Hanford Insider: City Council Drama, Community Highlights, Celebrating Excellence in Education with Kings County Superintendent of Schools Todd Barlow

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.881 --> 00:00:02.724
On this week's episode of the Insider.

00:00:02.724 --> 00:00:08.615
The Kings County Superintendent, Todd Barlow, salutes the outstanding educators in our county.

00:00:08.615 --> 00:00:16.314
We'll have a community news update and I'll be back to give you the final results of the high school baseball and softball seasons.

00:00:16.314 --> 00:00:20.402
This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, May 20th.

00:00:40.197 --> 00:00:42.459
Welcome to this episode of the Hanford Insider.

00:00:42.459 --> 00:00:43.740
I'm your host, rob Bentley.

00:00:43.740 --> 00:00:44.780
Thanks for listening.

00:00:44.780 --> 00:00:48.429
This week I did something, host Rob Bentley, thanks for listening.

00:00:48.429 --> 00:00:50.816
This week I did something that I've been putting off for some time.

00:00:54.539 --> 00:00:55.905
Many of you have asked me if I make money doing this podcast.

00:00:55.905 --> 00:00:56.246
The answer is no.

00:00:56.246 --> 00:00:57.631
I don't seek sponsors because, honestly, I don't have time.

00:00:57.631 --> 00:01:04.313
There's a service that many aspiring podcasters use called Buy Me a Coffee, which is ironic because I don't drink coffee.

00:01:04.313 --> 00:01:12.603
What it does is it allows listeners who simply want to show their appreciation the ability to make a small donation to help me cover ongoing costs of the show.

00:01:12.603 --> 00:01:14.268
It's a hobby of mine.

00:01:14.268 --> 00:01:17.802
However, the monthly costs to maintain the show at a high level do add up.

00:01:17.802 --> 00:01:24.768
If you'd like to support the show financially, go to buymeacoffeecom, slash hamfordinsider and follow the directions.

00:01:24.768 --> 00:01:27.444
I appreciate any contribution that you can make.

00:01:27.444 --> 00:01:30.591
I'd like to thank Cornerstone Cafe for already donating.

00:01:30.591 --> 00:01:31.522
It means a lot.

00:01:31.522 --> 00:01:36.923
Like I said, I'll continue to do the show, but a little bit here and a little bit there certainly would help.

00:01:37.924 --> 00:01:42.625
I'd also like to let you know that I'm planning a special shout out show for graduating students.

00:01:42.625 --> 00:01:49.587
Simply go to my website at hanfordinsidercom, click on the microphone icon and record your special message.

00:01:49.587 --> 00:01:50.932
Here's an example.

00:01:50.932 --> 00:02:00.725
My name is Janet Escobar and I'd like to give a special shout-out to my daughter, katrina, who is graduating from Hanford West High School.

00:02:00.725 --> 00:02:01.727
You go, girl.

00:02:01.727 --> 00:02:03.832
Papa and I are so proud of you.

00:02:03.832 --> 00:02:07.969
You see, just a little message like that can be so special.

00:02:07.969 --> 00:02:12.852
I'll put all the messages together and air them on the June 3rd edition of the Hanford Insider.

00:02:12.852 --> 00:02:14.425
It's absolutely free.

00:02:14.425 --> 00:02:19.131
The weather this week is going to be nice, with temperatures in the upper 80s.

00:02:19.131 --> 00:02:28.913
In community news, how about a big shout out to the Hanford Churches, the Hanford Rotary Club and Interact members who work together to beautify and clean up our city on Saturday morning?

00:02:28.913 --> 00:02:31.307
Thank you for your service and dedication.

00:02:32.281 --> 00:02:37.793
The Hanford City Council held a special meeting last Thursday night to continue agenda items from the previous meeting.

00:02:37.793 --> 00:02:42.431
During the public comments portion, the issue of firework stand permits was raised.

00:02:42.431 --> 00:02:44.496
The issue of fireworks stand permits was raised.

00:02:44.496 --> 00:02:51.520
The fee is being raised from $105 to $284 this year to help recover costs of the fire department to come out and conduct the inspection.

00:02:51.520 --> 00:03:02.193
Later in the meeting the council directed staff to raise the permit fee gradually over two years so that it would rise to $190 this year and then $284 next year.

