By Penny Weaver, Superintendent
There are some extraordinary opportunities to partner with SVUSD in the near future on critical goal areas including facilities and school finance. Visit Scotts Valley Middle School and, after you are enthusiastically welcomed by award-winning staff and students, you will notice one thing: our facilities are worn out. Our electrical, heating and plumbing systems do not work well. The campus is not entirely accessible for folks with physical disabilities or mobility limitations. In many places, the pavement, walls and ceilings are in poor condition.
This is just what is visible at first glance. Behind the walls, under the floors, and up in the ceilings, we also know that our facilities have other deficits due to aging infrastructure. Many of our pipes have reached the end of their useful life and power systems are not energy efficient. Although our program at SVMS has been designated as a “School to Watch” (a state and national honor) and a California Distinguished School, our facilities do not support the progressive program and needs of our high performing students and staff.
We have arrived at a point where the conditions of our facilities necessitate our immediate action. That is why, starting in March of 2013, the Board of Trustees set facility goals and began discussing the possibility of putting a bond measure on the ballot to replace the aging SVMS with a new middle school facility.
At our Board’s regular public meeting February 25th, Trustees adopted a resolution to place a bond measure on the June 3, 2014 ballot to replace the more than 70 year old Scotts Valley Middle School with a new facility and to make needed earthquake safety repairs at Vine Hill Elementary and Brook Knoll Elementary Schools.
The abbreviated ballot text follows:
“To replace the 70-year old Middle School with a new school, with up-to-date computer/learning technology, science labs, code-compliant/energy-efficient electrical, plumbing, heating/cooling systems; upgrade, construct, acquire classrooms, schools, facilities, sites/equipment that meet accessibility requirements; make needed seismic repairs at elementary schools, and qualify for State matching funds, shall Scotts Valley Unified School District issue $35,000,000 in bonds, at legal rates, with independent oversight, no funds for administrators, all funds staying local?”
The decision to pursue the bond measure is the result of more than two years of assessing needs, public, staff and student input, community meetings, and reports to the public at regular Board meetings. A survey of registered voters conducted earlier this month indicated 72 percent voter support for a bond measure.
This bond will construct a new middle school and complete seismic safety work at the elementary schools. All documents relating to this work are posted on the district website at www.scottsvalleyusd.org including the specific structural, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering reports about the condition of our facilities.
I am excited to report that our district is now working on a Facility Master Plan for SVMS — essentially a blueprint of what our school site may look like. Our staff has already begun working with the architect that the Board of Trustees approved for this project. We will be working to create a vision and educational specifications for our middle school that set long-range plans for the facilities that will support our educational goals and programs for our students.
You can be involved. Soon, a list of meetings will be established and published on our district website. Look for a “Facility Master Plan” page in the near future. Can’t make the meetings? You can still stay up to date on what is happening — and make comments on the development of the Facility Master Plan. We are looking forward to your involvement and to proceeding with our best thinking together.
Other types of financing are also being pursued in the work to remedy earthquake safety issues with our facilities. District staff is working with an architect to complete the process of applying for facility hardship and seismic mitigation funding applications to the state. We are committed to providing appropriate and safe facilities that truly reflect our community’s values and needs.