurance Guarantee Association is the entity that pays workers’ compensation claims when workers’ comp insurance companies become insolvent. California employers – not just professional sports teams – pay into the California Insurance Guarantee Association.

In a letter to Assemblyman Henry T. Perea, D-Fresno, the association in December said that California residents account for only 373 of its 1,873 claims from professional athletes.

The number of claims from retired athletes is growing at an alarming rate – 34 per month, as of December. The association had to add four claims adjusters to handle the influx of athletes’ claims.

The letter cited several issues that should alarm lawmakers, employers and workers. Athletes who played only one day in California, or suited up but sat on the bench, can receive compensation from California’s workers’ comp system. Athletes can file claims whether or not they were injured on a California field or court.

The letter notes that players file claims in their home states and receive compensation. Because of the laxity of California’s law, California judges can award full benefits to out-of-state players.

Adding to the complexity, the letter noted, “an athlete who last played 20 or 30 years ago is not barred from filing a claim today.”

California cannot afford to be the bank for out-of-state athletes and their lawyers. The guarantee association’s deficit hovers at $2 billion.

California employers – not just sports teams – paid $78 million toward reducing that deficit last year.

Since 2002, the state guarantee fund has paid $42 million in claims to professional athletes. The cost of processing the claims was $1 million a year. The largest number of claims come from Texas and Florida, states favored by wealthy athletes because, unlike California, they impose no state income tax.

One reason is attorney Dave Levine and his business, Pro Athlete Consulting, based in Florida. On his website, Levine all but promises retired athletes that he can get money from California, no matter where they live or played their games.

Perea has proposed Assembly Bill 1309, which would deny California benefits to pro baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer players whose teams are not based in California and who came here only occasionally for games.

The fix seems simple – though in the Capitol, nothing ever is easy.

California’s system should take care of injured athletes who played the bulk of their time California, quickly and fairly. But if they played for teams in Texas, Florida, or any other state, those states need to take responsibility.

To the community,

I arrived at Lake Tahoe in 1965 and purchased the then-existing Cecil’s Market at the corner of Park Avenue and Lake Tahoe Boulevard.

Since 1965, there have been many lofty attempts at revitalizing portions of the city, especially along the Highway 50 corridor. Thanks to the persistence of forward thinkers in our community, the keystone project of these efforts resulted in the completion of the Heavenly Village-Marriott complex. This went a long way toward promoting the back bone of our economy: tourism.

These projects are only the beginning in enhancing our area, and addressing the traffic problems with the Loop Road is a must. The stalled convention center project will be finished one day, with others to come.

Please keep in mind that a sound and inviting infrastructure always attracts new businesses and positive tourist experiences. Lake Tahoe deserves no less.

Sincerely yours,

John P. Jovicich, Cecil’s Fountain Plaza

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Feb. 16, 2013, Sacramento Bee.

From garage door openers to smartphones to tablets, many of us take for granted access to wireless networks through public airwaves. But access is not universal, especially in rural areas, and it is more expensive than it need be.

That’s why the current battle over how to allocate public airwaves is important.

Should bands be allocated through bidding for exclusive licenses – as with TV channels and cellular phone service – that transmit sound, data and video in a particular geographic area? Or should bands remain unlicensed for shared use among many players?

To meet the goals of accessibility, affordability and continued innovation, it is time to free up more spectrum for unlicensed use.

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in a 2012 report highly recommends this major change: “the norm for spectrum use should be sharing, not exclusivity.”

The Federal Communications Commission first authorized the use of devices on unlicensed frequency bands in 1938. But the real revolution began in 1985 when the FCC opened up new spectrum for unlicensed use. That jump-started an era of innovation, encouraging manufacturers to create new products that could access those bands.

From that came such things as WiFi devices (“Internet without wires”) and Bluetooth headsets. Today, we can access the Internet using multiple WiFi devices in coffee shops, airports and our homes. We have applications, such as Skype, that can make calls without using cellular networks.

This is great for consumers – and more unlicensed spectrum would generate even more innovation.