00:03:02.193 --> 00:03:09.592
It was good to see a compromise, as the proposed increase came on pretty short notice to the non-profits who run fireworks booths.

00:03:09.592 --> 00:03:18.306
Another popular theme during public comment was the money being spent ahead of the proposed revenue measure that has not even been formally approved by the Council.

00:03:18.306 --> 00:03:35.877
During discussions, the Council tabled further discussion of the new public safety building and revenue measure expenses until after the June 4th meeting, when the item will formally be up for approval, to decide if it will be put on the ballot and how much of a sales tax increase they feel they should ask for.

00:03:35.877 --> 00:03:46.973
During the meeting, the Human Resources Department presented a list of rate increases for facility rental fees and other fees that have not been adjusted in years or they simply just were never in place.

00:03:46.973 --> 00:03:50.650
This is all in an effort to maintain a high quality of service.

00:03:51.319 --> 00:04:00.032
The most difficult item on the agenda came at the end when the discussion about how to fill the council seat vacated by Kalish Morrow, effective June 4th, was addressed.

00:04:00.032 --> 00:04:07.167
In her resignation letter, she indicated the desire to be able to help choose her successor, which is her right technically.

00:04:07.167 --> 00:04:16.850
Due to the short timeline, however, it wouldn't give very much time for the process to play out before her departure, and some citizens even pointed that out during public comment.

00:04:16.850 --> 00:04:24.149
The fast-tracking the process would not give citizens enough time or input, leaving only a week versus up to 60 days.

00:04:24.149 --> 00:04:26.403
The council then spent a great deal of time or input, leaving only a week versus up to 60 days.

00:04:26.403 --> 00:04:34.242
The council then spent a great deal of time discussing the matter and voted on three different proposals A Fill both vacant council seats by appointment.

00:04:34.242 --> 00:04:46.514
B Fill one vacant council seat by appointment and the other by election in November that was the original plan when Diane Sharpe resigned or C leave both seats open until the November election.

00:04:46.514 --> 00:04:56.987
That option would have left the city with only three council members, and it's rather risky should a council member find themselves unable to attend a meeting, fall ill or, even worse, pass away.

00:04:56.987 --> 00:05:03.132
The city attorney pointed out the difficulties of only having three council members in the event of such an emergency.

00:05:03.132 --> 00:05:22.464
After a 2-2 deadlock on all three motions and no council member being willing to change their vote, kalish Morris surprised everyone when she said that she's willing to rescind her resignation and stay in Hanford for the remainder of her term instead of moving out of state with her family, if that's what it takes to end the stalemate and solve the problem for the city of Hanford.

00:05:22.464 --> 00:05:29.901
I spoke with her on Friday morning and she confirmed that she will be staying in Hanford and it has the support of her family in this decision.

00:05:29.901 --> 00:05:31.625
This is amazing.

00:05:31.625 --> 00:05:35.512
Thank you, kaleesh, and thank you to your family for their sacrifice as well.

00:05:40.459 --> 00:05:42.644
Here's some things coming up on our community calendar.

00:05:42.644 --> 00:05:46.733
On Tuesday, hop Forge Brewing will be hosting comedian Trent Babb.

00:05:46.733 --> 00:05:50.790
Advanced tickets are available online and available at the door while they last.

00:05:50.790 --> 00:06:02.196
On Wednesday and Thursday evenings this week, the Hanford High Choir and ASL classes are presenting their popular annual program titled Inside Out Our Next Journey Through Singing, signing and Dancing.

00:06:02.196 --> 00:06:06.767
The show will be held at the Hanford High Presentation Center at 7 pm each evening.

00:06:06.767 --> 00:06:11.502
Tickets are available at the box office at 5.45 pm before each performance.

00:06:11.502 --> 00:06:18.584
At this week's Thursday Night Marketplace it's Hometown Heroes Night the box will be playing R&B covers.

00:06:18.584 --> 00:06:24.293
Hanford High School will be hosting a mental health 5k run on Saturday, may 25th at 8 am.

00:06:24.293 --> 00:06:29.178
The Hanford Fox Theatre will be showing the Sandlot movie at 2 pm on Saturday.

