Font ResizeThe bond measure will provide a total of $25.7 million over a period of years through periodic sales of bonds issued by the district. The bonds will be paid off by an assessment of property owners within the district’s boundaries. The assessment will be made at the rate of $60 per $100,000 of assessed value. That amount is determined by law as the amount allowable for a unified school district. Property owners are already paying a small assessment on their property taxes for College of the Redwoods.
The money raised will be used to replace, rebuild and upgrade the district’s badly deteriorated school buildings. The first bond sales is expected to raise about $8 million which will be used to address the most pressing needs of the district’s infrastructure. Each bond sale thereafter will raise about $5 million. Passage of the measure requires a 55% majority approval. The remainder of the proposed work will be completed over a period of years. The assessment will be retired after the last bond sale takes place.
If the bond passes, two citizen’s committees will oversee its operation. One committee will focus on financial aspects of the bond; the other will oversee the construction and/or rehabilitation projects.
The district’s existing buildings were funded through a bond measure passed during the logging boom. That bond was retired in 1989.
The day before, the trustees heard from students at South Fork High School. At this meeting, they heard from parents and landowners.
Carmen Etter, a parent with two students at Whitethorn School said that the parents there supported the bond measure and felt their children deserved “a school in good condition.” She said also that Whitethorn is experiencing increasing enrollment and needs a new building to accommodate the students who want to attend that school. She said that it was up to this generation “to do right by the next generation.”
The question was raised about the impact of the assessment on Williamson Act property. Williamson Act land will not be exempt from the assessment but will be assessed at the lowered value assigned to these properties in return for signing Williamson agreements.
Former school board member and current district teacher Eric Shaeffer wanted the trustees to present clear and definite plans about how the money would be used. He told a horror story about mistakes made by incompetent contractors in the past. He also thought the students should be involved in the design, that toxic materials should not be used in construction and that there ought to be a detailed plan even if it did cost $50,000.
Trustee Jim Baker said the district doesn’t have $50,000 to spend on a detailed plan and that a detailed plan would limit their ability to react to changing circumstances over the life of the bond.
There was also a discussion about using local contractors for the work. McAllister said that they would probably need to hire an outside contractor to find someone qualified to take on the overall project, but it is the board’s intention to ensure that all subcontractors are local and that as much of the bond money as possible goes back into the local economy and makes jobs for local residents.
There was concern that the high school would use up all the funds at the expense of the other schools. McAllister said they would begin with “selected items” at each school site. Each site will have its own plan, he said.
The trustees also discussed restoring the junior high and making it a school-within-a-school on the South Fork campus. Several trustees expressed support for making South Fork a kindergarten through 12th grade school.
Christina Huff, who earlier had announced her support for purchasing property and relocating the high school to the Garberville area, said that she had changed her mind after she studied the situation and learned more about it. She said she was still disappointed that the vision of a new facility in Garberville couldn’t be built, but she now supported the plan to rebuild the high school in Miranda.
Several of the board members said they also were disappointed that the dream of a new school in Garberville couldn’t be realized, but that the project at South Fork would not be just a rehabilitation of what’s there, but a reconstruction that will look very different from the current campus and be capable of providing the technological education needed for the new century.
There were several people there whose family members had gone to local schools for generations. They expressed support for the bond and for keeping the schools in good repair, but reminded the trustees that “we’re hurting, too.”
There was unanimous approval from the trustees for putting the bond measure on the June ballot. Trustee Paulette Thiele was out of town and unable to attend the meeting, but sent her enthusiastic support for the bond measure via a letter that board president Dennis O’Sullivan read out loud prior to the vote.
In regard to the future of South Fork High School, Superintendent McAllister reported to the trustees that he is studying the possibility of creating a Virtual Charter School within the South Fork High School campus. The school would be run by a company in Arizona that provides online courses to create a virtual academy that provides classes that are difficult for small districts to provide. The academy would also help students needing to make up courses for graduation. The district would not have to pay for the facilities or the teachers of the courses, but would provide one teacher to monitor the South Fork students enrolled in the school. The trustees would have oversight of the charter school and the district would receive a portion of the ADA reimbursement for those enrolled in online classes.
Enrollment would not be restricted to students living within the district’s boundaries, either, he said. The school could accept students from surrounding areas such as Trinity, Mendocino and even Del Norte counties. This would enhance the district’s revenue because they would receive some ADA for each enrolled student living outside the district as well.
McAllister said it’s early in the process and he will be meeting with Dr. Garry Eagles of the County Office of Education to explore the possibilities further, but no other school district in the area is offering such a program and it would be a great boost to the district.
McAllister said also that College of the Redwoods is and will be offering classes on the South Fork campus in the fall. He said that the Garberville campus may not be ready for classes by September.
The classes CR will offer at South Fork will be like honors classes, he said, using history classes as an example of courses “more challenging and more appropriate for the students’ ability level.” He also mentioned Art Appreciation and Public Speaking as possible CR courses on the South Fork campus next year. These classes will help to make up for the loss of other electives that have to be cut due to Governor Schwarzenegger’s budget cuts.
Board president Dennis O’Sullivan asked McAllister to prepare a showcase presentation on the idea at a future meeting.
McAllister presented the trustees with the latest enrollment/attendance report.
Daily attendance at Whitethorn ranged from a low of 82% to a high of 94%. At Agnes Johnson School, the range was from 82% to 95%; at Casterlin from 81% to 94%; at Redway from 86% to 94%; and at South Fork High School, from 89% to 94%.
The trustees had a discussion of the money the district loses through poor attendance. Every student absence costs the district $38.60. When the district-wide attendance drops to 90%, the district loses $3,000. A year-long average of poor attendance costs the district about $50,000.
Principal Julie Johansen said that teachers don’t want students coming to school sick, but some parents are scheduling vacations and taking their students out of school to go snowboarding or other kinds of vacation activity. Regular attendance would increase the district’s income without the need for fundraising.
In other economic news, McAllister passed around copies of a news article reporting that mandatory furloughs are slowing the economy because of the lost income. He also handed out copies of an article reporting that the Kansas City school district has just closed half of its schools because of budget cuts in that state. He said that the problem of funding losses for education is a national issue, not just a state issue.
Business Manager in training Celeste Boyd presented the trustees with the district’s second interim report. The report shows the district needs to make more cuts in staffing in order to avoid a negative certification. As it is, the second interim report has a qualified certification, as did the first interim report. Boyd said that she and McAllister are working with the County Office of Education to keep the district’s finances in line. As part of the budget development process, she said, they are exploring ways to increase the district’s income in order to save programs and staff positions.
South Fork principal Jim Stewart presented two proposed Master Schedules for classes at South Fork next year involving a cut of 5.5 Full Time Equivalent teaching positions. One would mean the complete elimination of music and drama; one would hold onto those classes with a hope of filling a part-time teacher position.
Boyd cautioned that even a cut of 5.5 FTE won’t put the district in the best financial situation and more may be needed if income isn’t increased.
No action was taken on the schedule.
The trustees also looked at a calendar for the next school year. No action was taken but staff and board sentiment seemed to favor a later beginning for the school year. School would begin on August 30 and end on June 16. This schedule had the support of the staff. There is some feeling that attendance is very poor when school starts earlier in August and gets the school year off on a bad economic footing.
Trustee Tom Mulder suggested that a later start to the school year would give staff an extra week to spruce up the campuses if the bond measure passes.