The problem is that to date most new bands for unlicensed use have been limited to communications over short distances and have limited penetration of obstacles. The big prize is high-quality frequencies over long distances that can go through walls and over hills.

So that’s the new frontier – how to tap unused bands of high-quality spectrum in between television channels or on bands not currently being used by government agencies and other band users. The FCC has proposed rules and is gathering public comment.

By allowing devices, such as smartphones, to search for and use “white spaces” not currently in use, we can expand coverage, including in remote rural areas.

Some exciting trials are happening. The Yurok Reservation along the Klamath-Trinity River in Del Norte and Humboldt counties, with rugged, remote terrain, is working with Carlson Wireless to use TV white-space bands to get the community connected.

Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative & Telecommunication, partnering with Google and Spectrum Bridge, has gotten stimulus funds to help build an open access wireless backbone so the utility can manage power remotely and residents, businesses, schools and governments in Plumas, Lassen and Sierra counties can get high-speed, cost-effective wireless service in an area with mountains and big trees.

They see this as a “blue-chip, once-in-a-lifetime chance to span the digital divide.”

We need more unlicensed space to spur the wireless connections of the future.

By Robert Stiles

Congratulations, South Lake Tahoe. After reviewing February’s numbers, I’d say our real estate market is in a definite up trend.

Robert Stiles

Six straight months of upward trending has our median sales price now at $254,500. A figure we have not seen since the end of 2011.

Although some our neighborhoods are still in a pricing down trend, I do see more positive than negative numbers. When compared to this time last year, Tahoe Keys median values are up 7 percent, parts of the Bijou area are up 12.8 percent, Meyers is up 9.2 percent and Tahoe Island Park is up 5.9 percent.

Area neighborhoods still in a downtrend include Montgomery Estates (-11.9 percent), Heavenly Valley (-10.9 percent), Al Tahoe (-7.6 percent) and the Elk’s Club area (-7.4 percent).

Keep in mind due to our low sales volume, median price changes for an area neighborhood can exhibit unusual price fluctuation. The good news, though, is when all of our neighborhood data is combined; we have the overall upward trend as noted previously.

Robert Stiles is with Tahoe Real Estate Services.

By Scott A. Lukas

When I was asked to write my reflections on leadership to commemorate Women’s History Month, I had thought, at first, of the many creative and innovative women leaders who have made a difference in South Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe Community College has Kindred Murillo, who has helped steer the college in some exciting new directions in what are challenging economic times. Norma Santiago was elected and then ran unopposed as District 5 supervisor for El Dorado Country. She has brought much attention to issues of social justice within our region. Nancy Kerry, South Lake Tahoe city manager; Patty Kouyoumdjian, executive director of the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board; Nancy Gibson, U.S. Forest Service supervisor; Darcie Goodman Collins, executive director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe; Sandy Evans Hall, executive director of the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association; Carol Chaplin, executive director of Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority; Lisa Noonan, Douglas County School District superintendent; Angela Swanson, JoAnn Connor and Brooke Laine, all councilmembers for South Lake Tahoe (and many others) have all, in their own unique ways, illustrated the value that women bring to local and regional leadership.

Scott Lukas

But for all of their important and unique contributions, there is perhaps more that we can learn from their leadership lessons. This is the gender of leadership.

Some years back I participated in a planning session in the region. One of the guest speakers was asked to comment on the issue of leadership in South Lake Tahoe or, more specifically, the topic of how to move the city in new directions in challenging, if not turbulent, economic and social times. The speaker’s response was quite puzzling. Here, paraphrasing, “Back in the day, we had more ‘men in the mountains.’ What we need now is more ‘phallic thrust’ in Tahoe.” The phrase “phallic thrust” was, not surprisingly, greeted with some shock by the many attendees at the event.

During one of the coffee breaks, I overheard a number of them comment on how offensive the speaker was, yet no one challenged the speaker on any of these points. Presumably, the person was making a claim that Tahoe had gone somewhat downhill due to a lack of “macho” or masculinist leadership and the solution was to return to the days of old.

We might use the cases of national leadership to reflect on the problems with this line of thinking. Consider how the “phallic thrust” exhibited by the George W. Bush administration impacted the United States — including its role in the world, its perception among other nations, and its ability to deal with the imminent crises of economy, terrorism, and political instability.

