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Grossmont proposes future master plan before placing new bond
measure on the ballot
By Lori Bledsoe
The Alpine Sun
Last Thursday, July 10, Alpine
community members showed up at the GUHSD board-meeting workshop
to make the board of trustee members aware of their wishes.
Superintendent Robert Collins has expressed his desire to place
a new bond measure on the upcoming ballot to finish up the
Proposition H, repairs and renovations as well as the issue of
an Alpine/Blossom Valley High School.
Earnest Ewin stepped up to the podium and asked the
board members to seriously consider moving forward with the new
bond issue and finish what they began.
Mandy Brandt, who was one of the BAC (Bond Advisory
Committee) members encouraged the board to release the 45
million back to fixing the rest of the schools and to purchase
the property for a new school in Alpine. She felt that this was
a good investment for our future. However, she mentioned that
there were changes that needed to be made.
She said that GUHSD needed to realign their boundaries,
as the district shows a projected growth for only three of their
schools, Grossmont, Granite Hills, and West Hills. She also said
that Alpine is not showing enough growth to have a high school
at this time.
To relieve the travel time for students from Alpine,
Brandt offered the suggestion that GUHSD create an Alpine
express. To do this, the district would have to purchase two
buses and have these buses make two trips in the morning as well
as the afternoon, transporting Alpine students to their
prospective schools. She ended her comments saying, “it just
doesn’t make sense to build a new school in Alpine”.
Julie Campos told the board that it was disheartening
that the district didn’t have enough money to finish all the
work that needed done and wanted to echo what Brandt said, in
regards to releasing the 45 million to continue the renovations
during the interim of getting the new bond in place. She asked
that the board consider inflation when they were figuring the
new bond amounts so that all the work can be completed this time
without asking for a third bond.
Barb Lowe, who has been a familiar face at the board
meetings said, “I urge you to put this bond on the ballot. . .
All students deserve a neighborhood school, even those who chose
to live in Alpine.”
Bill Weaver of the Alpine High School Citizen’s
Committee spoke to the board supporting the new bond measure.
Weaver explained that his employment background and experience
was based in risk management, and can agree with the reality
that our schools need a lot of work. He said that we’re behind a
new bond measure, as the public would be as long it is shown
that the money is used wisely.
Jim Perkins told the board that, “without a doubt,
improving your public schools, improves the property values of
homes in around the school district, by 10 percent”.
Sal Cassamassima wanted to address a “startling
revelation” about the demographic study that was reported on at
the last board meeting. The demographic study stated that their
were only a little over 800 students in Alpine. Cassamassima
said that this number seemed a little low to him. He checked
into the numbers, and found that the number of graduates over
the last four years has equaled to over 1,000. He is asking what
happened to the missing 200 students that didn’t appear in the
demographic study.
He answered his own question when he said that parents
have opted to move out of the district, or send their children
to private, or charter schools as there is no high school in
Alpine. Also, he pointed out that the demographic study didn’t
take into consideration other parts of the backcountry who would
enjoy a high school in Alpine such as Descanso and Pine Valley.
Many of the people who approached the podium were in
favor of the bond being placed on the ballot. However, Paul
Hagen was not as in favor of this new request for money as the
previous speakers. Hagen questioned why the district was asking
for bond money to do maintenance and general repairs. He wanted
to know why these things weren’t done that should have been done
annually. He said that there needed to be better accountability.
He said specifically that if the district can’t show better
accountability than he would not only not support a new bond,
but also he would campaign against it.
Superintendent Collins explained that purpose of the
new bond that is being proposed, is to implement a strong career
technology program, to finish all the work that was begun under
Prop. H, and to provide facilities that will incorporate
multiple joint use and partnership opportunities in our
community in conjunction with businesses and non-profit
organizations. He said that he was impressed by the people who
spoke from Alpine, who were thinking far enough into the future
for their young children who would, before you know it, be
entering high school. He said, “I am supportive of a school in
that area.”
Katy Wright, the Project Manager for Prop. H began to
lie out the master plan for the new bond. She reiterated that
this bond would finish all the work that needed to be done yet,
on the GUHSD schools, and would also enable the district to
address the new high school. (To see the plan in a power point
presentation, one can visit the GUHSD website at www.guhsd.net.)
She said that currently there was over a billion dollars worth
of need to bring all the schools up to standard.
Bonnie Moss presented the actual bond language, as it
would appear on the ballot.
This language will state: To better prepare local high
school students for college and high demand jobs, by upgrading
educational technology, constructing science labs, replacing
deteriorated portables, rehabilitating aging classrooms,
equipment sites, joint use facilities, improving
safety/energy-efficiency and constructing a new school in
Alpine/Blossom Valley, shall Grossmont Union High School
District issue 417,000,000 in bonds at legal rates, qualifying
for State matching funds, with independent oversight, annual
audits, no funding for administrator salaries, and all money
benefiting East County high schools.
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