The Cabrillo Unified School District board has chartered its middle school advisory committee [PDF of charter].  The committee will advise and assist the superintendent with the construction of the middle school, as well as provide accountability to the project.  The committe will not have responsibility for execution of the project.

In posting on Coastsider, board member Charlie Gardner says,

Currently we have the committee comprised of myself, and Roy Salume from the Board.Dr. Bayless, Mike Andrews (Cunha principal), and Jim Tjogas (maintenance) will serve as adjuncts.

The remainder of the committee will be filled with a certificated (teacher) and classified (administrative), and three (3) appointed community representatives. Currently we have five (5) well qualified candidates.

The board is still accepting applications until the first committee meeting, which will be held at 4:30 p.m. March 16 at the District office. The format will be a brief public interview process, then public selection by the committee.

UPDATE:  The County Times has a story on this situation with plenty of additional detail, including an interview with Superintendent Bayless. I also believe there will be a story in today’s Half Moon Bay Review.

Students from Half Moon Bay High School and Cunha Intermediate School who have no other way of getting home are crowding onto SamTrans buses designed for 20 passengers. The nonprofit agency that operates the buses for SamTrans says unless it can get some help with the extra passengers, kids and adults will be left behind.

The problem has its roots in the Cabrillo Unified School District’s decision to discontinue bus service, but the district says it’s not their problem.

Many of the students live in the Moonridge affordable housing project for agricultural workers south of Half Moon Bay, and have no other way of getting home.

The buses are operated by Coastside Opportunity Center, a nonprofit agency serving the poor, elderly, and disabled. COC operates bus service from Pescadero to Moss Beach under a contract with SamTrans.

Some kids have been walking to earlier stops further north in order to get a seat on the southbound bus.

"When I learned this was going on, we added the second bus in the morning and afternoon," said Cheri Parr, Executive Director of the Coastside Opportunity Center since October. [Disclosure: Cheri is my wife.] The extra buses have alleviated the problems in the morning, but has unexpectedly encouraged more students who’d given up on getting a ride to try again. The result is more unmet demand in the afternoon.

Parr appealed to the Cabrillo Unified School District for assistance with the problem, but she was turned away. She was told the district has chosen not to spend its money on transportation. CUSD has not provided school bus service since 2002. The district does bus elementary school students from Moonridge to Farallone View Elementary in Montara. Superintendent Dr. John Bayless was unavailable when Coastsider called for comment this afternoon.

The cost of the additional bus is being borne by COC. "We don’t have the equipment, drivers, or budget to add any more buses when they’re needed," said Cheri Parr. "And we can’t overcrowd the ones we have. Our first priority has to be the safety of the passengers."  The result is that beginning Monday, February 27, the afternoon bus will allow no more than twenty total passengers and everyone else will have to wait for the next bus, about 90 minutes later, or walk.

The Coastside Opportunity Center’s Parr plans to bring this problem before the CUSD board at a future meeting.

Time for a mini-celebration: This is the 1,000th article posted on Coastsider since we launched in 2004. Our second anniversary is coming up soon as well. More on that later.

CUSD to discuss parcel tax at special meeting March 2

The board of the Cabrillo Unified School Board (CUSD) has called a special meeting to discuss placing a parcel tax on the June primary ballot.  The meeting will be Thursday, March 2 at 7:00pm at the district office on Kelly Street.

This would be the fifth time in seven years the district has tried to pass a parcel tax.  The special meeting was called in response to a presentation from Montara resident Cindy Epps, communications & community relations coordinator with Back to Basics.  Epps encouraged the board to take another look at the issue, now that the divisive issue of the middle school’s location has been resolved.

The board had to call a special meeting so that the community could be properly notified of the discussion, while meeting the March 10 deadline for filing ballot measures. There was no discussion of the details of the proposed tax, such as amount, duration, any exemptions, and the list of uses to which the proceeds would be put.

