Thank you to all who attended SaveGirdValley.com’s September 18 meeting. Jade Work shared details on the progress at Monserate Winery. James Gordon and Mark Jackson shared thoughts on preserving North County. Environmental attorney Kevin Johnson and homeowner Julian Torres discussed the Environmental Impact Report process. Carl DeMaio shared thoughts on the political landscape.
SaveGirdValley.com volunteers Teresa Platt and Brad Jordan shared challenges facing Gird Valley with a special focus on Bonsall Unified School District (BUSD) which is attempting to build just 1.1 miles from the northern edge of the District in Fallbrook. The controversial and inconvenient Gird Valley site they have chosen has lost at the ballot box five times since 1978. BUSD’s $38M bond for grading and building with an Environmental Impact Report for a 1,500-student high school, Attempt #6, is Measure EE.
BUSD 2018 high school graduating class (housed in a new state-of-the-art school) was 57 students. There are 7,798 housing units in the District (ringed by 32 public and 15 private high schools) generating 2,500 students (K-12) with about 2,300 on campus daily. They are housed in 124 classrooms on several BUSD campuses from Oceanside to the Pala Reservation. If we take an average of 27 students per classroom, that’s accommodations for 3,348 students. There is no capacity crisis in the Bonsall School District.
An increase of 10% in the housing units will generate another 250 students (with 34 in high school). This modest growth is easily accommodated within the current structures. California also faces a long-term declining enrollment trend starting 2021. Building more brick and mortar, especially in the digital era, is folly, especially for a small school district with declining reserves after seven years of deficit spending.
Volunteers at NOonMeasureEE.com are fighting Measure EE, Attempt #6 to pass a bond to build a high school in Fallbrook’s Gird Valley. They need your help so contact them today!
Additionally, we asked the BUSD Board candidates some hard questions. Read their answers and please vote wisely! The quality of our future depends on it.
Teresa Platt, Steering Committee Member, SaveGirdValley.com
SaveGirdValley.com 