Fact #15:

HBCSD SPUN information and omitted relevant information regarding the Interim School Housing Measures the district took from 2014 to 2016 in Chapter 7, page 7-4 of the Environmental Impact Report for the reconstruction of North School:

(1)      7.3, page 7-4: Alternatives Considered and Rejected during the Project Planning Process:

“The District considered numerous alternatives during its planning process to address the overcrowding conditions.  A chronology of events establishing the need for proposed project, alternative sites and option considered by the District, and reasons why the alternatives are infeasible or eliminated and therefore not selected for detail analysis in the EIR, are provided below:

(2)      7.3.1, page 7-4: Interim School Housing Measures:

“Student population in the District expanded rapidly over the last decade, and the District sought a long-term solution to provide adequate school housing.  In an effort to swiftly address overcrowding, the District implemented the following temporary solutions:

§  Placed temporary, portable classroom buildings at both Hermosa Valley School and Hermosa View School.

§  Reduced the District’s full-day kindergarten program to a half-day program to create classrooms space.

§  Shifted grade levels between Hermosa Valley School and Hermosa View School. 

§  Converted the multipurpose rooms at Hermosa Valley School and Hermosa View School into classrooms.

§  Relocated the District administration office from Valley School to South Park to create new classrooms.

CORRECT INFORMATION:

1.         In 2002 HBCSD school board members commissioned a Facilities Master Plan.  The 2002 Facilities Master Plan recommended that HBCSD supply 12 classrooms within 10 years in order to accommodate projected rising district enrollment.

2.         HBCSD passed a $13.6M facilities bond Measure J in November 2002.  Measure J stated that the bond would be to provide additional classrooms.  However, school board members (Cathy McCurdy, Lance Widman and Greg Breen and Superintendent Sharon McClain) decided to make building a brand-new low-priority gymnasium at Valley School the priority over supplying additional classrooms for the district.  Please see: Fact #10 and Fact #12.

3.         According to the Sale and Purchase Agreement for Pier Avenue School, HBCSD had kept priority usage of the gymnasium, changing rooms, and tennis courts at the Pier Avenue Community Center two hours a day and 10 additional days a year.  HBCSD school board members (Cathy McCurdy, Lance Widman, Greg Breen, Linda Beck and Lisa Claypoole) would ultimately spend $11M and take $1M out of the district coffers to build the gymnasium and two classrooms that only replaced two classrooms torn down to make way for the gymnasium. Why was the gymnasium made the priority by school board members from 2002 to 2008? The gymnasium should NOT have been made the priority of the Measure J bond by school board members. Please see: Exhibit K, Lease Agreement for Future Use of Pier Avenue School. 

4.         By 2010 HBCSD enrollment had increased to approximately 1,300 students.  There were no net new classrooms built with Measure J funds. Both Valley School and View School were becoming overcrowded. HBCSD did nothing to address the problem until 2013 despite employing a very expensive formally retired Superintendent with 30 years of experience in six different school districts with up to 14,000 students. School board members waited until they employed the unqualified (no training or experience as a superintendent at any school district) Pat Escalante as superintendent in summer 2012 to start a facilities process. Please see Lie #18.

5.         In 2011, HBCSD school board members decided to introduce full-day kindergarten into an already overcrowded View School campus.  Prior to 2011, HBCSD ONLY offered half-day kindergarten and pre-kindergarten. The full-day kindergarten was ostensibly to attract additional students to the district to increase revenue.  At the time neighboring school districts were not offering full-day kindergarten.  Normally half-day kindergarten allows a school district to use one classroom for up to 48 students because half-day kindergarten has a morning (AM class) class and an afternoon (PM class) in the same classroom.  Offering full-day kindergarten reduces the number of available classrooms.

6.         In 2015, only months after the district lost the November 2014 Measure Q bond vote and one year before the district’s upcoming Measure S bond vote, school board members voted to move 160 3rd grade students from Valley School to View School completely overwhelming the already overcrowded campus.  The move was not warranted by the facts.   Please see: Lie #25, Lie #26, Lie #27 and Lie #28.

7.         Using the Community Center or North School for HBCSD students would have immediately relieved existing overcrowding at Hermosa Valley School and Hermosa View School.

NOTE:  July 19, 2014 – Email from HB Mayor Michael DiVirgilio re district usage of the Community Center. 

“The city is not aware of any prohibition that would prevent us [the city] from entertaining requests about the Community Center from the District, or from any entity for that matter.  However, as you saw during our most recent joint meeting, neither the City nor the District are interested in considering the Community Center [as a lower cost alternative for taxpayers AND immediate relief for HBCSD students and staff].”

8.         HBCSD has had valid contractual provisions to use the Community Center since 2010.  School board members chose to ignore their lease agreement for the Community Center.  Please see: Lie #1.

9.         North School is a grandfathered in campus, like View School and Valley School, and therefore is considered code compliant as is.  Please see: Lie #8 and Lie #14. 

10.     A small bond could have been passed easily by HBCSD to renovate either the Community Center or North School for students.

11.     HBCSD spent more than $1M dollars on temporary classrooms while it also withheld up to 26% of funds (or approximately $2M) from being spent on students and plant services.  The $1M spent on temporary classrooms did NOTHING to solve the overcrowding issues at Valley and View schools.  The 7 additional temporary classrooms only added to the overcrowding on both Valley School and View School campuses.

12.     The $1M spent on temporary classrooms and approximately $2M in available reserves could have instead been spent to immediately renovate North School for students.  Renovating either North School or the Community Center for HBCSD students would have been a lasting improvement to community assets rather than a short-lived expenditure of district funds.

13.     If no state matching funds are used, then the CDE does NOT require districts to comply with Title 5 regulations.  “Most school construction and modernization projects utilize state funds and therefore require approval from the following three key state agencies: [CDE Title 5, the Division of State Architect (DSA) and the Office of Public Schol Construction (OPSC)]” School districts are NOT required to use state matching funds when updating or building facilities. State matching funds may be minimal when all the facts are examined.