Sunday, February 12, 2012

February 2012 Community Meeting

THURSDAY February 16
7:00pm to 8:30pm
Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall
(El Cajon Blvd. at El Cerrito Dr.)

Guest Speakers:
Amy Schmitz Weiss, SDSU Assistant Professor
Topic - Mobile applications on smart phones and their uses in daily life for news and entertainment

Virginia Martin, Volunteer Publicity Co-Chair, Rolando Community Council

For more information about guest speakers, select the following link to read the
February 2012 ECCC NewsletterLink
Community Vote:
Letter to Public Officials about Facilities Plans for Public Schools

Members attending the January 19 community meeting voted to place this item on the agenda for the February 16 meeting: a letter to government officials concerning plans for new and upgraded facilities at Crawford High School and Horace Mann Middle School. The ECCC Board of Directors is presenting the following options for the proposed letter:

Recipients List:
San Diego Unified School District
Superintendent of Schools
Facilities Planning and Construction Department
Board of Education Office
Individual Board of Education Members
7th District City Council Member, Marti Emerald

Introduction:
With bond funds approved in Proposition S, the San Diego Unified School District has been developing plans for new and upgraded facilities at Crawford High School and Mann Middle School in the community of El Cerrito. Along with new and upgraded classrooms and offices, these plans include upgrades to athletic facilities, including stadium lights at the Crawford football field, relocated south of Trojan Avenue, east of Sharron Place. Members of the El Cerrito Community Council [will vote] to make the following recommendations for Proposition S bond spending at local schools:

During the Prop S election the citizens of San Diego were told that Prop S was to be a continuation of Prop MM and that by approving the measure we were approving continuing a property tax assessment on our homes for dollars that were to be spent on improvements to the school that would renovate and upgrade classrooms to provide the chance for a better education in state of the art classrooms for Career/Vocational Programs that teach ―real world job skills, wire every classroom and school for WiFI and the Internet, with technology upgrades for every school in every neighborhood as well as help with health and safety upgrades such as removal of hazardous asbestos and mold, upgrade fire alarms/safety doors, fixe unsafe school drop-off and pick-up zones, make schools disabled-accessible, improve air quality, energy efficiency and install security systems to protect our children.

Body (a bullet list)
1. Limits on Proposition S Spending
a. Limit the spending of Proposition S bond funds to educational facilities projects listed in Prop S.

b. No mention of limits on Prop S spending
2. Equitable Distribution of Proposition S Funds
a. Distribute Prop S bond funds equitably among all the projects listed in Proposition S so that no school is denied a fair share of funds, including Crawford High School, Mann Middle school and other schools in the Crawford cluster.

b. No mention of equitable distribution of Prop S funds
3. Stadium Lights
a. Install stadium lights at the Crawford High School football field in order to provide students at this school with athletic facilities similar to other high schools in the district.

b. Remove stadium lights from plans for the Crawford High School football field because of expected negative impacts to the surrounding residential neighborhood homes from noise, light pollution, security issues, traffic and parking congestion.

c. Seriously consider removing stadium lights from plans for the Crawford High School football field because of expected negative impacts from noise, light pollution, security issues, traffic and parking congestion.

d. No mention of stadium lights
4. Working with Residents to Minimize Impacts on the Community
a. Continue working with the community to minimize expected negative impacts from facilities upgrades including noise, security issues, traffic and parking congestion to the surrounding residential homes.

b.No mention of working with residents
5. Working with Other Urban Communities to Minimize Impacts
a. Continue working with the communities around all urban high schools to minimize expected negative impacts from facilities upgrades, including noise, security issues, traffic and parking congestion to the surrounding residential homes.

b. No mention of working with other communities
For more information about facilities plans at Crawford High School and Mann Middle School, select the following link to the
Crawford-Mann Neighbors web page at
http://crawford-mann-neighbors.blogspot.com/

This page was posted by Carl Luster, a school neighbor and ECCC Board Member.

2 comments:

  1. I would like to add to this conversation by saying that an upgrade to Crawford highschool, including classroom, tecnology, and sports fields, will help improve our neighborhood and might just attract families to the neighborhood who want to buy homes, lay down roots, and help our neighborhood grow and prosper. We need a good strong school to build a strong, cohesive neighborhood. I think the rennovations are a good idea, even the proposed changes to the sports field. We might consider demanding that only non-profit groups within the El Cerrito Community are allowed to rent or use the field after school hours (after all it is our neighborhood school and our tax dollars). We should also demand that the school have a representative onsite at all times the field is in use by non-school employees (this person's time will have to be covered by the group renting the field). This would allow up-grades to the school and solve the concerns of neighbors.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I second the motion! I agree. LIZ has a point.

      Mark from Electrical Construction

      Delete