00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:39.420
On Sunday, may 26th, there'll be a birth and baby Expo from 10 to 2 at the Hanford Fraternal Hall, the Marine Corps League Avenue of Flags is this Memorial Day weekend.

00:06:39.420 --> 00:06:43.750
At the Grangeville Cemetery, over a thousand flags will go up on Saturday morning.

00:06:43.750 --> 00:06:50.615
The ceremony will be held on Monday at 9 am and the flags will be put away around 2 30 pm on Memorial Day.

00:06:50.615 --> 00:06:55.668
The Carnegie Museum of Kings County presents Kings County's Asian Experiences.

00:06:55.668 --> 00:07:03.091
The museum is located at 109 East 8th Street and is open each Friday, saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 pm.

00:07:03.091 --> 00:07:07.721
Admission is $5 per person, with a $10 family maximum.

00:07:07.721 --> 00:07:12.250
For more information you can visit carnegiemuseumofkingscountyorg.

00:07:12.250 --> 00:07:18.497
The museum is also gearing up for the third annual Downtown Hanford Car Show on Saturday, june 8th.

00:07:18.497 --> 00:07:21.545
Register now at carnegiecarshowcom.

00:07:21.545 --> 00:07:25.194
Early registration closes this Tuesday, may 21st.

00:07:26.336 --> 00:07:35.307
This summer the Cinemark Movie Theater in the Hanford Mall will be offering a Summer Movie Clubhouse where tickets will be just $1.75 per movie For 10 weeks.

00:07:35.307 --> 00:07:36.990
There will be a fun movie for the kids.

00:07:36.990 --> 00:07:41.367
The movies will be shown on select days, june 10th through August 15th.

00:07:41.367 --> 00:07:44.141
There will also be special deals at the snack bar.

00:07:44.141 --> 00:07:47.384
Visit cinemarkcom for further details.

00:07:47.384 --> 00:07:52.242
I'll be grabbing events as I see them on the Hanford Sentinel calendar and social media pages.

00:07:52.242 --> 00:07:55.310
If you have an event coming up and you'd like some help getting the word out.

00:07:55.310 --> 00:07:56.182
Let's work together.

00:07:56.182 --> 00:08:00.055
Send your information to hanfordinsider at gmailcom.

00:08:00.055 --> 00:08:04.663
Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events.

00:08:04.663 --> 00:08:28.394
Well, we have come to the conclusion of the 2023-2024 school year and it gives me a great pleasure to sit down with the Kings County Superintendent of Schools, mr Todd Bartle.

00:08:28.394 --> 00:08:28.997
How are you doing?

00:08:29.016 --> 00:08:30.863
Todd, I'm doing well.

00:08:30.863 --> 00:08:32.730
I appreciate the opportunity, rob, thank you.

00:08:33.900 --> 00:08:45.751
So, todd, we have been post-pandemic education here and a lot of districts have had to do some pretty tremendous things, and the Kings County Office of Education has played a big part in that.

00:08:45.751 --> 00:08:52.552
Can you highlight some of the departments of your operation and how they support schools in our county?

00:08:53.014 --> 00:09:01.394
Certainly, Our tagline has always been, you know, 28,000 students, 13 districts, but one mission.

00:09:01.394 --> 00:09:05.292
And that one mission is we support student learning.

00:09:05.292 --> 00:09:10.506
And I've actually always said that, even when I was at a district level.

00:09:10.506 --> 00:09:15.023
There's one job in education which is supporting student learning.

00:09:15.023 --> 00:09:25.352
No matter what you do on your school site, the staff there is all part of a system that supports, ultimately supports, student learning.

00:09:25.352 --> 00:09:33.234
And that's not the only thing we do, for sure, but it is the goal that everything else surrounds.

00:09:33.659 --> 00:09:34.923
And you think about all the support.

00:09:34.923 --> 00:09:47.984
You know, I had a board member at Kit Carson, don Giacomazzi, who used to tell me Todd, take care of the buses, doesn't matter how good the teachers are if the kids don't get to school.

00:09:47.984 --> 00:09:54.745
And so it was his way of saying you know, we all have one mission here and we all have to work together.

00:09:54.745 --> 00:10:13.445
And so at the county office, that's, you know, a very relevant state of mind for us, because everything we do is just to support our districts, and sometimes that's direct services, our districts, and sometimes that's direct services to students, and sometimes it's behind the scenes, support of the staff who does directly support the students.