It is still not clear that the measure would receive the necessary two-thirds vote to pass. In a survey in October 2005 about 60% of likely voters said they would vote for a $250 per year per parcel tax. [Coastsider’s analysis of the survey results and link to original PDF].  About a third of respondents said that resolving the location of the middle school was a precondition for a "yes" vote. Voters are still concerned about whether the district would be a good steward of parcel tax funds: 41% of respondents disagreed strongly or somewhat with the statement “I trust the Cabrillo Unified School District to properly manage tax dollars” and 51% of respondents said the District’s management of bond funds was either fair or poor.

Neither the state nor the district budget will be set in time for the June election. The governor’s May revision will come out in the middle of the campaign. It is widely believed that there will be a significant increase in school spending from last year, but the exact amount is unknown. This will create uncertainty about the amount the district needs and how urgent the need will be.

Superintendent Dr. John Bayless forecast that the combination of state increases and federal decreases will lead to a net revenue increase for the district of about three percent.

Half Moon Bay High School principal Susan Million and CUSD assistant superintendent Madeline Shearer reported that 86% of the district’s 275 high school seniors have already passed the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).  Of the 37 students who have not yet passed, 31 are English language learners, 18 of whom have been in this country for less than three years.

To support these students, the district is offering individual tutoring after school, a support class and review in the core classes of math and English.  Alternatives for seniors after June include a summer school review course and an additional summer CAHSEE offered only to seniors.

Superintendent Bayless presented a proposed schedule for new construction and renovation of the Cunha Middle School. The board formed an ad hoc committee to oversee the design and construction process and present their recommendations to the board.  Board members Charlie Gardner and Roy Salume will serve on the committee, which will include a teacher, a member of the district’s classified staff, and community volunteers.

The ad hoc committee will work with the architect, Dr. Bayless, and Cunha principal Mike Andrews on design development. It will present its recommendations to the school board on March 16. 

Community members who are interested in serving on the Ad-Hoc Committee can contact Roy Salume or Charlie Gardner

Two widely respected marine organizations have partnered with Hatch School to present a week of interactive educational programming geared toward understanding and protecting the world’s ocean environment.

Scheduled for the week of February 13th,  the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association and Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary are providing special support for this unique interdisciplinary program, which will engage students grades k-5 in a range of exciting, hands-on activities.

"Whether through math, art, reading, science or just hanging out for a night of conversation and ocean-friendly film, our whole school will basically be immersed," said Dru Devlin, a Hatch parent volunteer who also works at the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association. "It makes sense to integrate our marine environment with the curriculum, much as it is integral to the fabric of our coastside community life."

Students will be taking field trips to visit the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center at Crissy Field in the Presidio; learning about water safety and wetland birds from rangers based at Half Moon Bay State Beach; watching a Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary-sponsored puppet show performed by parents; and participating in presentations such as the GFNMS "SharkMobile" and The Marine Mammal Center’s "Wonderful Whale" exhibit.

Personal responsibility and stewardship will be a special focus for fifth-graders, whose specially designed curriculum will include the perils of marine debris and other ecological threats as well as ways that students can roll up their sleeves and help keep beaches and oceans clean.

On February 9, the whole community is invited to join in Hatch’s first-ever "Family Ocean Night at the Movies,"which will include a presentation by local surfing instructor Dave Alexander and a feature presentation of the Academy Award-nominated documentary, "The Living Sea," narrated by Meryl Streep with music by Sting. Local writer and filmmaker Gail Evenari will also show clips from her current project about sea turtles in Mexico.

"The idea is to bring alive the critical role our marine environment plays - whether as a source of food, habitat, amusement or beauty," said Devlin, whose son is in the second grade. "Exploring and celebrating our oceans is a lifelong pursuit.  Why not start inspiring our children now?"

In the wake of a big year, Half Moon Bay High School has been transfered to the stronger of the Penininsula Athletic League’s two divisions. The County Times describes the head coach as "miffed".

The move doesn’t sit well with Half Moon Bay. Head coach Matt Ballard had wanted his team to stay in the Ocean Division and had a couple of pretty compelling reasons to back him up.

"We had a well-laid-out argument (for staying in the Ocean Division)," Ballard said. "The first thing is that we graduate 22 players and will have only six returning starters. Our frosh-soph team finished the season with 14 players on its roster and had a 1-7-2 record.

