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Grossmont Prop H projects gaining momentum
By Lori Bledsoe
The Alpine Sun
SEL CAJON — The Nov. 8 Grossmont Union
High School District board meeting entertained a screening and
an election of the Parent-at-Large position for the Citizen’s
Bond Oversight Committee. In addition, a resolution to recognize
academic excellence was passed unanimously, and Gafcon/Harris
made their monthly progress report on Proposition H bond
activity.
Larry Nichols was named to the position of
Parent-at-Large on the CBOC. Nichols has been a resident of San
Diego County for 35 years and has a student currently attending
Steele Canyon High School. He has 33 years experience in
administration at Children’s Hospital and is semi-retired.
Nichols said that he is excited to give back to the
community in this way. He has managed creating investment
partnerships for the hospital, as well as a heavy involvement in
adding two medical office buildings to the hospital environment.
Michael Lewis, Assistant GUHSD Superintendent, invited
Richard Beach, who retired from the district in 1992, to present
to the board, the process of the current Academic League as well
as a celebration banner.
The Academic League at GUHSD is entering its 25th year
of operation, founded in 1983 under the guidance of Tom
Jacobson. The league began with approximately 60 students
participating in a “Jeopardy-like” question and answer game that
include Math, Science, Current Events, Fine Arts, Social Science
and English Language Arts. Over the years, the Academic League
has grown to involve over 4,000 students. The Academic League
has appeared on television on the Learning Channel over the last
10 years.
In celebration of the success of the Academic League,
the board passed a resolution to recognize academics in a way
that they have not done in the past.
Board member Dick Hoy said that he was pleased to see
the academic achievements of the students readily recognized. He
said that athletics seem to always be in the forefront of
achievement and that it is truly impressive, that so many
students go on to receive scholarships and continue in academic
excellence and the district needs to recognize this.
Bob Kiesling transitioned his presentation to Randy
Duncan, from Gafcon/Harris the designated Program Manager for
the Prop H Bond Activity.
Duncan began his presentation with a recap of the
background of the bond. This included upgrading deteriorated
plumbing, restrooms, repairing aging roofs, electrical,
technology, and heating and cooling systems. Also, listed was
the renovation of outdated classrooms, science labs, and school
facilities. In addition to this, improving fire safety and
security systems as well as the current buildings and grounds
were listed, and finally constructing a new school.
The bond project is broken down in phases. Phase 1 and
2A included moving the utility infrastructure underground. This
seemingly uninteresting project, that is now complete, is
actually very important in the grand scheme of this project. It
not only moves unsightly utilities underground and out of the
way, it opens up room for more progress on the school sites as
the utilities have been upgraded at a cost of $61,995,070.
Phase 2B includes modernizing the standard classrooms,
and currently, Grossmont High School, El Cajon High School,
Granite Hills High School and Helix High School are under
construction. Grossmont High School is 21 percent complete, and
El Cajon High School is 20 percent complete.
For more information on the progress of the Proposition
H Bond program, the Oct. 31 progress report will be available
through the GUHSD web site in its entirety. Gafcon/Harris is
working at assuring the transparency of the Prop H Bond program.
“We believe we’ve created a new momentum and
established a paradigm shift. It involves creative execution and
it’s going to move all of the schools in the Grossmont Union
High School District in a positive direction towards
establishing new teaching spaces for the children of today and
tomorrow.” Duncan said. “We’re going Prop H full throttle.”
The quarterly report of governing board legal costs
brought good news for the district budget. For the period of
July 1 through Sept. 1, legal costs were down by 20 percent from
last year. Scott Patterson credited the transparency that the
board has adopted in this downtrend in legal costs. Dick Hoy
commented that he was thrilled to see this downward trend and
hoped that it continued.
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