00:10:13.445 --> 00:10:21.735
And so, from a you know, if I took our departments and I said you know what is the main goal of that department.

00:10:21.735 --> 00:10:24.201
You know you think about our business services department.

00:10:24.201 --> 00:10:38.131
We run the payroll for over 4,000 educational employees every month, and so none of our districts conducts that business on their own and so that's a pretty big deal.

00:10:38.131 --> 00:10:44.530
I find that people you know people like to get paid and so that payroll runs through our office.

00:10:44.530 --> 00:11:16.190
That's a big support that we do, and that's because we also are the house of the financial management system for the entire county and so all those people out there supporting kids, making sure that they get what's coming to them, we have a human resources division and from a district level we have, you know, at some levels we've helped do superintendent searches for districts, most recently Lemoore High School, and my classmate McGill Guerrero took over there and they're doing great.

00:11:16.190 --> 00:11:26.577
And then we also recently conducted an HR search for Corcoran High Principal, and congratulations to Mr Larkin down in Corcoran.

00:11:26.577 --> 00:11:30.025
They hired internally for that one after an extensive search.

00:11:30.647 --> 00:11:39.860
We also are the provider of all the substitutes for most of our districts, and so from an HR level there's a lot of support going on there.

00:11:39.860 --> 00:11:49.735
We are also the internet service provider for all of the school districts we run wired and wireless system extends to every school site.

00:11:49.735 --> 00:11:51.907
And you mentioned the pandemic.

00:11:51.907 --> 00:11:56.772
During the pandemic we had to pivot and there was actually a big project that went on.

00:11:56.772 --> 00:13:00.809
All the districts got together, we all supported each other and we had to push that access from the school sites out to the homes, and so we were able to upgrade the system to coaching for teachers, support for new teachers, and we even have a program where staff members can earn their teaching credentials, not not their bachelor degree, not their bachelor degree, but once you have a bachelor's degree, your teaching credential in its entirety can be earned at the county office of education.

00:13:00.809 --> 00:13:07.179
And we really find that is something that's becoming more and more necessary as staffing issues, you know, become a challenge for everybody.

00:13:07.825 --> 00:13:12.769
Yeah, you were mentioning staffing issues and assisting people in getting their credentials.

00:13:12.769 --> 00:13:34.207
I imagine, with some of the teacher shortages that are going on in California, any support that you can offer to a potential teacher or a new teacher is really going to help our education program here in Kings County as possible and as good as possible is the goal.

00:13:34.227 --> 00:13:38.480
What we found, just as a setting, if you think about us, kings County has 28,000 students but we're surrounded by these giants.

00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:49.547
Our largest school district, hanford L, is pushing up towards 6,000 students and our smallest of our 13 districts, lakeside, is under 300.

00:13:49.547 --> 00:13:54.831
But if you go to you know just one county over in Tulare, visalia Unified, has almost 35,000.

00:13:54.831 --> 00:14:00.033
In Fresno County, fresno Unified alone has 75,000 students.

00:14:00.033 --> 00:14:09.280
So our largest school district in some other counties would be considered a small or maybe medium-sized school district.

00:14:09.860 --> 00:14:21.136
So we do struggle to find staffing and what I've found is that finding individuals who are invested in Kings County is the goal.

00:14:21.136 --> 00:14:31.751
And so we call our teacher program, teacher education program, the GROW program, because we're growing our own, you know, which I think is a saying.

00:14:31.751 --> 00:14:42.412
I don't know if we came up with that, but it fits because we are kind of having this homegrown attitude about solving that staffing issue and it's working well.

00:14:42.412 --> 00:14:43.711
We've placed a lot of teachers.

00:14:43.711 --> 00:14:54.976
Don't quote me on the number, but I think and I'm speaking from memory, but I think we have 31 people starting our cohort this summer for the next round.

00:14:55.557 --> 00:14:56.458
Yeah, that's great.

00:14:56.458 --> 00:15:09.097
I know in my experience in teaching here in the county that it's always great to see people who graduated from the school and then they come back and they become teachers, because they become role models for the students in that district or at that school.

00:15:09.437 --> 00:15:24.774
Certainly At one time I think we've changed now, but at one time five of the superintendents of our 13 districts were graduates of that district and that still holds true for most of us, so it's great to see.

