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Grossmont board approves sinking fund
By Lori Bledsoe
The Alpine Sun
EL CAJON — After over much discussion
and deliberation, the Grossmont Union High School District board
of trustees accepted and passed the five recommendations
presented to them, by the Bond Advisory Commission, at the May
10, board meeting.
Bob Kiesling made an impressive report on the status of
the projects. Mark Price and Jim Perkins reiterated how the five
recommendations will work for use of the bond funds and Mendy
Brandt gave an eyewitness account as to how much the high school
buildings are in need of repair and renovation.
While Kiesling gave his report, he itemized each
campus’ needs and what is on the list for repairs and
renovations at each school. These include modernizing the
general classrooms, air conditioning, renovating the ceilings,
windows and flooring. Also in this list is; new paint,
whiteboards, upgraded electrical, new telephones and technology
in the classrooms.
The district is currently working on half of the
existing classrooms and will look at the completion of the other
half of the classrooms later to determine if the funds are
available. Keisling showed an accounting of expenditures for
each of the projects thus far, which is approximately $110
million. By this summer of 2007, Kiesling said that construction
on Phase 2B will start.
He mentioned that along with all the repairs and
renovations that were listed at each school, the Viking Center
was also in need of serious attention. He said also that the
district is waiting on Mount Miguel’s 50th anniversary to start
renovations at that campus as there will other funds available
to upgrade that school. Superintendent Terry Ryan interjected,
that the Viking Center is in desperate need of major repair,
that had been mandated by the state and ADA (American’s with
Disabilities Act). Ryan said that the district has no choice but
to address the problems at the Viking Center.
Mendy Brandt added that the state of the Viking Center
is appalling, sighting infrastructure problems, visible mold on
the walls, and added that during her two day excursion to visit
each high school to view the problems present, she witnessed
unacceptable conditions at each site.
Brandt is in favor of making all repairs and
renovations to all the sites before considering any new
construction on a twelfth high school as she says that the
district already has a 12th high school in Chaparral High
School. She says that the district is putting the cart before
the horse if they decide to proceed with building a new high
school before each and every renovation and repair is completed
on existing sites.
The board was asked to vote on the recommendations that
the BAC Finance sub committee gave. Recommendations 2 to 5 were
all approved 5-0. The district acknowledged that each of these
recommendations were good which includes: Splitting Phase 3B to
better manage the projects, adding a project manager, review all
the projects to insure they comply with the bond language and
upgrading the district web site to better communicate the Bond
progress with the community.
In response to the recommendations, the district had
already started to upgrade their web page to further
communications with the community, and add transparency to the
entire accounting process.
The real hang up for the board was when the first
recommendation of the BAC Finance subcommittee came up for
discussion. The $65 million high school sinking reserve fund
made more than just ripples for the board. There were waves of
concern that if the board created this fund then they were
promising to complete a 12th high school.
Superintendent Terry Ryan wasn’t convinced that this is
the best idea, but Scott Patterson assured everyone that there
was indeed $65 million to create this fund. This fund was to be
set aside for 18 months, and not used by the district until the
12th high school Environmental Impact Report was completed. The
language states that this fund would be used for the
construction of the 12th high school and to complete repairs and
renovations needed for the district.
Board members, Jim Kelly and Robert Shield had
reservations about creating this fund, as they really didn’t see
the need for it. Shield said that the bond funds were already
slated for the purpose of repair and renovation and the 12th
high school, if the funds permit, and he saw no need to restate
their purpose by setting aside this money.
Larry Urdahl called on BAC Mark Price to speak again to
the board. Price began his comments, but was stopped by Kelly
who said that it was inappropriate for Price to address the
board, as Price was in the process of reprimanding the members.
Shield also cautioned Price to keep his comments relevant to the
issues.
Price reiterated to the board that by creating the
sinking fund, the board would be creating good faith with the
community. The money would still be available for work to be
done in the district, but it would also be available for the
12th high school. Price eloquently likened the actions of the
district to the actions of the monkey who had his hand trapped
in a Ming Vase. After the vase was broken to free the monkey’s
hand, they found that the monkey had a penny in his hand and for
this penny that the monkey refused to let go of, the priceless
vase was destroyed.
Richard Hoy commented on the proceedings then by saying
that, “We need to establish a good track record. It can’t be
‘us’ against ‘them.’ Right now it’s Alpine versus all the
schools down here.”
Hoy also said that as he saw it, the district had no choice but
to address everything as it was. Hoy felt that there was no
other option than to complete all repairs and renovations, as
well as find a way to complete the high school.
When it finally came to vote, the $65 million high
school sinking fund was approved 3-2, with Kelly and Shield
opposing. Each of the five recommendations were accepted and
approved.
 E-mail
Christy Scott
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