SBOC and the Meany renovations

There are some planned renovations to the Meany building on the School Board's consent agenda for this week.

The Friends of the SBOC have a variety of concerns about this contract.

First, they want the district to define and develop instruction and delivery models before begining design or construction work at Meany.

Second, they want to clarify the funding sources for the work. They don't want the funds allocated to building a school (under the 2006 agreement) to be spent on a seismic retrofit project. That should come from the BTA II and not reduce the funding for the SBOC to remake a building to suit their purposes.

Third, they want to see a protocol for community engagement.

If the Board does not clarify all of this and get some assurances, the SBOC will get hosed. Since this item is on the consent agenda, it is likely that there will be no discussion of it at all. That puts SBOC on the fast-track to getting hosed.

Comments

dan dempsey said…
Speaking of Clarification...
I could use a big dose of that.


In reading the Education First action from June 17, I found several things disturbing:
The linked .pdf contains the claim on page one of three that
Curriculum alignment for mathematics: Completed

In addition I must have been asleep as we now have National Standards

The SBOC needs to be wary as the wool is being pulled so rapidly over the eyes that visibility is minimal.
------------------------
The district claims that Math Alignment is completed.
If this is true then alignment no longer has anything to do with the State Math Standards but rather refers to: vertically aligned core courses;

So now we are to believe that the vertical alignment of EDM ... CMP2 ... Discovering Math will prepare students to be College Ready...

Where is the cherry-picked data to support that lunacy?
owlhouse said…
Thanks for the post Charlie. For all the ways it would seem in Nova's interest to ride the construction coat tails of SBOC construction projects- we are deeply aware of their needs and concerns. I did not make tonight's meeting, and hear that it was not well attended, but do hope that board directors and Don Kennedy and the Budget folks heard and understood SBOC concerns. SBOC says-
"The future delivery model for secondary ELL students may require a facility to support a four-year high school from which students graduate, vocational services for over-age newcomers, and family support services. Other features recommended by the 2008 Bilingual Audit need to be considered."

SBOC is clear that they do NOT need a superficial fix to address the facility and education needs of their students. If you have not eamiled Board Directors on behalf of SBOC, please do. This program and population has been shortchanged for years and deserves the support our district recognized as necessary year ago.

Anyone with details on tonight's meeting- I'd appreciate a report. I heard Dr GJ was not in attendance?
Jet City mom said…
I just saw how much Education first recieves per hr ( not inc expenses)
what exactly are we recieving for that?
Anonymous said…
As an update and big sigh of relief for all, the funds to repair the Meany building will not be from the allocated funds for SBOC but from BEX 3 money.
Sahila said…
there's nowhere to put anything like this, and I wanted to add a bit of humour...

If you want to know what makes Kiwis tick and why we have the attitudes we do and why we like transparency and honesty so much... check this out...

www.nothingtohide.co.nz
Taking the money from BEX III means (1) something else scheduled doesn't get done and (2) more money shuffled here and there and more difficulty tracking it.
owlhouse said…
My understanding is that only the seismic upgrades to Meany will come from BEX lll. SBOC made clear that as they are being moved from an upgraded facility, costs associated with that specific upgrade should NOT come from the funds previously allotted the school. Despite conflicting information following the budget hearing, SBOC has been assured by Fred Stevens that the budget for seismic upgrades will be kept separate.

What has not been guaranteed to SBOC is that their funds will be directed to their program alone, vs. at the entire Meany building. This has the potential to drive a wedge between SBOC and Nova- but as the communities are talking and respectful of one another, I'm optimistic that we'll have a united voice in asking the district to honor their commitments to SBOC, and find a different source for funding Nova's needs.
Charlie Mas said…
There was a story on Crosscut this week about the Mann building.

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