00:15:26.136 --> 00:15:30.331
At the county level, we are directly responsible for two educational programs.

00:15:30.652 --> 00:15:37.614
One is mandated by the Ed Code, which is the court and community school for incarcerated youth.

00:15:37.855 --> 00:15:39.706
That's what the county offices are.

00:15:39.706 --> 00:16:22.740
It's one of the programs that the county offices are mandated to provide and we have such a phenomenal team at JC Montgomery, which is the school in the juvenile detention facility here in Kings County, who have really taken some of the most challenging situations, students that come from the most challenging situations and given them the level of care that they need that they might not have experienced in their life, and promoting arts and dual immersion, a really excellent music program.

00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:32.724
That is really broadening the scope of that program in a way that's addressing more of what they might get at a comprehensive school.

00:16:32.724 --> 00:16:42.544
It's being lauded by the state even, and in fact I had staff members at a conference last week who were asked to come present on the program that they're doing.

00:16:42.544 --> 00:17:01.879
They call it Stories with Style, but that's a moniker that they all came up with together, but it's definitely a bright spot in that realm of education and there's a lot of buzz in the juvenile court school world about Kings County and what's going on there.

00:17:03.605 --> 00:17:04.688
Well, that's awesome.

00:17:04.688 --> 00:17:06.412
That's a great opportunity.

00:17:06.412 --> 00:17:15.556
I've heard about some of the video projects that they've done in the past that have really gotten the kids focused on potential careers down the line, and I think that's so important.

00:17:15.556 --> 00:17:27.073
So, todd, for a number of years, the County Office of Education has played a really important role in educating students with special needs and giving the families the support that they need.

00:17:27.073 --> 00:17:31.386
What kinds of programs do you have in place to be able to offer those services?

00:17:32.368 --> 00:17:35.913
Well, we have our Shelley Baird Special Education Program.

00:17:35.913 --> 00:17:43.080
On one hand, this is where we provide direct service to district students on behalf of the districts.

00:17:43.080 --> 00:18:08.385
These are students with the greatest needs and the families with the greatest needs in our county, and so that program provides services that are special education for those who know IEP-related services to those students either on our own main campus of Shelly Baird and we also have a Shelly Baird preschool program, if it's not on Shelly Baird main campus.

00:18:08.385 --> 00:18:23.490
Next year we're going to have 29 satellites and they exist all over Kings County at different districts on different school sites, and so we're very proud of the work that we do with those students directly.

00:18:23.490 --> 00:18:40.446
We always try to provide them with everything that they need according to their you know, their specialized, individualized education plan, but also try to provide some of the comprehensive school experience that they would get otherwise.

00:18:40.748 --> 00:19:16.518
Case in point our Shelly Baird prom family prom, which we had last week and it was a great event over 200 attendees and we invited not only the students but their families to come and just hang out and shout out to Hanford West and their staff for setting us up and getting us off our own campus and making it sort of a special event, but amazing partners, amazing support from the community and giving those students a chance to experience something that everyone should be able to and giving their families a fun event to participate in too.

00:19:16.917 --> 00:19:18.880
That's one side of the special ed program.

00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:59.288
We also provide special education services that are related to students' needs, but those students go to their regular schools and it's everything from speech to psychological services that we provide on campuses and alternative physical education needs, and we have staff that are all over Kings County every day providing those direct services to those students, supporting staff in supporting their students on their sites, and it's just a very robust, complex but ultimately extremely rewarding body of work that is so necessary and doing so much good for the students that we serve.

00:20:00.810 --> 00:20:09.036
At the beginning of the episode we talked about, it's the end of a school year, but there's never really an end because you have lots of programs through the summer that operate.

00:20:09.036 --> 00:20:16.681
But one of the things that must be just an absolute pleasure is your Excellence in Education Awards, and I know they're coming up.

00:20:16.681 --> 00:20:26.188
That's going to be at the Hanford Fox Theater on Tuesday, may 21st, and can you tell us a little bit about the event and why you're so excited?

00:20:26.769 --> 00:20:27.772
Thank, you for bringing that up.

00:20:27.772 --> 00:20:31.784
I'm very excited about the event.

