|
Charter at stake amid sexual misconduct charges
By Lori Bledsoe
The Alpine Sun
EL CAJON — At a four hour Grossmont
Union High School Meeting on Feb. 12, there was little room for
discussion on the Proposition H and U bonds. Most of the
discussion revolved around the Helix Charter School abuse
issues, with many supporters of Helix Charter School livid with
the district’s handling of the case.
Over an hour was dedicated to people speaking to the
board, imparting their disapproval of the board’s actions
regarding the issue of sexual misconduct at the school, as well
as their investigation into it. The board has initiated a
program to deal with the abuse cases as well as an educational
program that is to be enacted to prevent further cases from
happening. The end result in this issue is that the Helix
Charter is at stake and the district can pull the Charter and
re-absorb Helix into it’s fleet of high schools.
The main complaint was that actions to deal with the
situation were not taken quickly enough by the district. A
direct implication towards Jim Kelly and Gary Woods was made
insinuating that they had information about abuses that were
occurring and didn’t act upon them. It was said that their press
conference regarding the Helix Charter School abuse cases, held
last year during the election process was only a campaign
strategy.
After almost three hours of discussion, the meeting
moved to the Program Manager of the Proposition H, and U Bonds,
Katy Wright. Wright’s report was brief, with only one mention
regarding the new high school site. Wright said that the review
period of the Draft Environmental Impact Report was quickly
coming to a close.
When questioned about the projected costs that were
impacted with ADA funds, Wright felt that Gafcon/Harris had a
good handle on this. Scott Patterson added, “ADA is always a bit
of a wild card”. He said that it is vitally important that the
district maintain good relationships with the state offices
regarding these projects like the State Architect as they can
cooperate or not cooperate.
Priscilla Schreiber asked then where the district was
regarding State Matching Funds and Patterson answered that the
district is still in limbo.
Patterson also reported on a new Facilities Management
Organization program that the district should move towards
regarding the bond measures. This organization included sixteen
positions to better manage the bond funds.
In his presentation, Patters noted that he was
recommending a new position, the Program Planner position that
was outside the Program Manager’s scope of responsibilities. One
of the responsibilities for the Planner’s position would be to
maintain those relationships with the state officials that
Patterson has mentioned earlier.
Robert Shield and Priscilla Schrieber had questions
concerning why this position was necessary. Superintendent
Collins added that the board had a considerable investment with
the Program Management Company that they enlisted for these
projects.
Patterson held that it was important that the Planner
needed to have a District badge rather than a Gafcon-Harris
badge, keeping ownership of these projects within the district.
 E-mail
the Editor
|