These two spheres of leadership are quite different, but it might behoove us to consider the ways in which masculinist leadership has impacted people and culture in negative ways and then ask some serious questions about what sort of leadership we envision for the future of South Lake Tahoe. Surely, it will not be a form dominated by the “phallic thrust” philosophy mentioned by this speaker and, at the same time, it may not completely benefit from female leadership. We would be mistaken to assume that women leaders are immune from the “phallic thrust” syndrome. In fact, theorists of gender would remind us of the many examples in which women have enacted the gendered ills more common to masculinity and patriarchy. Consider the complicity of Lynndie England in the Abu Ghraib prison-torture scandal as one example. The point may be to focus on the gender of leadership and not the fact of whether the leader is a man or a woman.

My colleague Scott Valentine, geology professor at Lake Tahoe Community College, recently raised a number of important issues about what he perceives to be a lack of effective local leadership. Valentine was unsuccessful in his bid to secure a seat on the City Council. In a number of columns that he has written, he has spoken of the many problems faced by South Lake Tahoe’s residents — a lack of stable economic base, a lack of concern with sustainability, an “old economy” mentality, few opportunities for younger people, and a general “old boys” philosophy when it comes to planning and strategic decision-making. Valentine’s call for new leadership and new vision for South Lake Tahoe reminds us that men and women have important roles to play in questioning our local leaders and the decisions they make.

We should certainly celebrate the many women who have brought positive change to our local culture and we should tell the story of local men who have taken a stand against the “old boys”/ “phallic thrust” philosophy of leadership that is rarely positive for anyone (except the old boys). But the important lesson here is to emphasize the gender of leadership. Generally, this requires that we look critically at the decisions made by local leaders and that we hold them accountable for their actions. We often forget that leaders should not be understood as being the final authorities in any matter — what George W. Bush touted as his “decider” role — but “leaders” in the etymological sense imply the “meaning to begin a discussion or debate.”

More specifically this meaning of leadership might encourage us to:

• Create coalitions of people who are willing to work on new visions and directions for the community — especially ones that challenge the “old boys” mentality of the community.

• Open up new forms of dialogue with members of the community who have rarely been invited to the “old boys” events — these include members of ethnic and gender minorities.

• Foster greater awareness of the ways in which political, economic, and social forms of special interest continue to damage our decision-making processes.

• Develop new plans and strategies that effectively envision community outreach and involvement and that avoid the elitist and often cynical assumption that the “leaders know best” for the community.

• Effectively balance economic interests with social justice concerns.

• Participate, vote, and co-create change.

Scott A. Lukas is a cultural anthropologist who has written widely on the subject of gender, including contributions to The Routledge International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities, Gendered Perspectives on Community Colleges, and Handbook for Achieving Gender Equity through Education. He is the founder of the Gender Ads Project, former gender adviser of Dads & Daughters, and been interviewed on his perspectives on gender for the Czech feminist magazine FEMA and Huffington Post UK. He is an instructor at Lake Tahoe Community College.

Publisher’s note: This letter was originally sent to South Lake Tahoe’s elected officials and the author asked for it to be published in Lake Tahoe News. It is partially original content, part form letter that Weidinger Public Relations sent via Tahoe Transportation District to proponentsd of the loop roa.

To the community,

As a resident and member of a management team at a local nonprofit in South Lake Tahoe, I urge you to consider all the facts about the loop road project before making any decision at the March 12 South Lake Tahoe City Council special meeting. I hope you hear the multitude of community members in support of the loop road and don’t let a few, loud voices with personal, vested interests overshadow the many real, positive benefits this project would provide our community.

Erica Eng

You have already started to make positive changes with Lakeview Commons, improving sidewalks and bike paths, continued development of the tourism Stateline corridor, Van Sickle Park, and community planning meetings. Let’s build on this momentum and shape an identity for our city that we can all be proud of!

We are at a critical juncture in our city’s evolution and potential. The state and nation’s economy are starting to rebound and domestic leisure travel is projected to increase by 1.6 percent with a corresponding increase in leisure travel spending of 4.5 percent (as quoted in your January 2011 Strategic Planning document).

