Register for TK and Kindergarten in Morro Bay
Registration for transitional kindergarten (TK) and kindergarten for the 2025-2026 school year begins on March 3. Parents of children turning 5 by September 1, can register their child for kindergarten, while children turning 4 by September 1, 2025, are eligible for TK.
For families in Morro Bay, registration is available online for Del Mar Elementary School through the San Luis Coastal Unified School District (SLCUSD) at SLCUSD.org.
Once you register, participants will be invited to the TK/K Welcome Day in May.
Poly Volunteer Tax Assistance Program
A Cal Poly student helps local residents prepare their tax returns at a past year’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA program). Photo by Joe Johnston/Cal Poly
With the 2024 tax filing season underway, trained Cal Poly accounting students are offering free tax help on campus through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program on Saturdays through March 15.
VITA offers free tax help to qualifying taxpayers with $70,000 or less of gross income. VITA also will hold two off-campus locations in Oceano and Santa Maria from Feb. 8 through March 15. Tax filing for businesses and individuals started Jan. 15 and Jan. 27, respectively, and the deadline is Saturday, April 15.
The main event, takes place from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays, at
Cal Poly Business Building (No. 3), near California Boulevard, third floor. Help is by appointment only. For more information, to make an apoointment or to fill out paperwork, go to https://bit.ly/3EpxB3j.
Cal Poly is one of about 12,000 VITA sites nationwide. Nearly 50 years ago, CSU Northridge professor Gary Iskowitz recognized a growing issue with questionable tax preparers scamming low-income individuals, so he created a program to provide local taxpayers with free tax return preparation by accounting students. He trained a group of his students, who agreed to do free tax returns for low-income residents.
The first Cal Poly VITA clinic took place in 1972 and continued off and on through 1992, when it then became an annual event. Since 2005, Orfalea College of Business students have prepared nearly 9,000 returns, assisting about 750 residents of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties each year.
Consumer Protection Act
California Attorney General Rob Bonta reminds Californians of their right to stop or “opt-out” of the sale and sharing of their personal information under the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), California’s landmark, first-in-nation privacy law.
Bonta encourages consumers to consider familiarizing themselves with the Global Privacy Control (GPC), an easy-to-use browser setting or extension that automatically signals to businesses that they should not sell your personal information to third parties, including for targeted advertising.
Data comes from nearly everywhere online, even when people think they’re not revealing anything. It has been estimated that the average person produces 1.7 MB of data per second or 6,120 MB of data per hour, a news release states.
Websites can track and amass personal information and behavioral data like pages visited, time spent on pages, clicks, and detailed purchase information to create and share profiles and inferences about consumers. Apps and other software can collect and transmit personal information as well, including sensitive personal information like a user’s precise geolocation. Preventing third parties from receiving this information is a key step to protecting private information and stopping the proliferation of your data in the online ecosystem.
Consumers have two options to opt out of the sale of their data by enabling GPC or doing it one business at a time via “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link on their website.
Recruiting Elephant Seal Docents
Hearst San Simeon State Park is recruiting new docents (volunteers) to help share the fascinating life history of the northern elephant seals at the Piedras Blancas rookery in San Simeon. California State Parks, supported by Friends of the Elephant Seal, is offering a Spring 2025 training class to prepare new docents to meet the public as informal educators and wildlife interpreters. The application deadline is March 2.
Visit bttr.im/mfapo to apply. Interviews will be held in person in San Simeon during the first two weeks of March.
Piedras Blancas is the largest mainland rookery for these amazing animals. Elephant seals visit the beach twice annually: once to give birth and breed, and again to molt and grow a new coat. The rest of the year they migrate long distances, diving deep to avoid predators and find food.
Professional-quality training, reference materials, and mentoring are provided, allowing docents to get started with confidence. The training program includes independent study assignments and virtual and in-person sessions. Three on-site, outdoor mentoring sessions will be scheduled individually during the month of April. Two virtual sessions will take place via Zoom on March 20 and March 27. Two in-person training sessions will take place in Morro Bay on April 19 and May 3.
Docents must be able to volunteer three or four, 3-hour shifts a month, either in the morning or afternoon. Docents are asked to commit to at least one year of service.
Send your news, community, and business briefs to EditorEBN@gmail.com. Be sure to include the who, what, why, where and when information along with a contact person.