00:20:31.784 --> 00:20:35.132
We have made some significant changes to it.

00:20:35.172 --> 00:20:43.776
When I arrived in 2018, we were doing it what I would call in the old way, in which there were three winners in Kings County.

00:20:43.776 --> 00:20:48.464
There was an admin, a classified and a certificated teacher winner.

00:20:48.464 --> 00:21:04.541
There are 4,000 employees in Kings County and three out of 4,000 isn't a very high percentage, and so what I knew to be a foundational truth is that there is excellence in every one of our schools.

00:21:04.541 --> 00:21:09.915
There are people doing amazing work, and those people deserve to be recognized.

00:21:09.915 --> 00:21:25.143
Not only that, but every community member, student, parents and just general members of the community deserves to be able to look up on that stage and say, hey, there's excellence in my school, too, and in my district.

00:21:25.143 --> 00:22:00.707
And so the change I made maybe to the dismay of my staff at the time was I said we're going to expand this and every district's going to have a chance to display some of the great things that they're doing, and so we even switched the term from nominee to honoree, and so we even switched the term from nominee to honoree, and so I think that year we had 28, and we have varying amounts because we're always trying to dial in the number, but I think this year we have 27 honorees and representation from all 13 districts.

00:22:02.910 --> 00:22:11.744
Actually that's the goal this year Reef Sunset because we had to change the event from the Civic because we're all very happy about the Civic getting redone.

00:22:12.205 --> 00:22:15.013
But that did interfere with our plans a little bit.

00:22:15.013 --> 00:22:32.231
So we moved around the date a little bit and it interferes with Reef Sunset's event that they're having their year, so we'll talk about them there, but 27 staff members will get their due and we'll be able to talk about some of the great things that they're doing in their districts to help their kids.

00:22:32.231 --> 00:22:38.559
Because, like I said, only one job in education, but it really the point needs to be made that anyone can make a difference.

00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:43.394
A lot of people think about it the education world as the teacher and the student and the teacher in the classroom.

00:22:43.394 --> 00:22:54.518
But there are so many people in our system and any one of those honorees, at any time, they'll be the first one to take the spotlight and shine it on somebody else in their organization.

00:22:54.518 --> 00:23:09.544
Right, it's not me, it's the system, and I couldn't do what I do without everybody else, and that's such a great feeling of camaraderie that comes out in the event, and so it's wonderful to see, and we are excited to see, this next iteration of it.

00:23:11.670 --> 00:23:20.298
You know, todd, we have, like, graduation ceremonies coming up and teachers are packing up their classrooms, maybe moving schools, moving classrooms.

00:23:20.298 --> 00:23:29.606
A lot of hard work is going in and I know you have a lot of great things to say as an appreciation for these administrators and teachers and support staff.

00:23:30.931 --> 00:23:37.243
Well, like I said, there's no way that one person could do what we all do.

00:23:37.243 --> 00:23:38.811
It takes everyone.

00:23:38.811 --> 00:23:50.970
The support staff at the school sites are there to make sure that everything is in place so that when the teaching is happening, it happens in the best way possible.

00:23:50.970 --> 00:24:00.565
The admin and from the business staff, everybody's working together to complete this, really this singular mission that we have of supporting student learning.

00:24:00.565 --> 00:24:07.277
You know, thank you seems like such a small phrase.

00:24:07.277 --> 00:24:15.967
They really are out there changing the world for the better, and those students are our future and that's what we're here for.

00:24:32.756 --> 00:24:37.478
Todd, can you tell us how to get in touch with the Kings County Office of Education?

00:24:37.478 --> 00:24:40.058
What are your website and social media sites?

00:24:40.058 --> 00:24:50.963
We're posting a lot more and, like a lot of schools, we're finding the need to get the word out about what it is that we're doing and helping our districts do that as well.

00:24:50.963 --> 00:24:57.467
So a lot of good information there and a lot of positive stories, which I think we all need.

00:24:57.467 --> 00:25:07.494
So I want to thank you, rob, for creating this podcast and with your goal of providing positive news for the community for us all to hear.

00:25:07.494 --> 00:25:08.679
It's a great thing.

00:25:09.809 --> 00:25:10.913
Well, thank you so much, Todd.

00:25:10.913 --> 00:25:22.253
It's been a pleasure visiting with you, and now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley.