"So if you’re looking at the coming years, as you’re supposed to do in a decision like this, moving up to the Bay Division is going to be a real hardship on us. We presented all this, but no one cared. If you win a CCS title, no one feels sorry for you, I guess."

by Sonja Myhre, Co-Chair, Day to Make a Difference Committee    

Parents, students, teachers, volunteers, local officials, and all Coastside community members are invited to join us this Friday, January 27, 2006 from 4:30 to 5:30 pm for a celebration of the Hatch Elementary School Landscape Remodel Project.  The celebration will be held in the Hatch Central Courtyard and Multipurpose Room at 490 Miramontes Drive in Half Moon Bay.

The celebration will commemorate the hard work and dedication of nearly 200 volunteers who came together on Saturday September 24, 2005 for a Day to Make a Difference.

Under the leadership of Ralph Laughlin, a Hatch parent and the owner of CNH Landscape & Design, these volunteers transformed the grounds of Hatch Elementary with native grasses and plantings, a raised-bed vegetable garden, a brand new look for the central courtyard, and an artistic mosaic on the school sign.

The celebration will include:
 

• Dedication of the new courtyard fountain and commemorative bricks
• Day to Make a Difference slide show
• Light refreshments

For more information, contact the Day to Make a Difference Committee office at 650-726-9089.

Tom Chimienti is a senior at HMBHS

The future site of the new HMB middle school has finally been decided after ten years of conflict. The Cabrillo school district voted unanimously to select the site on which the school already rests instead of the controversial Wavecrest site. Many believe it is a wetland that needs to be preserved.

The school is to be completed September 2009. The class of 2006 was said to be the first class to graduate from the new middle school; too bad they will all be able to buy an alcoholic beverage before the new school is completed. The Cunha site proves to be more economic and logical, while the Wavecrest site included a residential neighborhood, irrigation pond and commercial space. The original plans even had retail stores, which would have hurt all of the downtown main street businesses. Even if Wavecrest was accepted by the school board and city council they do not have the final say. So it would still have to be approved by the California Coastal Commission which makes it a futile choice.

I am glad they have finally made this choice. At my times at Cunha I could easily walk across highway one to get home or occasionally I would stop into Cunha store for a sandwich after school with my friends. These simple tasks would have become extremely harder if I was stuck further down highway one and even risky. I wouldn’t have been able to walk home because it’s not safe to walk along a highway especially in the rain. I look forward to seeing these renovations on the school; I only wish they had started sooner. Hopefully my younger sister will get a chance to enjoy them. I believe this will greatly benefit and keep the heart of the city from looking run down.

There was one other piece of business that clearly got strong reaction on the board. Superintendent Bayless’s assistant, Roberta Carlson, is retiring. Everyone made it clear that she was going to be missed. I’ve always found her to be helpful, efficicient and responsive, and it’s clear she’ll be missed by everyone in the district.

Superintendent Bayless opened with a presentation of how he would trim the building costs from $32 million to $26 million to fit with the district’s budget and deliver a finished school "about September, 2009".  The school will be rebuilt in three phases, with the new building going up first, the main building being renovated next, and the administration building renovated and the wings near it being taken down last.

The discussion was relatively restrained compared to the prior meeting, with newly re-elected Mayor Jim Grady renewing the city’s offer to expedite the building of the school. Several pro-Wavecrest citizens asked the board to get on with it and vote to build the school at Cunha. 

In discussion, board member Jolanda Schreurs said it was time to "Make lemonade from the lemon that is Cunha." adding that perhaps we could make it raspberry lemonade and that our kids deserve some sugar in their lemonade.  Board President Dwight Wilson urged, "We’ve got to figure out how not to make enemies of our neighbors with this decision", a clear response to the lingering unhappiness of Wavecrest supporters.

After a long discussion about adding some "Whereas" clauses to the resolution, the board finally added a clause saying that it may ask the Superintendent to buy adjacent properties to the Cunha site.

Then came the main event. The vote was quick and unanimous.  There was some applause at the anticlimactic decision, and the board moved on to the rest of its agenda. Most of the audience had already left the room.

The Cabrillo Unified School District board will try to vote again tonight on whether to locate the middle school at Cunha, the site the district’s expert panel determined would be half the price and twice as fast as the alternatives.