Now, more than ever, is the time to make broad changes to revitalize and change our cities’ appearance, so South Lake Tahoe can truly become a destination city. Your personal responsibility for the fate of our city and your critical decision on this project will directly shape whether South Lake Tahoe continues its status quo of a declining economy, shrinking population, and old infrastructure, or whether we decide to be proactive and take meaningful steps to make our city more attractive, accommodating, and forward-moving for U.S. and international tourists and the residents that love this special place.

I encourage you to consider the specific consequences the loop road project will have on our city and community. Please review all the benefits that the realignment of Highway 50 and the development of a local main street could bring including:

• A recent study indicated the potential for increased retail sales could be up to $25 million annually.

•Increase in revenue would benefit California and Nevada.

• Tourism and visitor-services are the largest economic drivers for South Shore and account for more than half of total jobs in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

• The town needs a face lift – the current appearance is a road that stretches along segmented communities accented by casinos, lake and mountain-side property, motels with vacancies, strip mall-type commercial areas with vacant stores and poorly designed, unsafe parking lots. The current look is from the ‘70s while other tourist areas re-invest and advance their destination.

• Redirecting traffic behind the casino core opens room for other possibilities: increasing sidewalks from 5 feet to 11 feet, allowing for street-side dining, landscaping and benches. This will create more of a quaint city feel and a defined, fluid business and residential strip that is also more accessible by walking and biking. Improving the lay-out will naturally encourage people to slowly and easily move between different parts of the town, so visitors stay at stores for longer, visit more locations, spend more money, and enjoy the surrounding environment.

• Making positive improvements would be a catalyst to entice other investors who will want to capitalize on the growing potential for an increase in customers and revenue. The new Basecamp Hotel is a good small-scale example of this with its recent media attention from Time, New York Times, Travel and Leisure to name a few, and top-businesses like Google selecting it as a destination for a management retreat.

• It will address safety and traffic flow issues (i.e., wider sidewalks and biking areas to increase safety for pedestrians, drivers and cyclists, more lighting, slower traffic, less traffic and congestion on Highway 50, etc.).

• Residents being relocated will get assistance and access to better housing.

• A built environment that reflects and enhances the natural environment.

• Improved air quality, upgraded BMPs, and a reduction in “village” noise through realignment of traffic flow.

• Improvements consistent with the city’s General Plan.

You have heard inaccurate claims from the project’s opponents that say it will result in a loss of business and the project is an eminent domain issue. Realistically, both business and residents will see improvements by being located in a newly revitalized downtown where shopping, restaurants, residences and recreation areas connect to each other and are more accessible by walking, biking or using the local road. It will provide upgraded housing for affected, nearby residents and safer neighborhoods by redirecting pass-through traffic traveling at high speeds. It will finally provide the city with a cohesive identity where both tourists and residents have an attractive, central area to gather together.

I hope you seriously consider your responsibility as an elected official to make a decision that advances and benefits the larger community, and does not serve to benefit a few select interests, prior to voting on the South Shore Revitalization Project/Loop Road. Your decision will directly impact the perception and marketability of our city, the number of tourists who will visit and spend money, the growth of existing and new business, and a connected, cohesive city layout that further encourages more tourism and residents. Ultimately, your decision has the potential to make South Lake Tahoe a top destination and place to live, or a fragmented, crumbling blight with increasing social and economic problems. I believe a brighter future for South Lake Tahoe is a reality, and I hope you do as well. Please do your part so together we can take positive, intentional steps toward a brighter future for the community that we love.

Thank you for your consideration and your dedication and service to our city.

Sincerely,

Erica Eng, South Lake Tahoe

By Tracy Franklin

This is the second of a series of articles highlighting emergency preparedness. Use these tools to prepare yourself for an emergency. More information is available in the city’s website.

After a major disaster, you may need financial assistance and will want to document any property loss for insurance and income tax purposes. Having ready access to the documents necessary for completing application forms, as well as those which could be difficult to replace, will help reduce delay and frustration.

