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12 sites identified for
future Alpine high school
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE — Parents and residents were presented with 10 possible sites for a new high school in Alpine at a meeting held Monday evening at the community center. Representatives from the Grossmont Union High School District were on hand answered questions, gave a progress update, and sought input from the community.
“We do have some good progress that we have been making,” said Dr. Terry Ryan, GUHSD superintendent. “I can guarantee you that no matter how fast we’re moving, it’s not going to be fast enough for you folks, because you have been waiting for a number of
years.”
At the special meeting of the Alpine High School Citizens Committee, Daryl Hernandez, vice president of Essentia Management Services, LLC, the company that has been selected to help in the environmental and land acquisition process, presented the 10 Alpine sites, and two Blossom Valley sites that have been identified.
“The optimal high school site does not necessarily mean it’s optimal for you, because optimal is something that’s unique to the community and to the community needs,” Hernandez said. “This is just a basic idea. If I had a blank slate, where would I put a high school in Alpine?”
According to Hernandez, not all of the sites are going to undergo the strict studies required by the state when choosing a new site. He expects to pare the list down to two or three sites for further study, using input from the district and the community.
“We recognize that you have been at this a long time and there’s a lot of opinions out there,” he said. “This is your area, so we want to build something or identify a place that’s going to suit your needs.”
“Optimal is going to be defined by your needs, as well as the district needs,” he added.
The 10 Alpine sites that have been identified are, in no particular or preferential order: A 151-acre, 35-parcel site on Tavern Road north of I-8; a 40-acre, one-parcel lot north of the Crown Hills development; a 71-acre, 47-parcel site on West Victoria; a 51-acre, 34-parcel site on East Victoria; a 96-acre, 7-parcel site on Flying A Ranch off Alpine Boulevard; a 50-acre, five-parcel site on the south side of South Grade Road across from Wright’s Field; an 83-acre, one-parcel lot within Wright’s Field north of South Grade; a 70-acre site on South Grade adjacent to Alpine Heights Road; and two sites on Tavern near Joan Mac Queen Middle School: one at 56 acres and 36 parcels and a second at 52 acres and 31 parcels.
The two Blossom Valley sites that have been identified include one 242-acre, three-parcel site located behind the new Los Coches Middle School on Chocolate Summit; and an 80-acre, 27-parcel site further west, off of Blossom Valley Road.
Many of the sites are in areas where homes or businesses would need to be relocated, such as those along Victoria Drive, or where environmental constraints would play a big role, such as Wright’s Field.
According to building consultants, a new high school will need from 40 to 60 acres depending on the number of students.
“My preference, and I think your preference, would be to get a site that is too large rather than too small,” Ryan said. “A site that can grow with the community.”
Hernandez said that, with a larger lot, the community would have more opportunity for joint use ventures for recreation, including sports fields and gym space, an issue that is currently being discussed by the Alpine Planning Group.
According to Ryan, the district is in the process of conducting a demographic study on the entire GUHSD to see where the needs are and how big a new school would need to be.
“You need good data and good information to be able to make good decisions,” Ryan said.
“We know that we’re going to be experiencing declining enrollment,” he said. “Does that mean that a school won’t come to Alpine? Not at all. It does mean that the district is going to have to take a look
district-wide to see where changes need to be made.”
Enrollment projections for GUHSD, which includes the 2010-2011 school year, show a steady decrease. The district estimates approximately 4,000 fewer students enrolled over the next five years.
GUHSD loses about $6,000 in revenue from ADA money per student and that leaves the district with an estimated loss of $53 million over the course of 10 years.
“The last few years, I haven’t been very popular because I’ve had to cut the budget to the tune of $23 million dollars,” Ryan said. He added that the drop in student numbers is a major contributor to lacking funds, as well as cuts at the state level.
The 4,000-student drop is equal to the average occupancy size of two high schools — a problem that the board will have to consider as it moves toward building a new high school in the district.
“Maybe a school down the hill will need to be closed, maybe some of the school boundaries will need to be redrawn, and maybe we’ll find that it makes more sense for students to come to school up here,” Ryan said.
Ryan expects the demographic study to be completed in the next few months and presented to the GUHSD governing board. That data will impact where the school is ultimately going to built in Alpine.
“We are looking to acquire land for a future site in Alpine regardless of that, that’s what we promised to do and that’s what we’re doing,” Ryan said. “We’re going to keep our word as fast as we can keep it.”
Time was a major issue for meeting participants: “How far out are we talking for this high school? Five years, ten years?” asked one mother in the audience, whose children are currently in the fourth and sixth grade. “You’ve been talking about this now for 10 years, what are we talking about in terms of a high school for Alpine?”
“It’s hard to say right now what the actual time frame is going to be,” Hernandez said. “If everything went 100 percent perfect, construction might be able to start in 18 months.”
He added that, once the list of sites is narrowed to just a few, the district will be able to come back to residents and offer a much better idea as to how long students and parents will have to wait.
Some residents at the meeting wanted to conduct an informal vote on each of the identified sites to try to find some sort of consensus and possibly cut the list down. However, district officials said that publicly choosing a favorite site would not be in the best interest of the process.
“This has to be done with confidentiality,” Ryan said. “We’re not interested in making a lot of money for any particular developer or landowner. We’re just not in that business. We’re only interested in bringing quality education to students.”
“The district will have the ultimate responsibility for choosing a site, but we don’t make these decisions in a vacuum, we have all these other agencies weighing in. These are government agencies and there’s lots of them, and they don’t always work the fastest,” Kelly said. “Your input in a big part as well. I can almost guarantee you that the board is not going to make a decision that this community doesn’t want.”
“This is your backyard and we want to make sure that this fits in with what your backyard is all about,” Hernandez said. “We want to know what you want in a site, we want to be able to work that into our mission statement and help us pick the best site.”
Alpine Union School District past president and APG member Mark Price questioned how the district is going to get that information.
“How are you determining what the community wants? Is it the small minority that comes to these meetings? Is it the small minority that might have a special interest, and that’s bending your ear? Or, are you actually going to poll and get out to the entire community and get their input?” Price asked.
According to Ryan, the district will conduct a survey via the electronic newsletter and the GUHSD web site, to get input on each of the 12 sites from the community. He expects that survey to be circulated in the next few weeks.
“The communication I have with you residents, is just as important as the communication I have with the district,” said Hernandez, who is gathering comments from residents.
The next step in the process is to refine the sites and site boundaries and initiate the special studies that will be needed. Hernandez said that when the list has been pared to fewer options, the panel will return to the community for further input.
Ryan lauded The Alpine Sun for coverage of the issue, and told residents to continue reading to stay up to date on the process.
“You guys are lucky up here to have a reliable, believable newspaper,” he said. “You’ll get accurate information about what we’re doing if you keep reading. If you read the Union-Tribune, you won’t always get that.”
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Christy Scott
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