GUHSD to address
Prop H funds and
Alpine high school prospects
By Lori
Bledsoe
The Alpine Sun
EL CAJON — Two
important meetings are coming up that could directly affect the
outcome of a high school in the Alpine area. The first is a
Grossmont Union High School District Strategic Planning meeting,
to be held Feb. 3 and the second is the GUHSD Feb. 8 board
meeting.
The planning meeting will run the whole day, from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m., at Foothills Adult Education Center, at 1550
Melody Lane in El Cajon. The Feb. 8 board meeting will be held at
the East County Regional Education Center, 924 East Main St. in El
Cajon, beginning at 6 p.m.
These two meetings are buttering up to be possible
cruxes in the informational battle that has been waging, regarding
the Proposition H Bond funds, and how they will be used. The
Proposition H bond, as you remember, was passed back in March
2004, and was intended to make available $274 million for the
renovation and repair of existing schools. These monies were also
earmarked to build more classrooms and a 12th district high school
to relieve overcrowding.
After years of waiting, and two years of working
steadily to bring about change, Alpine wants to know when they
will see a high school built.
The Feb. 3 strategic planning meeting is slated to
discuss the Prop. H Bond funds and how they are to be used. At the
Jan. 22 Alpine High School Citizens Committee meeting, a draft of
an agenda was passed about and it was noted that the Prop. H bond
discussions would not begin until after 11:30 a.m. at the meeting
this Saturday.
Alpine community members were also told that Essentia,
the company that GUHSD hired to do Alpine site studies, would be
present at this meeting. The insinuation was that Essentia would
be making some kind of presentation in regards to the site
selection process and how it is proceeding.
Darryl Hernandez, Project Manager at Essentia, said on
Monday, Jan. 29, that he was going to be present at this meeting.
He said, however, that he had no plans to make any kind of
presentation, as the GUHSD board has not asked him to prepare one.
A call from The Alpine Sun to GUHSD deputy superintendent, Scott
Patterson, to find out why there would be no Essentia
presentation, was not returned as of the writing of this article.
When asked, Hernandez confirmed Larry Urdahl’s
statement at the Jan. 22, AHSCC meeting, that GUHSD would have the
final say in the site selection of an Alpine high school.
In November 2006, Essentia presented to the board their
findings, giving them a list of four sites, instead of the three
asked for, as possible building sites. At this meeting, Hernandez
was asked to come back in the next few months with a pared down
list. At this point, however, Essentia has not done this, and
GUHSD has not asked them back to the board for this whittled list.
Hernandez said that the sites that are on the present
list for possible construction would probably pass the State
Standards.
“I don’t see anything overly controversial about any of
these sites,” he said.
This would place the final say back in the hands of the
GUHSD board.
Hernandez did say, though, that because site selection
must meet the needs of the three major parties in this future
project, the needs of the state of California, the needs of the
district, and the needs of the community. The community will have
a say in where the high school will be placed, and the Alpine
community must be seen in this whole process.
Dick Hoy, newly elected GUHSD board member said
regarding this upcoming meeting, “I will be getting a sense of
where we are — where the bond is right now, what the proposals
are, and what the existing options are.”
Hoy said that as he sees it, there has been no plan of
what to do with these funds.
“For two years and nine months there has been no
overall plan, at least no one has shown me one,” Hoy said.
He said that he hasn’t seen a to-do list, a want to-do
list, or a cost breakdown. He’s hoping to find out some of these
answers on Feb. 3.
Hoy said that he has received e-mails from concerned
citizens throughout the county, including Alpine. Many of those
e-mails speak about how communities are losing faith in the GUHSD
board regarding this bond. But, Hoy is concerned that he hasn’t
seen numbers regarding demographics and dollars. Because of this,
he feels that if the board is to proceed with anything, they need
to know what the numbers work out to.
The AHSCC plans to be present at the Jan. 31, GUHSD
Citizens Bond Oversight Committee, along with making a 10 minute
presentation at the Feb. 3, GUHSD Strategic Planning meeting. The
local high school committee will also be at the Feb. 8 GUHSD board
meeting to support Vice President of the GUHSD board, and Alpine
resident, Larry Urdahl’s request for an action item requesting the
board president to appoint a commission to study the 12th high
school.
This commission will concentrate its efforts in three
areas: Curriculum and Facilities, Site Selection, and Finance.
This commission will be composed of members of the Alpine
Community and will work with the Business Manager and the
Superintendent of GUHSD.
The AHSCC web site,
www.ahscc.org,
offers information on the Prop. H bond. Anyone who is planning on
attending these upcoming meetings is encourage to read up on the
proposition and educate themselves on the issues at hand, so they
can better understand the proceedings at these meetings.
The agenda for the Feb. 3 GUHSD special meeting is now
posted on the board’s web site. Go to
www.guhsd.net/agenda/index to find it.
 E-mail
the Editor
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