At a minimum:

1) Gather property insurance papers (home, auto, boat, etc.) and make copies.

2) Gather health insurance papers (medical provider, dental provider, life, extended disability, etc.) and make copies.

3) Gather financial papers (bank, investment, retirement, etc.) and make copies.

4) Gather wills, powers of attorney, and estate papers and make copies.

5) Take photos or videos of all valuables as documentation for insurance claims.

* Store these copies and photos in a safe deposit box, or in a ziplock bag in your freezer.

Important contact information

Because it may be difficult to think during the stress of a disaster and because normal routines have been disrupted, take a few moments and create a written record of these important numbers:

Work

Adult name _________________________________

Place of work _______________________________

Work phone ________________________________

Cell phone __________________________________

Work

Adult name _________________________________

Place of work _______________________________

Work phone ________________________________

Cell phone __________________________________

School

Child name _________________________________

School name ________________________________

School phone _______________________________

Cell phone __________________________________

School

Child name _________________________________

School name ________________________________

School phone _______________________________

Cell phone __________________________________

Other

Doctor name ________________________________

Doctor phone _______________________________

Dentist name _______________________________

Dentist phone _______________________________

Optometrist name ____________________________

Optometrist phone ___________________________

Insurance agent _____________________________

Insurance phone _____________________________

Vital records

Disasters not only affect community infrastructure and public works, but they often overcome family finances, making recovery difficult and sometimes impossible. Start by completing an emergency financial first aid kit created in partnership with Operation HOPE.

Research shows that while 71 percent of households reported having copies of important financial documents in a safe place, only 1 percent specifically mentioned the documents as being part of their household disaster supplies. Only 2 percent of households reported having cash as part of their disaster preparedness supplies.

Pre-disaster financial planning is essential for individuals and families to complete because disasters leave many Americans without access to finances or with expensive damages.

The EFFAK is a simple tool designed to assist you and your family in being financially prepared before a disaster strikes and maintaining financial stability in the event of an emergency. EFFAK helps you to identify and organize key financial records and provides a quick reference file for your most important financial documents.

One kit per household is recommended, although in the event one kit is used for a couple, all joint and separate accounts and liabilities should be included.

Inventory home possessions

Make a record of your personal property for insurance purposes. Take photos or a video of the interior and exterior of your home. Include personal belongings in your inventory. You may also want to download the free Household and Personal Property Inventory Book from the University of Illinois to help you record your possessions

Documents

Obtain property, health and life insurance if you do not have them. Review existing policies for the amount and extent of coverage to ensure that what you have in place is what is required for you and your family for all possible hazards.

Store important documents such as insurance policies, deeds, property records and other important papers in a safe place, such as a safety deposit box away from your home. Make copies of important documents for your disaster supplies kit. Having such information handy should make the registration process for FEMA benefits smoother, should you be involved in a presidentially declared disaster.

Tracy Franklin is the public information officer for South Lake Tahoe.

By Liam Goldrick

California’s recognized national leadership on developing and supporting new teachers is at risk. That’s bad news for beginning teachers — and for the students they teach. Here’s why — and how we can fix it.

More than 200,000 new teachers enter the profession annually across the United States — 10 percent of them in California alone.

Liam Goldrick

As New Teacher Center (NTC) reported in our Review of State Policies on Teacher Induction, 27 states require school districts to operate an induction or mentoring program for every new teacher. California used to be among them.

Seventeen states provide dedicated funding for teacher induction and mentoring. California used to be among them.

Only three U.S. states require and fund a multi-year induction program for every beginning teacher. California used to be among them, too.

The economic recession severely weakened California’s widely heralded Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) program. BTSA provides new teachers with job-embedded, individualized support aimed at making them more effective educators and helping them to fulfill state credentialing requirements. In 2008, California provided more than $4,000 in dedicated BTSA funding per beginning teacher. Since then, as a result of the categorical flexibility granted to school districts in the face of budget cuts, school districts have been allowed to redirect this funding toward “any educational purpose.” According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, 55 percent of school districts have shifted funding away from BTSA and 10 percent have shuttered their BTSA programs entirely.