00:25:29.961 --> 00:25:35.426
There were four teams in action last week and unfortunately all four saw their seasons come to an end.

00:25:35.426 --> 00:25:46.284
On the baseball side, sierra Pacific was able to pick up a playoff win, besting Mission College Prep 3-2 on Tuesday.

00:25:46.284 --> 00:25:50.439
In the victory, justin Simas and Austin Davis were impactful on offense, each with two hits apiece.

00:25:50.439 --> 00:25:59.222
The Golden Bears then quickly had to shift focus to take on a Bakersfield Christian team that came into the playoffs on a multi-game winning streak.

00:25:59.222 --> 00:26:08.320
Unfortunately, that streak continued on Thursday as the Golden Bears were defeated 8-0, ending their season at 20-10 overall.

00:26:08.320 --> 00:26:16.243
Hanford High was on the road Tuesday and unfortunately fell 1-0 in a defensive battle against St Joseph's.

00:26:16.243 --> 00:26:23.384
Their one run came in the second inning and the Bullpups weren't able to fight back, only mustering three hits in the game.

00:26:23.384 --> 00:26:29.433
That ends the Bullpups' 2024 campaign at 15-13 overall.

00:26:31.576 --> 00:26:38.615
And in softball playoff action, hanford West fought back after trailing 5-0 to Independence on Tuesday.

00:26:38.615 --> 00:26:47.938
Kelsey Bean lit a spark for the Huskies, driving two runs in in the fourth, but the five runs was enough for Independence as they took down Hanford West 5-3.

00:26:47.938 --> 00:27:02.538
The Huskies finished the season 13-14-1 overall and Hanford High went on the road as well, unfortunately taking an 11-1 loss in Wasco, ending their season at 10-18.

00:27:02.538 --> 00:27:19.178
And next week I will have a wrap-up of highlights from the 2023-2024 academic sports year, so make sure you tune in and, as always, please send any stats, scores or stories that you want covered to hanfordinsider at gmailcom.

00:27:19.178 --> 00:27:23.789
I'm Eric Bentley and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

00:27:23.789 --> 00:27:29.875
I'm Eric Bentley and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

00:27:29.955 --> 00:27:32.018
Well, that's all the time we have for this week's show.

00:27:32.018 --> 00:27:38.804
Be sure to tune in next week to hear my interview with Dr Victor Rosa, the superintendent of the Hanford Joint Union High School District.

00:27:38.804 --> 00:27:41.767
Victor was one of my first interviews back in August.

00:27:41.767 --> 00:27:54.946
He'll be back to give us a final report on all of the district projects completed this year, including the much-anticipated reopening of Neighbor Bowl after extensive renovations just in time for high school graduations.

00:27:54.967 --> 00:27:57.673
If you enjoyed the show, leave a review on my website.

00:27:57.673 --> 00:28:04.563
If you'd like to join the Hanford Insider email list, stop by my website at hanfordinsidercom to sign up for updates.

00:28:04.563 --> 00:28:08.898
You'll also get an exclusive copy of my newsletter in your inbox each week.

00:28:08.898 --> 00:28:19.428
You can also send me feedback by voicemail through the website, by clicking on the microphone icon, or by text message at 559-424-3345.

00:28:19.428 --> 00:28:20.892
I'd love to hear from you.

00:28:20.892 --> 00:28:23.221
Your comments may even be shared on the show.

00:28:23.221 --> 00:28:31.752
I also need your help getting the word out about the show by liking and sharing on social media or telling a friend For more information about the show.

00:28:31.752 --> 00:28:37.313
You can find this podcast on Facebook, Instagram, threads X and YouTube at Hanford Insider.

00:28:37.313 --> 00:28:43.613
If you have a show idea, be sure to email me at hanfordinsider at gmailcom and I'll look into it.

00:28:43.613 --> 00:28:49.865
Finally, if you'd like to support the show, you can go to buymeacoffeecom slash hanfordinsider.

00:28:49.865 --> 00:28:51.433
Thanks for listening.

00:28:51.433 --> 00:28:52.458
Have a great week.

Hanford Insider: City Council Drama, Community Highlights, Celebrating Excellence in Education with Kings County Superintendent of Schools Todd Barlow

Listen On

Recent Episodes