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Secretary Wright meets lab leadershipview:
Tours National Ignition Facility and El Capitan supercomputer
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory celebrated Memorial Day week by hosting Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Wright is touring all 17 national lab sites and the Livermore visit started his swing through Bay Area sites including Lawrence Berkeley and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Palo Alto. Lab Director Kim Budil showed him around the lab and its National Ignition Facility that achieved the historic breakthrough of fusion in a lab.
The visit included meetings with lab leaders in stockpile modernization, AI, cybersecurity and supercomputing. His tour also included El Capitan, the exascale computing system that is defining what is possible in modeling and computer simulation for the nuclear deterrence, fusion and defense.
In a lab press release, Wright said, “(the lab) is proof of what American science can achieve when there’s a clear mission and the freedom to pursue it. President Trump has called on us to modernize our nuclear stockpile, advance AI and push breakthroughs in fusion and supercomputing—and that work is happening here.”
Pleasanton school trustees face their most important decision this month—who they will select to lead the district once interim Superintendent Maurice Ghysels returns to his retirement status.
The board cancelled a meeting this week that included reviewing the contract and compensation. Their goal is to have someone coming on board by the new fiscal year that starts July 1.
The new superintendent will face some daunting challenges. Pleasanton has the reputation as a fine public school district in a community that’s a great place to raise a family. It’s also one that showing a steady decline in attendance. Declining attendance means constant budget cuts on top of any that may be required by state funding levels.
Enrollment dropped 1,650 between 2018-2024 resulting in a drop of $20 million in revenue. That required $8.7 million of cuts to bring the budget into balance for the fiscal year that starts July 1. Add in the minimal state increase in funding of 1%, well short of inflation and compensation increases for employees and the cuts were necessary.
Barring some unexpected change, that trend will continue and will require strong leadership and building collaboration across the district. For instance, just a few years ago, plans were well underway to build another school on the Donlon campus—fortunately, leadership took a good look at the numbers and delayed it. It’s unlikely to ever happen.
The city of Pleasanton’s monthly newsletter demonstrates just how out-of-touch some folks at City Hall are. It mentions the council considering water rates, specifically connection fees, and notes that it affects developers. Really. Just who pays those fees? The tooth fairy or the buyer or renter occupying the space. Those costs are passed through, often higher because of the interest with the carrying cost on the project.