While these temporary rules were slated to sunset after the 2014-15 fiscal year, Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed school finance reform plan would codify the state’s lack of direct investment in beginning-teacher development.

In a recent EdSource Today post, NTC founder and CEO Ellen Moir argued for restoring California’s historic commitment to developing a world-class teaching force. She served on State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson’s Educator Excellence Task Force, which recommended strengthening and reinvesting in BTSA, so all new teachers receive much-needed, personalized instructional support.

While rightly focused on equalizing school funding, the governor’s plan would eliminate dedicated funding for teacher induction and professional development in the state budget. Given that teachers are the greatest school-based determinant of student learning and that beginning teachers are more likely to teach in high-need, low-income schools and districts, this exclusion merits reconsideration based both on evidentiary and equity grounds.

NTC supports the intent of the governor’s school finance reform plan. We believe it can be achieved while restoring our investment in California’s beginning teachers.

Comprehensive, high-quality induction programs can be costly—but they achieve results that lesser approaches do not. One California study found a positive return from investments in comprehensive teacher induction: $1.66 for every dollar spent after five years, as a result of reduced teacher turnover savings and enhanced teacher effectiveness. And a federally funded randomized controlled trial found that multi-year induction programs increase student achievement in mathematics and reading.

But we certainly shouldn’t throw good money after bad. That’s why, as California reinvests in its beginning educators, it also should ensure that its investment has the desired impact. In the past, all BTSA programs were not created equal. Some employed research-based approaches. Others sought to fulfill basic state mandates, but didn’t provide new teachers the type of support needed to accelerate their development and keep them in the classroom.

California should continue to require new teachers to participate in a BTSA induction program to advance from a preliminary to a professional teaching credential. But the state cannot continue to let school districts off the hook. Today, districts no longer are required to operate BTSA programs, but teachers with a five-year preliminary credential must still complete an induction or clear credential program to earn a clear credential. This places an added burden on beginning teachers in those districts to locate a provider (often a college or university) of the support required to advance in the teaching profession. This is not sustainable.

As NTC initially recommended in a 2010 policy paper, California should do more to ensure the implementation of high-quality, standards-based BTSA programs that lead to more effective teaching and improved student learning. The state should deepen its analysis of BTSA impact — not only on teacher retention, but teacher effectiveness as well.

California also should promote program innovation and efficiency. It should encourage consortia approaches to supporting new teachers within existing BTSA clusters and the use of online mentoring.

Strong induction programs with deep support from local educational leaders and a proven track record will persist in isolated settings across California. This will include the NTC-affiliated Santa Cruz/Silicon Valley New Teacher Project and our many other long-standing partner districts and consortia across California. But our challenge is to extend that opportunity to each and every new teacher in the state.

State policy has an important role to play in this effort. California should restore its commitment and reclaim its mantle as a national leader in supporting new teachers.

As state policymakers aim to equalize and restore education funding, I hope you’ll join New Teacher Center in encouraging Governor Brown and the Legislature to reinvest in high-quality beginning teacher induction programs that improve teaching and strengthen student learning in every California school.

Liam Goldrick has served as director of policy for New Teacher Center, a California-based nonprofit organization dedicated to improving student learning by accelerating the effectiveness of teachers and school leaders, since 2006.

To the community,

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in Tahoe Arts Project’s Dancing with your Stars.

The Utah Ballroom Dance Company spent a week in the schools teaching students about different styles of ballroom dance. In the evening they rehearsed with our local “stars” who performed at MontBleu for more than 500 people.

Peggy Thompson

A huge thank you to our dancers, Carol Chaplin, Joel Dameral, Wendy David, Curtis Fong, Deb Howard and Bueno Ketelsen. You all did a wonderful job and you looked fabulous on the big stage.

Our judges, Paul Middlebrook, Pat Ronan and Marcia Sarosik, added to the fun with their quick wit and humor. Thank you to Dreu Murin for hosting the event.

This was a true community event and I thank the more than 500 adults and children for attending. Thank you so much to MontBleu for providing us with the theater.

Peggy Thompson, executive director Tahoe Arts Project