Crucial school board meeting pushed back until after the election

The eagerly anticipated November 3 meeting of the Cabrillo Unified School District (CUSD) board has been pushed back until November 9. At this meeting, the board will take up the decision, delayed from the board’s last meeting, whether to choose Cunha as the site for the district’s middle school.

The rescheduling is significant because this means that the decision will take place after the November 8 election, in which the site of the new middle school is an important issue. Although the city council has no control over the decision, many people opposed to the current city council majority have blamed it for the delays in building of the school.  At the last school board meeting, at least one member of the public accused the board of delaying its vote in order to deny incumbents Grady and Ferreira some good news before the election.

CUSD president Dwight Wilson tried to get the board to vote for the Cunha site at the last meeting, but Jolanda Schreurs and Charles Gardner wanted more time to consider the decision. Roy Salume joined them in asking for a delay so that the purchase of adjoining lots could be explored.

Wilson said that he and superintendent John Bayless decided to delay the meeting,  "We’ve had logistical problems.  Support staff and two principals have been out or sick. Normally, we don’t have our meetings so close together, but this one was originally scheduled to avoid the Veteran’s Day holiday."