Page 2 - Mid Valley Times 1-14-21 E-edition

Obituaries
Gene Butler
Gene Butler of Oro- si died Dec. 23. He was 81.
Mr. Butler worked as a mechanical engi- neer.
He is survived by two daughters and three grandchildren.
A graveside ser- vice will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15, at Smith Mountain Cem- etery in Dinuba.
Dopkins Dinuba Funeral Chapel is handling the arrange- ments.
Wanda Ruth Gilstrap
Wanda Ruth Gil-
strap of Sanger died Jan. 3. She was 88.
Mrs. Gilstrap worked as a baker for the Fresno Unified School District.
She is survived by three sons, six grand- children and five great-grandchildren.
Private services were held. Wallin's Sanger Funeral Home handled the arrange- ments.
Eulogio
Gonzales Jr. Eulogio Gonzales Jr.
of Sanger died Dec. 30 in Sanger. He was 78.
Mr. Gonzales worked as a farm labor contractor.
He is survived by his wife, Victoria H. Gonzalez, one son, two daughters, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
A mass will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday,
Jan. 20, at the new St. Mary's Catholic Church in Sanger. Burial will be in Sanger Cemetery.
Dopkins Reedley Funeral Chapel is handling the arrange- ments.
Barbara Joann Harman
Barbara Joann Har-
man of Reedley died Jan. 1 in Hanford. She was 81.
Mrs. Harman was a homemaker.
She is survived by three sons, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
A graveside ser- vice was held Jan. 20 at Reedley Cemetery.
Dopkins Reedley Funeral Chapel han- dled the arrangements.
Patricia Honchell
Patricia Honchell of Antioch died Jan. 1. She was 87.
A graveside ser- vice will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19, at Smith Mountain Cemetery in Dinuba. A memorial mass will be scheduled for a future date.
Friends and family are encouraged to sign the guestbook at Oui- metbrothers.com.
Raymond Martinez Jr. Raymond Martinez
Jr. of Dinuba died Dec. 22 in Fresno. He was 50.
Mr. Martinez worked as a lab tech- nician in microbiology.
He is survived by
two sons and three grandchildren.
A graveside ser- vice will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 15, at Smith Mountain Cem- etery in Dinuba. Dop- kin's Dinuba Funeral Chapel handled the ar- rangements.
Joe Sierra
Joe Sierra of Orosi died Jan. 5 in Visalia. He was 79.
Mr. Sierra worked as a truck driver.
He is survived by his wife, Bertha Diaz Ochoa, one daughter and four sisters.
A graveside service will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, at Smith Mountain Cem- etery in Dinuba. Dop- kin's Dinuba Funeral Chapel handled the ar- rangements.
Crispin Carig Trinidad
Crispin Carig Trini-
dad of Reedley died Jan. 3 in Reedley. He was 75.
Mr. Trinidad worked as a fruit buy-
er.
He is survived by
his wife, Virginia Trin- idad, two sons, three daughters, two sisters and five grandchil- dren.
A church mass will be held at noon Tues- day, Jan. 26, at St. La Salle Catholic School in Reedley. Burial will be in Reedley Cemetery.
Dopkin's Reed- ley Funeral Chapel is handling the arrange- ments.
Haveastoryideain your town?
Email to news@ midvalleytimes.com, or call 638-2244 (Reedley office) or 875-2511 (Sanger office)
By Nathalie Gutierrez
For The Times
During this past year and in continuance, chil- dren and their families have been greatly im- pacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many have lost friends, family mem- bers or know of some- one who’s been affected by COVID-19. Some have even contracted the vi- rus, while others have lost their jobs.
Families continue to struggle, and are uncer- tain or afraid of what the future holds.
“It was hard.” Sandy Duarte, mother of three stated. “ They had to go on Zoom, they hated it. And I’m so happy they can go back to school.”
She shared her expe- riences as a mother who works hard to provide for her children, just as many parents of the chil- dren who attend a Kings Canyon Unified School District school.
In addition, transition- ing from in-person to on- line classes is no simple task. There are many parents who profoundly depend on their children being present in school as they work.
According to CalMat- ters, about 23.4 percent of California children live in a single-mother household, and Fresno and Merced counties have the lowest rate of kids living in a two par- ent household.
This means that with- in our region, there is a prevalent matter of fi- nancial instability since two-parent households make more income.
SCHOOLS Continued from page A1
have dropped through- out Fresno County to re- sume on campus learn- ing for their upper grade levels, this includes stu- dents at Reedley High School.
