School Board Meeting Tonight

There's a School Board Meeting tonight from 6-9 pm at the Stanford Center. The only action item on the agenda tonight is the BEX II: Garfield High School Change Order and Fund Transfer, authorizing more money for the Garfield reconstruction project.

The public information presentation is by Lin Carlson on School Climate: Safe Schools and Bullying Prevention.

Public testimony topics includes Garfield (Chris Jackins), principal placement at the African American Academy, elementary math curriculum adoption, and military recruitment.

Comments

Melissa Westbrook said…
It's jaw-dropping when you read Facilities explanations for this cost overrun. The company that reviewed this didn't do an "all-inclusive" review and so didn't find this problem. Old buildings have many problems and it would have been better to pay the money in advance and know upfront. So the district is penny-wise and pound foolish.

Facilities has been moving a lot of money around. Now they want to take 1.9M from the "Capital Eligble Projects" fund. I don't even know what that fund is. But, you can bet that some other project is going to lose over this (in addition to Secondary BOC).

And one last item to update - because Facilities changed Hamilton from being moved into Lincoln (and now is going to rebuild on-site), the Wallingford neighborhood is furious. The District wants to cut into the only playground/field in the area and the new building will cover 79% of the land it sits on (which is way beyond the norm).
5/2/07, 1:10 PM
Anonymous said…
Melissa,
Regarding the Hamilton remodel: Many of us in the Wallingford neighborhood are extremely pleased to finally see improvements to the learning environment at Hamilton after years and years in an ever-more decayed building waiting for a never-occurring move to Lincoln. I am one of a number of people with volunteer ties to both the school and the park who are working to improve the public process around the remodel so that community perspectives are heard and taken into consideration. We all want to minimize impact on the park. (I was at the Wallingford Community Council meeting tonight where we heard more about these issues from Parks -- instead of down at the School Board meeting.) There have already been a couple of design changes based on public input.

I would be happy to share my perspective on how this issue has progressed. However, I don't presume to speak for the entire neighborhood just as I hope that others don't presume to speak on my behalf.
5/2/07, 9:49 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
My apologies, I wasn't trying to speak for an entire neighborhood. I don't live in Wallingford; my mother-in-law does.

My point was that the District changed its mind (it was never made clear why) from having Hamilton move into Lincoln instead of rebuilding on-site. That change has affected that neighborhood more than just a move into Lincoln. It's confusing how and why these decisions get made.
5/3/07, 8:54 AM
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