“We feel that when
Editor's note: Nathalie Gutierrez is a Fresno State University student majoring
in Communication and minoring in Public Relations. She was born and raised in Reedley, attending Grant Middle School, Reedley High School and Reedley College.
Valerie M . A lvarez
Valerie Michelle Alvarez was granted eternal rest on January 1, 2021. Valerie was born on July 18, 1979 in Visalia to Anthony Sr. and Christine Alvarez, and lived in Orosi most her life. She is remembered as a beautiful and joyful woman who despite her physical limitations could light up a room with her infectious smile and outgoing personality. She was known as “Hot Wheels” by her friends, because she loved to dance
in her wheelchair.
She will be greatly missed by many. She joins her entire immediate
family in our Lord’s loving arms. Valerie is survived by her nieces and nephews: Jordan Kimble, Anthony Alvarez III, Kobe Kimble, Jaylynn Kimble, and Samantha Alvarez.
Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - Viewing at Dopkins Chapel in Dinuba from 10 a.m. -
12 noon, following burial at Smith Mountain.
Published every Thursday by Mid Valley Publishing 1130 “G” Street, Reedley, CA. 93654
(559) 638-2244
•••••••
Mid Valley Times Staff
There are families who struggle economi- cally, and COVID-19 has made the situation worse. Single-parent households are especially vulnerable since there’s less support when it comes to the care for their child.
Apart from this, the pandemic has brought upon more issues such as access to Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi connectivity along with the necessity of adult su- pervision and assistance during Zoom courses.
CalMatters also not- ed that the majority of children who contracted COVID-19 are Latinos, and those who are most affected by the virus are African-American and Hispanic communities.
However, even with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Kings Canyon Uni- fied's staff and instruc- tors have been highly supportive towards stu- dents and parents alike. They remain positive and confident in their abili- ties to combat the crisis and assist the community at large.
Roberto Gutierrez, KCUSD deputy superin- tendent, said the district has taken the necessary precautions and steps to ensure the safety and health of their students and staff.
Not only has the dis- trict and their school’s been in contact with parents through Par- entSquare and biweekly letters, they’ve also made
students aren’t able to come to school and par- ticipate and when they aren’t given that option, they can become iso- lated and that take it’s toll on their emotional health,” said Wagner.
According to infor- mation from the Ameri- can Psychological Asso- ciation, as the pandemic began and schools across the country switched to online learning, many children began to strug- gle. The article states that students began to show a lack of motiva- tion, and parents were unsure how to help.
Experts claimed part of the reason was due to students not use to learn- ing in isolation.
“For our students to be able to come back and interact with their teach- ers, with their friends and other caring adults here at school,” said Wagner. “We see the smiles on their faces we can hear the cheerful-
new safety guidelines and disinfection proto- cols.
These new guidelines and protocols include; wearing masks, practic- ing proper social distanc- ing, and frequent hand washing. Classrooms al- so are sanitized nightly, as well as other areas around campus.
Every staff member and student are also obli- gated to complete the dai- ly health screening before coming on to campus.
An interview with of- ficials at Jefferson Ele- mentary School in Reed- ley provided a first-hand perspective.
“We’ve been pro- gressing really well.” said Polly Rosalez, learn- ing director at the school. She said the children at Jefferson had gotten their routines and re- sponsibilities down and were able to pick up on things rather quickly.
Cynthia Martinez, first grade teacher, point- ed out how resilient the students are.
“Children will rise to any challenge and we have seen this time and time again at Jeffer- son,” she said. “COVID has really made appar- ent what truly is impor- tant, which is our health and that of our families. This virus has made us naturally more cautious in what we choose to do or where we decide to
SeeKCUSDonpage A8
ness in their voice, they are happy to be here, and this is a great place for them to be.”
The Dinuba Uni- fied School District an- nounced on their web- site that they initially were to begin on campus instruction for grades TK-2 on Tuesday, Jan. 19 pending approval from the Tulare County Health Department.
But when Gov. Gavin Newsom during the two- week winter break an- nounced a new process for reopening schools in lieu of the waiver process, DUSC had not yet received a waiver so any opening plans were delayed.
In the meantime, the district began the instal- lation of bipolar ioniza- tion systems in school classrooms this week as they prepare to eventu- ally welcome back stu- dents into classrooms on campus.
Students within lower grade levels at Sanger Unified were scheduled to return to on campus learning on Jan. 11, however the dis- trict announced on Jan. 4 that because of ris- ing COVID-19 numbers within Fresno Coun- ty, that date had been moved to Feb. 1.
More on the KCUSD return to classes can be found in Lifestyle on Page A5.
Fred Hall
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